But in capitalist systems the bottom lives better than the entire pyramid under communism. When the rich get rich under capitalism, the poor do too. Capitalism has lifted 4 billion from poverty in my less than 4 decades on Earth. Conversely, communism has killed 100 million in 100 years, and a majority of the population those living under communism struggle for adequate food. Stop focusing on the few people neither you nor I will ever be in any societal system. Look around and be grateful for the system we live under that provides a better life for the vast majority than our great-grandparents could have ever dreamed of.
Ok but is China a Capitalist Country? In bed with us ? I believe in Capitalism but “Crony” capitalism is just greedy and overpowering to free enterprise
China is Crony capitalism. While it's economic system isn't as dysfunctional as a full socialist system, it's still dysfunctional (and that's before you consider the massive amount of slave labor). Our proxy rules for US based mega corp boards also represent crony capitalism. We aren't as bad as China or Russia yet, but we get closer by the day. Consolidation is a major threat to economic freedom, which in turn is a direct threat to personal freedom. Particularly when it comes to banking, healthcare, and big tech. I'm not a Libertarian because you end up at corporate communism, which is perhaps less bloody than government communism, but still incredibly harmful
Billionaires aren't too powerful because they have a lot of money, they are because the economic power they yield is exponential multiples of their wealth. Five CEO's direct 4.5 TRILLION in market capital with no meaningful oversight from the board. Seven bank CEO's oversee fully half of the financial transactions and debt for the entire country. That's terrifying, not Jeff Bezos using a securities backed loan to defer taxes on the maybe $50 million (tops) cash he actually spends in actual cash each year (which would be about $10million in federal taxes - a drop in the bucket to the governments almost $4Trillian budget).
Creating reasonable anti-trust that prohibits corporate execs with minimal ownership from directing huge segments of the economy through acquisitions and crony board nominations would do a lot for opportunity and this countries economy. I also think non-public professional companies that require a government license must be majority (51%) owned by someone with that license - from plumbers to hospitals to dentists to accountants. If you can't direct treatment without an MD, you shouldn't be in charge of treatment policies and protocols without one either....... that applies to most professions.
I had friends in the former East Berlin in the 1970's and visited there several times. The description of dark intimidation in current Cuba feels familiar. The quote from Reagan was good. He was an excellent actor, but a fair to poor President. He got rid of the Fairness Doctrine which required that our news was held to a higher truth standard. He also empowered the Arab nations by scrapping the energy independence begun by Jimmy Carter and embracing the Saudi oil imports. Hence the Saudis and other Arab nations became incredibly wealthy, and now export Islam to the rest of the world.
Yeah no shit Sherlock. As if this is some surprise. Did you miss the Gulag Archipelago? Or 1984. The more I think about Cuba the more I see that people who profess to be Democratic Socialists don't deserve to be mocked. They deserve to be crushed. Because, if they aren't, this will be our fate. This is not a joke. Chile was headed this way and it took a brutal coup and years of misery to stop it. And now they're playing with fire again. Are people really this stupid? Please tell me they aren't.
Sometimes in life its important to KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Government Marxism has never worked. It never will.
Even voluntary communal living communities eventually fail, or become less "communal" - think the Kubutz in Israel. As a millennial I live in this reality where I'm shocked at how stupid my woke friends are (whom are all convinced they are super-geniuses). They all believe they really ARE superior simply because of their lighter skin. They embrace CRT whole-heartedly - it gives their egos a boost. I am also married to a man who still has an aunt and 1st cousins in Cuba, I've lived most of my life in heavily Jewish neighborhoods, and my father, who grew up in poor in an abusive home, is the most knowledgeable human about the last 500 years of human history I have ever met (inclusive of my university "history professors."
The number of people in my generation willing to destroy human freedom because they are too ignorant to really understand what they promote, too arrogant to believe their nonsense could ever impact them, and too lacking a moral compass to actually care what is right, is heartbreaking. Wokeness is for humans too lazy to wake up and actually try to make the world a better place, even in the tiniest of ways.
If you know anything about the leaders in the freedom movement in Cuba, you would know that they are, as always, artists and intellectuals. In other words, they are people of the left––people who crave freedom of expression and freedom of thought. They are anticonformists by nature.
Because they are communists, you folks are confusing the Cuban government with people on the left. In fact, people on the left in America are liberal democrats. Meaning we support civil liberties and democracy.
The real threat to freedom in America is coming from the right––from Trump and his supporters. Does anyone doubt that if Trump had the power he would shut down the press and our universities? Calling the press "the lying press" is a time-honored tactic of totalitarians. Does anyone doubt that, given the opportunity, Trump and his supporters would take over Hollywood studios and force them to produce "wholesome" pro-American, pro-Christian propaganda?
Look at how the right is using the law to shut down speech about racism in places like Oklahoma. That should frighten you.
People like Bari Weiss are confusing social ostracization with governmental control. In America, it is becoming socially unacceptable to be a racist and an LGBTQ bigot. And I, for one, see that as a positive sign for our society. And notice how no one on the left is proposing that the government put people in jail for writing racist or anti-gay commentary. No one! You might lose your job because your boss finds your racist, bigoted views disgusting, but that's part of freedom, too--your boss's freedom.
You are conflating the artist and intellectuals in Cuba with the self- proclaimed illiberal academics in the United States. You sound like a proponent of CRT trying to claim that being racist isn't really racist.
It's always been the case that the leading dissidents in any totalitarian society are the artists and intellectuals––the free thinkers. They are liberals. Conservatives tend to be the ones who conform to and defend society's norms and traditions. It might seem strange but even in a Communist society, the people who support the government tend to be conservative personality types. Conservative personality types tend to value things like loyalty and respect for authority.
The US founding father's were absolutely free thinking intellectuals. They also had different political ideologies, but a shared interest in open debate and critical thinking. They aimed to actually solve problems.
Sadly, modern day US academia is nearly void of true intellectuals, along with most of our media and political "élite." Echo chambered sheep is a more accurate description for all of those groups. It's sad that the political left in this country, which I unfortunately supported through my early 30's (and Obama - which I regret in hindsight), has become illiberal and insane.
Lacking actual intellectuals with a voice, today those in the US who see themselves as "intellectuals" are mostly comprised of illiberal pseudo-Marxist. Rather than support those seeking freedom in Cuba, they excuse and ignore their plight. Worse, many Democrats and "academics" in the US openly praise totalitarian "revolutionaries." It's a dangerous path we are on indeed. Castro lead a "revolution" in Cuba. "Professors" in the US cheer their students wearing Che Guevara shirts. It's sick.
My great hope is that the true Cuban intellectuals win - the genuine freedom fighters.
I'm pretty sure a bunch of people here are going to condemn the next generation to an insane version of Marxism - one where immutable biological sex is ignored at the expense of actual women and girls. I fear for my daughter.
One that also involves dividing everyone by skin tone. Not sure where my kids would fall in that assessment. With both it requires the public to be gullible and compliant enough to ignore objective reality. On the former, ignoring that for all mammals sex is binary and immutable and that even deformities like intersex are in fact deformities within each sex, not between them. On the latter, it requires the public to ignore that modern humans are biologically ONE race.
At least Democrats preview their intentions, as they do everything. They are crystal clear that their world view is that biological males can access female private spaces and competitions at any time and for any reason. On race, Democrats very openly explain that past discrimination is justification for current discrimination, and that this current discrimination will be the justification for their future discrimination.
