Reflections by comrade Fidel
THE
Barack Obama is a
zealous believer in the imperialist capitalist system imposed by the
Some
events hurt the sensitivity of the world public which
sympathized with the victory of the African-American over the far-right
candidate in that country. On the basis of one of the deepest
economic crises the world has known, and on the pain brought on by the young Americans
who lost their lives or were injured or maimed in the genocidal wars of
conquest unleashed by his predecessor, he won with the vote of the majority of
the 50% of Americans who cast a vote in that democratic nation.
Out
of an elementary sense of ethic, Obama should have
refrained from accepting the Nobel Peace Prize when he had already decided on
sending forty thousand troops to an absurd war in the heart of
The
warmongering policy and the plundering of natural resources, as well as the
unequal terms of trade of the current administration toward the poor countries
of the Third World are no different from those of his predecessors, most of
them from the far-right, --with few exceptions—throughout the past century.
The
antidemocratic document imposed at the Copenhagen Summit on the international
community, which had given credit to his promise to cooperate in the struggle
against climate change, was another one of those events that disappointed many
people around the world. The
The
list of contradictions would be endless between the ideas defended by the Cuban
nation for five decades with great sacrifices and the selfish policies of that
colossal empire.
Still,
we don’t feel any animosity toward Obama,
much less toward the American people. We feel that the Healthcare Reform has
been a significant battle and a success of his administration. However, it is really amazing that 234 years after the Declaration
of Independence proclaimed in Philadelphia in the year 1776, which drew
inspiration from the ideas of the great French encyclopedists,
the government of that country has approved medical care for the overwhelming
majority of its citizens, something that Cuba accomplished for its entire
population half a century ago despite the cruel and inhuman blockade imposed --and
still in force-- by the mightiest
country that has ever existed. In the past, it was only after almost a
century of independence and following a bloody war, that Abraham Lincoln could
obtain the legal emancipation of the slaves.
On
the other hand, I can’t help but think of a world where over one-third of the
population have no access to medical care or the basic medicines required to
ensure health. And
this situation will be aggravated as climate change, and water and food
shortage worsen in a globalized world where the
population grows, the forests disappear, the arable land decreases, the air is
more polluted, and the human species inhabiting it –which emerged less than 200
thousand years back, that is, 3.5 billion years after the first forms of life
on the planet—is running the real risk of annihilation.
Even conceding that the Health Reform comes as a success to the Obama administration, the current President of the United
States cannot ignore that climate change poses a threat to health, and worse
still, to the very existence of every nation in the world, as the rise in
temperature –beyond critical limits which are already in sight—melts down the
water of the glaciers, and the tens of millions of cubic meters contained in
the enormous ice caps of the Antarctic, Greenland and Siberia melt down within
a few decades leaving under water every port facility in the world and lands
where a large part of the world population lives, works and eats today.
Obama, the leaders of the wealthy nations and their allies,
as well as their scientists and sophisticated research centers are aware of
this; they cannot ignore it.
I
understand the satisfaction expressed in the presidential speech and his
recognition of the contribution made by the members of Congress and the
administration to make possible the miracle of the Health Reform, which
strengthens the government’s position vis-à-vis political lobbyists and
mercenaries that curtail the authority of the administration. It would be worse
if those responsible for tortures, murders on contract and genocide were in
charge of the
In the aftermath of his success in this battle for the right of
every American to healthcare, 12 million immigrants, most of them Latin
American, Haitian and from other Caribbean countries are demanding the
legalization of their presence in the United States where they do the hardest work
and the American society cannot do without them, but where they are arrested,
separated from their families and sent back to their countries.
The
overwhelming majority migrated to
The devastating earthquake that battered Haiti –the poorest nation
in Latin America, hammered by an unprecedented natural catastrophe that took
the lives of more than 200 thousand people—and the terrible economic damage
that a similar phenomenon brought on Chile are eloquent proof of the dangers looming
over the so-called civilization and of the need for dramatic measures that can
give the human species the hope to survive.
The
Cold War failed to benefit the people of the world. The huge economic,
technological and scientific power of the
As
an African-American, he suffered the offense of discrimination, according to
his own narrative in the book “Dreams From My Father.”
He was acquainted with the poverty of tens of millions of Americans; educated in
that country and as a successful professional he has enjoyed
the privileges of the rich middle class and ended up idealizing the social
system where the economic crisis, the lives of Americans uselessly sacrificed and
his undisputable political talent gave him political victory.
Yet,
to the most intractable right-wing Obama
is an extremist; and they threaten to continue fighting in the Senate to
neutralize the effects of the Health Reform and to openly boycott it in several
States of the
The
problems of our times are much more serious.
The
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other international financial
institutions strictly controlled by the
The
United States Federal Reserve capriciously mints the hard currency that pays
for the wars of conquest, the profits of the Military Industrial Complex, the
military bases distributed around the world, and the large investments used by
the transnational companies to control the economy of many countries worldwide.
Nixon unilaterally suspended the gold standard while the vaults of the
Anyone
understands that such a system is unsustainable and also
why the wealthiest sectors in the
Today,
the structure is crumbling with the accelerated advance of climate change and
its disastrous consequences which are placing humanity
face to face with an exceptional dilemma.
The
wars between powers seem no longer a possible solution to the great
contradictions as they were until the second half of the 20th
century. Still, they have had such an impact on the elements that make human
survival possible, that they could prematurely put an end to the existence of
the current intelligent species that populates our planet.
A few days ago I expressed my firm belief that, in light of the
scientific knowledge prevailing today, the human beings will have to solve
their problems on planet Earth since they will never be able to cover the
distance separating the Sun from its closest star located four light-years away,
–one light-year equals 187,500 miles per second, as our high school students
know—provided a planet similar to our beautiful Earth existed around that sun.
The
The
new laws of science –following Einstein’s formulas on energy and matter, and
the big-bang theory as the origin of the millions of constellations and infinite
stars and/or other theories—have given rise to deep changes in such basic
concepts as space and time, which draw the attention of and are subjected to
analysis by theologians. One of them, our Brazilian friend Friar Betto, deals with the subject in his book “The Work of the
Artist: A Holistic Vision of Universe,” presented in the recent International
Book Fair held in
The
advancement of science in the past one hundred years has had an impact on the
traditional approaches that prevailed through thousands of years in social
sciences and even in Philosophy and Theology.
The
most honest thinkers are paying significant attention to the new knowledge but
we know absolutely nothing of how President Obama
feels about the compatibility of consumer societies with science.
In the meantime, it is worthwhile meditating about these subjects
now and then; this will certainly not prevent human beings from dreaming and
from taking things with due serenity and steely nerves, but it is the duty of at
least those who chose to become politicians and who sustain the noble and unwavering
objective of a human society where justice and solidarity prevail.
Fidel Castro Ruz