[permaculture-oceania] DVD on Cuban Permaculture

Thu Sep 7 16:35:16 EST 2006

Hi Russ,

  Apologies for the long post - it could have been longer.

  The problem in the 'West' is that we are too dependent upon whatever  the corporate media feeds us in order to determine the 'truth' about  things such as Cuba. And as long as Cuba maintains a social system  which is dedicated to the provision of human needs instead of assisting  corporate profiteering, they will remain biased against it as it denies  them another market. That needs to be borne in mind first and foremost.

  However, in the age of the internet, it should be possible for a person  to go beyond these lies, and sift throught the disinformation and  propaganda.

  A couple of points, then:
  1. Reporters Without Borders
  RSF are not to be compared with anything so high-minded as the  medically-minded MSF. Despite their objections that "they don't take  money from the CIA", they are now admitting that they get money from  the NED. Oh, that's ok then! Right? Wrong! Here's some examples of what  NED gets up to...
  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/04/1554235
  http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1169

  2. One might also ask, when the whole country is run from the bottom up by the people,  what need is there for 'independent' media? There is already press freedom in Cuba - mass  press freedom. The only "independent"  media that I can think of is that which is funded by the US, one way or  another, to further their political project against Cuba, or the media  that used to be owned by the rich Cuban elite who fled to the US with  their 'protector', the dictator Batista. Too often, people assume that,  like in our own countries, the views of the Cuban media don't accord  with the views of the Cuban people but are the organs of some kind of  repressive state, and that what is needed is "independent" media to  'allow' people to "have their voice heard". The problem is that they  don't understand that the Cuban state is itself an expression of the  Cuban people. The  issue, therefore, is really one of whether you support Cuban  independence or  US intervention and the
 reintroduction of a system of mass exploitation  in Cuba.

  People in Cuba who disagree with the system or parts of it are not  persecuted, and in fact are allowed to organise, are welcomed into the  mainstream debate. There are regular debates in the papers, on the  radio and television, about everything from the deathpenalty, to  economics, to discrimination against afro-cubans, women and gays and  how to overcome it, to just about anything you want to name. Check out  the "Varela Project", a 'dissident' project aiming at transforming Cuba  into a multi-party, US-style 'democracy'. People like Oswaldo Paya, who  headed the V. Project up, weren't thrown in jail arbitrarily. He  remains free in Cuba, criticising the Government (and getting very  little support), while his friends who decided to take up the illegal  offer of money from the US government are in jail. Where they belong.

  If you actually want to get an accurate picture of what the reality is  in Cuba, you have to go beyond US-funded black propaganda outfits.  Ideally, you could go there, but even this would be useless unless you  understood the history of the Cuban people and the Cuban revolution,  the attacks the US has launched against it for more than four decades  (and against the cuban people for over a century). And why? Because  Cuba dared to say "no" to a US-backed dictator who murdered and  tortured tens of thousands of people. Against this backdrop, the cuban  people, lead by Castro, took control of their own affairs, for which  they've been paying the price ever since.

  3. Some figures to think about:
  Assassination attempts against Castro: 638
  Invasions by US or US proxies: 1 (Bay of Pigs), although if you go back a century you actually get a few more.
  Ongoing illegal occupations: 1 (Guantanamo Bay)
  Financial cost to Cuba of a 45-year economic blockade: over $80 billion.
  Cost of blockade to people unable to access vital imported medicines, etc in that time: incalculable
  No. of Cubans allowed to legally leave Cuba for the US every year: 25,000
  No. of Cubans allowed to legally enter the US: 0
  No. of Cubans allowed (and encouraged) to illegally and dangerously enter the US on small, unsafe craft: unlimited
  No. of Cubans lacking access to adequate nutrition: 0
  No. of Cubans lacking access to healthcare: 0 (U.S.: 73 million)
  No. of homeless people in Cuba: 0 (U.S.: 3.5 million, incl. 1.35 million children)
  Persons per doctor: 280 (U.S.: 470)
  Persons per hospital bed: 190 (U.S.: 280)
  Infant deaths per 1000 live births: 6.7 (U.S.: 7.1)
  Doctors working in underdeveloped countries at no cost: 5,000+ (U.S.: 0)
  Cuban youth literacy rate: 99.8%
  Literacy Before & After The Revolution - 1952: 54%, 2005: 97%
  Life Expect. Before & After The Revolution - 1955: 59.4 years, 2005: 75.7 years
  Current Cuban economic growth rate thanks to assistance from countries like Venezuela: 11.8% p/a.
  And one question - "How is all this, and the subject matter of the  doco, possible on such a tiny island with an aggressive neighbour only  90 miles away?"

