Fidel Castro Blasts Consumer Societies

[mom cat]

Fidel Castro Blasts Consumer Societies in Letter Regretting Absence at Summit of Developing Countries

By Vanessa Arrington Associated Press Writer
Published: Jun 15, 2005


http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBALJB50AE.html



HAVANA (AP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro blasted wealthy consumer societies - with the United States topping the list - in a letter regretting his absence at a summit of small developing nations this week in Doha, Qatar.
Castro complained of a global economic system he said defends the interests of an opulent minority while pushing out all others in the letter, read Wednesday by Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage at the Group of 77 gathering of 132 countries.

"Never before has there been so much inequality in the world, and never before has it been so profound," Castro wrote. "In today's economic order, our countries are utilized for exploitation but excluded from development."

The Cuban leader said much of the economic woes of the developing world can be blamed on consumer-driven societies of the "North," referring primarily to the United States and Europe.

[NorCalDem]

1. He's correct

but it won't matter because hardly any Americans truly listen to visionaries like Castro and Chavez. Castro is certainly not a saint, but he's also not the communist monster we've all been raised to believe, and on this issue in particular he makes a good point.

[robcon]

2. Castro's wrong on the facts, and wrong on the conclusions

There has never been a more equal world. A hundred years ago, only a few Western Europe countries, and the U.S./Canada (plus a few exceptions like Argentina) were above subsistence level. The rest of the world was a Malthusian horror, and most of the people of the world were living in colonies of the advanced countries.

The world is a much better place now than it has ever been. There's a lot to do, but there has been a lot accomplished.

The economic woes that Cuba faces, along with North Korea, Burma, and parts of Africa are driven by the autocratic regimes in control there.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Pope John Paul II also blasted consumer societies

John Paul II denounced imperialism, consumerism, militarism and the arms trade. He called for action against “structures of sin” and renewed his criticism of the way in which international trade and global debt discriminate against the poorer nations.

http://www.caritas.org.au/newsroom/2005/pope-jpII_02042005.htm

I guess he was wrong about that too!

[the other one]

4. Cuba's woes are the result of the U.S. embargo.

If american's were free to visit cuba and to buy cuban exports (e.g. cigars and sugar) then Cuba would be in great shape. The fact that they survive in spite of the immense pressure put on them is a testament to the durability and resourcefulness of the cuban people.

[AndyTiedye]

6. The Embargo Probably Has Kept Cuba Communist

Suppose we had allowed free trade with Cuba all along.
Tourism, buy their cigars and sugar, sell them whatever,
even invite them to field a baseball team in the major leagues.

Would Cuba be in any way Communist today?

[IndianaGreen]

Americans have treated Cuba as a whore that changed her profession

The US has always exploited Cuba's resources, and used her as a place for our sailor boys to get laid. An island for casinos and cheap rum. A stop over for American tourist wearing wild shirts, stupid hats, and sun glasses.

Then the Revolution came and the whores were taught to read and write and were send to trade school or university. There were whores no more! Our sailor boys had to find another tropical paradise to dip their wicks and to insult the local population.

Viva la Revolucion!

[robcon]

7. I disagree. Cigars and sugar wouldn't matter.

1. The U.S. imports sugar from nowhere... the domestic price of sugar is double that of the world price because of our protectionism of the sugar industry. Castro or no Castro, we wouldn't be importing ANY Cuban sugar.

2. Cuban cigar industry is a tiny industry, and would't make a dent in the Cuban economy.

You missed the one industry that would matter to Cubans sans embargo: tourism. If Americans were free to visit Cuba, the beaches are nice, and Cuba might be competitive with the rest of the Caribbean.

For the most part the biggest problem with the Cuban economy is the backward state of industry there. They produce nothing of value to the world - anything they could sell competitively (quality/price) would be bought by Canada or Europe, or other parts of the world. Cuba can't compete because of the socialized, top-down economic model that was discredited in Eastern Europe decades ago.

