[Marxism] IPS: CUBA-US: After Deadlock, How to Resist the 'Siren Songs?'

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(The Cuban government really DOES want an end to the blockade,
but new and different problems will come when that happens and
it will be interesting, indeed, to see how the government here
deals with these things. They've survived one kind of battle 
so far, but at a significant cost. How will they survive a new
battle on a different terrain with different tactics? That's a
question which we'll all be waiting to see. I'm personally very
impressed at all of the US movies and TV programs which are
shown here. I was amazed to see SEX AND THE CITY on Cuban TV
last week. Oh, they changed the name to LOVE IN NEW YORK, but
didn't change the content. One thing anyone who spends time in
this country can easily see, there's no anti-Americanism in the
country, though there is a lot of hostility toward the government
in Washington for all it's done to Cuba through the years.)
===========================================================

CUBA-US: After Deadlock, How to Resist the 'Siren Songs?'
By Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Jan 14 (IPS) - In spite of shortcomings, unfulfilled dreams and 
doubts, one of the unquestioned merits of the Cuban revolution, which has 
just celebrated its 50th anniversary, is the sense of independence and 
sovereignty in this small island state, geographically so close to the most 
powerful nation in the world.

"First, (the revolution) demonstrated that it was possible to escape the 
orbit of the United States, even in Latin America; then, that a small 
country could survive after being set adrift, without a protecting power, as 
happened when the Soviet Union disappeared," Josefina Paredes, a young Cuban 
researcher on the theory and practice of theatre, told IPS.

In her view, that is the legacy bequeathed to the next generation by the 
political process that turned 50 on Jan. 1, whose leaders have lived in 
confrontation with every U.S. administration since 1959.

Sonia Benavides, a 28-year-old Cuban now studying in the United Kingdom, 
says she is unwilling to put up with what she finds lacking in the country 
of her birth. "We lack free will, the possibility of thinking in another 
colour scheme, or of following the ideology of Feng Shui (a traditional 
Chinese cultural practice) if we want to," she said.

However, she said that had it not been for the revolution, the island would 
be "a banana republic where U.S. dollars, U.S. masters and U.S. ideology 
would be law." That is why, outside of Cuba, "we feel pride in being 
different, courageous, recognised for standing up to our northern 
neighbour," she said.

In her own experience, the revolution gives young Cubans "the infinite 
satisfaction of saying, through chattering teeth in the height of an English 
winter, 'I'm from Cuba,' and seeing the looks of amazement, surprise, 
curiosity and admiration on people's faces. Yes, admiration!"

"When you're surrounded by people from everywhere from Tibet to Greenland, 
this gives you a special sense of uniqueness. It's a reaction that only Cuba 
evokes. It puts another revolution before us," Benavides said by email from 
London.

Among critics of the government, Manuel Cuesta, spokesman for the moderate 
dissident group Arco Progresista, says that the "only solid achievement" 
over the past half century "has to do with the cycle of Cuban independence 
and sovereignty."

Cuba was subjected first by Spain and then by the United States as its 
colonial masters, and even when self-government was achieved in 1906, the 
U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and supervise its 
finances and foreign relations.

In the first half of the 20th century the country underwent several coups, 
invasions and occupations. "This historic problem was ended by the 
revolution," Cuesta told IPS.

In his view, the consensus on Cuban independence and sovereignty is 
important in order to achieve what "remains to be done" in the country, such 
as racial integration, democratisation, and progress towards "a new social 
pact," without which Cuba "will be unable to become reconciled to itself and 
move on."

This consensus is also essential given the arrival at the White House next 
week of the first U.S. president born after 1959 -- that is, during Cuba's 
revolutionary era -- and the prospect of change in the five-decade-old 
confrontation between Havana and Washington, which has imposed an economic 
embargo on the island for most of that time.

President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20, spoke of possible 
"direct diplomacy" with Cuba during his election campaign and promised, 
apparently in the even more immediate term, to eliminate restrictions on the 
sending of cash remittances to family members and on travel to Cuba by U.S. 
citizens or residents of Cuban origin.

Cuban authorities apparently perceive that a real and enduring easing of 
relations with the "ideological enemy" poses a major challenge to a society 
in which 70 percent of the population was born after the revolution, and 
many are not entirely convinced of the "evils" of capitalism.

If Obama keeps his promise, "a new stage in the ideological battle between 
the Cuban Revolution and imperialism will be born, and it will be necessary 
to design a new theoretical and propagandistic conception of our ideas and 
their origins," Armando Hart, a historic figure in the Revolution led by 
Fidel Castro, wrote in an article in the official newspaper Granma.

Hart said that up to one million Cubans and their descendants living abroad, 
as well as foreigners, might choose to visit the island, ushering in "the 
immense challenge of facing a new era in the cultural fight." He recommended 
digging deep into the writings of Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and Cuban 
independence hero Josà Martà to strengthen socialist convictions.

Similar concerns seemed to hover over the celebrations for the 50th 
anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, when President RaÃl Castro asked the 
island's future leaders not to succumb to "the enemy's siren songs," to 
remain united with the people and to learn "from history."

It is incumbent on "the historical leadership of the Revolution to prepare 
the new generations to take up the enormous responsibility of continuing to 
carry forward the revolutionary process," President Castro said in his 
speech in Santiago de Cuba, on Jan. 1.

The previous day, in an interview on Cuban television, the president 
reiterated his government's position on possible dialogue with the new U.S. 
administration. "We are willing to talk with Mr. Obama, wherever and 
whenever he decides, but under absolute equality of conditions, as equal to 
equal," said Castro, who emphasised that there would be "no unilateral 
gestures" from Cuba.

As the time for rapprochement with its neighbour nears, the Cuban government 
made strenuous efforts in 2008 to strengthen its relationships with 
traditional friends like China and Russia, to diminish tensions with the 
European Union, and to achieve definitive reintegration with Latin America 
and the Caribbean by becoming a member of the Rio Group, the main regional 
political forum. (END/2009) 


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