If those seeking true freedom win in Cuba, I have a place to flee with my family. My husband's mother is Cuban, he has relatives still in Cuba, and we love the Caribbean. If Cubans find freedom, we find a place to flee the Marxist takeover in the US, with the Cuban family connection that will likely be necessary to be allowed to do so.
You seem to see Democrats as the infallible moral superiors despite an abundance of evidence, particularly over the last 18 months, to the contrary. I'm curious, have you ever considered what happens to you if the Marxist complete their take over the party, and the country? Have you ever thought about what that would actually mean for you? Do you ever wonder if Mao gave the peasants land for murdering the landowners or how supporters of the Bolshevik revolution ended up dying by the millions in the gulags? Or do you ignorantly think "that will never happen here?" Or worse, do you buy the revisionist history that the murdered Bolsheviks weren't "true believers" of the movement they murdered others in the name of?
I'm sorry, but you are delusional. Democrats are not Marxists. The vast majority of the Democratic coalition believes in civil liberties and democracy. We nominated Joe Biden because he is NOT a radical. He is squarely in the mainstream. The radicals have no power in the Democratic Party.
And I consider Robin Diangelo and Ibram X Kendi to be intellectuals. I think they are revolutionizing America in a good way. They will make the country less racist, which will be a good thing for all Americans. (That thought will get me banned and ostracized from conservative circles.)
You wrote: "Worse, many Democrats and "academics" in the US openly praise totalitarian "revolutionaries." It's a dangerous path we are on indeed. Castro lead (sic) a "revolution" in Cuba. "Professors" in the US cheer their students wearing Che Guevara shirts. It's sick."
I can't think of any prominent Democrat who has EVER praised a totalitarian regime. Not even Noam Chomsky praises toatlitarians. And did you see a youtube video of a professor praising a kid in Che t-shirt? Do you think this kind of thing is happening all across America, on every campus? That's insane!
Hahahahah. Sanders ran for president as a DEMOCRAT and has been praising Stalin and Castro since before I was born. Jimmy Carter often referred to Castro as his "friend" and upon his death said of Castro that he would "remember fondly our visits with him in Cuba and his (Castro’s) love of his country." Obama infamously posed in front of a Che Guevara mural during a trip to Cuba. Barbara Lee (D-CA) claimed Castro "lead a revolution that lead to improvements for his people." Would you like me to go on? I could reference many pages of examples where Democrats praise communist dictators.
Diangelo is a white woman who has deemed herself ruler of woke white people. White fragility is the most condescending, racist, pile of crap I've ever read. It's a modern day guide on how to become a racist. It's the same message as the KKK wrapped up in a "progressive" cloak.
X Kendi is no intellectual. He can't even define racism. He can't articulate solutions other than never-ending racial division and hatred. MLK could articulate tangible solutions and worked to make those a reality. A Kendi would spit on MLK given the chance. If X Kendi were interested in actually following through on his "values," which claim racist systems need to be torn down, he wouldn't promote the Democratic party. Not only are Democrats the party of slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow, destroying Black families in the "Great Society" and their "standard bearer" the person who gave a speech calling young Black men "jungle creatures" in the 1990's to justify locking a generation in jail, but their overt racism continues today. They are the party of closed schools, opposed to school choice, and engage as a matter of policy in the bigotry of low expectations. Their claim CRT is "anti-racist" is like claiming beef isn't really meat.
According to CBS news, Atlanta, GA has the largest racial wealth gap in the US with Washington DC in second. A different study reported by NPR found Washington DC tops the list.
In a February 2018, in a widely covered report by the Urban Institute, researchers found that the largest racial home ownership gaps are in Minneapolis, Albany, and Buffalo.
In January 2020, Brightbeam published the research of Patrick J. Wolf, Ph.D., and James Paul which found that San Francisco and Washington DC have the largest racial achievement gaps in the nation while Fort worth TX and Anchorage AK had the lowest.
These most racially unequal cities have been run uninterrupted by Democrats for decades - all for years to more than a century before I was born (note uninterrupted - no "big switch") - Atlanta since 1879, DC since 1967, Albany since 1921, Minneapolis since 1978, and San Francisco since 1966. In stark contrast, Fort Worth and Anchorage both have Republican mayors.
Considering these facts, other than regurgitating propaganda, do you have any actual FACTS to back you up??? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result - thus its insane to vote for Democrats and expect the racist Democrat party to stop being overtly racists or for their policies to result in tangible improvements and opportunities for minority populations.
Democrats oppose civil liberties for political foes - which is totalitarian. They cheer Facebook censoring TRUE information that conflates with their narrative. They REFUSE to allow open discussion about Covid, masking, vaccination risks to children, or anything else that conflates with their insane mantras.
Amazon has 7 pages, on a desktop, of Che Guevara t-shirts alone - who do you think is buying them??? Cubans?????
A man will never be a "real" woman, and judging people on their skin tone will always be racist. The only response Democrats have to those objective facts are to name call like toddlers because they can't stand free speech.
Please give examples of Democrat or leftist "intellectuals" freeing people from totalitarianism??? Lets say 3? Freedom IS a conservative value. Oppression is a leftist obsession. Most true intellectuals hold conservative values.
Do you realize that people on the left criticize the mainstream media for being too credulous with conservatives? You are clearly coming from a right-wing perspective, so, to you, the mainstream media appears to favor the left.
The left is advocating to shut down the police? Silly, feckless activists are saying that. Actual elected Democrats are not doing that. In fact, they are increasing funding for the police. And how does that make someone a totalitarian anyway? That is more of an anarchist position. Totalitarians use the police to advance their political aims.
And no one on the left is advocating for anyone to be thrown in jail, or sent to a reeducation camp, for expressing their opinions. All we are saying is that we don't want to have anything to do with racists and bigots. We won't tolerate that anymore. That does not make us totalitarians. It makes us kind and decent and caring human beings, and it makes us defenders of civil liberties.
Also, in America, one is allowed to advocate for socialism.
I stand by my assertion: It is only the right that is trying to use the law to prohibit speech.
My point is that no one is talking about abolishing the police. They are talking about making the police departments less militaristic, and to cut back on the over-policing of minority neighborhoods. So, no. They are not anarchists. And Biden is increasing funding for the police.
Every nation has a mix of socialism and capitalism. It's never 100% one or the other. As soon as you raise tax revenue to act for the greater good, you are moving in a socialist direction. And sometimes people think it's worth it to sacrifice a little personal liberty for the greater good. And of course, people differ on where that point is, and they vote based on their prefernces. Welcome to reality in a multi-cultural democracy.
I see democratic socialism (European-style socialism) as very different from Communism and Marxism.
The difference I care most about is the distinction between democracy on one hand and authoritarianism and totalitarianism on the other. And that's why I fear the right more than the left in America. Recent polling shows that a large number of Republicans believe that it might be time to violently overthrow the government. You don't see anywhere close to those numbers among Democrats. That means they are not committed to democracy.
In a true democracy, the people will decide how much socialism they want, and when it gets to be too much, they will dial it back. A lot of countries in Europe have dialed back their socialism in favor of individual freedom. I don't have a problem with that if that's what they want. What concerns me is that we have free and fair elections.
Which mayors and governors are calling for defunding the police? Name them. The mayor of Minneapolis and the Governor of Minnesota are opposed to defunding the police.
And so what if someone calls someone a racist or a xenophobe or a homophobe. That's freedom of speech. People call me a Marxist and a Communist all the time. It's an insulting lie, but so what?
