non-vio-resist
16th January 2008, 19:23
i added this to my blog today. there's nothing groundbreaking here for this crowd. i thought some might like it.
Imagine if a country attacked our own on the basis that they did not like two-party “democracy;” they are in favor of a style of government at least similar to their own. Now, imagine the country’s equivalent to the CIA participates in state-sponsered terrorism campaigns that left hundreds, even thousands, of civilians dead. Then, after all of the abuse this imaginary country has triggered on the US cuts off all trade with us, making itself the only country that does so, even though our government has made it publicly known that we still want to trade with them.
Imagine that this country arbitrarily sets up a military base that is also used for a secret prison and torture chamber on US soil. At this point, we are working closely with an enemy of this country because they are willing to help us. This country has now demonized us for working with this country even though we are only trying to survive and they are providing us with trade options that are tremendous assets to US citizens. This country’s secret police has also attempted to kill our president numerous times. Also, the citizen’s of this country, who seem to be overwhelmingly good people, have been unable to travel to the United States, also prohibiting opportunity for us to expand our dismal economy. If they choose to travel here to patronize the US economy, then they could face criminal charges and large fines.
Imagine that everyone in this country is taught that the US is only a force of evil; to think otherwise is not acceptable, even though the US has been trying to have diplomatic relations with the hypothetical country for decades.
Suppose the US was punished by this country for operating out-of –sink with the rest of a certain continent, although they were not threatening any of their neighbors; the US merely chose a different economic and political system than it’s peer countries.
Cuba has been dealing with this situation since the brutal US-installed Batista dictatorship was overthrown in 1959. Fidel Castro and the Communist Party have chosen a different path than the US and it’s neo-liberal friends in Latin America. For that, Cuba has been victimized, chastised, and demonized by the US government since JFK.
Castro is not perfect and has his flaws, but he has been a dove compared to any post-war Western leader, especially in the US, which is the only country left that will not have diplomatic ties with Cuba
We live in what Yale Political Science professor Robert Dahl calls a polyarchy,ie, a democratic system for those with extreme wealth (essentially). Cubans live in a state-socialist environment, ie, the state owns the majority of industries and the economy is for the most part, planned a la the USSR (allies Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez from Bolivia and Venezuela, respectively, tend to be moving in this direction). The reason this is worth mentioning is that the current Washington consensus-driven US line is that we will only trade with Cuba when she becomes a democracy. This is ironic because the US, itself, as any non-radical political scientist professor with half a brain will tell you, is not a democracy by means of technicality.
So, to decode the Orwellian English spoken in Washington daily, what the US is asking of Cuba is to become the US is not: a democracy. The reality of what the US is asking of Cuba is simple, though. Become as “free” as, say, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, or China. Besides most of these examples being dictatorships, these countries have one thing in common: they thrive off of the neo-liberal consensus (free-market) and the military industrial complex. Cuba wants nothing to do with that. They also, of course, do not embrace capitalism and she is per se socialist.
When one hears “democratize” coming out of the mouth of a politician or advisor, it is important to understand that they mean conform to the neo-liberal economic model. Human rights is not an issue, which is made abundantly clear by the fact that Chevron is in Myanmar (Burma), which has one of the all-time worst records on human rights. There is also an alarming correlation of the ammount of US aide associated with the ammount of human rights abuses, ie, the more human rights violation, the more aide. On this basis alone, if Castro was half the fascist dicator Washington says he is, then they would be getting tons of US aide according to our current pattern. It is well know, though, that the US doesn't care if Castro is Stalin or Hitler, as long as he makes Cuba a viable client state.
Imagine if a country attacked our own on the basis that they did not like two-party “democracy;” they are in favor of a style of government at least similar to their own. Now, imagine the country’s equivalent to the CIA participates in state-sponsered terrorism campaigns that left hundreds, even thousands, of civilians dead. Then, after all of the abuse this imaginary country has triggered on the US cuts off all trade with us, making itself the only country that does so, even though our government has made it publicly known that we still want to trade with them.
Imagine that this country arbitrarily sets up a military base that is also used for a secret prison and torture chamber on US soil. At this point, we are working closely with an enemy of this country because they are willing to help us. This country has now demonized us for working with this country even though we are only trying to survive and they are providing us with trade options that are tremendous assets to US citizens. This country’s secret police has also attempted to kill our president numerous times. Also, the citizen’s of this country, who seem to be overwhelmingly good people, have been unable to travel to the United States, also prohibiting opportunity for us to expand our dismal economy. If they choose to travel here to patronize the US economy, then they could face criminal charges and large fines.
Imagine that everyone in this country is taught that the US is only a force of evil; to think otherwise is not acceptable, even though the US has been trying to have diplomatic relations with the hypothetical country for decades.
Suppose the US was punished by this country for operating out-of –sink with the rest of a certain continent, although they were not threatening any of their neighbors; the US merely chose a different economic and political system than it’s peer countries.
Cuba has been dealing with this situation since the brutal US-installed Batista dictatorship was overthrown in 1959. Fidel Castro and the Communist Party have chosen a different path than the US and it’s neo-liberal friends in Latin America. For that, Cuba has been victimized, chastised, and demonized by the US government since JFK.
Castro is not perfect and has his flaws, but he has been a dove compared to any post-war Western leader, especially in the US, which is the only country left that will not have diplomatic ties with Cuba
We live in what Yale Political Science professor Robert Dahl calls a polyarchy,ie, a democratic system for those with extreme wealth (essentially). Cubans live in a state-socialist environment, ie, the state owns the majority of industries and the economy is for the most part, planned a la the USSR (allies Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez from Bolivia and Venezuela, respectively, tend to be moving in this direction). The reason this is worth mentioning is that the current Washington consensus-driven US line is that we will only trade with Cuba when she becomes a democracy. This is ironic because the US, itself, as any non-radical political scientist professor with half a brain will tell you, is not a democracy by means of technicality.
So, to decode the Orwellian English spoken in Washington daily, what the US is asking of Cuba is to become the US is not: a democracy. The reality of what the US is asking of Cuba is simple, though. Become as “free” as, say, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, or China. Besides most of these examples being dictatorships, these countries have one thing in common: they thrive off of the neo-liberal consensus (free-market) and the military industrial complex. Cuba wants nothing to do with that. They also, of course, do not embrace capitalism and she is per se socialist.
When one hears “democratize” coming out of the mouth of a politician or advisor, it is important to understand that they mean conform to the neo-liberal economic model. Human rights is not an issue, which is made abundantly clear by the fact that Chevron is in Myanmar (Burma), which has one of the all-time worst records on human rights. There is also an alarming correlation of the ammount of US aide associated with the ammount of human rights abuses, ie, the more human rights violation, the more aide. On this basis alone, if Castro was half the fascist dicator Washington says he is, then they would be getting tons of US aide according to our current pattern. It is well know, though, that the US doesn't care if Castro is Stalin or Hitler, as long as he makes Cuba a viable client state.