Cuba’s Growing Pro-Freedom Resistance Movement
Cuban Spring?
"As attention focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, where protesters have taken to the streets to demand political change, some wonder whether Cuba will follow suit. A closer look at the island, where freedom fighters wage a nonviolent struggle against a regime desperate to conceal the effectiveness such methods have met during the “Arab Spring,” reveals good news: a big story that cuts through the bleak reality of 52 years of totalitarian rule and the media noise fueled by pro-regime talking points.
The island’s growing pro-freedom Resistance, a movement of brave activists who defend Cubans’ basic liberties and fight for democracy, is making gains that are impossible to ignore. Their civic resistance actions, including increasingly bold demonstrations in highly visible public places, are garnering greater support from the man on the street. The Resistance has the courage to speak what is on the country’s mind.
Testimony from longtime activists and new video footage (featured above) making its way out of the island confirm that something new is happening: more and more, ordinary Cubans are overcoming the climate of fear created by systematic surveillance and repression, firing squad executions, political imprisonment and torture to support Resistance members who proclaim a pro-freedom message on Cuban streets. This is happening in a situation which finds Cubans at a disadvantage in comparison to conditions in some “Arab Spring” countries: Cuba is a single-party Communist state with centralized control over the economy and people’s livelihoods, the regime denies Internet access to all but a chosen elite, mobile phone penetration is very low, telephony is monitored, and all independent media is illegal."
16 Comments:
The Soviet press used to cover US repression and sometimes their criticisms were quite accurate. But the question to them is, what do they do about repression that they are responsible for? Nothing. They support that repression. Which is why we dismiss their criticism with contempt.
Here's what our government does. When Al Jazeera shows images of war, which does not serve our government's propagandistic purposes, we just bomb their offices and drive them out of Baghdad. When a moderate progressive tries to run a newspaper in El Salvador, which was a US client state, he was dragged into the streets and hacked to death with machetes by US death squads. Well, that we don't notice.
But when Cuba limits freedom of expression in the face of a 50 years terrorist war perpetuated against them by the United States, including the bombing of a civilian airliner, biological warfare which destroys their crops, livestock, and kills their people, roving bandits that machine gun people in sleepy towns, well that's outrageous. How dare the regime limit expression. They should let the CIA come in and fund anti-regime elements as in Nicaragua. Give me a break. Anybody not fully indoctrinated dismisses this criticism with scorn.
I am fine with criticism of Cuba.
But why does China always get a free pass?
China is a fascist-mercantile state, where political freedoms are becoming diminished, not increased.
The Chinese Communist Party owns a majority of voting shares in every Chinese publicly held company.
The nation follows five-year plans dictated from Beijing.
But, in right-wing circles, China=good, and Cuba=bad. Right-wing set pieces are always about Cuba, never China.
I hope for civil and commercial freedoms in Cuba and China, and the USA!
"The Soviet press used to cover US repression and sometimes their criticisms were quite accurate. "
More pathetic garbage from your typical lefto-"libertarian" Paultard. So you're telling us who LIVED under that press and under that system, that in the end of the day it was "quite accurate".
You make me want to puke just reading you writing. (and I bet you've never actually read any press reports FROM behind the Iron Curtain. You're just making it up because you read it on Wikipedia)
"But when Cuba limits freedom of expression in the face of a 50 years terrorist war perpetuated against them by the United States.."
What a load of crap. Did you get this straight out of Granma? The United States was initially pro-Castro and even helped him seize power, unfortunately. The United States turned against him when he allied with the USSR, massacred the opposition, and tried to foment other communist revolutions in Latin America. His chief executioner, Che Guevara, finally reached room temperature while trying to create another communist hellhole in Bolivia.
"Anybody not fully indoctrinated dismisses this criticism with scorn."
Oh, you're indoctrinated all right.
"The Chinese Communist Party owns a majority of voting shares in every Chinese publicly held company."
what?
where on earth did you get that insane idea?
i have done quite a bit of china investing and NEVER ONCE invested in a company with communist ownership or voting control.
i think you are confusing GSE's that were partially privatized with "public'.
