Viva Castro?
| By RevolutionAM - May 26th, 2006 at 2:01 pm EDT |
I'm curious what this community thinks about Fidel Castro, in strategic terms. I always find myself a little uncomfortable when Castro speaks out against the Iraq occupation, or U.S. influence in Latin America. Is the enemy of my enemy my friend? Personally for me, no fucking way. It's exactly that kind of mindset ("hey, if the conservatives hate him, he must be doing something right!") that enabled the power-hungry wack-job Leninists in Cuba (the PCC) to gain so much power in the first place. Cuban progressives and radicals saw the PCC leadership as speaking out against Machado and Batista; many voices on the left were wary of criticizing other critics, fearing it would hurt the cause.
Another more graphic example is the mujahedeen in Afghanistan. The CIA funds, trains and foments violent religious reactionaries to set them loose on the Soviets, and then are surprised when all of a sudden the U.S. is the "great satan."
However, the main point of this post is to see what you all think. I'll just leave with this: resist the urge to defend Castro just because conservatives are the ones most often criticizing him. If anything, liberals and progressives should be the more outspoken opponents of his broken regime.
Another more graphic example is the mujahedeen in Afghanistan. The CIA funds, trains and foments violent religious reactionaries to set them loose on the Soviets, and then are surprised when all of a sudden the U.S. is the "great satan."
However, the main point of this post is to see what you all think. I'll just leave with this: resist the urge to defend Castro just because conservatives are the ones most often criticizing him. If anything, liberals and progressives should be the more outspoken opponents of his broken regime.
!
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2.) Is supporting the normalization of relations with Cuba tantamount to supporting the regime? Does that hold true with China as well? Can we argue in favor of trade with Cuba without being taken as supporting Castro? Conservatives argue against any relations with Cuba--they merely couch their argument in anti-Castro terms. The debate has never, to my knowledge, been about whether we should like or not like Castro, but whether we should normalize relations with Cuba or not. Those that oppose normalization attempt to cast all supporters of it as Castro-loving pinkos. Shouldn't a more pertinent discussion revolve around our opinions on opening trade talks with Cuba?
3.) The PCC didn't really gain power by "speaking out," did it? Had a little to do with guns and soldiers (see also: "The Godfather, Part II"). And they didn't gain power as a political group, but as the 26th of July Movement, which was an armed revolutionary group.
4.) Isn't the assumption that we should be enamored with Fidel Castro--despite his past and his ruling style--for occassionally making statements we agree with similar to saying we should all give David Duke another shot since he wants troops out of Iraq? Why assume that progressives cannot recognize assholes when we see them? (Though I wonder if the guys over at RedState ever argue among themselves whether we should be working with the regimes in Equatorial Guinea and Uzbekistan...)
5.) I wonder if the guys at RedState argued over whether or not opening relations with Libya was the same as loving Qadhafi.
A) Because the right loves to do so, we take a knee-jerk opposite stance, not by openly supporting Castro, but remaining silent, or
B) Because we respect aspects of Cuba's government like universal healthcare and superior medical expertise, things that could be lost if a U.S.-backed government comes to power, or
C) Because we see Cuba as a counterweight to U.S. hegemony in the region?
Or is it another reason, or combination thereof?
Perhaps your personal experience has been different from mine, but I've seen far too many people on the left back up authoritarian leftist regimes by counting their wonderful aspects and glossing over fundamental problems.
He's just not that important. Castro's an asshole, his governance is shitty in pretty much every single respect. But insofar as we lack the strength and will and opportunity to do something meaningful about it... life goes on?
Why does the Right get all worked up about it? My theory is because the Right pays less attention to feasibility than the rest of us in its rhetoric. It doesn't matter to them that we can't do shit about Castro at the moment whether we normalize relations or not; they still like to yell about it, because they have fun hearing themselves yell.
If normalizing relations with Cuba would aid Castro's regime, and ultimately hurt those under his rule, I'd probably be against it. But I'm not seeing anyone who's strongly made that case.
I don't normally think about him. Except when Carlos Mencia did a skit about him on his show the other night.
Carlos Mencia is a stupid, stupid man.
Luckily, I rented Blazing Saddles the other night. It takes the pain away.
I used to date a girl that did the best Madeline Kahn/Lily von Shtupp impression. (Of course, I met her at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but let's not talk about that...)