[Marxism] Fidelâs Message to the National Assembly

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fidelâs Message to the National Assembly 

Dear comrade AlarcÃn:

Please read the following message, 
addressed to the National Assembly, 
when you open the morning session.

A heartfelt embrace,

(Signed)
Fidel Castro Ruz

December 27, 2007
8:40 p.m.



Comrades of the National Assembly:

You have no easy task on your hands. On January 1st, 1959, surrounded by the 
accumulated and deepening grievances that our society inherited from its 
neo-colonial past under U.S. domination, many of us dreamed of creating a fully 
independent nation where justice prevailed. In the arduous and uneven struggle, 
there came the moment when we were left completely alone. 

Nearly 50 years since the triumph of the Revolution, we can justifiably feel 
proud of ourselves, as we have held our ground, for almost half a century, in 
the struggle against the most powerful empire ever to exist in history. In the 
Proclamation I signed on July 31, 2006, none of you saw any signs of nepotism 
or an attempt to usurp parliamentary powers. That year, at once difficult and 
promising for the Revolution, the unity of the people, the Party and State were 
essential to continue moving forward and to face the declared threat of a 
military action by the United States. 

This past December 24, during his visit to the various districts of the 
municipality which honored me with the nomination of candidate to parliament, 
RaÃl noted that all of the numerous candidates proposed by the people of a 
district famous for its combativeness, but with a low educational level, had 
completed their higher education. This, as he said on Cuban television, made a 
profound impression in him. 

Party, State and Government cadres and grassroots organizations face new 
problems in their work with an intelligent, watchful and educated people who 
detest bureaucratic hurdles and inconsiderate justifications. Deep down, every 
citizen wages an individual battle against humanity's innate tendency to stick 
to its survival instincts, a natural law which governs all life. 

We are all born marked by that instinct, which science defines as primary. 
Coming face to face with this instinct is rewarding because it leads us to a 
dialectical process and to a constant and altruistic struggle, bringing us 
closer to Martà and making us true communists. 

What the international press has emphasized most in its reports on Cuba in 
recent days is the statement I made on the 17th of this month, in a letter to 
the director of Cuban television's Round Table program, where I said that I am 
not clinging to power. I could add that for some time I did, due to my youth 
and lack of awareness, when, without any guidance, I started to leave my 
political ignorance behind and became a utopian socialist. It was a stage in my 
life when I believed I knew what had to be done and wanted to be in a position 
to do it! What made me change? Life did, delving more deeply into MartÃâs 
ideas and those of the classics of socialism. The more deeply I became involved 
in the struggle, the stronger was my identification with those aims and, well 
before the revolutionary victory I was already convinced that it was my duty to 
fight for these aims or to die in combat. 

We also face great risks that threaten the human species as a whole. This has 
become more and more evident to me since I predicted, for the first time in Rio 
de Janeiro, --over 15 years ago, in June 1992-- that a species was threatened 
with extinction as a result of the destruction of its natural habitat. Today, 
the number of people who understand the real danger of this grows every day. 

A recent book by Joseph Stiglitz, former Vice-President of the World Bank and 
President Clinton's chief economic advisor until 2002, Nobel Prize laureate and 
bestselling author in the United States, offers up-to-date and irrefutable 
facts on the subject. He criticizes the United States, a country which did not 
sign the Kyoto Protocol, for being the largest producer of carbon dioxide in 
the world, with annual emissions of 6 billion tons of this gas which disturbs 
the atmosphere without which life is impossible. In addition to this, the 
United States is the largest producer of other greenhouse gases. 

Few people are aware of these facts. The same economic system which forced this 
unsustainable wastefulness on us impedes the distribution of Stiglitz' book. 
Only a few thousand copies of an excellent edition have been published, enough 
to guarantee a margin of profit. This responds to a market demand, which the 
publishing house cannot ignore if it is to survive. 

Today, we know that life on Earth has been protected by the ozone layer, 
located in the atmosphereâs outer ring, at an altitude between 15 to 50 
kilometers, in the region known as the stratosphere, which acts as the 
planetâs shield against the type of solar radiation which can prove harmful. 
There are greenhouse gases whose warming potential is higher than that of 
carbon dioxide and which widen the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica, 
which loses as much as 70 percent of its volume every spring. The effects of 
this phenomenon, which is gradually taking place, are humanity's 
responsibility. 
To have a clear sense of this phenomenon, suffice it to say that the world 
produces an average of 4.37 metric tons of carbon dioxide per capita. In the 
case of the United States, the average is 20.14, nearly 5 times as much. In 
Africa, it is 1.17, while in Asia and Oceania it is 2.87. 

The ozone layer, in brief, protects us from ultraviolet and heat radiation 
which affects the immune system, sight, skin and life of human beings. Under 
extreme conditions, the destruction of that layer by human beings would affect 
all forms of life on the planet. 

Other problems, foreign to our nation and many others under similar conditions, 
also threaten us. A victorious counterrevolution would spell a disaster for us, 
worse than Indonesia's tragedy. Sukarno, overthrown in 1967, was a nationalist 
leader who, loyal to Indonesia, headed the guerrillas who fought the Japanese. 

General Suharto, who overthrew him, had been trained by Japanese occupation 
forces. At the conclusion of World War II, Holland, a U.S. ally, re-established 
control over that distant, extensive and populated territory. Suharto 
maneuvered. He hoisted the banners of U.S. imperialism. He committed an 
atrocious act of genocide. Today we know that, under instructions from the CIA, 
he not only killed hundreds of thousands but also imprisoned a million 
communists and deprived them and their relatives of all properties or rights; 
his family amassed a fortune of 40 billion dollars âwhich, at today's 
exchange rate, would be equivalent to hundreds of billionsâ by handing over 
the country's natural resources, the sweat of Indonesians, to foreign 
investors. The West paid up. Texan-born Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy's successor, 
was then the President of the United States. 

The news on the events in Pakistan we received today also attest to the dangers 
that threaten our species: internal conflict in a country that possesses 
nuclear weapons. This is a consequence of the adventurous policies of and the 
wars aimed at securing the world's natural resources unleashed by the United 
States. 

Pakistan, involved in a conflict it did not unleash, faced the threat of being 
taken back to the Stone Age. 

The extraordinary circumstances faced by Pakistan had an immediate effect on 
oil prices and stock exchange shares. No country or region in the world can 
disassociate itself from the consequences. We must be prepared for anything. 

There hasn't been a day in my life in which I haven't learned something. 

Martà taught us that "all of the world's glory fits in a kernel of corn". Many 
times have I said and repeated this phrase, which carries in eleven words a 
veritable school of ethics. 

Cuba's Five Heroes, imprisoned by the empire, are to be held up as examples for 
the new generations. 

Fortunately, exemplary conducts will continue to flourish with the 
consciousness of our peoples as long as our species exists. 

I am certain that many young Cubans, in their struggle against the Giant in the 
Seven-League Boots, would do as they did. Money can buy everything save the 
soul of a people who has never gone down on its knees. 

I read the brief and concise report which RaÃl wrote and sent me. We must not 
waste a minute as we continue to move forward. I will raise my hand, next to 
you, to show my support. 

(Signed)
Fidel Castro Ruz
December 27, 2007
8:35 p.m.


























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====================================
Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
"Un paraÃso bajo el bloqueo"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
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