Posted on

Defend Socialist Cuba, End the Blockade!

By Ashlee Pintos

Those of us organizing and fighting for revolutionary socialism need to be constantly aware of the lies of the rich ruling class. We need to solidly defend all people fighting for their right to self-determination and tell the truth about all the gains that people have made in their struggle to build socialism in the face of constant imperialist attacks.

The people of Cuba have maintained a revolutionary culture which has made strides for humanity over the last 60+ years despite violent attacks and embargoes by U.S. imperialism. Recently the Trump administration tightened the sanctions and embargo placed on the Cuban people as imperialist punishment for having a peoples’ government and providing free health care and education.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba was isolated, and the United States and other imperialists renewed a vicious attempt to suffocate the country. This led Cuba to enter what is known as the “Special Period,” where Cubans were faced with extreme economic hardship with no help from the outside world (limited access to imports, the global market, oil, etc.). They lost 80% of their imports as well as exports. The Cuban people were faced with the immense task of building up production from within, using all that they had on their small island in the Caribbean to feed, house, educate all human life.

The capitalists’ goal and ideal outcome would have been (and still is) the starvation, suffering and death of the Cuban people. They have bombed rice fields, blocked shipments of food and medicine, and made travel or trade with Cuba illegal. What was the result?

The result has only been validation that socialism does work. Despite the violence against Cuba, they have achieved a near 100% literacy rate, 85% homeownership (compared to 65% in the US) with no homelessness, and they have built a healthcare system that puts countries like the United States to shame. They have developed a vaccine for lung cancer, virtually eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and have some of the most progressive policies for queer and trans people in the world.

While the U.S. has reallocated over $270 Million from FEMA to Border Patrol in the middle of hurricane season, Cuba holds the torch for the best hurricane preparedness in the world. They have offered hurricane relief to the U.S. (including New Orleans after Katrina) which has consistently been turned away by the U.S. government.

The Trump administration has tightened the blockade heightening a fuel crisis for Cuba as well as terrorizing Venezuela. The democratic presidential candidates are no better: Bernie Sanders bashed socialism in Latin America, calling Venezuela’s President Maduro a “vicious tyrant”. These types of comments are not accidental nor are they a failing of Sanders’ political development: they are distinctly anti-communist, anti-worker, and set the stage for imperialist intervention in Cuba and Venezuela.

Is Cuba perfect? Of course not. We must understand the damage that hundreds of years of colonial terror and capitalist exploitation leaves behind and celebrate all that the Cuban people have accomplished despite the odds. The forward movement of the revolution is how revolutionaries acknowledge issues and empower the masses to find solutions collectively. Cuba’s president has said that the people will not enter another Special Period. Cuba’s response to these attacks is more revolution to maintain and renew the revolutionary culture that has inspired the Cuban people throughout the years. Solidarity with the Cuban People!

Posted on

While the Amazon Burns and Louisiana Drowns…

Cuba tops the list of countries with the most sustainable model of development on the planet, according to the environmental group World Wildlife Federation. The group considers both human development—for example high life expectancy and literacy—and the “environmental footprint” of a country. Despite the criminal U.S. embargo and near constant attempts by U.S. imperialists to undermine Cuba’s socialist system, the Cuban government and the Cuban people are determined to show the world that a better world is possible.

Posted on

Cuba Develops Lung Cancer Vaccine

In socialist Cuba, medical research isn’t geared towards private profit. Instead, it’s done to improve the lives of not only Cubans but all the people of the world.  Recently they developed an immune therapy called CIMAVax which stops lung cancer cells from growing.  It is not preventative but has proven effective to save and extend lives.  It is free to all Cubans. While Trump makes it illegal to buy Cuban products, thousands of Americans have defied the ban to travel to Cuba which makes the vaccine available to them as well.

Posted on

Infant Mortality in Louisiana Double the Rate in Cuba

By Gregory William

Infant mortality is a measure of how many children, per 1,000 live births, die in their first year of life. To lose a child is a terrible thing for a family, but this is a social problem that should concern us all. The rate is affected by all the economic, political, and social conditions that exist in a society. Truly, the infant mortality rate reflects the overall well-being of a population. If the rate is high in a place, or for a group of people, that tells us something about the conditions that people face. The United States has the highest rate among all developed countries and is 30th in the world.

Racism and Poverty Cause Infant Deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama

Louisiana has an overall rate of 7.92. This is pretty bad, considering that Poland’s rate is 5 per 1,000. For white infants in Louisiana, the rate is 5.73. For Black infants it is 11.66. This pattern shows up again and again. Mississippi’s overall rate is an astonishing 9.08. For whites, it’s 6.91 and for Blacks, it’s 11.95.  These high rates for whites reflect poverty and the even higher rates for Blacks, poverty and racism. Also terrible in Louisiana is the rate of maternal deaths during childbirth.  If Alabama were a country it would be 100th in the world rating.

This is an outrage considering that U.S. politicians have long claimed that this is the best, and most prosperous country in the world. Profits may be soaring for the parasitic billionaire class, but how great can a country be when so many mothers and families experience the loss of a child due to poverty and systems of racist oppression? How many thousands of infant deaths could have been prevented if our society was organized in a different way? How many Black futures have been cut short in this way? How many children of working-class families of all races and ethnicities never got a chance in life?

