[Marxistindia] Reflections by Fidel Castro

[news from the cpi(m)]

THE WASHINGTON MEETING
 

 

            According to recent statements, some supportive governments do not cease to say they want to facilitate transition in Cuba. What kind of transition? Transition to capitalism, the only system they have absolute faith in. They do not say a word about the merits of our people, which for almost half a century of harsh economic sanctions and aggressions, has defended a revolutionary cause that together with its morale and patriotism, has given it the strength to put up a resistance.

            They seem to forget that after laying down lives and making sacrifices in defense of sovereignty and justice, Cuba cannot be expected to end up on the side of capitalism.

            They ingratiate themselves with the United States hoping that it will help them face their own economic problems injecting huge amounts of paper money to their shaky economies which maintain unequal and abusive terms of trade with the emerging nations.

            This is the only way they can ensure the multimillion profits of Wall Street and the US banks. The non renewable natural resources of the planet and its ecology are not even mentioned. There is no claim for the end of the arms race and the banning of the potential and probable use of weapons of mass destruction. 

            None of the participants in the conclave hurriedly convened by the sitting President of the United States has said a word about the absence of over 150 nations facing the same problems or even worse. These will not have the right to speak on the international financial order as the pro tempore President of the UN General Assembly Miguel D'Escoto had proposed, even when they include most of the countries from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Oceania. 

The G-20 meeting will open in Washington tomorrow. Bush is delighted. He has stated that a new international financial order will result from the meeting and that the institutions set up at Bretton Woods should be more transparent, accountable and effective. It's as much as he would admit. Referring to Cuba's prosperity in the past, he said that it had once been full of sugarcane fields. By the way, he failed to mention that it was manually cut and that, for over half a century, the empire has deprived us from our quota. Also that this action was taken when the word socialism had yet to be spoken in our country, although we had certainly proclaimed: Homeland or Death!

Many seem to dream that after a simple change of leadership in the empire, this would be more tolerant and less hostile. Apparently, contempt for the incumbent ruler makes some entertain illusions about a probable change in the system.

The innermost ideas of the citizen who will take over the issue are yet unknown. It would be extremely naïve to believe that the good will of a smart person could change what is the result of centuries of selfishness and vested interests.

Let's watch attentively what everyone says in that major financial conclave. There will be plenty of news. We shall all be a bit better informed.

 

 

Fidel Castro Ruz

November 14, 2008

5:35 p.m.       

 

 

THE BIRTH OF THE MOUNT
 

Bush seemed happy to have Lula sitting to his right during dinner on Friday. On the other hand, Hu Jintao, whom he respects for the enormous market in his country, the capacity to produce consumer goods at low cost and the volume of his reserves in US dollars and bonds was sitting to his left.

            Medvedev, whom he offends with the threat of locating strategic radars and missiles not far from Moscow, was assigned a seat rather distant from the White House host.

            The King of Saudi Arabia, a country that in a near future will produce 15 million tons of light oil at highly competitive prices was also sitting at his left, at Hu's side.

            Meanwhile, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and his most faithful allied in Europe, could not be seen close to him in the pictures.

            Nicolas Sarkozy, who is rather disappointed at the present architecture of the financial order, was far from him looking embittered.

            The President of the Spanish Government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a victim of Bush's personal resentment attending the conclave in Washington, I could not even see in the television images of the dinner.

            That's how those attending the banquet were sitting.

            Anyone would have thought that the following day there would be a profound debate on the thorny issue.

            On Saturday morning, the press agencies were reporting on the program that would unfold at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Every second was covered. There would be an analysis of the current crisis and the actions to be taken. It would start at 11:30 a.m. local time. First, there would be a photo op, or "family picture" a Bush called it, and twenty minutes later the first plenary session would start followed by a another one in the second half of the day.  Everything was strictly planned, even the fine sanitary services.

             The speeches and analysis would last approximately three hours and 30 minutes. Lunch would be at 3:25 local time, immediately followed by the final declaration at 5:05. One hour later, at 6:05, Bush would be leaving for Camp David to rest, have dinner and have a pleasant sleep.

            Those following the event were impatient to see the day going by and trying to know how the problems of the earth and the human specie would be dealt with in such a short time. A final declaration had been announced. 

            The fact is that the Summit's final declaration was worked out by previously chosen economic advisors, very much in line with the neoliberal ideas, while Bush in his statements prior to the summit and after its conclusion claimed more power and more money for the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other world institutions under strict control of the United States and its closest allies. That country had decided to inject 700 billion dollars to bailout its banks and multinational corporations. Europe had offered an identical or even higher figure. Japan, its strongest pillar in Asia, has promised a 100 billion dollars contribution. In the case of the People's Republic of China, which is developing increasing and convenient relations with Latin American countries, they are expecting another contribution of 100 billion dollars from its reserves.