Socialism is simply raising tax revenue to act for the greater good. Communism and Marxism call for the government ownership of the means of production.
The real issue for me is democracy. I absolutely oppose authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. I am a staunch liberal democrat.
There are no reeducation camps in America. Stop with the stupid hysteria. And the link you posted goes to a story about an attorney being "canceled" for expressing hard-left opinions by PBS. Not sure if that was your intent or not.
I wrote a book, that was published in 2011 called The Ultimate Distinction. It's a short book about Zen epistemology. No one talks about it the way I do. But you accuse me of not having original thoughts? Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do.
Political prisoners? What a joke. That is hysterical nonsense. No one is going to jail for expressing their political opinion. If you want to be a Nazi in America, you are free to do so. If you want to be a racist, you are free to do so. If you want to criticize the government, go ahead! There is no shortage of opinions in America. We are overflowing with opinions. Express away! But you should know that if you say racist and bigoted things, good people might shun you socially. Freedom of speech has never come with a guarantee that you will never suffer social consequences from saying unpopular things.
There has never been freedom from the consequences of deeply unpopular speech in America. Not so long ago a person advocating for gay rights would be socially ostracized, and gays were being jailed. Advocating for rights for Blacks would be the end of your career and your social life in the Jim Crow South.
There has also never been a right to have your speech published by others.
And in case you didn't know, people attack left-wing politicians all the time, too. Ask AOC and Barack Obama about that.
And who has faced serious consequences for disagreeing about policing, taxes and reparations?
Open your eyes Matt. I thought the left was for civil liberties as well, but look at the state of the ACLU as an example. They used to defend Nazis, but have gone woke lately. If you read about what happened in Smith Collage you will perhaps realize that the ideology behind wokeness is in so many ways incompatible with liberal ideals such a civil liberties.
I have a lot of issues with the religious right myself, and I am happy the overall attitude toward the LGBT community has improved so much on the las 10-20 years. However, lately you have AOC and or the BLM movement putting up statements that downright blame the US for the chaos in Cuba. AOC and her ilk so remind me of the far left, America-hating, communist demagogues in Latin America who would blame the US for all problems while dismissing all calls for accountability for their authoritarian and corrupt tendencies (and, btw, let’s not forget that the communist regime in Cuba is just as anti-gay and Russia). I know this country is not perfect, but as someone who was not born in this country I cannot stand behind America-hating Americans.
Your views have been twisted by too much right-wing media. I know all about those anecdotes you've cited because they are cited on an endless loop in right-wing media. It's a brainwashing technique, and it's clearly worked on you.
And our embargo of Cuba is cruel and ineffective. Why should we keep them from buying what they want to be? Why should we deprive the Cuban people of economic freedom? (Saying that does not make me an America hater. It makes me a decent human being.)
The left in this country, including AOC, wants freedom for the Cuban people every bit as much as people on the right.
But in America, it is the right that is opposed LGBTQ rights. It is the right that opposes teaching anti-racism in schools. It is the right that talks about "Second Amendment solutions" to our political problems. It is the right that stormed the capital in an attempt to subvert our democracy. You're the one who needs to wake up.
If you think it's only people on the left who act obnoxiously you are fooling yourself. Did you the video of the way those Trump supporters harrassed Biden's caravan. Have you seen the way Trump supporters hassle the press at his rallies. Did you see the insurrection?
My father spent WW2 in the Navy bouncing between Cuba and New Orleans, a mechanic on an Admiral's flight crew. He was blessed. His 2 brothers were not. One was horribly wounded in The Battle of the Bulge and spent months in a UK hospital. His other brother fought island to island in the Pacific. My dad LOVED Cuba. He loved the food, the rum, the beaches, the music, but mostly he loved the people. He would say to me, "If they ever get rid of that bastard Fidel and the country opens up, get on the first plane and visit. Thank you Antonio for this enlightening piece and thanks Bari. You have an eye for talent. The Pirates could use you.
Bari, I am surprised you didn’t mention that yesterday Biden’s DHS Secretary said the US would not accept any refuges from Cuba even if they are legitimately fleeing political persecution. How is this not HUGE news?
If we had an honest media, it most certainly would be huge news. However, the DNC state media is clearly trying to duck and spin what's happening in Cuba as anything but protesting the regime. I believe Jen Psaki claimed that Cubans are protesting for vaccines, not freedom (insert massive eye roll). Seriously! Cubans understand totalitarianism and would be highly unlikely to vote for it again down the line in the US (if permitted entry). Better to allow future Democratic voters (nudge, nudge, wink wink) to flood over the southern border (at massive cost to US taxpayers). Cubans legitimately fleeing political persecution don't really bolster the DNC narrative. Think about how insane that is - that's where we're at right now. Also note silence from Bernie, AOC, and that tribe on this issue.
I cancelled my WSJ subscription over the comments being censored on the Cuba articles. Lots of "don't mistake Cuba for Marxist/ Communist" allowed to run wild. My comment got censored for responding "so we are supposed to ignore that the Castro's and Canel are very vocal that they are Revolutionaries for Marxism and the Communist regimes they run??" WSJ found my comment violated their terms. I can only imagine how much overtime their 25 year old censors making $45K a year were working to promote a narrative they blindly follow.
I'm embarrassed to be a millennial. Bubble test ruined my generation. Critical thinking, nuance, objective facts, scientific debates, learning the why and how of history - none was taught in school and only a few of us have developed those skills as adults. We bought the degrees we wanted - we were clear on this a decade ago. But as we approach 40, most of my "friends" haven't matured a bit - they still feel entitled to everything simply because of pieces of paper ("degrees") we all bought in our early 20's with minimal effort compared to those with an actual job learning a genuine trade. They embrace CRT because it boosts their egos, which their limited accomplishments in life have failed to do. Those of us with an appreciation for all we have, who volunteer our time and willingly give our treasure to actual charities improving lives, and who raise our children with a timeless western values based in faith, are seen as an outcast minority. We are a happy, successful and fulfilled minority, but we are still a minority.
My generation often supports Marxism because most my age don't actually know anything about it. They literally couldn't name 10 Marxist regimes or dictators. They don't know who the Bolsheviks were, much less what they believed. They haven't a clue how many people starved in China, or died in the gulags, much less anything about Castro and Cuba. They put BLM signs in their front yards because they think its trendy, not because they want equity (or even equality for that matter). None of this wokeness cost them any actual time or money. It's like they never matured beyond middle school. They certainly don't have an appreciation of long term consequences that exceeds that of the average 11-year old.
The irony is that these Marxists you speak of will be the first ones the Communists line up and shoot. Oh well. Some people have to learn the hard way.
Yes, and the ones in the US today buy the lie that the Bolsheviks who killed others in the name of their cause weren't really "loyal" when they died by the millions a couple decades later in the gulags they built. It's most often the true believers, or their family, who suffer the worst consequences of the insanity.
Surely the author meant to say that countries can commit an assisted suicide. After all, Assadregime in Syria has been on the Soviet / Rusky books since the beginning. Take this for example: most of you have heard of the demise of former Yugoslavia in a bout of tribal frenzy. One could infer that the country decided to commit "suicide". As the recently completed trial of the former leader of the Serbian secret police had shown, the person who was in charge of the said demise turn out to be also working for certain organization from Langley Virginia. I guess the CIA slogan to small, strategically placed countries is the same as Home Depot's: "You can do it, we can help!" This of course does not relieve any country of its ultimate responsibility for its own destiny. After all, any country that allows itself to become a pawn in the latest chapter of the cowboys versus Cossaks b******* has dug its own grave.
