Cuban Internationalism.

Speech to ACFS Lunch for Cuba - On Cuban Internationalism.

By George Papanastasiou. 24/7/05


Friends of Cuba, thank-you for inviting me to speak to you today on the important subject of Cuban Internationalism – one of the most remarkable aspects of Cuba’s revolution of the past 45 years. I address you as a person with a high-level formal background in what’s considered Classical, free-market economics. I understand it well. Too well, in fact. I lecture it at a tertiary level. This makes the way I think and what I will say today, sacrilegious to most of my colleagues, my students, in fact to the majority of Australians conditioned into being a-political subjects of the system.

We must first acknowledge the internationalist nature of this very gathering. Its symbolic that we find ourselves here on ancient indigenous land, as people from every background, in a Greek Welfare Centre, commemorating the 26 July Moncada attack on an Island in the Caribbean by the name of Cuba.

Around me I see comrades from a diverse range of revolutionary movements, (I wont point anyone out but I see supporters of the FMLN in El Salvador and the FSLN in Nicaragua for instance). This is internationalism, and indicative of the inspiring example that Cuba has become for the cause of social justice around the world. I count myself as a supporter of all of these groups; When the struggle is for socialism and ultimately the true individual and collective freedom that can only come from communism, I feel its my duty to lend my modest efforts, constructively and critically.

My talk today will cover four areas, first my personal and unexpected encounter with Cuban solidarity last year, second, a brief accounting of the various organised Cuban solidarity efforts around the world, including some well known and some not so well known campaigns and the issues surround them. Third a brief word on Cubas role in revolutionary fronts internationally, and some of my first-hand accounts of its influence. And lastly, some personal reflections on Cuba’s present situation and future direction.

It was early in 2004, my partner Kellie and I were on our way to working on a community garden project in the rural village of El Viejo in Nicaragua. As I remember it, we were in San Juan del Sur, a small town on the Atlantic coast when I became sick. Now I’ve been sick before when abroad, but this time I knew it was a little more serious. Strong sweats and wild temperature fluctuations meant I couldn’t eat or sleep properly. I was bed-ridden for 2 days before I realised I needed medical help.

So Kellie went to a local clinic. It seemed quite overloaded and understaffed. After I saw the doctor, he decided that I had either Malaria or Dengue fever, which is still in epidemic proportions in Nicaragua. Either way, I thought, I was stuffed. The next step in the process, according to the doctor, was to make certain I had the ability to pay for any treatment (ie. that I had health insurance) because even a simple blood test in Nicaragua can be quite expensive.

It was established that my health insurance was adequate and a blood sample was taken with the results back in about a week. Until then I was to take medicine that would help with the symptoms.

But very soon my situation deteriorated and it seemed that waiting so long for the blood results was unreasonable, so we decided to leave for Grenada, an old colonial city, in the hope of getting better medical help. I remember walking the streets the day I arrived, asking for a doctor, before being confronted by a woman pointing sternly into the distance and saying “Cubano, Cubano!”

It didn’t occur to me immediately - but the woman seemed a little batty (or maybe it was me, I don’t know) still she knew exactly where to send me. At this stage I had quite a high fever which was affecting my mental state.

So I went to the modest clinic.

Now, those who know me also know my Spanish isn’t fantastic, and in the delirious state I was in, what I said to the doctor must have been quite embarrassing. It was something along the lines of “Me-sick-you-doctor-help!” And in a flash I was being examined. It took about five minutes (and that’s no kidding) before we had a verdict. I had neither malaria nor dengue, but a kidney infection that needed immediate treatment.

Looking back on it now, at no stage was I asked for any payment or for any health insurance details. And at no stage did I feel the doctor act against my best interests. He helped me in a deliberate and selfless manner - with a skill that surprised me.

And yet, the simple medicine he prescribed was expensive. A box of the tablets cost $40US from a local pharmacy. I remember thinking how prohibitive this would be for the average Nicaraguan - almost a months wages to treat what is a common affliction in that part of the world.

And then I thought about the total cost if the doctor’s fees were also added to the final bill. Without a doubt, this would put even basic healthcare beyond the reach of the majority of Nicaraguans.