  4. A few links to follow up on:
  http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=7851
  http://www.counterpunch.org/barahona05172005.html
  http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/620/620p14.htm
  http://www.ratb.org.uk/html/electoralsystem.html
  http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/state_and_revolution/democracy_in_cuba.htm
  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8243.htm
  http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/676/676p21b.htm

  Also, check out the book "Cuba: A Revolution in Motion", by Isaac  Saney, for a good overview of Cuban legal, labour, electoral, education  and other systems.

  Sincerely,

  Duroyan

Russ Grayson <info at pacific-edge.info> wrote:  Hi Duroyan...
Thanks for your comments below, about Cuba.

I find difficulty in accepting your comment that  the "dictatorship" in cuba
isn't one at all - "Cuba has the  most democratic system of government i
have reserched or experienced," you write.

My concern about the Cuban government in really focussed on their attitude
to media freedom. There's more on this at Reporters Without Borders:
http://www.rsf.org

On 3/9/06 9:43 PM, "Duroyan Fertl"  wrote:

>   The doco is quite neutral (it doesn;t really mention socialism in cuba,  or
> the government at all). The fact is however, that many of the people
> interviewed and who play a central role in nurturing organics,  permaculture
> and alternative energy in cuba are (some of them leading)  members of the
> government. 

I don't think the issue is socialism at all, rather for me it's the
imprisonment of critics of the regime, especially media workers who have a
critical role in influencing public perceptions and attitudes. When a regime
of whatever politics cannot deal fairly and openly with criticism then there
is something wrong - and you only have to look at how Canberra deals with
criticism as an example of this.

The Cuban's engagement with local and organic food is to be welcomed, of
course, and I intend to see the film at the Permaculture North showing and,
if suitable, obtain a copy for showing to workshop groups.

Perhaps there is something in it that will provide clues about the dilemma
addressed by a number of organic food advocates in this country - the fact
that for people with low incomes organic foods are simply too expensive.
This is an issue that I was aware of earlier but that has been reinforced by
health workers active with Sydney's Food Fairness Alliance, a coalition of
community and health workers, one or two urban agriculture and community
sector advocates, two people from different churches and one or two from
local government and the Permaculture milieu.

Poverty, often exacerbated by government policy according to some with the
Alliance, infers that although local/organic food advocates should continue
to promote greater access to organic foods, however at the same time they
have to  recognise the continuing need for supermarkets and non-organics
because their decline would affect the nutritional health of those who
cannot afford organics.

We had a too-brief informal discussion on this at an Alliance meeting
recently. A community worker said that people in poverty were often blamed
for their condition - they lack a knowledge of home budgeting and of cooking
simple but nutritionally balanced meals, it is said. Yet, she said, there
have been programs to teach budgeting and cooking but these have not changed
the situation. So perhaps the problem has external sources too, in the
structure of the economy.

I wouldn't expect the Cuba video to provide anything useful on this but
perhaps - and those who have seen it could comment authoritatively on this -
it is of value in showing the potential of a local food industry based on
sustainable agricultural practice.

...Russ

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
RUSS GRAYSON
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manuals, media services for overseas aid

PO Box 1045, Manly, NSW 1655 AUSTRALIA
info at pacific-edge.info
P: 0414 065 203
www.pacific-edge.info

TerraCircle international development team, Oceania
www.terracircle.org.au

Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network
www.communitygarden.org.au
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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********************************************************
  Duroyan Fertl  
State Convenor, NSW Socialist Alliance  
(02) 9690 1977/ 0403 919 377  
For the millions, not the millionaires!  
http://www.socialist-alliance.org

Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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