Last week, the ‘Commandant,’ Fidel Castro, in a letter published on the website of the Cuban Communist party newspaper, Granma, announced his retirement from active political life, but vowed to continue “fighting like a soldier of ideas” through writing his “Battle of Ideas” essays. The response from his adversaries in the West was prompt, with the US leading the pack and barking orders to the Cubans about the virtues of liberty as well as asserting its position on the trade embargo. But just who is this Castro and what are his political experiences that place him in an adversarial position with the rogue Empire? This is a subject that many books have covered and cannot be meaningfully dealt with in a writing of this nature. For many in the left though, Cuba, despite it being a one party state, and a closed system that is analogous to those in the former Eastern bloc, is a model of unparalleled resistance to imperialism, a model that fits no other in our time. Cuba has been subjected to all forms of destabilisation campaigns that no single country has witnessed, especially one so close to the shores of the 21st century empire, the US. Needless to point out that Castro himself has survived countless assassination plots by the CIA – Castro counts them to 638, including “such outlandish plans as filling a large sea mollusk with explosives to kill Castro while scuba diving”, according to the Guardian, August 3, 2006. That is the history of state terrorism as we know it. His crime was to lead a guerrilla movement known as the 26 July Movement, to topple a corrupt regime led by Batista in 1959 and proceed to institute radical land and economic reforms in which major assets, some with US interests, were nationalised. At the helm was Castro himself, his brother Raul as the second in command and compatriot, Ernesto Che Guevara. Their coming to power marked the beginning of US orchestrated imperial machinations such as sponsoring renegade groups like the Miami exiles; essentially the rich who identified and still assert to identify more with Miami than Havana.
For those of us for whom Cuba symbolises valiant triumph and resistance to imperialism, it is not only time to wish Castro a befitting rest, but to reflect on his legacy. In a true revolutionary spirit we reflect on his efforts to build an alternative and better societal model. In doing this, we first reflect on Botswana government’s dealing with Cuba. Second, we lay bare the facts of Cuba’s success in the social services, with education as the principal focus, dubiously questioned by Botswana most vociferous neo-liberal/neocon demagogue who parades himself as an independent newspaper columnist, Dichaba Molobe. This will be interposed with the lessons that Botswana can learn from the Cuban experience of building a society that places emphasis on human development and egalitarianism.
Not many might be aware that the BDP under Seretse Khama demonised anyone who identified with the left, especially in the 1960s ÔÇô 1970s. The height of the BDP communist paranoia was exemplified by botched attempts to incriminate Kenneth Koma and the uneasy relationship that authorities had with Patrick van Rensburg despite his noble education innovations that catered for the less privileged. Not many may also not know that a group of innocent youth due to attend a socialist youth conference in Havana in the 1970s found itself the subject of the special branch investigation. Their passports were then confiscated as it was believed that the conference was Koma’s ploy to enlist them for military training in Cuba. We may also not know that a left talking pastor on a 0650hours Radio Botswana programme “A closer look.” crossed path with authorities when he raised issues about the plight of the Basarwa underclass. All these events took place at the height of the Cold war when conservative regimes like the BDP, claiming to be non-Aligned also blew the trumpet of a communist plague that was threatening the region. However, post-Seretse BDP governments, changed tack as the Cold war euphoria subsided, and some “communists” formed governments in Zimbabwe, Angola, and Mozambique. Thus Botswana like these new states, embraced Cuba. Cuban teachers, nurses and doctors became part of a volunteer workforce that served this country in the 1990s. We also have young Batswana training in Cuba, without fear of breeding communist guerrillas. All this is done in recognition of the strength of the Cuban social development model.
Two years ago, two prominent Batswana; Michael Dingake and Patrick van Rensburg, made important comments on Cuba’s development model and the hurdles it had to contend with to date. My intention is not to rehearse their arguments. However, it is worth noting some of their observations for the benefit of the reader. Dingake’s outlined the path that Cuba took from 1959 when the 26 July Movement stormed into Havana. In his treatise, Dingake’s principal focus was the US imposed trade embargo and its irrelevance (Mmegi, 8 November 2006). From a different angle, but one from which I approach my subject, van Rensburg, on the basis of his personal experience and interaction with Cuban authorities, projected the values and effectiveness of the Cuban education system in which productive ventures form the core of learning (Mmegi, 15 September, 2006), challenging the assertion made by Richard Tabulawa then, that education with production, especially at higher education, can be a very expensive undertaking. These two wise men (counting age and experience) provided facts and accounts from others to support their arguments.
Not so surprisingly, wearing his usual markets ideology blindfolds, Dichaba Molobe (Mmegi, 22 September 2006) accused van Rensburg and others who acknowledge the success of Cuba’s health and education system as Socialist propagandists ÔÇô to use his words “cheerleaders of the socialist paradise”. To my dismay, his article was littered with sloganeering and hate jargon that he accused others of wielding. He even unashamedly referred the reader to an anti Cuba/Castro website, therealcuba.com, as a credible source of information on Cuba. This is a real farce indeed, but to be expected from a free market zealot. Perhaps, he should watch two brilliant documentaries: Michael Moore’s Sicko and John Pilger’s War on Democracy to sober up from his neo-liberal stupor. That is as far as we can go with Botswana based Cuba’s detractors. Our task is not to waste time reacting to the ranting of right wingers. Our task here is to reflect objectively on the experience of a Third World state that has chosen an alternative model of development, despite all the imperial odds. At issue is not what we decide to label it, but what it has generated for the majority.
When the Castro led Cuban state was born, US antagonism and economic strangulation drove it closer to the Soviet Union. The climax of the US-Cuba tensions was the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, which brought the world close to a nuclear war. Still, Castro remained steadfast, unwavering in defence of his socialist project and the right of Cuba to determine its national destiny. Sense prevailed between the superpowers as the missiles were safely returned to the USSR. The rest is history. What is certain is that, to a large extent, the Soviet Union was Cuba’s lifeline during the Cold war. It is against this background that when the Soviet empire crumbled in the 1990s, many, ignoring the fact that Castro, through this relationship, established a credible social system characterised by a strong health and education sector, celebrated too early and predicted Cuba’s demise. Undeniably, the vacuum created by the collapse of Cuba’s close ally, created an economic crisis, prompting reforms that opened up the tourism sector for foreign and private investment. Independent researchers such as a professor of economics and education, and long term scholar on Latin American states like Cuba, Martin Carnoy, has raised questions about the merits and demerits of the parallel dollar economy. But the point is that this opened another lifeline for Cuba albeit producing a side class of those who earn the dollar as employees in this industry. What is important is that Cuba, through a strong education system has exploited its human resource base by bartering medics for oil with countries like Venezuela.
This brings us to the question, Is Cuba’s success in social development a myth as projected by the likes of Molobe? The answer is in the negative. There are those who suggest that Cuba’s statistics on social indicators are spurious and highly doctored as part of the socialist spin. This allegation is baseless, if we consider that many independent researchers of credible standing (e.g. Carnoy on education and economy) and international organisations attest to this success. What are the facts about Cuban education? I refer the reader to Carnoy, M. (2007) Cuba’s Academic Advantage: Why Students in Cuba Do Well in School published by Stanford University Press and the Oslo University College based Anders Breidlid (2007). ‘Education in Cuba ÔÇô An Alternative Educational Discourse: Lessons to be Learned?’ in the comparative education journal Compare 33(5).
*Mino Polelo is a PhD candidate studying in Australia