            Where would so many dollars, euros and pound sterlings come from if not from the deep indebtedness of new generations? How can the structure of the new world economy be built on paper money, which is what is really circulating in the short run, when the country issuing it is suffering from an enormous fiscal deficit? Would it be worthwhile traveling by air to a place on the planet named Washington to meet with a President with only 60 more days left in government and signing a document previously designed to be adopted at the Washington Museum? Could the US radio, TV and press be right not to pay special attention to this old imperialist game in the much-trumpeted meeting?

            What is really incredible is the final declaration adopted by consensus in the conclave. It is obviously the participants' full acceptance of Bush's demands made before and during the summit. Some of the attending countries had no choice but to adopt it; in their desperate struggle for development, they did not want to be isolated from the richest and most powerful and their financial institutions, which are the majority in the G20.

            Bush was really euphoric as he spoke. He used demagogic phrases which mirror the final declaration.

            He said: "The first decision I had to make was who was coming to the meeting. And obviously I decided that we ought to have the G20 nations, as opposed to the G8 or the G13. But once you make the decision to have the G20 then the fundamental question is, with that many nations, from six different continents, who all represent different stages of economic development, would I be possible to reach agreements, and not only agreements, would I be possible to reach agreements that were substantive? And I'm pleased to report the answer to that question was, absolutely."

            "The United States has taken some extraordinary measures. Those of you who have followed my career know that I'm a free market person -until you are told that if you don't take decisive measures then it's conceivable that our country could go into a depression greater than the Great Depression."

            "[.] we just started on the $700 billion fund to start getting money out to our banks."

            "[.] we all understand the need to work on pro-growth economic policies."

            "Transparency is very important so that investors and regulators are able to know the truth."

            The rest of what Bush said goes more or less along this line.

            The final declaration of the summit, which takes half an hour to read in public due to its length, is clearly defined in a number of selected paragraphs:

            "We, the leaders of the G20 have held a first meeting in Washington, on November 15, in the light of serious challenges to the world economy and financial markets."

            "[.] we should lay the foundations for a reform that will make this global crisis less likely to happen again in the future. Our work should be guided by the principles of the free market, free trade and investment.."

            "[.] the market players sought to obtain more benefits failing to make an adequate assessment of the risks and they failed."

            "The authorities, regulators and supervisors from some developed nations did not realize or adequately warned about the risks created in the financial markets."

            ".insufficient and poorly coordinated macroeconomic policies as well as inadequate structure reforms, led to an unsustainable macroeconomic global result."

            "Many emerging economies, which have helped sustain the world economy, are increasingly suffering from the world brakes."

            "We note the important role of the IMF in response to the crisis; we salute the new short-term liquidity mechanism and urge the constant reviewing of its instruments to ensure flexibility."

            "We shall encourage the World Bank and other multilateral developing banks to use their full capacity in support of their agenda for assistance."

            "We will make sure that the IMF, the World Bank and other multilateral developing banks have the necessary resources to continue playing their role in the solution of the crisis."

            "We shall exercise a strong monitoring of the credit agencies through the development of an international code of conduct."

            "We pledge to protect the integrity of the world financial markets by reinforcing protection to the investor and the consumer."

            "We are determined to advance in the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions so that they reflect the changes in the world economy to increase their legitimacy and effectiveness."

            "We shall meet again on April 30, 2009, to examine the implementation of the principles and decisions made today."

            "We concede that these reforms will only be successful if they are based on a serious commitment to the principles of free market, including the rule of law, respect for private property, free trade and investment, efficient and competitive markets and effectively regulated financial systems."

            "We shall refrain from erecting new barriers to investment and trade in goods and services."

            "We are aware of the impact of the current crisis on the developing nations, especially on those most vulnerable."

            "We are certain that as we advance through cooperation, collaboration and multilateralism we will overcome the challenges and restore stability and prosperity to the world economy."

            This technocratic language is beyond grasp of the masses.

            The empire is treated courteously; its abusive methods are not criticized.

             The IMF, the World Bank and the multilateral credit organizations are praised despite the fact that they generate debts, enormous bureaucratic expenses and investments while supplying raw materials to the large multinationals which are also responsible for the crisis.

            This goes on like that until the last paragraph. It's a boring declaration full of the usual rhetoric. It doesn't say anything. It was signed by Bush, the champion of neoliberalism, the man responsible for genocidal wars and massacres, who has invested in his bloody adventures all the money that would have sufficed to change the economic face of the world.

            The document does not have a word on the absurd policy promoted by the United States of turning food into fuel; or the unequal exchange of which the Third World countries are victims; or about the useless arms race, the production and trade of weapons, the breakup of the ecological balance and the extremely serious threats to peace that bring the world to the brink of annihilation.

            Only a short four-word phrase in the long document mentions the need "to face climate change."

              The declaration reflects the demand of the countries attending the conclave to meet again in April 2009, in the United Kingdom, Japan or any other country that meets the necessary requirements --nobody knows which- to examine the situation of the world finances, dreaming that the cyclical crisis with their dramatic consequences never happen again.

            Now is the time for the theoreticians from the left and the right to offer their passionate or dispassionate criteria on the document.

