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THE HATEFUL TYRANNY IMPOSED ON THE
WORLD
Our times are characterized by an unprecedented event: the threat to
the survival of the human species imposed on the world by
imperialism.
The painful reality should not come as a surprise to anyone. It
could be seen rapidly advancing in the past few decades, at such a
pace as it is hard to imagine.
Does it mean that Obama is the promoter of this threat or that he is
responsible for it? No, it simply shows that he ignores reality and
that he neither wants to go beyond it nor could he. He’d rather
dream of unreal things in an unreal world. As a brilliant poet put
it: “Ideas with no words; words with no meaning.”
Even though American author Gay Talese, who’s considered one of the
main representatives of the new journalism, assured on May 5 –as
reported by a European press agency—that Barack Obama embodies the
best of the US history in the past century, an opinion that could be
partly shared, that does not change the objective reality of human
fate.
Such developments as the recent environmental disaster in the Gulf
of Mexico show how little the governments can do against those in
control of capital. These are the ones who, both in the United
States and in Europe, through the economy of our globalized planet
decide the fate of the peoples. Let’s take as an example the
measures taken by the US Congress itself, and published by the
mainstream media from that country and from Europe, as they have
been disseminated via Internet, word for word.
“Radio and TV Marti lie in their broadcasts of baseless information,
admits a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee report recommending
that both stations are definitely transferred from Miami to
Washington to be “fully” integrated to the Voice of America
propaganda machinery.
“In addition to deceiving its audience” […] “both stations use ‘an
offensive and inflammatory language’ that disqualifies them.
“After 18 years, Radio and TV Marti have failed ‘to make sensitive
inroads in the Cuban society or to influence the Cuban government’…
“The report made public this Monday recommends merging the Office of
Cuba Broadcasts (OCB) with the Voice of America, the official US
government propaganda radio station.
“’Problems associated with disrespect for traditional journalistic
rules, a minimum audience, radio interference by the Cuban
government and allegations of nepotism and cronyism have plagued the
program from the beginning,’ concedes the Committee chaired by
Democratic Senator John Kerry.
“The Committee recommends to urgently taking the two stations out of
Miami underlining the necessity to balance the hiring of personnel
to turn out a non-politicized and professional ‘product,’ the
senators say.
“The Kerry report makes reference to Alberto Mascaro, a nephew of
the wife of Pedro Roig, Director General of Radio and TV Marti, who
was hired thanks to his family connection and appointed director of
the Latin American services of the Voice of America.
“The document offers a detailed account of how on February 2007, the
former director of the TV Marti programming, ‘alongside a relative
who is a member of Congress,’ have confessed to a federal court
having received nearly $112,000 in illegal commissions from an OCB
contractor.
The former OCB employee was sentenced to 27 months in jail and a
$5,000 fine for stashing ‘50% of all the money paid by TV Marti for
the production of programs by the Perfect Image firm.’
This is as far the article goes that is signed by Jean Guy Allard
and published by the Telesur web site.
Another article by US professors Paul Drain and Michele Barry from
the Stanford University (California) and reproduced in the Rebelion
web site goes as follows:
“The US blockade on Cuba proclaimed after Fidel Castro’s revolution
ousted Batista’s regime is 50 years old this 2010. Its stated
objective has been to help the Cuban people to attain democracy but
a US Senate report from 2009 concluded that ‘the unilateral blockade
on Cuba has failed.’
“…Despite the blockade, Cuba has achieved better healthcare results
than most Latin American countries and comparable with those of most
of the developed nations. Cuba’s average life expectancy is the
highest (78.6 years) and it also has the highest density of medical
doctors per capita –59 doctors to 10,000 people--, and the lowest
mortality rate for children under one year of age (5.0 per 1,000
life births) and infant mortality (7.0 per 1,000 life births) among
the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
“In 2006, the Cuban government allocated about $355 per capita for
healthcare” […] “The annual healthcare cost assigned to an American
citizen that same year was $6,714 […] Cuba also assigned less funds
to healthcare than most of the European countries. But, the low
costs of healthcare do not explain Cuba’s successes which could be
attributed to a greater emphasis on prevention and primary care that
the island has been cultivating during the American commercial
blockade.
“Cuba has one of the most advanced primary care systems of the
world. The education of its population in disease prevention and
healthcare promotion has made the Cubans less dependent from medical
products to keep the population healthy. The opposite happens in the
United States which depends highly on medical provisions and
technologies to keep its population healthy but at very high
economic costs.
