> From: "Ulhas Joglekar" <uvj at vsnl.com>
> To: "lbo-talk" <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] "Criticism From Leftists Surprises Cuba"
> Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 07:32:49 +0530
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>
> Thiago Oppermann wrote;
>
>> Someone such as Saramango, living as he does in a country which does not
>> for
>> the most part try to enslave Cuba, has at least some of the necessary
>> conditions of possibility for such a speech act. Anyone in the US who does
>> not begin by pointing out that there is a movement in their country to
>> enslave Cuba must be unaware that there are such conditions, or callous.
>
> I agree with this. On the other hand, Cuba should also be circumspect about
> causes Cuba supports elsewhere in the world. e.g. Cuba supports the
> self-determination for Kashmiris. But not a word from Cuba about Tibetan or
> Kurdi self-determination !
>
> Ulhas
>
Oh, I don't think the Cuban government has much credibility with their criticisms, say, of US civil rights abuses. They are often true enough, but that's not the point.
Imagine a Cuban who is part of the Party, on the periphery of government, who refuses to be drawn on the recent repression, but insists that anyone who doesn't denounce US crimes is a stooge of Bush and a proponent of exterminist imperialism. Would such a person be so different from those people who denounce Justin and others as Castro apologists and soft on totalitarianism, simply because he sees the US crimes against Cuba as more pressing concerns for Americans than the crimes of Cuba's government, which he acknowledges are real enough? Someone might say there is no moral equivalence here, but that is an argument by fiat, and it is also available for use to the Cuban aparatchnik.
Thiago