June 22, 2013 marked 72 years since treacherous Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people under the leadership of the CPSU (b) and J.V. Stalin.
On this day in the city of Krasnodar at the "Fire of Eternal Glory" a rally and wreath-laying ceremony was held by activists of the AUCPB, the Kuban Union of Soviet officers, the CPSU, the RCWP and CPRF.
The Bolsheviks unfurled their party symbols, red flags and distributed leaflets and newspapers.
Krasnodar Regional Committee of the AUCPB
In the city of Pyatigorsk, on June 22, on the memorial Day of the 72-nd anniversary since treacherous Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the Bolsheviks held a commemorative event on Lenin Square. Flowers and two baskets of flowers with a scarlet ribbon with the inscription: "Fallen for Our Soviet Motherland!" were laid by the Fire of Eternal Glory. Campaign materials were distributed.
After laying flowers, the Bolsheviks held a meeting dedicated to the 72th anniversary of the treacherous Nazi Germany invasion of the Soviet Union.
Pyatigorsk Town Committee of the AUCPB
AUCPB-Minsk: A memorial watch on the western borders of the USSR at the walls of the Brest Fortress
Commemorative events in Brest fortress, dedicated to the tragic date in the history of our country - the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and the heroic defenders of the fortress, are traditionally held on the night of 21 to 22 June. On these days, many guests come from all over the former Soviet Union to Brest: they include war veterans, participants in the defensive battles in June 1941 on the territory of Belarus, and representatives of patriotic youth organizations.
Traditionally, on the Ceremonial Square of the fortress at 4 pm, a meeting was held where veterans made speeches and after that lowered wreaths into the water of Western Bug and laid flowers at the Everlasting Flame. After that, a military-historical re-enactment of the first morning of the war took place, in the form of an impromptu battle at dawn by the Northern Gates, at the Kobrin fortification next to caponier Petre Gavrilov.
AUCPB activists at Kholmsky Gates of the Brest Fortress.
June 22, 5:00 am
The event was attended by Belarusian Bolsheviks. Our paraphernalia was particularly popular. Many boys and girls asked if they could have the opportunity to hold Soviet flags and be photographed next to Bolshevik symbols. When members of commemorative events walked along in a long, narrow column by 5am five in the morning moved towards the battle site, the young people were given the opportunity to carry our Soviet attributes and it looked a pretty impressive procession, which was captured by correspondents and simply those who came along with the camera.
AUCPB activists in the process of these commemorative events distributed leaflets "The Great Patriotic War: Myth and Truth", "Battle for the Victory continues," and others, as well as the Bolshevik newspapers "Vperyod" and "Hammer and Sickle".
In Chelyabinsk, on June 22, commemorative events were held, which were attended by activists of the AUCPB. By the Everlasting Flame, flowers were laid, and newspapers and leaflets were distributed.
Eternal Glory and Memory to the fallen in the battles for our Soviet Motherland!
Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten!
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THE ECHO OF JUNE 15
DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
On June 15, 2000 in Pyongyang, the "June 15 North-South Joint Declaration" was adopted.
13 years ago, in June 2000, Pyongyang - the capital of the DPRK, a historic event took place. For the first time in the 55-year history of the division of the Korean nation, an inter-Korean summit was held at the highest level and the historical "June 15 North-South Joint Declaration" was published, the major aspect of which is the independent and peaceful solution to the issue of Korean unification.
The North and South of Korea in the Joint Declaration agreed on ways to unify and agreed on the need for close cooperation in order to transform inter-Korean relations into a relationship of mutual respect and trust, and to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
Once the declaration was published, it was met with warm approval and support from the wider international community, not to mention all the Koreans. In carrying out the great cause of unification of the Korean nation, extraordinary changes on the Korean Peninsula took place that opened a new era that could never have been imagined in the past.