Cuba is sadly part of the same tragic cycle.
I wish Cubans all the best. They would do themselves a favor should they decide that any future free Cuba would keep the bans on "social" networks and American tech companies. After all, they don't want to replace informers with Alexas, or get a freedom to moderate instead of freedom of speech
I live in a college town, so Che Guevara is still T-Shirt fashion. Never met Che. Just his T-Shirts which are way cool. For example, above the neck-line, you never see a chopped-off head. The most direct experience I've had with Communism was when I travelled through Montenegro. The people toasted me and marveled at me as I was the first American many had ever seen. It was like being Tom Cruise only not short. The hotel put me in a swell special room with cameras and microphones they had reserved for Americans to prepare us for future living with the NSA. I went to the hotel bar and not being served I used my teeny amount of Serbo Croatian to ask a local to buy a beer for me because I was an American and they wouldn't serve me. That was one great joke, and it went like this. On any given night, nobody was going to get a drink. Nobody. Or maybe one or two people should the whim come to the bartenders. The bartenders were Communists. They would be there tonight, tomorrow, next year whether they served anybody beer or not. I often wish the kids in the Che shirts could try for a semester to get served by a Communist bartender.
For what it's worth, during the Obama administration, I visited Cuba with a U.S. tour company. We were required to register with the State Dept. as a humanitarian mission. Each of us had to bring 15 lbs. of consumer goods, e.g., OTC medicines like aspirin and antibiotic cream, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, band aids, etc. The government had deputized the Catholic Church to receive and deliver these items to the locals.
We didn't see any Potemkin Villages and I returned home with no illusions. In Havana, we stayed at a nice hotel run by a Spanish hotel chain, but other than that we were free to wander the streets and talk to anybody we liked. My high school Spanish came in handy. There are two forms of money in Cuba, one for Cubans, and one for tourists. Our money was extremely valuable, theirs was practically worthless. The few stores where they were allowed to shop were almost devoid of goods. But at that time, people didn’t appear to be going hungry.
Our tour guide was surprisingly forthright in her disdain for how her country was being run. Yes, she made sure we received the mandatory speeches about "the Revolution.” And she didn't have to sugarcoat the fact that people get good medical care in Cuba, as long as you follow all the rules, because if you miss one of your mandatory pre-natal visits you risk losing custody of your infant. (Your baby belongs to the State, not to you.) She was also upfront about the hideous condition of housing in Havana, where you could wake up after a rainstorm with the ceiling on top of your face, because fixing a decrepit old roof was out of the question. She explained why the Cuban divorce rate is sky high: three unrelated couples with one child apiece cannot maintain intimacy while sharing a three-bedroom apartment with one kitchen and one bathroom. As our tour was ending, she asked if I could send her some books on astronomy for her son. He was very interested in that subject and NO BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE.
I also learned that Cubans cannot choose their professions. You work where they tell you to work. This explained the dead eyes of the hospitality staff at the hotel, who do their jobs flawlessly and without a glimmer of human feeling. Again, through our tour guide: every little girl took ballet lessons, every little boy played baseball, because these were the only two possible pathways to a prestigious career, that might also lead to the possibility to defect.
In Cuba, I met beautiful, industrious, kind, talented people, full of humor, frustration and rage, with nothing but good will for us Americans and tourists from all over the world. I could cry thinking about them now. These people were trapped, and they knew they are trapped. Back then, Castro was still alive, making his four-hour speeches. It was clear from their affect that they were waiting for him to die, in the hopes that things would improve. Things did not improve. I am so inspired and terrified for the Cuban people right now, taking to the streets. They literally have nothing to lose.
I went to Cuba as part of student performing arts program. I was there with classmates and teachers and we stayed for a week. The year was 1998 and I was a teenager. I was born in Mexico and so young at the time that there were no issues with immigration. It has been a while since then, but this is what I remember:
1. Beggars outside our hotel who begged for food/goods rather than money.
2. Having given the extra food I had packed to such beggars (not much foresight on my part).
3. Our hotel was not luxurious by any means. We barely had any furniture in our room (what it lacked on furniture it made up on cockroaches, though).
4. I don't consider myself a picky eater, but the hotel food was terrible (salad with just lettuce and no dressing, flat tasteless pancakes with no butter or syrup, milk with curd). Moros y cristianos was the only food that tasted OK.
5. Feeling hungry and being unable to find anything resembling a restaurant or store near the hotel.
6. We visited a pizzeria and an ice cream parlor (coppelia) in Habana 1 time each during our stay. In both venues, were the only costumers and we paid with dollars. These were the 2 filling “meals” I had in Cuba.
7. Fidel propaganda billboards and anachronistic cars.
8. Empty Habana streets.
9. My friend twisting her ankle and her being sent to a shaman/witch doctor, rather than to a proper clinic.
10. Beautiful beaches that’s were almost empty.
11. Few Europeans, many of them wearing Che t-shirts.
12. Lovely and warm Cuban people.
13. Interestingly, we could watch VH1 from the hotel TV along with the Cuban Channels (only that one random American channel though).
You were in Cuba in 1998, during the terrible Special Period (1991-2001) that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. What you’re describing is consistent with those years of extreme deprivation and poverty as the result of Cuba’s loss of its nanny state. By the time I visited in 2011, the country had recovered significantly due to foreign investments in tourism. I also had the impression that a small amount of private enterprise was allowed. We visited an outdoor market in Havana where all kinds of fruits and vegetables were available for sale, apparently by private citizens (although prices were fixed).
I’m not a Cuba expert, but it seems that COVID dried up the tourism industry and Cubans are again suffering from hunger and shortages of everything. Cuba is a small but very fertile island and it surprised me to see how much of it remains undeveloped (we saw the entire length of the island from the plane).
Exactly. As an immigrant, I'm often astounded by the naivete of Americans, and how much freedom is taken for granted here. Why are Americans so anxious to relinquish personal freedoms? Once it's gone, good luck getting it back!
My heart goes out to the Cuban people. I wish we could send all of our champagne socialists (Bernie, AOC, and their Che t-shirt wearing "unicorn and rainbows" socialist followers) to Cuba in exchange for Cuban people who would likely appreciate an opportunity to live freely in this country.
I was thinking France. The food is awesome; the language is pretty, and if you understand half of it, that's more than enough. Understanding 100% of what is being said these days is painful.
Not likely. At least, for now, France has a commonly shared cultural history. Our cultural history is based on freedom. Once that is gone, we have nothing. And those attempting to eliminate our freedoms know that.
"The perfect is often the enemy of the good..."
Capitalist or Communist ......it grows fat at the tippy top of the food chains.
But in capitalist systems the bottom lives better than the entire pyramid under communism. When the rich get rich under capitalism, the poor do too. Capitalism has lifted 4 billion from poverty in my less than 4 decades on Earth. Conversely, communism has killed 100 million in 100 years, and a majority of the population those living under communism struggle for adequate food. Stop focusing on the few people neither you nor I will ever be in any societal system. Look around and be grateful for the system we live under that provides a better life for the vast majority than our great-grandparents could have ever dreamed of.