The Cuban doctor’s name was Camillo. When he helped me, like he’d helped countless others before me, he evoked an intense camaraderie, not between two socialists but between two human beings, because his motivation was only to help and not to profit from my affliction. It was a small, almost fleeting moment, an experience that, if rendered over and over again, in every sector of society, develops what’s known as Socialism.

In my opinion, for offering his services free of charge, mostly to people who desperately needed them but could least afford them, he is a hero.

This heroism, however, is what some in the United States label “slavery”. Joe Garcia is the executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami, an influential group of wealthy exiles who mindlessly oppose absolutely everything Cuba does. He says that Cuba’s volunteer professionals are (and I’ll quote) “…not people who do it out of dedication, these are people who are ordered to do it. They’re nothing but slaves of the Castro Government”.

It would seem, according to Joe, that a ‘liberated’ doctor is only one who can charge extortionist rates, own 4 houses, drive a Merc to work and have a Porsche to cruise around in on weekends. It’s incomprehensible to him, and to many others like him, that any person, of any vocation, might want to dedicate their efforts to humanity. It would require turning Adam Smith’s economic maxim of the free-market society on its head, by saying that the individual, in deliberately pursuing the interests of society, best represents his or her own interests, as a member of that society.

Joe cannot comprehend, nor maybe does he want to, that no one can force anyone to contribute their efforts in the way Cuban professionals do, the same way no-one can force anyone to study for six years to become a doctor. We mustn’t overlook the fact, that without the promise of properties and Porsche’s, Cuba has proportionately many more doctors than the United States. In fact, Cuba has THE highest doctor to patient ration in the world, one for every 200 people, compared to one for every 350 in the US. So without the lure of personal riches, a country can stimulate its citizens to astonishing heights, all by communicating the conviction that humanity counts for more than absurdity.

Over the last 30 years, 25,000 Cuban volunteer doctors have worked in more than 60 countries. Today, over 17,000 Cuban doctors are caring for patients in 65 countries, 11,000 of them in Venezuela alone. The Latin American School of Medicine near Havana has trained over 40 thousand health professionals from 123 countries, 30,000 of them from Africa, all of them free of charge, and under the sole condition that they return to their poor communities to render their services to their people. No one benefits, no-one gains, except of course, the people in those communities.

How it must embarrass the first world to know, that even with terrible economic conditions and a murderous embargo, Cuba exports more doctors to the third world than the World Health Organization itself.

In countries like Belize, Haiti, Honduras, Venezuela, Gambia, Paraguay and Equatorial Guinea, Cubans are developing Medical Schools, Cubans are fighting infant mortality, Cubans are building entire health-care programs, Cubans are repairing medical equipment and Cubans are teaching people to read.

After the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Cuba sent 1700 medical personnel to Guatemala as part of the Integral Health Program they devised for emergency assistance. Between then and 2003 these doctors saw 10,795,361 patients, saving the lives of 157,226 people. They performed 32,034 free operations in addition to organising efforts to alleviate and cure diseases such as cancer, malaria and AIDS.

Guatemala’s President at the time, Alfonso Portillo, acknowledged Cuba’s Internationalism. I’ll quote him:

“First, a recognition of that great effort by the people and government of Cuba to solve one of the greatest needs of all the peoples: Health; and second, a recognition of that internationalist solidarity that Cuba has demonstrated over the years and which I have shared all my life”… “I didn’t want to leave the Presidency without decorating this heroic brigade of Cuban doctors, an _expression of the people of Cuba, of the solidarity and the love of Cubans, of the internationalism of Cubans, without decorating it with the highest distinction of the State of Guatemala.”

Astonishingly, those Cuban professionals over a period of 5 years, single-handedly reduced the infant mortality rate in remote communities in Guatemala from 40.2 to 13.8 per thousand live births, and the maternal mortality rate from 400 to 90.9 per 100,000 births.

Currently in Haiti, 75% of all the people there are treated by Cubans. Infant mortality has been reduced from 80 to 28 deaths per 1000 live births. 90,000 lives have been saved.