Inter-Korean dialogue and negotiations in different spheres of life were conducted - political, economic, cultural, military and others, with encouraging results obtained for the purpose of reconciliation and unity, cooperation and exchange. Events held in the past separately in North and South Korea under the theme of "unity", a lot of waiting and attention throughout the nation and in a solemn ceremony were held in Pyongyang, Seoul and the Kumgang mountains as a great festival of national unification with the participation of representatives of the North, South Korea and abroad. Compatriots of the North and the South, mutually visiting Pyongyang and Seoul, carried out various activities - demonstrations of traditional masters of the national martial art taekwondo, sports competitions, joint artistic presentation. Meeting of historians on both sides took place to organize a joint exhibition and seminar of materials, joint photo exhibitions, etc. In September 2000, at the opening of the Sydney Olympic Games, athletes of North and South Korea took to the field of games under the banner of a unified Korea, which greatly touched the hearts of people around the world. This reality, showing the desire of the Korean nation to unite the country, and was present at the XIV Asian Games (in September 2002) and the Olympic Games in Athens (August 2004), and at the XV Asian Games (December 2006).
An air and sea route as well as a road were opened which had remained cut off for more than half a century, and numerous meetings of relatives of separated families of North and South Korea were held. Numerous groups of South Koreans visiting Pyongyang, watched the mass gymnastic and artistic performance "Arirang", listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest show, made tourist trips to Mount Paektu, Kumgang, Myohyang and other noteworthy places in North Korea.
That's not all. Large-scale work has been carried out on humanitarian cooperation between the North and the South in the city of Kaesong near the military demarcation line dividing Korea into North and South, in teh building of an industrial park that is shared by both sides of Korea, where more than a hundred North Korean and scores of South Korean companies operate, promoting the common development and prosperity of the nation.
In 2007, the October 4 Declaration was adopted as a practical program of the Joint Declaration of June 15, and thus opened a bright prospect on the way towards the unification of the Korean nation.
Striking changes in inter-Korean relations were brought about by the June 15 Joint Declaration, which confirmed the agreement of both parties on the implementation of the country's cause of unification and achieving common prosperity of the nation with the combined forces of the Korean nation. And such an unattainable reality Koreans in the past called "the era of unification on June 15."
However, the era of unification of June 15 began facing serious challenges, as soon as Lee Mung Bak was elected to the throne of the South Korean government.
Immediately after the Lee Myung Bak clique came to power, they completely rejected the June 15 Joint Declaration and the October 4 Declaration. They extensively prevented the normal process of cooperation between the North and the South, continuously committed war provocations, which led the inter-Korean relations towards confrontation. Mutual exchanges and cooperation between the two parts of Korea were almost stopped. Tourist trips to Mount Kumgang, considered a symbol of inter-Korean dialogue were completely suspended. Lee Myung-bak and his clique persistently pursued a policy of using foreign forces, a policy of confrontation between fellow countrymen that created the crisis in the Korean Peninsula situation fraught with the danger of war.
The aggravated relations between the two sides of Korea is experiencing a major crisis under the current regime of Park Geun Hye of South Korea. From the outset, the new government, standing on the side of the United States, found fault with the launch of a North Korean civilian satellite, trying not to give in to others in the international campaign against the DPRK to introduce "sanctions". As a consequence, the already difficult work on keeping cooperation between civil society organizations has completely stopped.
In such an extremely severe situation, the work at the Kaesong industrial park has continued, which is called the "priceless son on June 15." But the South Korean authorities, angrily repeat that it serves the North, according to them, "the source of making money," daring to touch the dignity of North Korea. She is even ranting about the "hostage rescue measures" intended to deploy in this peaceful Special Economic Zone (SEZ) American Special Forces troops, to turn it into a hotbed of war. Thus, the industrial park in Kaesong has been facing a crisis of complete closure.
Inter-Korean relations of the past years show that the support and implementation of the two parts of Korea of the June 15 Joint Declaration, will lead to reconciliation and consolidation, and consolidation of peace and the attempts of their denial and revocation entail mistrust and confrontation, and ultimately will lead to war.
The endorsement of the June 15 Joint Declaration means unification and its negation - war. Anyone deep in their hearts knows this truth.
Kim Jong-Un in this year's New Year's address already outlined principles for the elimination of the state of confrontation between North and South Korea, and respect for and implementation of inter-Korean joint declarations on issues of unification on an independent basis on the united efforts of the Korean nation.
Having fully strengthened the DPRK military deterrent force, he laid the foundation and guarantee for the peaceful reunification of the country.