Ok but is China a Capitalist Country? In bed with us ? I believe in Capitalism but “Crony” capitalism is just greedy and overpowering to free enterprise
China is Crony capitalism. While it's economic system isn't as dysfunctional as a full socialist system, it's still dysfunctional (and that's before you consider the massive amount of slave labor). Our proxy rules for US based mega corp boards also represent crony capitalism. We aren't as bad as China or Russia yet, but we get closer by the day. Consolidation is a major threat to economic freedom, which in turn is a direct threat to personal freedom. Particularly when it comes to banking, healthcare, and big tech. I'm not a Libertarian because you end up at corporate communism, which is perhaps less bloody than government communism, but still incredibly harmful
Billionaires aren't too powerful because they have a lot of money, they are because the economic power they yield is exponential multiples of their wealth. Five CEO's direct 4.5 TRILLION in market capital with no meaningful oversight from the board. Seven bank CEO's oversee fully half of the financial transactions and debt for the entire country. That's terrifying, not Jeff Bezos using a securities backed loan to defer taxes on the maybe $50 million (tops) cash he actually spends in actual cash each year (which would be about $10million in federal taxes - a drop in the bucket to the governments almost $4Trillian budget).
Creating reasonable anti-trust that prohibits corporate execs with minimal ownership from directing huge segments of the economy through acquisitions and crony board nominations would do a lot for opportunity and this countries economy. I also think non-public professional companies that require a government license must be majority (51%) owned by someone with that license - from plumbers to hospitals to dentists to accountants. If you can't direct treatment without an MD, you shouldn't be in charge of treatment policies and protocols without one either....... that applies to most professions.
I had friends in the former East Berlin in the 1970's and visited there several times. The description of dark intimidation in current Cuba feels familiar. The quote from Reagan was good. He was an excellent actor, but a fair to poor President. He got rid of the Fairness Doctrine which required that our news was held to a higher truth standard. He also empowered the Arab nations by scrapping the energy independence begun by Jimmy Carter and embracing the Saudi oil imports. Hence the Saudis and other Arab nations became incredibly wealthy, and now export Islam to the rest of the world.
Yeah no shit Sherlock. As if this is some surprise. Did you miss the Gulag Archipelago? Or 1984. The more I think about Cuba the more I see that people who profess to be Democratic Socialists don't deserve to be mocked. They deserve to be crushed. Because, if they aren't, this will be our fate. This is not a joke. Chile was headed this way and it took a brutal coup and years of misery to stop it. And now they're playing with fire again. Are people really this stupid? Please tell me they aren't.
Found this article very interesting and informative. Appreciate the author's insights
Sometimes in life its important to KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Government Marxism has never worked. It never will.
Even voluntary communal living communities eventually fail, or become less "communal" - think the Kubutz in Israel. As a millennial I live in this reality where I'm shocked at how stupid my woke friends are (whom are all convinced they are super-geniuses). They all believe they really ARE superior simply because of their lighter skin. They embrace CRT whole-heartedly - it gives their egos a boost. I am also married to a man who still has an aunt and 1st cousins in Cuba, I've lived most of my life in heavily Jewish neighborhoods, and my father, who grew up in poor in an abusive home, is the most knowledgeable human about the last 500 years of human history I have ever met (inclusive of my university "history professors."
The number of people in my generation willing to destroy human freedom because they are too ignorant to really understand what they promote, too arrogant to believe their nonsense could ever impact them, and too lacking a moral compass to actually care what is right, is heartbreaking. Wokeness is for humans too lazy to wake up and actually try to make the world a better place, even in the tiniest of ways.
If you know anything about the leaders in the freedom movement in Cuba, you would know that they are, as always, artists and intellectuals. In other words, they are people of the left––people who crave freedom of expression and freedom of thought. They are anticonformists by nature.
Because they are communists, you folks are confusing the Cuban government with people on the left. In fact, people on the left in America are liberal democrats. Meaning we support civil liberties and democracy.
The real threat to freedom in America is coming from the right––from Trump and his supporters. Does anyone doubt that if Trump had the power he would shut down the press and our universities? Calling the press "the lying press" is a time-honored tactic of totalitarians. Does anyone doubt that, given the opportunity, Trump and his supporters would take over Hollywood studios and force them to produce "wholesome" pro-American, pro-Christian propaganda?
Look at how the right is using the law to shut down speech about racism in places like Oklahoma. That should frighten you.
People like Bari Weiss are confusing social ostracization with governmental control. In America, it is becoming socially unacceptable to be a racist and an LGBTQ bigot. And I, for one, see that as a positive sign for our society. And notice how no one on the left is proposing that the government put people in jail for writing racist or anti-gay commentary. No one! You might lose your job because your boss finds your racist, bigoted views disgusting, but that's part of freedom, too--your boss's freedom.
You are conflating the artist and intellectuals in Cuba with the self- proclaimed illiberal academics in the United States. You sound like a proponent of CRT trying to claim that being racist isn't really racist.
It's always been the case that the leading dissidents in any totalitarian society are the artists and intellectuals––the free thinkers. They are liberals. Conservatives tend to be the ones who conform to and defend society's norms and traditions. It might seem strange but even in a Communist society, the people who support the government tend to be conservative personality types. Conservative personality types tend to value things like loyalty and respect for authority.
The US founding father's were absolutely free thinking intellectuals. They also had different political ideologies, but a shared interest in open debate and critical thinking. They aimed to actually solve problems.
Sadly, modern day US academia is nearly void of true intellectuals, along with most of our media and political "élite." Echo chambered sheep is a more accurate description for all of those groups. It's sad that the political left in this country, which I unfortunately supported through my early 30's (and Obama - which I regret in hindsight), has become illiberal and insane.
Lacking actual intellectuals with a voice, today those in the US who see themselves as "intellectuals" are mostly comprised of illiberal pseudo-Marxist. Rather than support those seeking freedom in Cuba, they excuse and ignore their plight. Worse, many Democrats and "academics" in the US openly praise totalitarian "revolutionaries." It's a dangerous path we are on indeed. Castro lead a "revolution" in Cuba. "Professors" in the US cheer their students wearing Che Guevara shirts. It's sick.
My great hope is that the true Cuban intellectuals win - the genuine freedom fighters.
I'm pretty sure a bunch of people here are going to condemn the next generation to an insane version of Marxism - one where immutable biological sex is ignored at the expense of actual women and girls. I fear for my daughter.
One that also involves dividing everyone by skin tone. Not sure where my kids would fall in that assessment. With both it requires the public to be gullible and compliant enough to ignore objective reality. On the former, ignoring that for all mammals sex is binary and immutable and that even deformities like intersex are in fact deformities within each sex, not between them. On the latter, it requires the public to ignore that modern humans are biologically ONE race.
At least Democrats preview their intentions, as they do everything. They are crystal clear that their world view is that biological males can access female private spaces and competitions at any time and for any reason. On race, Democrats very openly explain that past discrimination is justification for current discrimination, and that this current discrimination will be the justification for their future discrimination.
If those seeking true freedom win in Cuba, I have a place to flee with my family. My husband's mother is Cuban, he has relatives still in Cuba, and we love the Caribbean. If Cubans find freedom, we find a place to flee the Marxist takeover in the US, with the Cuban family connection that will likely be necessary to be allowed to do so.