[Say_What]

19. Pathetically naive....

1. The U.S. imports sugar from nowhere... the domestic price of sugar is double that of the world price because of our protectionism of the sugar industry. Castro or no Castro, we wouldn't be importing ANY Cuban sugar.

You obviously have not clue who runs the sugar industry in the USSA. One brother donates heavily to the Dems the other to the Repukes, and despite the fact that neither are US citizens they call the shots with the US government. Meet Alfy and Pepe Fanjul.

<clips>

...The Fanjul brothers have perfected the neat trick of using US government subsidies to bribe the US government:

"Former Senator Bill Bradley declared in March '97 that the system of financing campaigns is a disaster that is distorting democracy. Smith presented the Congress amendment on sugar as an example, revealing that concealed in that federal program is the fact that consumers pay eight cents more per pound than they should. According to the General Accounting Office, that signifies that $1.4 billion USD changes hands annually, to the benefit of the magnates.

Critics argue that this program survives year after year because of political money, Smith explained.

He added that in 1995, the 49 members of the House Agriculture Committee received an average of $16,000 USD from the sugar producers, mainly the two largest ones. Moreover, the Fanjul brothers invest money in hundreds of local election campaigns and thus have become, in association with the CANF, an influential factor in U.S. politics over the last 30 years.

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/cubambiz.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<clips>

...The Fanjuls also are kings of corporate welfare.

They rake in $65 million a year in agricultural subsidies through a federal program that props up domestic sugar prices.

For this public generosity, the Fanjuls are eternally grateful to Washington.

In the current 2004 election cycle alone, companies and lobby groups controlled by Pepe and Alfy have distributed at least $200,000 in political donations, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics.

That makes the Fanjuls one of the biggest political bankrollers in American agriculture.

The brothers divide up their giving. Pepe is the Republican sugar daddy, having been a Bush Pioneer twice and a former chief fund-raiser for Bob Dole.

Alfy bankrolls the Democrats. A major fund-raiser for former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, he just wrote a $10,000 check to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/155065p-136350c.html

[robcon]

23. Why am I 'pathetically naive' if I already knew about sugar in the U.S.?

It's an old story about sugar in the U.S. - the commodity that is politically protected from competition. The U.S. protectionsists in Congress are well-paid by the sugar lobbies.

I take extreme offense that you called me pathetically naive, without one ounce of evidence that I wasn't aware of WHY sugar is a protected commodity.

[James T. Kirk]

9. I think the Soviet subsidies minimized the effects of the embargo.

[ckramer]

17. Welcome to DU!

Cuba has free national health care and plenty of trained doctors to be exported. Just this would put USA in shame.

Every day, I see a young homeless lady in her 30's standing at end of LongFellow bridge in Boston begging money. This is America, the land of the free: The poor are free to die.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. Uh, I think you need to look around a little more

Castro is spot on here.
Conusmerism is not a long-term sustainable way of life and will be seen as a huge blunder in the future, if there is a future that is.
Yes, some countries are "free" from colonialism.
Yes, some countries are better off.
But time is ticking.

[robcon]

8. The only reason Castro decries consumerism...

...is that he can't deliver consumer products to the Cuban people.

It's the classic 'sour grapes' story: he can't have it, so he doesn't want it. He keeps telling his people that they shouldn't want what other countries have. After 46 years of autocracy, a lot of Cubans are sick of that message.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. Why is it so inconcievable that some people don't want

all the shit that goes with our "lifestyle?"

I get accused of "sour grapes" all the time. I don't want a new car, higher bills, a bigger house et al.

Neither do most Cubans.

[ckramer]

20. For one thing, consumerism is the greatest destructive force to

Mother Earth,imo. I don't think Castro wants the policy of consumerism in Cuban. I bet he realised that more stuff does not give one more happiness. Their way of simple living is good for the environment. Do you believe in general that the poorer Cubans are happier than the wealthier Americans in life? Americans have everything, but want more and more, miserably. In an abstract level, one can say that the consumerism is responsible for the invasion of Iraq.

[Say_What]

14. 'There has never been a more equal world.' ??? WTF???