Now Korean compatriots lead a nationwide struggle for the defence of the June 15 Joint Declaration, and the return to the era of peace, unification and prosperity. The South Korean population in condemning the rulers who have driven inter-Korean relations to a standstill, are raising their voices, demanding the preservation of the spirit of the 15 June Joint Declaration and of consistent putting it into practice.
The current government of South Korea declare the establishment of trust between the North and the South, but if they genuinely want an atmosphere on trust on the Korean peninsula, they first have to prove in practice their commitment to the implementation of the inter-Korean joint declarations.
Our party the AUCPB sincerely wishes the Koreans as soon as possible to achieve unification of the nation under the banner of the June 15 Joint North-South Declaration, and to ensure lasting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
AUCPB
calendar>>July 26. 2013 Juche 102
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National Meeting Marks 60th Anniversary of Victory in Fatherland Liberation War
Pyongyang, July 26 (KCNA) -- A grand national meeting was held at May Day Stadium Friday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War.
Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, first chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, appeared at the tribune of honor of the meeting place.
Taking the tribune of honor were senior officials of the party, the state and the army including Kim Yong Nam, Pak Pong Ju and Choe Ryong Hae, Kim Yong Dae, chairman of the Central Committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party, and officials of the party and armed forces organs.
Seen there were Li Yuanchao, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and vice-president of the People's Republic of China, Abdullah al-Ahmar, deputy general secretary of the Syria's Baath Arab Socialist Party, Guy Scott, vice-president of the Republic of Zambia, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekand, vice-president of the Republic of Uganda, and heads of foreign delegations.
Also seen there were Hong In Hum, chairman of the Central Audit Committee of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, Choe Un Bok, chairperson of the General Association of Koreans in China, and Kim Kang Hui, head of the lecturers group of veterans of the Chinese People's Volunteers.
Present at the meeting were delegates of war veterans, officials of the party, armed forces and power organs, social organizations, ministries and national institutions, bereaved families of fallen fighters, service personnel of the KPA and the Korean People's Internal Security Forces, officials in the fields of science, education, art and literature, public health and media, merited persons, Pyongyangites, delegations of overseas compatriots, compatriots abroad and chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front.
Present on invitation there were diplomatic envoys of various countries, representatives of international organizations and members of the military attaches corps here, delegations and delegates of various countries staying here to participate in events to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the victory in the war and other foreign guests.
KPA Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and director of the General Political Bureau of the KPA, declared the meeting open.
Kim Yong Nam, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the WPK and president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, made a report at the meeting.
He said:
The U.S. imperialists ignited the Korean war on June 25, 1950 to realize their wild ambition to dominate Asia and the rest of the world with the Korean Peninsula as its springboard. They hurled into the war even troops of its satellite countries by abusing the UN flag, and applied all sorts of the most brutal war methods and means including the threat of A-bombs.
The army and people of the DPRK defeated the invaders of 16 countries including the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces in the war.
The historic victory in the war was the victory of the Juche-oriented military idea and outstanding strategy and tactics of President Kim Il Sung and one of the indomitable mental power of the army and people of the DPRK as they heroically fought, united close around the party and the leader.
The U.S. imperialists sustained a heavy defeat for the first time in their more than 100-year-long history of wars of aggression in the three-year-long Korean war and signed an instrument of surrender.
The DPRK, which beat back U.S. imperialism, was widely known as a country of heroes and its army and people earned worldwide fame as a heroic army and people.
During the war the party and government of China sent volunteers organized by its fine sons and daughters under the banner of resisting America and aiding Korea, safeguarding the home and defending the motherland even under the difficult situation where they just won victory in the people's revolution. They helped the Korean people in their just struggle at the cost of blood.
The internationalist example set by the Chinese People's Volunteers in the war recorded a shining page in the history of the DPRK-China friendship and the Korean party and people will always remember this.
The army and people of the DPRK greeted a new era of history in which they are successfully carrying forward the history and tradition of sure victory which started in Mt. Paektu and reliably steering the human cause of independence, thanks to Kim Jong Un, the reporter noted, and went on:
We should hold the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the eternal leaders of our party and people and the sun of Juche for all ages and firmly uphold and eternally glorify the undying feats Kim Il Sung performed by winning a victory in the war and the Songun revolutionary feats of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
The army and people of the DPRK will continue dynamically advancing for peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and the rest of the world together with the progressive people who aspire after justice and value conscience.