But the solidarity doesn’t stop with the third world, which Cuba says exists only behind political boundaries. The impoverished, the marginalised, the dispossessed exist, of course, even within the first world. In the United States it is a fact that students from minority groups simply don’t get into medical school anywhere near as often as their majority peers – resulting in a scarcity of minority physicians. Fitz Mullan, the former head of the US National Health Services Corps said that this inequity “translates into suffering and death”.

According to the National Medical Association of the United States, there are only 23,000 doctors in practice to serve 40 million black people. That’s one doctor for every 2,000 patients. For whites, the ratio is one for every 300, giving them 6 times greater access to a health professional than blacks, because most doctors agree that people tend to get medical care from people who look like them and are more likely to relate to their own experiences.

Confronted by this stark imbalance in the belly of the wealthiest beast on the planet, Fidel decided to offer to educate and train 500 black and Hispanic doctors from the United States for free, if they were committed to serving the poor back in their own communities.

One of those students, now studying in Cuba for two years, commented he lost 26 pounds because he no longer had easy access to junk food.

If the United States were a person, these efforts to help by a poor, stunted, brutally rejected friend would shame them to the bone. Of course, it would be difficult to make such a comparison. I’d say that today, the US more closely resembles a corporation. And corporations, as we can deduce almost scientifically, are psychopaths, incapable of shame, and much more for that matter. But that topic is for another time, perhaps best suited to shocking some of my profit mad students into reality.

Cuban internationalism is not limited to healthcare. Education at basic levels is intensely supported. In just one example, 1600 Cuban educators helped the municipality of Cotacachi in Ecuador become the first area in that country to rid itself of illiteracy. It took a year. The rate dropped from 22.3% to 3.8% - Subsequently, UNESCO declared the area illiteracy free.

Cuban teachers have had similar successes teaching people to read in Haiti, Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela… the list goes on and on.

In response, the government of the United States levels serious accusations at Cuba. That its volunteers are ‘political tools’ and ‘agents’ of the ‘Castro regime’.

Are they agents? Listen to what Fidel said in response to State Department criticism of Cuban professionals in Venezuela… “They are ashamed and protest, as if it were a crime or a conspiracy to take care of millions of excluded Venezuelans – If the Cuban doctors are agents, why don’t they send agents from the United States who are capable of living where the poor do, and practicing medicine in order to save so many lives among the marginalized people in those barrios?”

As for being political tools; it is forbidden for any Cuban serving abroad to promote any political ideology. This is a very wise stance. When doctors, teachers, engineers or any workers in general, render their services selflessly for the benefit of the poor, Socialism speaks for itself as a powerful, practical, organised example of human compassion. Under these circumstances, it doesn’t need to be propagandised in order for its virtues to be convincing.

Hence, the threat posed by the international and historic importance of Cuba’s struggle for social Justice cannot be underestimated – I will tell you now, that beyond religious fanaticism, beyond the war on terror, beyond all of China, Iran and North Korea put together, Cuba stands alone in the world today as the greatest antagonist to Capitalism and its champion states, as an example of the dignity of life, of compassion and human rights. Those who dream of the “New American Century” – the neo-conservatives and the neo-liberals, mostly in the United States, know this all too well. For them, Cuba must be suffocated, and with it any semblance of a truly independent society, striving to elevate the consciousness of its people beyond that of sad, unthinking, unquestioning, over-consuming bundles of egoism.

Comrades, If we were able to measure, completely, Cuba’s contribution to liberation fronts around the world, it would seem totally disproportionate to its apparent capacity as a country. Note I said ‘apparent capacity’. Today, there is not a country in Latin America that hasn’t felt the immensity of the Cuban example. From Colombia to Brazil, Bolivia to El Salvador, militant organizations have sprouted out of the depths of their suffering people to proclaim loudly “We want what they’re having”.

I’ve travelled independently, and sometimes with the help of my University, to offer my support to some of these groups, mostly in Central America.

Late in 2001, I volunteered my skills to a militant Sandinista mayor in the town of Esteli in the north of Nicaragua, to help develop a local coffee cooperative. The extent of Cubas influence on Sandinismo wouldn’t come as a surprise to many of us here today, but to me at the time it came as a shock. It may have been the 10 odd years of revolutionary government in that country in the eighties, but I saw more pictures of Che, Fidel and Camillo, among others in that small town-Hall, than I’d remembered seeing anywhere in Cuba.