“Cuba has the highest rates of vaccination in the world as well as
the highest number of baby deliveries assisted by expert healthcare
workers. The clinical care provided in doctors’ offices, policlinics
and the largest regional and national hospitals are free of charge
for patients…
“On March 2010, the US Congress introduced a bill to strengthen the
healthcare systems and increase the number of healthcare experts
sent to developing countries” […] “Cuba continues sending doctors to
work in some of the poorest nations on the planet, something it
started doing in 1961.
“Given the recent support to a healthcare reform in the United
States, the possibility exists lo learn from Cuba some good lessons
on how to develop a really universal healthcare system with an
emphasis on primary care. The adoption of some of Cuba’s most
successful healthcare policies could be a first step toward the
normalization of relations. The US Congress could instruct the
Medicine Institute to study the successes of Cuba’s healthcare
system and how to
start a new era of cooperation between American and Cuban
scientists.”
On the order hand, the Tribuna Latina web site recently ran an
article on the new Immigration Law in Arizona:
“According to a survey made public by the CBS network and The New
York Times, 51% of the people feel that the Law is the right way to
approach immigration while 9% feels it should go further on the
matter. On the other hand, 36% feel that they have gone ‘too far’ in
Arizona.
“…two out of three republicans support the measure” […] “while only
38% of democrats are in favor of said Law…
“On the other hand, one out of two
recognizes that it is ‘very likely’ that as a result of this rule
‘certain racial or ethnic groups are arrested more frequently than
others’ and 78% admits that it will bring and additional burden on
the law enforcement agents.
“Likewise, 70% feel that it is likely that as a result of the
measure the number of illegal residents and the arrival of new
immigrants in the country may be reduced…”
On Thursday May 6, 2010, an article was published in Argenpress
signed by journalist Vicky Pelaez under the heading “Arizona: A
Nobody with Airs,” that starts with a phrase from Frabklin D.
Roosevelt who said: “Remember, always remember, that we are all
descendants of immigrants and revolutionaries.”
It is such a well drafted document that I don’t want to conclude
this Reflection without its inclusion.
“The massive marches of this May Day repudiating the infamous
anti-immigrant legislation passed in Arizona have shaken the entire
United States. Simultaneously, thousands of Americans, politicians,
lawyers, artists, and civic organizations demanded from the federal
government to declare unconstitutional the SB1070 Act which bears
similarities with laws passed by Nazi Germany and by South Africa
under the apartheid regime.
“However, despite the strong pressure against the infamous
legislation, neither the State government nor 70% of the people
there want to accept the seriousness of the situation they have
created to use the undocumented migrants as culprits of the severe
economic crisis they are enduring. They are radicalizing their
racist policy while asking money from Barack Obama to pay for 15,000
law enforcement agents. Governor Jan Brewer has stated that ‘illegal
immigration leads to higher criminality and the emergence of
terrorism in the State.’
“Equaling undocumented migrants to terrorists entitles the police to
shoot at people not only for the color of their skin, the clothing
they wear, what they carry in their hands o even for the way they
walk. This will no doubt also affect the 280,000 Native Americans
living marginalized and in dire poverty as well as other minorities
in addition to the Hispanics who found refuge and a job in that arid
zone of the United States.
“Following in the steps of Republican Pat Buchanan who says that
‘the United States should launch a stronger crusade for the
liberation of America from the savage hordes of foreign needy
carrying exotic diseases,’ Governor Brewer, after charging on the
undocumented day laborers, construction workers, house maids,
gardeners, and janitors has channeled her campaign against teachers
of Hispanic descent.
“According to her new decree, the teachers with a marked accent will
not be allowed to teach in schools. But her crusade does not end
there since all throughout history ‘ethnic cleansing’ has always
been accompanied by ideology. As from now, ‘ethnic studies and
projects’ are no longer permitted in schools. They are also
forbidding the teaching of such issues as may promote resentment
toward any race or social class. This implies politicizing knowledge
and turning into a reality the myths created by the American system.
It also means banishing
highly respected American thinkers like Alexis de Tocqueville who
said in 1835 that ‘the place where an Anglo-American sets his boot
is forever his. The province of Texas still belongs to Mexicans but
soon there will not be a Mexican there. And the same will happen
anywhere else.’
“The only conscience known to the racists is hatred and the only
weapon to beat it is solidarity among human beings. This State was
already defeated when it refused to consider Martin Luther King’s
day a holiday and the boycott was strong and resounding…”
Fidel Castro Ruz
May 7, 2010
6:15 PM
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