Only July 27 of victory will be in store for the DPRK as the undying feats Kim Il Sung performed by winning the victory in the war and the Songun revolutionary exploits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are shedding their rays and there are the invincible Paektusan army and the great unity of the army and people wisely led by Marshal Kim Jong Un.
Similar meetings took place in provinces, cities (districts), counties and industrial complexes to mark the anniversary.
Copyright (C) KOREA NEWS SERVICE(KNS) All Rights Reserved.
AUCPB page
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Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
AUTHORITIES from the Republic of Panama have announced the detention in the Port of Colón of the Chong Chon Gang cargo boat, flying the flag of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which arrived from Cuba.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to inform that the abovementioned boat sailed from a Cuban port, bound for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with a cargo mostly consisting of 10,000 tons of sugar.
Additionally, the ship was transporting 240 metric tons of obsolete defensive armaments – two Volga and Pechora antiaircraft rocket launcher complexes, nine rockets in parts and spares, two MiG-21bis and 15 engines for this type of aircraft, all manufactured in the mid-90s – to be repaired and returned to our country.
Agreements signed by Cuba in this sphere are based on the need to maintain our defense capacity in order to preserve national sovereignty.
The Republic of Cuba reiterates its firm and irrevocable commitment to peace, disarmament – including nuclear disarmament – and respect for international law.
Havana, July 16, 2013
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A look at Cuba’s model of wellbeing
Dr. Patricia Arés Muzio
ON many occasions, I have asked my students what might be the principal reasons to support for saying that it’s good to live in Cuba. The majority of the responses refer to universal health care, education, social security. These are precisely the pillars of our socialist model, but they constitute, for many young people, common realities of our daily lives, thus becoming altogether customary, frozen in the popular discourse, practically irrelevant as a result of constant repetition.
I would go so far as to say that there is a Cuban model of wellbeing that has been incorporated with such uncritical familiarity that it has become invisible to us, paradoxically more often noted by those who are no longer here, after having lost it, or by visitors who live in other realities in their countries of origin. In daily life in Cuba, most conversation is generally about the difficulties, above all those of an economic nature. Very rarely is there talk of our assets or strengths.
Some of my professional experiences have led me to think a great deal about our socialism, seen as an alternative culture and civilization. When, as psychologists and other specialists, we were involved in the process of securing the return of Elián González [2000], this issue emerged as a significant one.
More recently, ideas about Cuba’s model of wellbeing have reemerged in my practice as I have conversed with older Cubans who have returned to the island; with children who, as a result of their parents’ decisions, must leave to reside in another country, and young people who have returned from Spain after having experienced being thrown onto the streets there, without money to pay their rent.
I recall that when Elián was in the United States, his grandfather Juanito told him over the phone how he was making a chivichana (an improvised box-car on skate wheels) for the boy to have upon his return. The next day, Elián’s Miami relatives appeared on our television screens giving Elían a life-like remote control car. When his father told Elían his dog missed him, the next day the boy appeared with a Labrador puppy. If he said he had bought Elían a little Elpidio Valdés book, the next day there was Elián dressed up as Batman. Nevertheless, his family’s affection, the love of those waiting for him here, the solidarity of his young classmates and teachers, were more powerful than all the material things in the world.
Conversing recently with an older man who made the decision not to return to the United States after living there for 19 years, he told me, "It’s true, Doctor, you can live more comfortably there, but that's not all there is to life. Over there, you’re nobody, you don’t exist for anyone."
He told me he spent long hours alone in the house, waiting for his children and grandchildren to return from work or school. He was left imprisoned because they told him not to go out, since, according to them, he was too old and they wouldn’t let him drive. The neighborhood, he said, looked like a deserted model town, he hardly saw anyone at all, and no one would take the time for a conversation.
On a visit to see a daughter living in Cuba, he decided to stay. He told me he was exercising in the park, playing dominoes in the afternoons, helping his grandson and two little friends with their homework. He had found some mates from the "old guard" and with money sent from the States, he helped his family here and had enough to cover his expenses. Here are his very words, "Some acquaintances told me I was coming back to hell, but in reality, Doctor, I feel like I’m in heaven." Clearly the lifestyle he is now living is not heaven, but it does offer greater wellbeing.