You seem to see Democrats as the infallible moral superiors despite an abundance of evidence, particularly over the last 18 months, to the contrary. I'm curious, have you ever considered what happens to you if the Marxist complete their take over the party, and the country? Have you ever thought about what that would actually mean for you? Do you ever wonder if Mao gave the peasants land for murdering the landowners or how supporters of the Bolshevik revolution ended up dying by the millions in the gulags? Or do you ignorantly think "that will never happen here?" Or worse, do you buy the revisionist history that the murdered Bolsheviks weren't "true believers" of the movement they murdered others in the name of?
I'm sorry, but you are delusional. Democrats are not Marxists. The vast majority of the Democratic coalition believes in civil liberties and democracy. We nominated Joe Biden because he is NOT a radical. He is squarely in the mainstream. The radicals have no power in the Democratic Party.
And I consider Robin Diangelo and Ibram X Kendi to be intellectuals. I think they are revolutionizing America in a good way. They will make the country less racist, which will be a good thing for all Americans. (That thought will get me banned and ostracized from conservative circles.)
You wrote: "Worse, many Democrats and "academics" in the US openly praise totalitarian "revolutionaries." It's a dangerous path we are on indeed. Castro lead (sic) a "revolution" in Cuba. "Professors" in the US cheer their students wearing Che Guevara shirts. It's sick."
I can't think of any prominent Democrat who has EVER praised a totalitarian regime. Not even Noam Chomsky praises toatlitarians. And did you see a youtube video of a professor praising a kid in Che t-shirt? Do you think this kind of thing is happening all across America, on every campus? That's insane!
Hahahahah. Sanders ran for president as a DEMOCRAT and has been praising Stalin and Castro since before I was born. Jimmy Carter often referred to Castro as his "friend" and upon his death said of Castro that he would "remember fondly our visits with him in Cuba and his (Castro’s) love of his country." Obama infamously posed in front of a Che Guevara mural during a trip to Cuba. Barbara Lee (D-CA) claimed Castro "lead a revolution that lead to improvements for his people." Would you like me to go on? I could reference many pages of examples where Democrats praise communist dictators.
Diangelo is a white woman who has deemed herself ruler of woke white people. White fragility is the most condescending, racist, pile of crap I've ever read. It's a modern day guide on how to become a racist. It's the same message as the KKK wrapped up in a "progressive" cloak.
X Kendi is no intellectual. He can't even define racism. He can't articulate solutions other than never-ending racial division and hatred. MLK could articulate tangible solutions and worked to make those a reality. A Kendi would spit on MLK given the chance. If X Kendi were interested in actually following through on his "values," which claim racist systems need to be torn down, he wouldn't promote the Democratic party. Not only are Democrats the party of slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow, destroying Black families in the "Great Society" and their "standard bearer" the person who gave a speech calling young Black men "jungle creatures" in the 1990's to justify locking a generation in jail, but their overt racism continues today. They are the party of closed schools, opposed to school choice, and engage as a matter of policy in the bigotry of low expectations. Their claim CRT is "anti-racist" is like claiming beef isn't really meat.
According to CBS news, Atlanta, GA has the largest racial wealth gap in the US with Washington DC in second. A different study reported by NPR found Washington DC tops the list.
In a February 2018, in a widely covered report by the Urban Institute, researchers found that the largest racial home ownership gaps are in Minneapolis, Albany, and Buffalo.
In January 2020, Brightbeam published the research of Patrick J. Wolf, Ph.D., and James Paul which found that San Francisco and Washington DC have the largest racial achievement gaps in the nation while Fort worth TX and Anchorage AK had the lowest.
These most racially unequal cities have been run uninterrupted by Democrats for decades - all for years to more than a century before I was born (note uninterrupted - no "big switch") - Atlanta since 1879, DC since 1967, Albany since 1921, Minneapolis since 1978, and San Francisco since 1966. In stark contrast, Fort Worth and Anchorage both have Republican mayors.
Considering these facts, other than regurgitating propaganda, do you have any actual FACTS to back you up??? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result - thus its insane to vote for Democrats and expect the racist Democrat party to stop being overtly racists or for their policies to result in tangible improvements and opportunities for minority populations.
Democrats oppose civil liberties for political foes - which is totalitarian. They cheer Facebook censoring TRUE information that conflates with their narrative. They REFUSE to allow open discussion about Covid, masking, vaccination risks to children, or anything else that conflates with their insane mantras.
Amazon has 7 pages, on a desktop, of Che Guevara t-shirts alone - who do you think is buying them??? Cubans?????
A man will never be a "real" woman, and judging people on their skin tone will always be racist. The only response Democrats have to those objective facts are to name call like toddlers because they can't stand free speech.
Grow up.
Thank you.
Almost always. Is that better? I can't think of an exception but I'll grant that it's possible.
Please give examples of Democrat or leftist "intellectuals" freeing people from totalitarianism??? Lets say 3? Freedom IS a conservative value. Oppression is a leftist obsession. Most true intellectuals hold conservative values.
Do you realize that people on the left criticize the mainstream media for being too credulous with conservatives? You are clearly coming from a right-wing perspective, so, to you, the mainstream media appears to favor the left.
The left is advocating to shut down the police? Silly, feckless activists are saying that. Actual elected Democrats are not doing that. In fact, they are increasing funding for the police. And how does that make someone a totalitarian anyway? That is more of an anarchist position. Totalitarians use the police to advance their political aims.
And no one on the left is advocating for anyone to be thrown in jail, or sent to a reeducation camp, for expressing their opinions. All we are saying is that we don't want to have anything to do with racists and bigots. We won't tolerate that anymore. That does not make us totalitarians. It makes us kind and decent and caring human beings, and it makes us defenders of civil liberties.
Also, in America, one is allowed to advocate for socialism.
I stand by my assertion: It is only the right that is trying to use the law to prohibit speech.
My point is that no one is talking about abolishing the police. They are talking about making the police departments less militaristic, and to cut back on the over-policing of minority neighborhoods. So, no. They are not anarchists. And Biden is increasing funding for the police.
Read this.
https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-to-start-sending-civil-response-teams-not-police-to-some-mental-health-calls/600078792/
Every nation has a mix of socialism and capitalism. It's never 100% one or the other. As soon as you raise tax revenue to act for the greater good, you are moving in a socialist direction. And sometimes people think it's worth it to sacrifice a little personal liberty for the greater good. And of course, people differ on where that point is, and they vote based on their prefernces. Welcome to reality in a multi-cultural democracy.
I see democratic socialism (European-style socialism) as very different from Communism and Marxism.
The difference I care most about is the distinction between democracy on one hand and authoritarianism and totalitarianism on the other. And that's why I fear the right more than the left in America. Recent polling shows that a large number of Republicans believe that it might be time to violently overthrow the government. You don't see anywhere close to those numbers among Democrats. That means they are not committed to democracy.
In a true democracy, the people will decide how much socialism they want, and when it gets to be too much, they will dial it back. A lot of countries in Europe have dialed back their socialism in favor of individual freedom. I don't have a problem with that if that's what they want. What concerns me is that we have free and fair elections.
It's a democratic republic. Democracy simply means that leaders are elected by the people.
Which mayors and governors are calling for defunding the police? Name them. The mayor of Minneapolis and the Governor of Minnesota are opposed to defunding the police.
And so what if someone calls someone a racist or a xenophobe or a homophobe. That's freedom of speech. People call me a Marxist and a Communist all the time. It's an insulting lie, but so what?
Socialism is simply raising tax revenue to act for the greater good. Communism and Marxism call for the government ownership of the means of production.
The real issue for me is democracy. I absolutely oppose authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. I am a staunch liberal democrat.
