Re: [Marxism] LA TIMES bash-o-rama: 'Milk' star Sean Penn: Pal of anti-gay dictators?

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ACCORDING TO SHANE MAGE:
When I was growing up the forerunners of "McCarthyism" (now-forgotten  
figures like Westbrook Pegler, Martin Dies, Walter Winchell...) were  
screaming endlessly that "Leftist Subversion" was being financed by  
Moscow Gold and politically directed by the Kremlin and that therefore  
leftist political groups were "conspiracies" that were to be  
suppressed in defense of "democracy."  Their position was no less  
justified in relation to USA-1940 than Walter's is in relation to  
Cuba-2008.
===================================================================
Washington has budgeted $80 million dollars to organize the overthrow
of the Cuban government and the social system which it defends, the
one which provides free health care and education for everyone. Donât
take my word for the amount, look at the website of the U.S.
government: http://www.cafc.gov

Cuba is the only country on the planet where a military base and a
torture prison for people who may be held indefinitely, continues to
occupy a part of the countryâs territory. This is done by the United
States government, whose public legislation commits it to the
overthrow of the Cuban system and the restoration of capitalism.
Through the laws such as Helms-Burton and Torricelli, and the Cuban
Adjustment Act, Washington works ACTIVELY to overthrow the Cuban
system.

Cuba: has it ever tried to overthrow the United States government?
Never! They sent a few agents to infiltrate right-wing Cuban exile
organizations, ones which organized terrorist activities against
Cuba, but thatâs all.

This year the New York Philharmonic went to North Korea to perform.
Cuba is the only place on earth where people from the United States
need a permission slip from the federal government to go for a visit.
What are they so afraid that we'll see? How bad life supposedly is
there? Of course Cuba has any number of problems, but somehow the
society manages to work despite many obstacles. It's a good thing we
don't have any problems here in the United States of America, right?

Considering everything, from geography to population magnitude and
more, Cuba and the United States are not and cannot be equal. Cubaâs
government certainly does limit democratic rights. But in a situation
like David and Goliath, Cuba does what it feels it must to defend
itself. These are the kinds of realities which people like Shane Mage
and David Thorstad refuse to acknowledge. That is why such criticisms
as they advance, denying all sense of proportion and historic context,
are ultimately completely worthless.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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