One day, a young boy was brought to see me, the son of two diplomats, who was on vacation here. He didn’t want to return with his parents to the mission where they were working. He was rebelling, on strike, saying that they should leave him here with his grandmother, that he didn’t want to leave, didn’t like being there. When I asked the parents about the boy's life abroad, they explained that he lived locked up, for reasons of security, and hardly had any friends to play with after school. His cousins, who he adored, weren't there. Since he had been back in Cuba, he was as free as a bird, his parents said, going to the corner park with his neighborhood friends, going out with his cousins, playing baseball and football in the street. He spent the day surrounded by his grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors. During my interview with the boy, he told me that his cousins said he was a fool for wanting to stay in Cuba, passing up the opportunity to live in another country. He said, "When I'm here, I really miss the pizza with pepperoni, but I would trade a million pizzas to stay and live right now in Cuba."
A young man who had returned from Spain told me that he had been left without work and, of course, didn't have the money to pay his rent. The landlady gave him three months to come up with it and when he couldn't, he was evicted onto the street. But the saddest thing was that no one, none of his friends lent him a hand, saying that given the economic crisis, "he would have to figure something out as best he could." He was obliged to return to his parents’ home in Cuba, since his only other option was sleeping in the subway. "In the end, it’s your own people who are willing to take you in," he affirmed.
I've been thinking about this testimony which could very well serve many young people who see nothing good whatsoever about living in Cuba, who only imagine a better life abroad, overvaluing life there as successful, with great opportunities.
I ask myself: What do we have here that is lacking in other places? What did the diplomats' boy, the older man and the young one who returned from Spain, discover during their time abroad, that those of us living here don't see?
Does the lifestyle offered by contemporary capitalist societies truly constitute a model of wellbeing, despite being sold in the mass media as the promised dream of progress? Are we talking about the good life or living well? Of a life full of things or a full life? Is it necessarily economic and technological development which guarantees personal and social wellbeing?
I will attempt a synthesis of these professional experiences to shed light on what I believe are some of the fundamental elements of Cuba’s model of wellbeing.
FIRST PLACE: THE FEELING OF INCLUSION, OF NOT LIVING ANONYMOUSLY
This is an issue of profound spiritual and ethical connotations. When you arrive in a Cuban neighborhood and ask for someone, generally you are told, "He lives in that house."
All Cubans have a name and a life story because we all belong someplace, be it a family, school, community or workplace, and have social participation. We have all assumed responsibilities during our lives, attended neighborhood meetings, visited the family clinic, voted in the same locale, bought our food at the same markets or had the same person pick them up for us. Surely, at some point, we've all said, "The same faces everyday..." but that is precisely where a vital element of great solidarity and humanism resides.
Social anonymity - which the grandfather I interviewed described when he said "You don't exist" - is far removed from the way we live in Cuba. It is the experience of living without a place of your own, without being recognized or noticed. The opposite is not necessarily a physical place, but rather a symbolic one where there is belonging and participation, a place that gives meaning to life. Living 'nowhere' is feeling isolated, alone, strange and this is one of the problems the world currently faces. Even places where many people co-exist are no longer meeting places, but rather true nowheres. It is incredible that in a subway where hundreds of people see each other everyday, few say a single word, most showing more interest in their technological media than in human interaction.
Other non-places are airports and malls, cathedrals to consumerism. Many people around you and absolutely no contact. If you fall, people hesitate to help you up, since so many laws exist to supposedly protect people, from an individualistic point of view. People are afraid of being charged with sexual harassment if they touch you. Non-contact and indifference are legislated.
Today, the social reality in other countries has left people more excluded than included. Given the existence of social inequality as a consequence of Cuba’s current economic reality, our policies promote social inclusion in an effort to overcome differences of gender, ethnic origin, physical ability and sexual orientation. Cuba, as a social system, is attempting to construct a world in which we all belong and in which spontaneous human reciprocity is promoted by the very conditions of life. In other geographical locations on the neoliberal world map, people are divided by class, interpersonal relations are eroded by a variety of differences and some are separated from others by invisible borders, which damage cohesiveness and participation.