You come across as smug and closed-minded.
There are no reeducation camps in America. Stop with the stupid hysteria. And the link you posted goes to a story about an attorney being "canceled" for expressing hard-left opinions by PBS. Not sure if that was your intent or not.
I wrote a book, that was published in 2011 called The Ultimate Distinction. It's a short book about Zen epistemology. No one talks about it the way I do. But you accuse me of not having original thoughts? Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do.
Political prisoners? What a joke. That is hysterical nonsense. No one is going to jail for expressing their political opinion. If you want to be a Nazi in America, you are free to do so. If you want to be a racist, you are free to do so. If you want to criticize the government, go ahead! There is no shortage of opinions in America. We are overflowing with opinions. Express away! But you should know that if you say racist and bigoted things, good people might shun you socially. Freedom of speech has never come with a guarantee that you will never suffer social consequences from saying unpopular things.
There has never been freedom from the consequences of deeply unpopular speech in America. Not so long ago a person advocating for gay rights would be socially ostracized, and gays were being jailed. Advocating for rights for Blacks would be the end of your career and your social life in the Jim Crow South.
There has also never been a right to have your speech published by others.
And in case you didn't know, people attack left-wing politicians all the time, too. Ask AOC and Barack Obama about that.
And who has faced serious consequences for disagreeing about policing, taxes and reparations?
Open your eyes Matt. I thought the left was for civil liberties as well, but look at the state of the ACLU as an example. They used to defend Nazis, but have gone woke lately. If you read about what happened in Smith Collage you will perhaps realize that the ideology behind wokeness is in so many ways incompatible with liberal ideals such a civil liberties.
I have a lot of issues with the religious right myself, and I am happy the overall attitude toward the LGBT community has improved so much on the las 10-20 years. However, lately you have AOC and or the BLM movement putting up statements that downright blame the US for the chaos in Cuba. AOC and her ilk so remind me of the far left, America-hating, communist demagogues in Latin America who would blame the US for all problems while dismissing all calls for accountability for their authoritarian and corrupt tendencies (and, btw, let’s not forget that the communist regime in Cuba is just as anti-gay and Russia). I know this country is not perfect, but as someone who was not born in this country I cannot stand behind America-hating Americans.
Your views have been twisted by too much right-wing media. I know all about those anecdotes you've cited because they are cited on an endless loop in right-wing media. It's a brainwashing technique, and it's clearly worked on you.
And our embargo of Cuba is cruel and ineffective. Why should we keep them from buying what they want to be? Why should we deprive the Cuban people of economic freedom? (Saying that does not make me an America hater. It makes me a decent human being.)
The left in this country, including AOC, wants freedom for the Cuban people every bit as much as people on the right.
But in America, it is the right that is opposed LGBTQ rights. It is the right that opposes teaching anti-racism in schools. It is the right that talks about "Second Amendment solutions" to our political problems. It is the right that stormed the capital in an attempt to subvert our democracy. You're the one who needs to wake up.
If you think it's only people on the left who act obnoxiously you are fooling yourself. Did you the video of the way those Trump supporters harrassed Biden's caravan. Have you seen the way Trump supporters hassle the press at his rallies. Did you see the insurrection?
My father spent WW2 in the Navy bouncing between Cuba and New Orleans, a mechanic on an Admiral's flight crew. He was blessed. His 2 brothers were not. One was horribly wounded in The Battle of the Bulge and spent months in a UK hospital. His other brother fought island to island in the Pacific. My dad LOVED Cuba. He loved the food, the rum, the beaches, the music, but mostly he loved the people. He would say to me, "If they ever get rid of that bastard Fidel and the country opens up, get on the first plane and visit. Thank you Antonio for this enlightening piece and thanks Bari. You have an eye for talent. The Pirates could use you.
Compared to what Martinez witnesses, our problems truly are "1st World".
The Cuban people have suffered immensely and for generations all because of an upper-income, white progressive fantasy.
Bari, I am surprised you didn’t mention that yesterday Biden’s DHS Secretary said the US would not accept any refuges from Cuba even if they are legitimately fleeing political persecution. How is this not HUGE news?
That's easy. They would all eventually vote Republican.
If we had an honest media, it most certainly would be huge news. However, the DNC state media is clearly trying to duck and spin what's happening in Cuba as anything but protesting the regime. I believe Jen Psaki claimed that Cubans are protesting for vaccines, not freedom (insert massive eye roll). Seriously! Cubans understand totalitarianism and would be highly unlikely to vote for it again down the line in the US (if permitted entry). Better to allow future Democratic voters (nudge, nudge, wink wink) to flood over the southern border (at massive cost to US taxpayers). Cubans legitimately fleeing political persecution don't really bolster the DNC narrative. Think about how insane that is - that's where we're at right now. Also note silence from Bernie, AOC, and that tribe on this issue.
What is the over/under on the number of comments before we get the “Cuba is not real communism”?
I cancelled my WSJ subscription over the comments being censored on the Cuba articles. Lots of "don't mistake Cuba for Marxist/ Communist" allowed to run wild. My comment got censored for responding "so we are supposed to ignore that the Castro's and Canel are very vocal that they are Revolutionaries for Marxism and the Communist regimes they run??" WSJ found my comment violated their terms. I can only imagine how much overtime their 25 year old censors making $45K a year were working to promote a narrative they blindly follow.
I'm embarrassed to be a millennial. Bubble test ruined my generation. Critical thinking, nuance, objective facts, scientific debates, learning the why and how of history - none was taught in school and only a few of us have developed those skills as adults. We bought the degrees we wanted - we were clear on this a decade ago. But as we approach 40, most of my "friends" haven't matured a bit - they still feel entitled to everything simply because of pieces of paper ("degrees") we all bought in our early 20's with minimal effort compared to those with an actual job learning a genuine trade. They embrace CRT because it boosts their egos, which their limited accomplishments in life have failed to do. Those of us with an appreciation for all we have, who volunteer our time and willingly give our treasure to actual charities improving lives, and who raise our children with a timeless western values based in faith, are seen as an outcast minority. We are a happy, successful and fulfilled minority, but we are still a minority.
My generation often supports Marxism because most my age don't actually know anything about it. They literally couldn't name 10 Marxist regimes or dictators. They don't know who the Bolsheviks were, much less what they believed. They haven't a clue how many people starved in China, or died in the gulags, much less anything about Castro and Cuba. They put BLM signs in their front yards because they think its trendy, not because they want equity (or even equality for that matter). None of this wokeness cost them any actual time or money. It's like they never matured beyond middle school. They certainly don't have an appreciation of long term consequences that exceeds that of the average 11-year old.
The irony is that these Marxists you speak of will be the first ones the Communists line up and shoot. Oh well. Some people have to learn the hard way.
Yes, and the ones in the US today buy the lie that the Bolsheviks who killed others in the name of their cause weren't really "loyal" when they died by the millions a couple decades later in the gulags they built. It's most often the true believers, or their family, who suffer the worst consequences of the insanity.
Don’t forget Pol Pot’s killing fields where they murdered teachers and anyone with glasses because they were likely educated.
Its weird how so many people support this genocidal ideology. You will find a lot of them in this and other substack comments. Mind boggling.
