Re: [Marxism] Cuban spy: Watching the evening news is a radicalizing experience"

[Bhaskar Sunkara <bhaskar.sunkara@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm with out a doubt far more critical of the Cuban government and more
skeptical about the class nature of its revolution than others on this list,
but I think that Ana Montes deserves a place in the history of American
radicalism.
**
*This is the statement read in federal court Wednesday by Ana Belen Montes,
who received a 25-year jail sentence for a 16-year spying career for Cuba.
Before her arrest in September 2001, Montes was the senior Cuba analyst at
the Defense Intelligence Agency.*


"An Italian proverb perhaps best describes the fundamental truth I believe
in: `All the world is one country.' In such a 'world-country,' the principle
of loving one's neighbor as much as oneself seems, to me, to be the
essential guide to harmonious relations between all of our
''nation-neighborhoods.'' This principle urges tolerance and understanding
for the different ways of others. It asks that we treat other nations the
way we wish to be treated -- with respect and compassion. It is a principle
that, tragically, I believe we have never applied to Cuba.

"Your honor, I engaged in the activity that brought me before you because I
obeyed my conscience rather than the law. I believe our government's policy
towards Cuba is cruel and unfair, profoundly unneighborly, and I felt
morally obligated to help the island defend itself from our efforts to
impose our values and our political system on it. We have displayed
intolerance and contempt towards Cuba for most of the last four decades. We
have never respected Cuba's right to make its own journey towards its own
ideals of equality and justice. I do not understand why we must continue to
dictate how the Cubans should select their leaders, who their leaders cannot
be, and what laws are appropriate in their land. Why can't we let Cuba
pursue its own internal journey, as the United States has been doing for
over two centuries?

"My way of responding to our Cuba policy may have been morally wrong.
Perhaps Cuba's right to exist free of political and economic coercion did
not justify giving the island classified information to help it defend
itself. I can only say that I did what I thought right to counter a grave
injustice.

"My greatest desire is to see amicable relations emerge between the United
States and Cuba. I hope my case in some way will encourage our government to
abandon its hostility towards Cuba and to work with Havana in a spirit of
tolerance, mutual respect, and understanding. Today we see more clearly than
ever that intolerance and hatred -- by individuals or governments -- spread
only pain and suffering. I hope for a U.S. policy that is based instead on
neighborly love, a policy that recognizes that Cuba, like any nation, wants
to be treated with dignity and not with contempt. Such a policy would bring
our government back in harmony with the compassion and generosity of the
American people. It would allow Cubans and Americans to learn from and share
with each other. It would enable Cuba to drop its defensive measures and
experiment more easily with changes. And it would permit the two neighbors
to work together and with other nations to promote tolerance and cooperation
in our one `world-country,' in our only 'world-homeland.'
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu