Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 20, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
When I was young, I supported revolution, that is, either the violent or non-violent removal of a harsh, cruel government that ruled unjustly over its people.
Even in my freshman days at university, I still accepted that the violent break with the past in the name of justice and freedom had philosophical justification.
During my post-graduate days at Mac Master University, I had to read the works of the English philosopher, Edmund Burke. And even though his arguments against violent revolutions were plausible, I still embraced the Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cuban, Nicaraguan, Iranian, and Grenadian revolutions.
It must be remembered that Burke rallied against revolution because he saw how they degenerated in England and France. Burke was particularly appalled at how the glorious French revolution descended into absolute terror. What has become of revolution?
Was Burke right that history has generated workable traditions that must be upheld? And that the sudden, violent rejection of what has gone by in the form of the tempestuous outbreak of revolutionary impulses inevitably led to the loss of freedom greater than what existed before?
Any argument about the fate of revolution would favour Burke. The Russian Revolution created Stalin, millions of times more a cruel leader than Tsar Nicholas whom the communists overthrew.
The Iranian uprising against the Shah of Iran was a tragic mistake in the contemporary world. What passes for good government today in Iran is far worse than under the monarchy.
More people have been put to death by the revolutionary Government of Iran in one year than in the decades of the Shah’s governorship.
The 20th century’s landscape is dotted with the sickening failure of revolution that takes in China, Russia, Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Suriname, Ethiopia, Grenada, Iran, Libya, Egypt among others. But Cuba is a particularly egregious example.
I read an excellent article on Fidel Castro’s failure in Cuba by the syndicated columnist, Andeas Oppenheimer.
One particular statistical fact was phenomenally insightful. Castro boasts that his island has the highest literacy rate in Latin America. Oppenheimer shows us that in 1957, under President Fulgencia Baptista, the man Castro overthrew, Cuba was one of four countries that had the highest literacy rate in Latin America.
So what has Castro done for the fifty years he has been in power? He simply moved Cuba up to number one in terms of the literacy rate. Maybe that is all he has done.
The deplorability of fifty years of Castro’s rule is one of the 20th century’s most graphic facts. What has this man achieved for the fifty years he has run this tragic country?
The Cuban people live a Kafkaesque nightmare under Castro. The basics of 21st century life these people are not entitled to.
They know nothing about newspapers and magazines that come from top countries of the world. A majority of them perhaps never saw Oprah Winfrey or Beyonce or Will Smith on television because a majority of them never possessed a television set.
They know nothing about the world of movies; no doubt being confined to public cinemas showing Soviet-era movies. It was just two months ago, that Castro’s brother issued a decree that the internet will be made available.
In the Caribbean, the lowest paid worker has a cell phone. In Cuba, only the political elites are allowed to possess these things because the sale of such items is prohibited.
A generation of Cubans has passed on to their graves and has never seen what a Toyota vehicle look like either in a movie, a magazine or in real life. No foreign scholar or international organization is allowed to measure the GDP and/or GNP of Cuba.
It is estimated that the average wage is US$20 monthly. Castro justified his overthrow of Batista, because Cuba was a playground for the American rich.
Decades ago, Castro went back to the days of Batista. Cubans were not allowed into foreign owned hotels. That was changed only two months ago.
It is my firm belief that Guyanese students are not properly trained in the medical programmes because the Cuban universities are run-down institutions. Cuba takes hundreds of Guyanese each year and after a period of five years returns them as doctors.
There is no way that education can stand up to rigorous scrutiny.
One thing for sure, Castro has no time to talk to Hugo Chavez about his imperialist design on Guyana.
It is wrong for the Americans to be imperialist but it is alright for Castro’s friend to illegally claim two-thirds of our country. Castro is on his death bed. Perhaps he thought he would have ruled Cuba forever.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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