The Cuban Difference

Once again, socialist Cuba shows that it does not have to be this way. Cuba is a formerly-colonized Caribbean country under a U.S. economic embargo since 1962. When the revolutionaries came to power in 1959, the infant mortality rate exceeded 60 per 1,000. In 2018, it is 3.963!

How has a tiny island nation achieved so much with limited resources? Cuban society is organized on a radically different basis from that of the United States. Cuba has made huge strides in eliminating systemic racism. With the socialist system, the Cuban people have access to world-class free medical care. Cuba’s Family Doctor and Nurse Program has 10,869 offices across the country, which is only 760 miles long and 55 miles wide!

In the United States, the wealth generated by the working class is hoarded by the capitalist ruling class, with only a fraction of it coming back to the people in terms of wages or social programs. In Cuba, by contrast, the wealth generated by the workers is used to benefit the workers themselves, whether it be through universal education, housing, or health care. Cuba doesn’t have homelessness. Just think. In Cuba, mothers can afford housing or medical care or lose their jobs if they are pregnant and day care centers are plentiful…

If the Cuban people have achieved these things through revolution and struggle, there is no reason that we can’t achieve them here, too. It is, of course, up to us to organize to overthrow capitalism and white supremacy. The ruling class will not give us the kinds of social advances brought about by the Cuban and other socialist revolutions.

Posted on

Cuban Doctors to Help Patients in South Side Chicago

Cuba’s infant mortality rate is lower than the U.S. according to the World Health Organization. A partnership signed between the University of Illinois Cancer Center and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health has teamed up three Cuban doctors and a nurse with their U.S. counterparts during home visits to 50 women of reproductive age in Englewood, according to Kaiser Health News.

In exchange for a US $50 stipend, the women responded to a questionnaire that includes questions such as: “In the last 12 months, have you had any problems with any bug infestations, rodents or mold?” or “Have you ever had teeth removed or crowned because of a cavity?” The questions cover a range of topics, including emotional well being and condition of one’s residence.

Cuba’s Minister of Public Health, Roberto Morales, explained Cuba’s success. “The entire health care system in the country is about lives saved, quality of life, happiness and satisfaction for our people,”.

Posted on

We Need Socialism!

By Gregory William

Deep poverty is on the rise. The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world. Every year, police kill nearly 1,000 people, mostly people of color. Sexual harassment in the workplace is commonplace. Both Democrats and Republicans slash every program benefiting working people, while wasting our money on war. We are hit by one economic crisis after another.

We know things don’t have to be this way. We can fundamentally change society by overthrowing capitalism and building socialism. These problems do not come out of nowhere: They are byproducts of capitalism.

But what’s the basic difference between capitalism and socialism? Does it make sense to have a society where there are a handful of mega-wealthy billionaires, and the majority of people are just scraping by? Couldn’t we workers run the society without bosses, and make decisions that benefit the majority? Do we really have a “democracy” or do the rich just buy the policies they want?

We Need Socialism!
Under socialism, ordinary working people like us run the institutions of the society, including the government. Major property (like factories, infrastructure, and hospitals) are owned collectively by the people. There are no billionaires hoarding all the wealth and running things for their benefit alone. When workers make revolution, all of this becomes possible. We wouldn’t have high rents. We could make sure that health care, education, childcare, and housing are guaranteed free human rights! This is not simply a pipe dream. At one point or another in the past century, working people from Russia, to China, to Cuba have taken power, and proved that things can be different.

New Orleans, Cuba, and Hurricanes
In 2018, in socialist Cuba, people are in fact guaranteed to have access to health care, education, childcare, and housing. Cuba is a “poor” country compared to the United States, but there are no homeless encampments like we have here. LGBTQ rights are enshrined in the law. Cuba’s infant mortality rate is lower than ours. All of this is well-documented by trusted global institutions like the World Health Organization. But I want to focus on the issue of hurricane response. The difference between the United States and Cuba couldn’t be more extreme, and it shows the superiority of socialism over capitalism in a way that is important for us in Louisiana. It is a matter of life and death.

All of us are familiar with the failure of the government to respond to hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Maria. Over 1,400 people died during these storms, and millions more were displaced throughout the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath, the city, state, and federal governments colluded with corporations to turn New Orleans into an experiment in the most mercenary forms of contemporary capitalism: public housing demolished, Charity Hospital closed, and public education destroyed. Puerto Rico still has not fully restored electricity, jobs and income

In Cuba, on the other hand, the whole society is mobilized to deal with hurricanes, and the aftermath is about recovery, not greed. Hurricane preparedness drills take place regularly everywhere. The focus is on risk-reduction with an integrated response from local fire departments, health, transportation, and other public services. Before storms occur, government officials, police, and military personnel help people move their personal property to safer locations. The government also guarantees replacement of all lost property.

Cuba has a fraction of the wealth and resources of the United States and is directly in the path of many storms. Almost no one in Cuba dies as a result of tropical storms and hurricanes, gets evicted, or loses pay. The past 17 major hurricanes to hit Cuba only resulted in 35 deaths. When Katrina hit Cuba, only two people died.

The socialist organization of society allows for the possibility of tackling major problems. The Cubans decided to take on the problem of storm preparedness, which is essential for the island. Such a massive reorganization is impossible in the U.S., where people are intentionally isolated from one another and the motives of the ruling class are based in profits. It is socialism which gives to people the means to bring about progressive change.