Surely the author meant to say that countries can commit an assisted suicide. After all, Assadregime in Syria has been on the Soviet / Rusky books since the beginning. Take this for example: most of you have heard of the demise of former Yugoslavia in a bout of tribal frenzy. One could infer that the country decided to commit "suicide". As the recently completed trial of the former leader of the Serbian secret police had shown, the person who was in charge of the said demise turn out to be also working for certain organization from Langley Virginia. I guess the CIA slogan to small, strategically placed countries is the same as Home Depot's: "You can do it, we can help!" This of course does not relieve any country of its ultimate responsibility for its own destiny. After all, any country that allows itself to become a pawn in the latest chapter of the cowboys versus Cossaks b******* has dug its own grave.
Cuba is sadly part of the same tragic cycle.
I wish Cubans all the best. They would do themselves a favor should they decide that any future free Cuba would keep the bans on "social" networks and American tech companies. After all, they don't want to replace informers with Alexas, or get a freedom to moderate instead of freedom of speech
Interesting. Biden and Harris really do work for the CCP I guess.
I live in a college town, so Che Guevara is still T-Shirt fashion. Never met Che. Just his T-Shirts which are way cool. For example, above the neck-line, you never see a chopped-off head. The most direct experience I've had with Communism was when I travelled through Montenegro. The people toasted me and marveled at me as I was the first American many had ever seen. It was like being Tom Cruise only not short. The hotel put me in a swell special room with cameras and microphones they had reserved for Americans to prepare us for future living with the NSA. I went to the hotel bar and not being served I used my teeny amount of Serbo Croatian to ask a local to buy a beer for me because I was an American and they wouldn't serve me. That was one great joke, and it went like this. On any given night, nobody was going to get a drink. Nobody. Or maybe one or two people should the whim come to the bartenders. The bartenders were Communists. They would be there tonight, tomorrow, next year whether they served anybody beer or not. I often wish the kids in the Che shirts could try for a semester to get served by a Communist bartender.
Short shaming Tom Cruise? How dare you(in my best Greta Thunberg voice)?
Invoice me for his therapy. My bad.
For what it's worth, during the Obama administration, I visited Cuba with a U.S. tour company. We were required to register with the State Dept. as a humanitarian mission. Each of us had to bring 15 lbs. of consumer goods, e.g., OTC medicines like aspirin and antibiotic cream, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, band aids, etc. The government had deputized the Catholic Church to receive and deliver these items to the locals.
We didn't see any Potemkin Villages and I returned home with no illusions. In Havana, we stayed at a nice hotel run by a Spanish hotel chain, but other than that we were free to wander the streets and talk to anybody we liked. My high school Spanish came in handy. There are two forms of money in Cuba, one for Cubans, and one for tourists. Our money was extremely valuable, theirs was practically worthless. The few stores where they were allowed to shop were almost devoid of goods. But at that time, people didn’t appear to be going hungry.
Our tour guide was surprisingly forthright in her disdain for how her country was being run. Yes, she made sure we received the mandatory speeches about "the Revolution.” And she didn't have to sugarcoat the fact that people get good medical care in Cuba, as long as you follow all the rules, because if you miss one of your mandatory pre-natal visits you risk losing custody of your infant. (Your baby belongs to the State, not to you.) She was also upfront about the hideous condition of housing in Havana, where you could wake up after a rainstorm with the ceiling on top of your face, because fixing a decrepit old roof was out of the question. She explained why the Cuban divorce rate is sky high: three unrelated couples with one child apiece cannot maintain intimacy while sharing a three-bedroom apartment with one kitchen and one bathroom. As our tour was ending, she asked if I could send her some books on astronomy for her son. He was very interested in that subject and NO BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE.
I also learned that Cubans cannot choose their professions. You work where they tell you to work. This explained the dead eyes of the hospitality staff at the hotel, who do their jobs flawlessly and without a glimmer of human feeling. Again, through our tour guide: every little girl took ballet lessons, every little boy played baseball, because these were the only two possible pathways to a prestigious career, that might also lead to the possibility to defect.
In Cuba, I met beautiful, industrious, kind, talented people, full of humor, frustration and rage, with nothing but good will for us Americans and tourists from all over the world. I could cry thinking about them now. These people were trapped, and they knew they are trapped. Back then, Castro was still alive, making his four-hour speeches. It was clear from their affect that they were waiting for him to die, in the hopes that things would improve. Things did not improve. I am so inspired and terrified for the Cuban people right now, taking to the streets. They literally have nothing to lose.
I went to Cuba as part of student performing arts program. I was there with classmates and teachers and we stayed for a week. The year was 1998 and I was a teenager. I was born in Mexico and so young at the time that there were no issues with immigration. It has been a while since then, but this is what I remember:
1. Beggars outside our hotel who begged for food/goods rather than money.
2. Having given the extra food I had packed to such beggars (not much foresight on my part).
3. Our hotel was not luxurious by any means. We barely had any furniture in our room (what it lacked on furniture it made up on cockroaches, though).
4. I don't consider myself a picky eater, but the hotel food was terrible (salad with just lettuce and no dressing, flat tasteless pancakes with no butter or syrup, milk with curd). Moros y cristianos was the only food that tasted OK.
5. Feeling hungry and being unable to find anything resembling a restaurant or store near the hotel.
6. We visited a pizzeria and an ice cream parlor (coppelia) in Habana 1 time each during our stay. In both venues, were the only costumers and we paid with dollars. These were the 2 filling “meals” I had in Cuba.
7. Fidel propaganda billboards and anachronistic cars.
8. Empty Habana streets.
9. My friend twisting her ankle and her being sent to a shaman/witch doctor, rather than to a proper clinic.
10. Beautiful beaches that’s were almost empty.
11. Few Europeans, many of them wearing Che t-shirts.
12. Lovely and warm Cuban people.
13. Interestingly, we could watch VH1 from the hotel TV along with the Cuban Channels (only that one random American channel though).
You were in Cuba in 1998, during the terrible Special Period (1991-2001) that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. What you’re describing is consistent with those years of extreme deprivation and poverty as the result of Cuba’s loss of its nanny state. By the time I visited in 2011, the country had recovered significantly due to foreign investments in tourism. I also had the impression that a small amount of private enterprise was allowed. We visited an outdoor market in Havana where all kinds of fruits and vegetables were available for sale, apparently by private citizens (although prices were fixed).
I’m not a Cuba expert, but it seems that COVID dried up the tourism industry and Cubans are again suffering from hunger and shortages of everything. Cuba is a small but very fertile island and it surprised me to see how much of it remains undeveloped (we saw the entire length of the island from the plane).
Word. Freedom is fragile, and those who have never had to fight to secure it easily take it for granted.
Well said.
Exactly. As an immigrant, I'm often astounded by the naivete of Americans, and how much freedom is taken for granted here. Why are Americans so anxious to relinquish personal freedoms? Once it's gone, good luck getting it back!
My heart goes out to the Cuban people. I wish we could send all of our champagne socialists (Bernie, AOC, and their Che t-shirt wearing "unicorn and rainbows" socialist followers) to Cuba in exchange for Cuban people who would likely appreciate an opportunity to live freely in this country.
Great idea
The scariest part is that if America falls, where will WE go?
I was thinking France. The food is awesome; the language is pretty, and if you understand half of it, that's more than enough. Understanding 100% of what is being said these days is painful.
Not likely. At least, for now, France has a commonly shared cultural history. Our cultural history is based on freedom. Once that is gone, we have nothing. And those attempting to eliminate our freedoms know that.
Yeah, and the French seem to be more prepared to mount of defense against this stuff than the Anglophone world.