DIVERSE AREAS OF SOCIALIZATION
Areas of socialization are important in life, social structures are a resource and support for everyone, given that it is within them that people can develop their full potential. Currently, families live in isolation in many parts of the world, and the higher the standard of living, the greater their cloistered lifestyle. Nobody knows their neighbors, who is who; within the home members do not have much interaction, given that the technological invasion is such that a father can be chatting with a colleague in Japan and not have the least idea what is happening with his son in the adjoining room. Studies in various countries have revealed that the daily average of direct conversation between parents and children (particularly fathers) does not exceed 15 minutes.
One of the major impacts of the current hegemonic capitalist model is lack of family time or other community areas; during the week the family as a group does "not exist." Long and intensive working days, multi-occupations in order to meet ever-growing consumer demands have banished former family rituals and traditions. Psychologists and sociologists have stated that the greatest impact of this reality is infant isolation and the absence of links with older adults. Many middle or upper class children arrive home from school without seeing an adult face until late in the evening, or have a child minder who provides food but who cannot supplant the affection and attention of parents.
Technology has appeared as an antidote to solitariness, but lacking restrictions imposed by adults, this can lead to an addiction to video games, increase violence and stimulate early eroticism. Access to public places, streets and parks as meeting places are infrequently available for children and adolescents, given the lack of citizens’ security. Space and time universes in the urban network directed toward youth are perceived by adults as places of threat and danger rather than places for recreation and the construction of social ties. In Cuba, parks and plazas continue being areas of socialization for different generations.
Cuban families are interwoven within social networks of interchange, with neighbors, organizations, schools, relations, and including the émigré community. Characteristic of the Cuban way of life are socialization areas, or a social network in which nobody is excluded or unnamed. I would say that, in addition to the family as home, the basic nucleus of Cuban society is the social and neighborly interchange network, which represents one of the major and invisible strengths of the Cuban model of wellbeing. It is here where the greatest success of the social process is located, taking the form of social solidarity, social containment, constant social interchange. This capital is only perceptible to those who lose it or embark on a different lifestyle outside of the country.
In spite of unresolved economic difficulties and problems, the family exists in Cuba. Family life becomes intensive after the school or college day, when children and students begin their family-community life. Family life in Cuba does not take place behind closed doors. Those doors are also frequently opened to fumigators, neighbors, family nurses, grassroots leaders or self-employed vendors. People have to leave their homes daily, to go to the store or collect food items from a neighbor, dispose of the garbage, visit the pharmacy, fetch the children from school. Family life in Cuba is multi-generational, persons from all age groups interact and older adults do not live in senior citizens’ homes, their real place in general being the community.
SOCIAL SOLIDARITY AS OPPOSED TO INDIVIDUALISM
In the present day international arena, individual wellbeing is given greater importance than social wellbeing. The predominant economic development model places people before the desire to live "better" (at times to the cost of the rest) and above collective wellbeing. The discourse is, "I’m not doing anyone any harm, I don’t want anyone interfering in my life, I like it, it’s good for me, it’s my body, my life, my space," and electing a conduct which will maximize their benefits and income. "We" has been replaced by "I." Egoistic conduct in the present hegemonic world is identified and praised as "instrumental rationality," when in real terms what this rationality conceals is great social insensibility.
Social solidarity exists in Cuba, although we are currently living in a kind of parallelism between solidarity conduct and the insensibility of certain persons. The socialization of transport, or the botella (hitching a ride), for example; plus making neighbors part of one’s family, sharing neighborhood private telephone lines, passing on school uniforms and certain medicines, offering one’s house as a temporary classroom in the wake of a hurricane, are all examples of cooperative interchange. A young girl studying at the Lenin Senior High (a weekly boarding school) told me that her group of friends equitably shared out everything they brought from home and thus all ate the same, independently of whether some brought more and others, next to nothing. The most important aspect was friendship and sisterhood. This was a generalized practice.