"But why does China always get a free pass?"
because we owe them so much money and if they stop buying our debt we have a huge problem?
aig-
i take exception to your calling jon a libertarian.
as a libertarian, i can tell you he is nothing of the sort and that i have never heard him champion individual freedoms and responsibility. he tends to rant about evil corporations and imperialist running dogs while agitating for state intervention.
jon is a marxist/statist.
he's showing his "indoctrination" not that of others.
what on earth led you to believe he's libertarian?
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/sep/30/party-impenetrable-all-powerful/
Morgan-
This is a review of four books that ran in the NY Review of Books.
The Chinese Communist Party, somewhat cloaked through various state and other entities, has made a policy of controlling the voting shares of every public company in China.
Western investors are typically unaware of this, as you appear to be.
Good luck on your Chinese investments, and say hello to Chairman Mao for me.
Morgan-
I think you are right. China gets a free pass as it buys our debt, and has the world's best and low-cost manufacturing platform.
But civil and commercial freedom is severely limited in China by the Chinese Communist Party.
But, Cuba is bad and China is good.
Here's some repression the right wing doesn't tend to notice. One brave soul dares to talk to reporters honestly in Saudi Arabia. Why doesn't the right notice this much more severe repression? Because that's useful repression. It serves the interests of our government, which backs the Saudi dictatorship.
We only talk about repression when it is done by enemies of the state. Interestingly these are the very regimes we have the least control over. Saudi Arabia we could conceivably fix, since their regime is wholly dependent on our military aid. So we ignore the abuse we are responsible for and can fix. We focus on the abuse we aren't responsible for, but which serves our government's propaganda purposes. Next Mark will talk about how Hugo Chavez proposed a Constitutional ammendment to extend his term. Mark will be outraged. And when Colombian union organizers are murdered at Coca-Cola bottling plants with US weaponry Mark won't notice.
I may disagree with Jon's politics, but he makes excellent points.
Both left- and right-wingers have favorite set pieces, and fit global "good guys" and "bad guys" into those set pieces.
Right now, the USA has established an Islamic narco-state in Afghanistan, where they execute people who convert to Christianity. Transparency International calls Afghanistan the most corrupt in the world.
The Taliban had eliminated opium production, but under US rule, it has has become the mainstay of the Afghan economy, and they are the globe's largest heroin producers.
US Marines guard opium fields of warlords loyal to Karzai.
We spent $1.5 trillion of taxpayer money to get this far, and we ain't out yet.
I am waiting for the right-wing outrage. Hell, I am waiting for the left-wing outrage, as Obama owns this now.
But let's boo-hoo about Cuba. Did you know that they have to wait for their free medical care in Cuba?
"Here's some repression the right wing doesn't tend to notice"...
Says who jon?
I've seen the subject of Khaled come up on several 'right wing' blog sites since the end of March...
The real question is why the left wing politicos haven't brought it up...
All these leftist politicos were bending over backward for middle eastern terrorists just a few years ago...
Jon,
"And when Colombian union organizers are murdered at Coca-Cola bottling plants with US weaponry Mark won't notice."
So much garbage spilling over into so many directions...I bet you think the FARC and ELN are "peoples' armies," don't you, Jon?
"When a moderate progressive tries to run a newspaper in El Salvador, which was a US client state, he was dragged into the streets and hacked to death with machetes by US death squad." -- Jon
U.S. death squad? Jon isn't just a "marxist/statist", he's a psychotic.
Jon,
I think that it is wrong for you to have to live in such an evil country. So, I am offering to pay for your relocation to the people's paradise of Cuba. All that you will have to do is surrender your U.S. passport and renounce your U.S. citizenship and the real freedom you seek can be yours. Deal?
Yeah, that's a tough one Che. I could either move to a country that routinely has biological weapons dumped on it, that has a harsh embargo that prevents it from getting basic medicines, that is routinely bombed by terrorists living in Miami and protected by the US government, all with a government that responds to this violence with repression. Or I could stay in the richest country in the world and live in absolute peace, where there's basically no outside threats, and I'm free to say whatever I want. I can't decide.
" I could either move to a country that routinely has biological weapons dumped on it, that has a harsh embargo that prevents it from getting basic medicines, that is routinely bombed by terrorists living in Miami and protected by the US government"...
Hey Jon, is that a new ride at Disney World?
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