Then in 2003, I worked on a land-buy-back scheme in the state of Chiapas in Southern Mexico, invited to contribute by the Zapatista National Liberation Army. The Zapatista’s have been known for doing things differently. At no point is it obvious that Cuban influences have played any role in their conception, ideology or methodology, until that is, you get a better look from the inside. To begin with, many of the guerrilla methods employed by the EZLN in the Lancandon jungle are straight out of the Sierra Maestra.

It isn’t obvious, but the inspiration for the socialist theory espoused by the EZLN, is a mix of Maya tradition, influenced directly by examples theorised and attempted in the early years of Cuba’s revolution.

In Mexico, I understood that Cuba learnt many lessons so that others wouldn’t have to. There, I was reminded, more than once, of young Cubans singing that they wanted to be like Che. The Zapatistas, as with the Venezuelans more recently, understand that it isn’t enough to want to be like Che. We must want to be better than Che. It would mean that instead of focusing on his accomplishments, to emulate them, we focus instead on his faults, so as not to repeat them. It is a daunting thing to have to say about this giant of a man. He set the benchmark for what it means to be human around the world.

But benchmarks are there not only to be reached, but to be bettered.

I must mention now, what is perhaps Cuba’s most outstanding example of internationalism. A direct commitment to the struggle of brothers and sisters on another continent. In October 1975, the then racist South African forces launched a major invasion of Angola. On November 5, Fidel Castro responded to a request by the President of Angola, by deploying Cuban troops to that country under what became known as ‘operation Carlota’. Cuba’s involvement lasted for 15 years and culminated in the battle of Cuito Cuanavale against the US backed South African forces.

In trying to capture this small town, the South African defence Forces had committed their best troops and most sophisticated military hardware against the combined Angolan/Cuban forces. The fight that ensued as the South Africans repeatedly tried to capture the town, became the largest military engagement on the African Continent since the Battle of El Alemain in WWII.

In the end, South Africa was dealt a decisive defeat, paralysing a campaign to secure southern Africa as an area exclusively under its control. The defeat shattered the confidence of the South African military, and transformed the ratio of power in the region, quickening the end of apartheid in South Africa.

When Nelson Mandela visited Cuba as President in 1991, he made the following comments:

“The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the people of Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African independence, freedom and justice unparalleled for its principled and selfless character… We in Africa are used to being victims of countries wanting to carve up our territory or subvert our sovereignty. It is unparalleled in African history to have another people rise to the defence of one of us… The defeat of the apartheid army was an inspiration to the struggling people in South Africa! Without the defeat of Cuito Cuanavale our organizations would not have been un-banned! The defeat of the racist army at Cuito Cuanavale was a milestone in the history of the struggle for Southern African liberation! Cuito Cuanavale has been a turning point in the struggle to free the continent and our country from the scourge of apartheid! The decisive defeat of Cuito Cuanavale altered the balance of forces within the region and substantially reduced the capacity of Pretoria to destabilise its neighbours. This in combination with our peoples struggle within the country, was crucial in bringing Pretoria to realise it would have to talk.”

At a 1995 conference in Johannesburg, Mandela added:

“As South Africans, we are deeply indebted to the Cuban people for the selfless contribution they made to the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle in our region” “[They] came [here] as doctors, teachers, soldiers, agricultural experts but never as colonizers. They have shared the same trenches as us in the struggle against colonialism, underdevelopment and apartheid. Hundreds of Cubans have given their lives, literally, in a struggle that was, first and foremost, not theirs but ours. As Southern Africans we salute them. We vow never to forget this unparalleled example of selfless internationalism.

“We wish also to record our indebtedness to Cuban hospitality. In particular, tens of thousands of young Southern Africans have been trained, and some are still training, in Cuban schools and universities. Today, in many different fields – in the health sector, in government and in the army – there are many young professionals contributing to the development of our country, who owe their skills to the generous training provided to them by Cuba”

“The [majority of South Africans] reject the notion that Cuba should be starved into ideological submission.