CREATIVITY AND COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
In Cuba, in addition to conversing and having multiple social interchanges, we have the luxury of serious discussions with a number of people. Everyone knows something about something, everyone can express an opinion or have good ideas. Cubans have a political culture, a sports culture, and others are well informed about art. We have an accumulated cultural capital, part of our social heritage and invisible wellbeing. We are not an ignorant people, given the educational levels attained. Cuban men and women are impressive in their capacity to converse, express ideas and beliefs. One of my major problems as a clinical psychologist attending to patients is that time flies, because we are used to conversing. Some people bring me a written list so as not to forget something they want to say. We are used to giving ourselves time and this has become a luxury in an age when nobody has spare time, where the hurried syndrome is apparent.
During visits to give lectures in Latin American countries or in family study classes I have taken there, students express a family-social reality which leaves me perplexed, on account of the burden of accumulated social problems which cut across social class. From what I hear, I have realized that we are light years apart, because the issue is not an economic one, but one derived from ignorance; accumulated mental poverty; social stigmas; class, gender and race prejudices; violence against women; magical solutions to problems which lack any scientific basis; child sex abuse; polygamy; genetic defects resulting from irresponsible sexuality or incestuous relationships; all of these are daily problems. They are problems associated with social neglect, the absence of social prevention programs. What is daily life for them is the exception for Cubans.
As a professor, I feel that our population is educated and developed and we live that almost without realizing it. Although the quotidian may seem insignificant, it is the great backdrop of history. Young émigrés usually become aware of a very distinct social reality with which they have to do battle.
HOW TO PROMOTE THE CUBAN MODEL OF WELLBEING?
The objectives of Cuba’s new economic model include increasing productivity. The major challenge of this model is to strengthen our proposal for wellbeing, which represents an alternative to the dominant anti-model, a concept shared and reiterated by virtually all indigenous peoples on the continent and in the world. This concept comes from a long tradition within diverse religious manifestations.
All of these visions, including the Cuban one, is that the global objective of development is not constantly having more, but being more; not amassing more wealth, but more humanity. It is expressed in terms of living well instead of better, which implies solidarity among all, reciprocal practices and the desire to attain or restore environmental balance and at the same time improve the living conditions of the population. However, improvements in living conditions are not going to resolve the problems of a social nature we have accumulated. The economic dimension cannot be isolated from the social, cultural, historical and political dimensions, which endow development with a comprehensive and interdisciplinary context, in order to recover the sense of wellbeing and decorous living as a fundamental objective.
One does not have to be a social scientist to notice that, apart from living conditions, there are many families in Cuba who, more than material poverty, are mired in spiritual poverty. Some families suffer from mental poverty expressed in life strategies distanced from the most elemental decent conduct, in consumer habits removed from the country’s realities, close to having surplus objects, removed from shared wellbeing in their aspirations. This is the source of the culture of banality and frivolity reflected in the current hegemonic model.
The accumulation of material problems arising from the acute economic crisis of the 1990’s has substantially deteriorated values at the social level. Values are not principles, but must be accompanied by behavior to avoid them losing their effectiveness. If practices contradict principles, then we are facing a crisis of values.
Cuba is not removed from the hegemonic influences of the current unipolar and supposedly global world. We must continue trying to build an alternative model of wellbeing, despite all the influences which generate the colonization of subjectivity; one of inclusion, despite the modulating effect of our social policies. Ideals are valueless in the market, only consumer capacity. Non-consumers become "unrecognized" human beings, excluded from any kind of social recognition.
In the present-day world, there is an over-saturation of information, some of which is very good, but a large volume which is plagued by mediocrity and superficiality. The media of the current hegemonic model foment banality with the aim of selling more. We are crammed with entertainment, soap operas, series and violent movies which possess incredible enchantment because they entrap, but we run the risk of being drawn into idleness and addiction (to drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity, easy money, games of chance, video games).
When the Nobel Peace prize winner Gandhi pointed to the seven capital sins of contemporary society he was precisely referring to the global context in which we are immersed: riches without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without utility, commerce without morality, science without humility, adoration without sacrifice and politics without principles.
In general terms, publicity and the market associate wellbeing with pleasure, with being successful, having status.
It is a fact that if we do not have a strong culture, the tendency to think that wellbeing lies in having and letting ourselves be ensnared by consumerism grows like a weed. We are subjecting ourselves to ignorance. The ethic of being requires a moral foundation, training, family education, an education of greater magnitude in general, and that is what we have to promote as a society.
