“This peevish complaint is driven by my respect for the podcast and it s guests. In the midst of a nuanced discussion, I was disheartened when the topic turned to the recent riots Cuba. Barely had Antonio Garcia Martinez finished bemoaning that Americans as an imperialist nation looks at the world solely through its own lens , then he proceeded to do just that. The Cuban riots were a symbol of the failure of the the trope of the Cuban Socialist Dream, if only thy could be more like the US. No understanding that for all it MANY faults, the current regime has provided education and health care to the population and for the first time in the islands history since European settlement it has been in charge of its own destiny and not served a serfs to a foreign power.
When protests happen in the US (prior to Jan 6th) demonstration was not equated with insurrection and the dream of overthrowing the government but rather as the tumultuous process of “seeking a more perfect union”. Cubans may be rioting over food shortages driven by American embargoes and Covid hammering the fragile economy but that does not mean Cubans are not proud of their country, their independence and overall of their government.
This is a nation that was dominated by Spain, then the US, then the Mafia and its population kept in servitude. For all its problems, Cuba has a more educated populace than the US. That is a measure not just of Cuban success but how far the US has fallen.”
RFishell via Apple Podcasts ·
Canada ·
10/13/21