            Form my point of view the privileges of the empire were not even touched. Having the necessary patience to read it completely, one can see that is simply a pious appeal to the ethic of the most powerful country on earth, both technologically and militarily, at the time of economic globalization; it's like begging the wolf not to eat up little red riding hood.

 

            Fide Castro Ruz

            November 16, 2008

            4:12 p.m.

 

 

MEETING HU JINTAO
 

 

            I didn't want to speak much, but he forced me to elaborate. I asked a few questions but I mostly listened to him.

            He related the exploits of the Chinese people in the past 10 months. The enormous nation with a 1.3 billion population has been hit by heavy and out-of-season snow, and an earthquake which devastated areas three times that of Cuba; in addition to the most serious international economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. 

            I could see in my mind the great efforts of the Chinese people, its workers, its peasants and its manual and intellectual workers; the traditional hard-working spirit and the millennium-old culture of that country that preceded by thousands of years the colonial period imposed by the West, the same West where the current G-7 powers sit today with their force and wealth, playing a hegemonic role in the world economy. 

            What a great challenge for this leader in these times of globalization who in a gesture of goodwill came to visit our blockaded, harassed and threatened homeland! Are we not one a rogue state among 60 or more that can be the target of a pre-emptive attack? That much was said by the insane leader of the empire six years ago, the same man who just five days ago met in Washington with the G20!

            China is the only member of that group whose State can regulate a high growth rate, at the pace it chooses, no less than 8% in 2009. The idea raised during the last Party Congress was to quadruple the per capita Gross Domestic Product between 2000 and 2020, measured in 2007 present values; that was the year the Congress was held. He spoke to me about that in detail. Thus, in conditions of peace, China will reach by the end of that period the figure of no less than 4 thousand dollars per capita income. I think that it should not be forgotten that China is an emerging nation whose per capita income at the time of the revolutionary victory  --with a smaller population- hardly reached $400  per capita, and the country was completely isolated by imperialism. Just compare this with the $20 thousand per capita, or more, that developed capitalist countries such as Japan, the Western European nations, the United States and Canada currently enjoy. The per capita income in some of these exceeds the $40 thousand annually, even if their distribution in society is far from fair.

            It is only by using $586 billion from its foreign reserves amounting to almost $2 trillions, accumulated through much hard work and sacrifices that this country is facing the present crisis and advancing. Is there any other country as sound as this?

            The President of China, Secretary General of the Party and Chairman of the Party and Government Central Military Commissions, Hu Jintao, is a leader who's aware of his authority and exercises it to the full.

            The delegation he headed signed with Cuba twelve draft agreements towards a modest economic development in an area of the planet where the small territory in its entirety can be battered by increasingly intensive hurricanes, an evidence of true climate changes. The area affected by the earthquake in China is hardly 4% of the total area of that great multinational State.

            Under certain circumstances, the size of an independent country, its geographical location and the size of its population can play a major role.

            Would a country like the United States, which robs already trained minds everywhere, be in a position to apply an Adjustment Act to the Chinese citizens similar to the one it applies to Cuba? Obviously not. Could it apply it to the entire Latin America? Of course, it couldn't there either.

            Meanwhile, our marvelous, contaminated and only spaceship continues to circle around its imaginary axis, as one popular Venezuelan program likes to repeat.

            It's not an everyday occurrence for a small state to have the privilege of receiving a leader of Hu Jintao's stature and prestige. He shall now continue his trip to Lima. There will be another great meeting there. Again, President Bush will attend, this time seven days closer to the end of his mandate. 

            It is said that in Washington, with only 20 leaders of the attending nations, the local security measures and those required by the host to thwart any attempt at physical removal, changed the habits and every day life in that city. How would it be in the great city of Lima? The city will surely be taken over by the security forces. It will be difficult to move around it because the well-trained members of the US supranational bodies will be there, and their interests and plans will only be known many years after the presidential terms of the eventual leaders of the empire are over.

            I summed up for him some of our country's assessments on the habits of our neighbors to the north, which tries to impose on us its ideas, its mindset and its interests with its fleet full of nuclear weapons and fighter planes; also our views on Venezuela's solidarity with Cuba from the most critical days of the Special Period and the hard blows dealt by the natural disasters. Likewise, that President Chavez, a great admirer of China has been the steadiest advocate of socialism as the only system capable of bringing justice to the peoples of Latin America. 

            In Beijing, they treasure good memories of the Bolivarian leader.

            President Hu Jintao reaffirmed his wishes to continue developing relations with Cuba, a country for which he feels great respect.

            The conversation went on for 1 hour and 38 minutes. He was warm, friendly and modest, and his affection was obvious. I found him young, healthy and strong. We wish our distinguished and fraternal friend the best in his endeavors. Thanks for his encouraging visit and the honor of showing an interest in a personal meeting with me!

 

 

            Fidel Castro Ruz

            November 19, 2008

            1:12 p.m.

 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------