MIDWESTERN MARX
  • Home
  • Online Articles
    • Articles >
      • All
      • News
      • Politics
      • Theory
      • Book Reviews
      • Chinese Philosophy Dialogues
    • American Socialism Travels
    • Youth League
  • Dr. Riggins' Book Series
    • Eurocommunism and the State
    • Debunking Russiagate
    • The Weather Makers
    • Essays on Bertrand Russell and Marxism
    • The Truth Behind Polls
    • Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century
    • Lenin's Materialism & Empirio-Criticism
    • Mao's Life
    • Lenin's State and Rev
    • Lenin's LWC Series
    • Anti-Dühring Series
  • Store
    • Books
    • Merchandise
  • YouTube
  • Journal of American Socialist Studies (JASS)
  • Contact
    • Article Submissions
    • The Marks of Capital
  • Online Library
  • Staff

7/16/2021

#SOSCUBA: The Captor Will Not Free Its Hostage. By: Gaetano Calagna

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Anti-communist protests recently sprung up in Cuba. Factions of protesters condemned the government for repression and violence. A large part of the manifestations also called for an end to scarcity of food, electricity, and medical supplies, including syringes for COVID-19 vaccines.
​
Western imperialists immediately pounced on the opportunity to blame Castro and the Communist Party of Cuba for these shortcomings. They charge the government with seizing the nation’s riches to distribute amongst themselves. According to them, scarcity in Cuba has been manufactured by a totalitarian regime that suppresses its people.

These mighty accusations stem from American politicians and Cuban exiles in Miami. First, one must examine the interests of these groups. American politicians, such as Republican representative Anthony Sabatini, have called for immediate intervention and the execution of communist officials. Like many other Southern white conservative politicians, Sabatini subscribes to the notion that anything left of fascism is communism. He donned blackface and brownface, labeled Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization, and called for the arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of protestors in the United States. Hence, one might not think much of his statements. After all, fear mongering about communism is the Republican Party’s bread and butter.

But similar echoes can be heard from Democrat politicians. US President Joe Biden tweeted, “We stand with the Cuban people as they bravely assert their fundamental and universal rights, and as they all call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering.” He even warned the Cuban government to refrain from violence or attempts to silence the protests; this statement comes from a man that called on the National Guard to suppress protesters of racism multiple times (in Minneapolis following the murder of Daunte Wright and in the capitol prior to Derek Chauvin’s trial verdict).

Evidently, his issues lie less with police violence than regime change. For over 100 years, the United States has had an imperial strangle on Cuba. Prior to Cuban nominal independence, five US presidents (Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Grant, and McKinley) attempted to purchase the island from Spain. Under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, American soldiers entered the battle for independence in the Caribbean. The military victory resulted in the American acquisition of Puerto Rico and protectorate status of Cuba. A protectorate state is controlled by another sovereign state. In this case, the US controlled elections, owned the sugar and tobacco industries, overtook Guantanamo Bay, and launched military occupations for 22 years.

American politicians have always prioritized control of Cuba in their imperial dreams. Settler colonialism birthed manifest destiny. As mainland colonization neared its course, the empire looked overseas to continue expansion. Cuba and Puerto Rico were two principal targets. The islands’ people rebelled in numerous occasions, but only Fidel Castro’s communist revolution in Cuba succeeded in exiling the Yankees. Obviously, the revolt caused dire consequences. The US launched an invasion at the Bay of Pigs and a hostile embargo.

Eisenhower’s and Kennedy’s administrations designed the embargo to suffocate the Cuban people into overthrowing Castro. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory wrote in 1960 memorandum, “The majority of Cubans support Castro (the lowest estimate I have seen is 50 percent). There is no effective political opposition […] The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship.” The blockade bars other countries from trading with, investing in, or giving aid to Cuba. Companies face the option of either working with the United States (the global power with the largest trading network and concentration of capital) or Cuba (an impoverished island).

The blockade uses the hegemonic global alliance to trap Cubans into surrendering to imperialism. In Mallory’s words, the blockade attempts “to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” The claim that Cubans are being starved is not false, yet the blame is misplaced. Monocropping of sugar and tobacco has made Cuban soil largely infertile; hence, Cubans rely on imports of food and other necessities. When a country cannot import food, its citizens face the consequences. Still, the government implemented rations to evenly distribute the food it did have access to, and consequently managed to prevent widespread famine. All economic sectors are impacted by the embargo. Seed patents prevent farmers from mass production. Vaccine patents deny Cubans the opportunity to receive the Pfzier, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. And, though the Cuban medical field developed its own vaccine, trade restrictions prevent access to syringes necessary to carry them out. The blockade similarly prevents new construction, leading to decaying infrastructure. The repercussions are endless. And it all comes at the courtesy of the United States.