:wtf: What planet do you live on??

<clip>
Facts and Figures on Population

* Today our world houses 6.39 billion people. 2

* The United States is a part of the developed or industrialized world, which consists of about 50 countries with a combined population of only 0.9 billion, less than one sixth of the world’s population. 1

* In contrast, approximately 5 billion people live in the developing world. This world is made up of about 125 low and middle-income countries in which people generally have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than people in high-income countries. 1

* The remaining 0.4 billion live in countries in transition, which include the Baltic states, eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. 3

http://www.bread.org/hungerbasics/international.html

[MisterP]

22. Friedman's flat Thatcherite one?

[robcon]

24. When was the world more equal, Say_What?

During the Malthusian pre-20th century?

It's easy to complain about the inequities of the current age. They were MUCH worse in prior ages.

[K-W]

21. You are living in a dream world.

And if you go back only 100 years you totally missed the story.

When Western Europe established its global dominance it was in no way shape or form more civilized than other parts of the world. It then proceeded to PRODUCE the third world by either exploiting or sabotaging other societies in order to retain control and dominance, so that the west would develop while the rest of the world would not. This is precisely the policy that the US follows and has always followed. Any nation that threatens to develop its economy outside of a framework that preserves the current order is destroyed, and those that stay in the current order are systematically stifled.

[Endangered Specie]

10. as a dictator, it never hurts to blast the other guys...

let him rant, i couldnt care less.

[depakid]

12. The irony is that Cuba will be a shining example

20-30 years from now, as the "consumer" actually make that WASTEFUL and CLUELESS societies- America being first and formost- try deperately to wean themselves from petroleum inputs.

Personally- I see Cuba far better off than Florida around 2030....

[earth mom]

13. Rampant Consumerism and the Love of Money has wrought

much evil, pain and suffering in this country. Just look at the Reasons Behind the Actions of the BFEE/Neocons/Rethugs, the Christian Fundies, the Exploitation and Outsourcing of Employees by Major Corporations, the Complicit Silence of the Media for Profit, the Kiss Ass Behavior of our Elected Officials in Washington and Elsewhere for Campaign Contributions...not to mention the never ending crap that goes on everyday like Scams, Ripoffs, Oppression of the Poor....etc., etc., etc...the list is simply endless.

And it's ALL FOR MONEY.

IMO, Castro isn't too far off the mark.

[mitchum]

15. Once again, Castro is right

[Say_What]

16. Great quotes, as usual.

From the article:

..."Never before has there been so much inequality in the world, and never before has it been so profound," Castro wrote. "In today's economic order, our countries are utilized for exploitation but excluded from development."

..."This economic order impedes the development of countries of the South to sustain the wasteful consumerism of the North, environmental degradation and the accelerated squandering of the world's natural resources," he said.

He highlighted what he called the "ravenous consumption" of oil in the United States, where, despite housing just 5 percent of the world's population, he said more than 26 percent of oil is consumed.

"The true cause of the nearly apocalyptic energy crisis which threatens the world today is the excessive and uncontrollable consumption of rich countries and the absurd and unsustainable consumer societies they have spawned," he said.

[Cha]

18. That'd be

us!

[robcon]

25. Havel: Cuba, like Burma: repressive regimes

"Aung San Suu Kyi is still kept under strict house arrest, and the Burmese generals have fortified themselves even more against any attempts at a dialogue. A dialogue? To conduct a dialogue with a regime that consistently disdains basic human rights and freedoms -- that uses arms instead of words and harassment and violence instead of discussion -- probably does not make any sense.

This is something that the European Union recently learned the hard way when it thought -- partly out of naivete, partly out of expediency -- that a more forthcoming attitude toward Fidel Castro's regime would lead to a more forthcoming attitude on the part of Castro toward his political prisoners and dissent in general. But Castro made a fool of the E.U. He released a few critically ill prisoners, secretly jailed some others and did not let some European parliamentarians into the country. Those parliamentarians who somehow managed to slip in were unceremoniously expelled.