[NYTr] Castro - Politics' last superstar

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by tsimonds - activ-l

The Guardian - Oct 10, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2187417,00.html


Politics' last superstar

The loyalty Castro has inspired means Cuba will 
follow its unique path long after he has gone

by Ignacio Ramonet

For the first time in almost 50 years, Fidel Castro is not in control of
Cuba. And contrary to predictions, the system has not broken down, the
population has not revolted, the revolution has not reversed. Now the
analysts are asking: will it last? Is Razl Castro going to reroute the
revolution? Has the country entered a "transition"?

Whatever one thinks of Fidel Castro, he is one of the few men who have
known the glory to enter history and legend in their own lifetime. He is
the last "superstar" of international politics. He belongs to the
generation of mythical insurrectionists - Nelson Mandela, Ho Chi Minh,
Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Che Guevara, Carlos Marighela, Camilo
Torres, Mehdi Ben Barka - who after the second world war launched into
political action with the hope of changing an unequal world. This was a
generation that thought that communism promised a radiant future, and
that injustice, racism and poverty could be eradicated in less than a
decade.

Since 1960, the US has imposed a devastating commercial embargo and
ideological war against Havana. Despite this, Castro's small country -
little more than 100,000 sq km and 11 million inhabitants - has in the
fields of education, health, medical research and sport, reached levels
that are the envy of even developed countries.

Cuba no longer depends on any empire: not Spain, not the US, nor the
Soviet Union. The end of the USSR did not mean the end of the
revolution; and neither will the passing of Castro.

Some analysts predict that Fidel Castro's death would trigger a
leadership collapse similar to that in eastern Europe after the fall of
the Berlin wall. They are mistaken. In eastern Europe a system imposed
from outside and detested by the population crumbled in a short time.
In Cuba, whatever the adversaries of Fidel Castro might claim, the
loyalty of the majority to the revolution is unquestionable. And it is
a loyalty based on a nationalism that has its roots in the historical
resistance against the imperialistic ambitions of the United States.

Now finally fully independent, Cuba has started a kind of second
political life, joining with the international left in the vast
offensive against neoliberalism. In this new geopolitical context, the
Cuban revolution is still an important reference point for millions of
disinherited, in spite of its deficiencies (economic difficulties,
bureaucratic incompetence, low-level corruption, food shortages, power
cuts, transport problems, restrictions of certain freedoms).

This is particularly true in Latin America where, since the electoral
victory of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 1998, the polls have allowed the
election of progressive candidates: Kirchner in Argentina, Lula in
Brazil, Vazquez in Uruguay, Torrijos in Panama, Prival in Haiti,
Bachelet in Chile, Morales in Bolivia, Ortega in Nicaragua and Correa
in Ecuador. This situation is completely new.

Not so long ago, a military coup or direct intervention by the United
States quickly put an end to any prospect of reform. Why isn't it thus
any more? Undoubtedly because since the 1991 Gulf war, the United
States has shifted its geopolitical concern towards the Middle East -
or its oil. In Latin America this change of axis has allowed the
blossoming of leftwing experiments and prevented them from being choked
in the cradle.

It was in this new context that, because of his health, Fidel Castro
yielded power on July 31 2006. Since then Razl Castro and his team have
stressed three priorities: food, transport and the environment - three
fields where the deficiencies, shortages and dysfunctions are structural
and give rise to widespread dissatisfaction. A general discussion has
been launched on how to make the economy more efficient, and on fighting
absenteeism and apathy.

This open debate is taking place against the background of local
elections currently under way that culminate in the general elections
in spring next year. Will Fidel Castro stand for election in his
district of Santiago? If not, it will mean that he does not wish to be
re-elected president.

Thus, next May, Cuba could have a new head of state. But that would not
signal the end of Fidel Castro, who will undoubtedly continue to exert a
discreet influence on the line of the revolution: a line that most
likely will not follow a Chinese model, nor a Vietnamese model, but
will continue to follow a uniquely Cuban path.

[Ignacio Ramonet is the editor of Le Monde diplomatique and co-author
with Fidel Castro of the forthcoming Fidel Castro: My Life; he speaks
tonight at London Metropolitan University]

===========

The International Institute for the Study of Cuba is an initiative by a
team of UK located academics, specialists and consultants with the
object of providing an in-depth and focused appraisal of the Cuban
'Social Experience' as it approaches and undergoes another period of
major change.

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research-units/cuba/