 Hence, Biden’s cries for the end to economic suffering in Cuba come off as rather insincere. If he truly wanted to end the economic plight of Cubans, he would immediately lift the embargo. Instead, he and other Westerners have placed all responsibility on communism, not the systems actually responsible for this depravity – capitalism and imperialism. Cuban American exiles clamor for the United States to save Cuba. But what does this saving look like? How does the captor save its captive? History has proven this simply does not happen. Humanitarian concerns veil a heinous call for intervention. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez even called for immediate airstrikes in Cuba, citing previous administrations bombings of Panama and Yugoslavia. 

Not all calls are quite as unabashedly violent, but, with or without hawkish language, intervention remains the main objective. White House spokesman Andrew Bates assured: “[Biden]’s committed to forming his policies toward Cuba based on two principles: That standing up for democracy and human rights is paramount, and that Americans — especially Cuban Americans — are the best ambassadors for freedom and prosperity in Cuba.” The United States attempts to instill its brand of disingenuous democracy in all parts of the world, with the desire of securing capital for the ruling class. American “democracy” brought Afghanistan an endless war and innumerable civilian casualties. American “democracy” brought Puerto Rico an endless cycle of poverty and debt. American “democracy” brought Libya an open slave market. American “democracy” brought Americans mass incarceration, along with manufactured starvation and homelessness amidst food and housing surpluses.

What do the Cuban people stand to gain from intervention? The same unequal conditions that created the Cuban revolution? An anti-imperialist lens should inform our answers to these questions. Americans often fail to recognize the state’s imperial apparatus in their analysis. They feed into the trap of advocating for interventionist foreign policy that extrapolates resources and decimates native populations. Do not fall for the deception. The end of imperialism is the one true solution.

Author

Gaetano is a Venezuelan socialist and digital content creator. He graduated from Florida International University with a BA in Political Science, focusing on history and the racial class struggle throughout the Americas. He now spends his time meandering through Instagram.


Archives

July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020

Share

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Details

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020

    Categories

    All
    Aesthetics
    Afghanistan
    Althusser
    American Civil War
    American Socialism
    American Socialism Travels
    Anti Imperialism
    Anti-Imperialism
    Art
    August Willich
    Berlin Wall
    Bolivia
    Book Review
    Brazil
    Capitalism
    Censorship
    Chile
    China
    Chinese Philosophy Dialogue
    Christianity
    CIA
    Class
    Climate Change
    COINTELPRO
    Communism
    Confucius
    Cuba
    Debunking Russiagate
    Democracy
    Democrats
    DPRK
    Eco Socialism
    Ecuador
    Egypt
    Elections
    Engels
    Eurocommunism
    Feminism
    Frederick Douglass
    Germany
    Ghandi
    Global Capitalism
    Gramsci
    History
    Hunger
    Immigration
    Imperialism
    Incarceration
    Interview
    Joe Biden
    Labor
    Labour
    Lenin
    Liberalism
    Lincoln
    Linke
    Literature
    Lula Da Silva
    Malcolm X
    Mao
    Marx
    Marxism
    May Day
    Media
    Medicare For All
    Mencius
    Militarism
    MKULTRA
    Mozi
    National Affairs
    Nelson Mandela
    Neoliberalism
    New Left
    News
    Nina Turner
    Novel
    Palestine
    Pandemic
    Paris Commune
    Pentagon
    Peru Libre
    Phillip-bonosky
    Philosophy
    Political-economy
    Politics
    Pol Pot
    Proletarian
    Putin
    Race
    Religion
    Russia
    Settlercolonialism
    Slavery
    Slavoj-zizek
    Social-democracy
    Socialism
    South-africa
    Soviet-union
    Summer-2020-protests
    Syria
    Theory
    The-weather-makers
    Trump
    Venezuela
    War-on-drugs
    Whatistobedone...now...likenow-now
    Wilfrid-sellers
    Worker-cooperatives
    Xunzi

All ORIGINAL Midwestern Marx content is under Creative Commons
(CC BY-ND 4.0) which means you can republish our work only if it is attributed properly (link the original publication to the republication) and not modified. 
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Online Articles
    • Articles >
      • All
      • News
      • Politics
      • Theory
      • Book Reviews
      • Chinese Philosophy Dialogues
    • American Socialism Travels
    • Youth League
  • Dr. Riggins' Book Series
    • Eurocommunism and the State
    • Debunking Russiagate
    • The Weather Makers
    • Essays on Bertrand Russell and Marxism
    • The Truth Behind Polls
    • Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century
    • Lenin's Materialism & Empirio-Criticism
    • Mao's Life
    • Lenin's State and Rev
    • Lenin's LWC Series
    • Anti-Dühring Series
  • Store
    • Books
    • Merchandise
  • YouTube
  • Journal of American Socialist Studies (JASS)
  • Contact
    • Article Submissions
    • The Marks of Capital
  • Online Library
  • Staff