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Cuban Film Festival in Bradford - 50th Anniversary

Cliche Guevara | 20.12.2008 18:49 | Education | Other Press | Social Struggles

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Cliche Guevara

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of a totalitarian dictatorship that allows no free press, no free speech, no free trade unions, no access to the internet, no free elections, no political parties except for the communist party and imprisons thousands of people as political prisoners for daring to criticise the regime.

There's nothing to celebrate about Cuba's last half century.

Pete

50 Years

24.12.2008 17:02

Pete, if it hadn't have been for US intransigence in refusing the acknowledge that Cuba's socialist revolutionary intent the dictatorship of the proletariat would have ended quite quickly. I was there last year and spoke to people. Castro was no vicious dictator, rather someone trying to do his best for his people.

Gary

to Gary

26.12.2008 07:48

Sounds great Gary, but did you visit the prisons? Did you speak to any of the families of the anarchists who 'disappeared'?

human rights watch

To Human Rights Watch

27.12.2008 16:36

No, I didn't. But then again I have never visited the families of the number of prisoners who have/are held in our prisons without charge or trial.

It's not a perfect country by a long chalk but that is where the odd dichotamy arose. Although leader of the party Fidel didn't always agree with the legislative board. He was against internment and personally against the death penalty yet the party kept voting to keep both these things. The very fact that he wasn't a dictator meant that the processes he was accused of being dictatorial over remain in place.

Gary

thanks Gary

28.12.2008 13:34

Thanks for answering Gary: I am better informed for your response.

I would certainly agree that all nation states are culpable of abusing Human Rights, and wouldn't want to imply that any other state (eg. UK) is virtuous in this regard.

The thing that matters to me is that if even such a well-intentioned socialist revolution as Cuba's can end up doing so many bad things, surely we must realise that these problems are inherent to all states? And that as long as we continue to live in nation states, these kind of problems will continue?

For me, that is a strong argument for looking to forms of social organisation and community that don't rely on the state or better still, make the state an irrelevance.

human rights watch

Response

28.12.2008 15:14

Most people who regularly attend the 1 in 12 Club, I would consider as Libertarian Anarchists, and thus are naturally opposed to nation states. However, in the real world, they exist during this epoch of history.

This event is not necessarily an uncritical look at the Cuban Revolution. Yet, the purpose of the event is to celebrate the good things done by the revolution, something which many democratic nation states could learn a thing or two from. The films are there for information purposes.

Cliche Guevara

To Human Rights Watch

28.12.2008 20:35

I agree with what you say in regards to nation states. It is true that whilst we have nation states we will fall foul of the hegemonic legislative or dictatorial control that this method of government brings.

Although not an anarchist myself I do agree with much of the writing of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin on this matter.

I also believe in a lot of the writings of Gerard Winstanley during the English Civil War. I would not defend Cuba's human rights record but neither would I cite it as being anywhere near as terrible as that of the USA and other major developed countrys.

Gary

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