By Nadrat Siddique
January
18, 2019
Washington,
DC
In
St. Stephen's Church’s welcoming milieu, Cuba supporters, including Latinos,
Blacks, Arabs, Pakistanis, and others, celebrated the anniversary of the Cuban
Revolution. The event was organized by the DC Coalition in Solidarity with
Cuba. The room was filled to capacity, and a majority of the attendees had
visited Cuba. The evening began with a vibrant performance by the Malcolm X
Drummers and Dancers.
Speakers
included Miguel Fraga, the First
Secretary of the Embassy of Cuba; Patricio
Zamorano, a supporter of the Cuban Revolution; Omari Musa, member, DC Coalition in Solidarity with Cuba, and
Socialist Workers Party leader; and Detroit-based labor leader Cheryl LaBash.
Code
Pink’s Medea Benjamin (dressed, not
surprisingly in pink!) was in the audience, as was jazz legend and anti-racism
activist Luci Murphy (formerly of
Sweet Honey in the Rock; and later of the Rock Creek Trio). The event was
moderated by WPFW radio host Mimi
Machado. (WPFW is an independent radio station heard on 89.3 FM in the DC
listening area.)
Patricio Zamorano spoke
eloquently about the U.S. role in destabilizing Latin America. He gave the
example of Honduras, where the U.S. supported the 2009 coup forcibly removing
the country's elected president, Jose Manuel Zelaya. Honduras boasts one of the
largest deployments of U.S. Special Forces outside of the Middle East, with the
corresponding deleterious impact on human rights there.
Omari Musa had visited
Cuba, among many other Latin American and African countries. He described life
in Cuba, detailing the nation’s many social welfare programs. These, he said,
were available to all Cubans, and membership in the Communist Party was not a
requirement [unlike in China, and other self-described communist countries
–editor]. He encouraged the audience, particularly youth, to visit Cuba.
During
Q&A, a Caucasian audience member, sharply dressed in suit and tie, asked
the panel whether or when Cuba would take steps to democratize, following
models, e.g., of Scanandavian or other First World countries. Zamorano replied
that the European model was not necessarily the most effective, or the best
model for the rest of the world to follow.
A
Palestinian member of the audience drew parallels between the struggles of
Latin American peoples, and those of the Palestinians. Urging the audience to
open their eyes to the similarities of the situations of the two peoples, she
said the struggles of the people of Latin America, and those of the Palestinian
people were against a common oppressor.
Participants
at the 60th Anniversary celebration were offered the opportunity to visit Cuba,
with the May Day Brigade. Literature describing the Brigade differentiated it
from a mere site-seeing or vacation trip to Cuba. Here, participants would be
expected to volunteer their time to various projects delineated by their Cuban
government hosts.
Background
In
December 1958, the Cuban people overthrew U.S.-supported Cuban dictator
Fulgencio Batista. Under the leadership of Fidel Castro, they nationalized many
industries, and drove out large U.S. corporations. The new government instated
equal pay for everyone (so that doctors made as much as trash collectors!),
racial discrimination was outlawed, milk was free for infants and babies, and
high quality healthcare and education was free to all Cubans. The infant
mortality rate fell, becoming on par with the United States.
The
Cuban Medical School, free to all
Cubans, enlarged its enrollment to those outside of Cuba, initially inviting
only Blacks. Later on, enrollment was opened to all people. Doctors from the
Cuban Medical School volunteered their services in Africa, and many other
places, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
As
a result of its egalitarian message uplifting the impoverished, driving out
multinational corporations, and the consequent challenge to the World Order,
the Cuban Revolution and Cuba itself, soon came under attack. In 1960, the U.S.
imposed an embargo on the tiny island nation. That embargo was all-inclusive,
except for food and medicine, and was in retaliation for Cuba's nationalization
of American-owned Cuban oil refineries. In 1962, the embargo was extended to
include nearly all imports to Cuba, including food and medicine. As a result,
there was a significant deterioration in the quality of life of many Cubans,
despite the Cuban government's efforts to counter this. Every year since 1992,
the United Nations has passed a resolution condemning the embargo and its
effects, and declaring it in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and
of international law. In 2014, nearly the entire U.N. General Assembly voted
for the resolution. Tellingly, only the U.S. and Israel voted against the
resolution supporting Cuba against embargo.
But
the U.S. efforts to destroy the Cuban Revolution did not stop at economic
warfare. In 1961, the Bay of Pigs Invasion was launched, with the U.S. sending
1,500 Cuban exiles into Cuba. Thousands of assassination plans of Cuban leaders
were instrumented by U.S. intelligence agencies, many of them targeting Castro,
who miraculously survived.
---------------
Why
such hatred and fear of a revolution, one might ask? It seemed to me that, like
the Haitian Revolution, it was not merely the actions—however heroic—of the Cuban
people between 1953 - 1958, which posed a threat to the World Order. Rather, it
was what the Cuban Revolution symbolized. Similarly, in Haiti, it was not
merely the successful revolt by Black slaves and the killing of the slave masters
which instilled fear and loathing among American planters; rather, it was the
example put into the public sphere by the Haitian Revolution. That revolution planted
in the minds of Black slaves in the continental U.S. a different reality, one
in which they were not being raped, tortured, separated from their families, or
treated like chattel, and the way forward to that reality. But—the mere thought
of this was terrifying to the slave owners. Almost immediately, Haiti was
slapped with an embargo by France and the U.S. Haiti was also forced to pay reparations to
France, the very nation which had occupied it! (The forced reparation payments
continue to this day, contributing heavily to the impoverishment of Haiti.) The
example of Cuba provides a similar model of liberation for Latin American
countries. And- like Saul Landau said, The "Latin Americans never
disobeyed the United States before the Cuban revolution."
© 2019 Nadrat Siddique
