REBELION: A View from the Basque Country - "Tired of Cuba"

[magbana]

REBELION

A View from the Basque Country
Tired of Cuba
by Jose Mari Pastor

http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2303.html
A CubaNews translation from Spanish to English by Giselle Gil.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

I admit it I’m tired of having Cuba, and only Cuba, as a permanent discussion topic. I’m especially tired of the falseness of my countrymen who criticize Cuba invoking human rights. Their behavior was again evident in the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

I know something about Cuban reality and not precisely from a tourist point of view. During my trips to Cuba I have lived very exciting experiences and also some frustrating ones. I’ve had to wait hours in a police station in Cienfuegos because I held the gaze of a Cuban policeman. I’ve also had several problems with their bureaucracy. Nevertheless, I do not say the system should be overthrown. Why should I? Does anybody claim the king of Spain should be judged when international news services denounce torture here? Do we ask that the Basque government be annulled when after 30 years of autonomy they cannot make policemen realize that speaking in Eusquera is no crime? When they threaten and mistreat people for using it? No, we don’t. Do Cubans ask us to change our political system based on that? No, so, who are we to demand it of them?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 has 30 articles. To tell the truth, all 30 articles are not respected anywhere, certainly not here. The first one says “all human beings are born equal, with respect to their dignity and rights”. All lies. Some human beings are born freer in fancy private “Opus Dei” clinics and other die freer in modern hospital rooms in Houston, which they paid for out of their own pockets. Others, however, are born and die in public hospitals soon to be privatized.

Those who say that there is no political freedom in Cuba should also say that there is none here either. Or should we say we have freedom, but within the system, just like there. Anything can be defended and developed, as long as those in power agree to it, or as long as it doesn’t subvert the base of the system. In Cuba, the base is state owned means of production, in the name of Marxism. Here, the base is private owned means of production, in the name of Capitalism. These are the limits, whether you have one party or many.

Free market fundamentalists turn basic human rights into business. So, they cannot admit a system that doesn’t turn health and education rights into business, that doesn’t allow these services to be in private hands. Because they are classists, they think it is insulting to have a minister’s son and a guajiro’s daughter in the same classroom. The mere thought of it makes them vomit.

Many market fundamentalists who criticize Cuba wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice a poor child from Brazil, Nigeria or Pakistan once a month in the altar of liberalism and market their intestines if their shares had a 100% rise in the stock market. After all, if they don’t die now, those no goods will die in 5 or 10 years from hunger, sickness or crime. Right?

Those who say that Cuba is a police state should admit that Europe is a giant police state. In the Basque Country you can be put in jail if you profess certain ideas. Here, you can go to jail for having a cappuccino every Friday at the bar of the ex-wife of a friend of a friend. This is the kind of argument they use to place under suspicion some of the candidates listed in the abertzale: the bars they socialize in. This appeared in the press this week.

Furthermore, as far as I know, Cuba doesn’t deny anyone the right to food, health or education –that is, the basic rights of the socialist revolution- for not shouting Patria o Muerte! Or even less for not saying, “Miami ‘worms’ are all terrorists and should be put in jail”. Here, however, one is denied the right to be a political citizen, the right to be voted or to vote any political option that one wants – that is, the most fundamental right of democracy – if you don’t say what the power wants to hear. Here one is denied the very right to say no.

Here, torture is more common than in Cuba. Look at the NGO International Amnesty (IA) reports. How many torture cases does IA denounce in Cuba? How many cases does it denounce in the EU? I don’t think the situation there is worse than here, quite the contrary.

Those who say that Cubans cannot decide their future should admit that our citizens here cannot decide their own. Not even inside the limits of this socioeconomic and political system. In Spain, they revoke an autonomy statute approved by 90% of the Parliament members. Here, they threaten to put you in jail for trying a non-binding query.

Those who say there is no freedom to leave Cuba should admit that we don’t have freedom of movement here. In fact, article 13.1 of the Human Rights Declaration says that all citizens have the right to travel and to live in any place in the world. We deny that right to those who come here to improve their living conditions. Why? Apparently, because if everybody comes, our system would explode. Cuba could use the same argument to keep people from leaving. If we do it, why not them?

And finally, those who tell us to go to Cuba when we criticize their hypocrisy should admit that if you want to enforce ideological cleanliness, it’s a poor argument. It’s an ugly argument. As ugly as telling them to go to Wall Street or to London, to the cradle of the economic and parliamentary systems they love so much. They should admit it isn’t human rights what really worries them. If it were, they would also criticize many other countries in the world. But they don’t.

That’s why I’ve had it. This time I’m not defending Cuba. Cuba defends itself. The development of Cuba, one way or another, should be decided by the Cubans, by their actions and decisions. I’m not defending Cuba. I’m criticizing many hypocrite countrymen who criticize Cuba, nothing more.

Jose Mari Pastor is a journalist and professor of the Basque Country University

[Joe Chi Minh]

1. A great find!

[Mika]

2. Interesting article.

The preamble to the new Cuban constitution IS the UDHR. Every Cuban who has a copy of their constitution has the UDHR also. Why is this a point that I make? How many times have we read the RW media reports that when a so called "dissident" (actually, unregistered agents of a foreign country) is arrested for crossing the line, that one of the so called reasons they were arrested or harassed is because the authorities found a copy of the UDHR?

Well, duh. Almost every Cuban has a copy of it. Its part of the constitution. Every Cuban who's been to school (which is almost 100%) has one.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thanks for giving us a chance to see this commentary. Funny, isn't it, that when wingers run out

of charges to hurl at Cuba, when it seems their old list of accusations just doesn't get the traction they want with the world, they start dragging out wild-eyed, fuzzy-brained howlings like "Cuba gives refuge to Basque terrorists," and has backed the FARCs."
"Cuba supports international terrorism."

When they are asked to provide proof for their lunatic claims, they never have it, once you pursue it. Never did.

It's a great statement, so good to hear someone from Spain who has any awareness whatsoever on the subject addressing the issue! Thanks.