“Many people, many countries, including many powerful countries, have called upon us to condemn the suppression of human rights in Cuba. We have reminded them, they have a short memory.

“For when we battled against apartheid, against racial oppression, these same people and countries were supporting the apartheid regime. A regime that represented only 14% of the population, while the overwhelming majority of the people of the country had no rights whatsoever. They supported the apartheid regime. And we fought successfully against that regime with the support of Cuba and other progressive countries.

“They now want to be our only friends, and dare to ask us to renounce those people who made our victory possible. That is the greatest contempt for the morality and the principles which are the basis of our relations, not only with the various population groups in this country, but with the entire world.

“let me assure you that the great majority of South Africans will never forget those who stood by us in the darkest years of our struggle against apartheid.”

It’s precisely this, friends and comrades, that the powerful forces fear most. An internationalism that unites movements and peoples across continents, against the madness of private enterprise and its global recklessness.

Today, Cuba continues to play the role of International defender of human rights almost exclusively, expressing its concern on the present world economic and political order at international gatherings - from the UN General Assembly to conferences on racism, under-development, environmental degradation, poverty, health, democracy and more – voicing publicly what will not, or is unable to be stated for fear of retribution.


Comrades, I’ll now move to some personal observations.

I must voice my concerns on what is a controversial subject in Cuba and around the world.

The death penalty, sanctioned by the state, is an abomination. It is our duty, as progressives, as revolutionaries, never to forget this and to continue to fight to end it. To date, I have not encountered an argument, by anyone, inside or outside Cuba, that convinces me of its absolute necessity in that country, or in any country for that matter. Cuban government officials have stated they oppose the death penalty on principle. Fidel Castro himself has said “We are moving towards a future in our country when we might be able to abolish the death penalty, not simply on philosophical grounds, but out of profound feelings of justice and humanism”.

And yet, the death penalty remains. The arguments that keep it there centre around it being an unfortunate necessity to the unceasing efforts of the US to destroy the Cuban Revolution. I would argue that instead of helping, capital punishment is a hindrance to Cuba. It would win Cuba many more friends internationally and satisfy those within Cuba who want it gone, if the government were to, in the words of Cuba’s Supreme Court President, (Ruben Remigio-Ferro) condemn the death penalty, to death.

And now, comrades, I’ll have to ask you to brace yourselves. For what I’m about to say may shock you. It even shocks me in a way, but I’m sure that in your company, any vibrant discussion on the way forward for Cuba is welcome. I am of the opinion that under the current circumstances, and in the best interests of a Socialist Cuba, Fidel Castro should retire as President. I’ll now elaborate and encourage you to discuss this issue among yourselves and with me after I speak.

Too often I hear people say, who haven’t visited Cuba, that they need to get there before Fidel dies. As if, once he’s gone, Cuba will somehow abandon its revolution and join the capitalist world in full swing. Of course, we know Cuba’s revolution is not just one man, or even a group of people in Cuba’s government. Cuba’s revolution is deeply entrenched in the consciousness of its people who’s convictions would be difficult to change.

But the almost expected notion in the first world that political direction will naturally change after Fidel, is an opportunity for those in Miami and the ruling elite in the US to implement destabilising plans. We cannot assume such plans don’t exist. Fidel’s passing, whilst in full control, has the potential to be one of the most uncertain and vulnerable moments of the revolution, and it would be certain that there are interests out there who wait, impatiently, with plans a ready, to capitalise, literally, on such an event.

So what would take the wind out of the sails of these counter-revolutionaries? What would wreck their plans of destabilising Cuba at a vulnerable moment? What would allow Cuba to progress smoothly to new leadership? To transition at the highest level under the very guidance of Fidel?

If a legitimate leader, supported by the people, was already in place for a given period before Fidel passed on, there would be very little confusion when he did.

Certainly, it doesn’t have to be that Fidel relieves himself of Presidential work completely (or even partially for that matter, if you know what I mean). It may even be, and in some aspects this rings true, that in Cuba’s recent political renovations, where younger blood has been nurtured into influence, a process of leadership change is already underway with the final step ending with Fidel. But Cuba shouldn’t take any chances with the revolution by potentially leaving it too late. Fidel is not young anymore, and he is certainly not immortal.

