Tom Hayden: Cuba Has Stood Up to US Hegemony for 55 Years
Tom Hayden: Cuba Has Stood Up to US Hegemony for 55 Years
Wednesday, 15 April 2015 00:00
By Mark Karlin, Truthout | Interview
~ snip ~
Mark Karlin: Can you explain what you call the legacy of the superpower superiority complex in relation to Cuba?
Tom Hayden: It's the same thing as an individual's superiority complex applied to a nation-state. The sense of superiority or entitlement blinds the nation-state to its own limitations, as the US learned from the Bay of Pigs forward. It also implies that the other power, in this case Cuba, is inferior, which makes reaching a state of mutual respect impossible.
Other than some GOP presidential posturing, the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba has been met with a relatively small amount of opposition. Any ideas on why?
There will be continuous opposition, especially through the US Cuban right-wing efforts to destabilize Venezuela and cut off the oil supplied to Cuba. But opposition has waned among Cuban-American voters in Florida, who are against communism but favor travel, exchange and diplomatic relations. Also, the unity of Latin American opposition to the US policy means that better relations with the region require first going through Havana.
How can Cuba keep the conquest of US capitalism at bay once the Helms-Burton Act (boycott) is lifted - which is likely to happen within the next few years?
In my own view, realistic Cubans and realists everywhere understand that a completely state-owned economy won't improve the lives of people. The Cubans will open their tourist economy, as they have done for Canada and Europe, which brings revenue they badly need to maintain their core programs in health care and education. They will open an entrepreneurial sector where there's no direct threat to the public interest. In foreign policy, their main programs of humanitarian assistance will remain among the best in the world. All this will happen slowly and gradually. North Americans will be very happy they can use credit cards. That itself will hollow out the embargo from within.
Can you discuss a little the first part of Chapter 3 about the historical relationship to Cuba and the New Left?
I wanted to restore a memory of how significant Cuba was in the early '60s formation of the New Left. Many of your readers weren't even born. There is plenty of memory of the American civil rights movement, the student movement and the Beat Generation of the early '60s, and Cuba was a central part of the awakening. When Fidel (Castro) visited the US, for example, he drew huge crowds in both Harlem and at Harvard.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/30213-interview-cuba-has-stood-up-to-us-hegemony-for-55-years