Hopefully, there are such plans in the pipe-works. And barring that, other plans that could be as potent in preserving Cuba’s very human struggle, beyond Fidel.

As for me, I believe that Fidel is probably the most benevolent and visionary leader that has ever lived. I’m reminded of Jean Paul Sartre’s comments on Che Guevara. He said Che was the most complete human being of his time. I would say that Fidel is the most accomplished, most internationally respected and most dedicated human being of his time. Complete in ways Che was never able to be, because of his untimely end.



Comrades, I’ll now finish by talking about two important words. Words who’s meanings we must reclaim. The first is Freedom. The second is Democracy. They have been usurped and perverted to the point of philosophical nothingness. I don’t know how much longer I can listen to John Howard, George Bush or Tony Blair defend their crimes by evoking ‘freedom’ or the ‘freedom loving people of the world’ and the spreading of ‘democracy’.

Friends, Comrades, we must never forget. What we believe in is freedom, that is, the freedom of the individual to develop him or herself as a compassionate human being. What we believe in is democracy, that is, an educated, politically aware population participating effectively in governing themselves. And what actually exists in this country, as in the United States and the majority of the world today are plutocracies, governments by and for, quite simply, the rich. What actually exists is a single freedom to buy and sell, to basically exploit, our labour and that of others, in exchange for money. And then the freedom to use that money to purchase freedoms as products – like the freedom to travel, the freedom to eat, the freedom to shelter, the freedom to communicate, the freedom to receive healthcare, the freedom to be dispensed equal justice, the freedom to an education or the freedom to own a Ferrari and stage delusional concerts in the name of starving Africans in order to sooth our own pathetic guilt.

And there’s one more word we must reclaim comrades, Communism - condemned, dragged through the mud, demonised as it has been. In this society, saying you’re a Communist is akin to saying you’re a Satanist. Because no-one can ever hope to objectively analyse Satan – and being branded ‘evil’ is analysis enough. In some ways this is due to something extremely unfortunate (which is a bit of an understatement really) that throughout history, vicious thugs have committed terrible crimes in the name of communism.

Comrades, none of them, none of them, ever knew what Communism is. Their acts have left people like us struggling to defend the noblest of ideals, against the opponents of humanity, who’s instinctual ideology should be indefensible… against our alienation from ourselves and others, against an ultra-individualism that is sustained at the expense of all life on the planet.

We resort to weird justifications for our beliefs, having to call ourselves ‘libertarian communists’ among other things. I put it to you, that to be libertarian and to be communist are the same thing. In fact, to be anarchist and to be communist are the same thing. To be feminist and to be communist are the same thing. To be humanist and environmentalist and more…

To me, communism is a concerted effort, on behalf of the individual as a social human being, to elevate his or her consciousness to a higher level. And what is higher consciousness? An individuals assention to altruism. Or to put it another way, an individuals acceptance of compassion, and the beautiful expressions that follow on from that.

Comrades, I am one of those people who respects a leader who dares commit, honestly, to these noblest of ideals. Yet, who dares walk round, every day, with a reminder on his face of his as yet unfulfilled promise to deliver them through good government. Its Fidel’s beard and unless you haven’t noticed, its still there.

I am one of those people who notices the red-and-black background of the star on a leaders shoulder, and is reminded of its anarchist, indigenous, truly egalitarian, internationalist and humanist roots – of its commitment to true liberty with the ultimate end of the state.

These ideas remain ever present in my mind. They are the conditions upon which I’ll lend my support to a people, to a movement and to a leader. These ideas are also shared by, dare I say it, all of us in this room and many around the world.

These same ideas, comrades, that need to be declared dead, again and again and again.

Why?

I put it to you, that for as long as there are poor, illiterate, exploited and oppressed, hungry and sick people on Earth, these ideas, shared and defended internationally by Cuba, will remain indestructible and will continue to resonate in other peoples and leaders.

The true secret of Cuba’s longevity, of its commitment to its ideas – has been its internationalism.

I stand before you today in reason, in progress and above all, in peace.

Hasta la victoria Siempre!

Venceremos!