FOMENTING SOCIAL SOLIDARITY
With the strengthening of self-employment in Cuba, the community signifies a vital area for many families. Family-community-organizations-work are fortified in their links. However, new social landscapes constitute an excellent opportunity for strengthening community life, in addition to promoting work to the benefit of shared wellbeing. Cuba contributes the difference in the context of solidarity and the social responsibility we have incorporated.
It is necessary to promote a culture of solidarity and social responsibility which will serve as an antidote to the penetration of the culture of the market. It is important that people maintain their solidarity ethics, that the collective project does not fragment.
FORTIFYING COMMUNITY AREAS
Families and the community have increased in importance in Cuba as scenes of life. When visitors observe the community way of life here, they sometimes comment that life in their country used to be like that, but for more than a decade now, people have been living behind closed doors. And houses are empty during a large part of the day. In the main, this is due to the emergence of new technologies, ever-increasing hours of work, more frequent changes of job and home, ever-growing and more densely populated cities. The exacerbated growth of individualism is making it increasingly difficult to have a sense of community. Community has been reduced to the minimal family nucleus, and in these circumstances it is very easy to fall into isolation, which brings with it loneliness and depression, creating an extensive social collapse, with results as drastic as increased violence, drug abuse and mental illness.
When people of all ages, social and cultural groups feel a sense of belonging to a community, they tend to be happier and healthier and create stronger, more stable and cooperative social networks. A strong community contributes many benefits, both individual and to the group as a whole, thus helping to create a better society in general. The great challenge is not to close the doors, not to lose sensitivity toward others, the neighborhood and the environment, to continue being concerned for the common good.
Different forms of insertion in the economy have not noticeably deteriorated the existing social tissue, Cuban society is not a stratified one of social class, but woven together in family, neighbor and social networks, maintaining an ethic of solidarity.
One important aspiration is to find innovative solutions within the community for many existing social problems, fundamentally based on the concept of the community empowering such solutions. For this, greater community dynamism is needed at the local level.
It is important to maintain citizens’ involvement in social life, to preserve caring for these areas, respecting senior citizens, children, women, people with disabilities and above all, maintaining a sense of social responsibility in educating younger generations.
Taking into account all these aspects, I believe we have a great social responsibility to uphold the Cuban model of wellbeing, that the country has unprecedented conditions for marking the difference, which is precisely by continuing to resist the colonization of culture and subjectivity, and that the great challenge is to continue proposing other models of human beings and collectivity which genuinely lead to the paths of true humanization.
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FARC statement on the capture of U.S. soldier Kevin Scott Sutay
Statement by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) |
July 24, 2013
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Revolutionarily Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Communiqué: Captured North-American soldier Kevin Scott Sutay
The Secretariat of the Central High Command of the FARC-EP informs to the national and international public opinion that on June 20, 2013 in the municipality Retorno, Guaviare, was captured the American soldier Kevin Scott Sutay, born in the city of New York, according to the passport no. 488667176, issued on February 3, 2012, he had with him when he was detained by guerrilla units.
The aforementioned U.S. citizen claims to have been a member of the U.S. Navy since November 17, 2009 until March 22, 2013 and by his own account he was involved in the war in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011 where he served as anti-explosives expert, specialist in demining, as part of the company 541 ST of the 54 TN engineering battalion.
His entry into Colombia was on June 8, 2013, following the route Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Bogota, San Jose del Guaviare, headquarters of the Barrancón military base, known from long ago because of its U.S. military presence.
The capture of soldier Kevin shows the active participation in the field of U.S. mercenaries in military and counter-insurgency operations in which they appear under the euphemism of contractors, a privatized form of imperial intervention forces, typical of the era of capitalist globalization, which allows them to exploit another side of the business of war, with less political cost for their campaigns of aggression and predation against the people.
Criminal business, of which President Santos, his defense minister and generals, would like to be part, announcing from the rooftops the signing of a cooperation agreement with the NATO, which positions Colombia as a provider of such mercenary forces available for intervention plans and imperial looting in every corner of the planet.
In spite of the right that assists us to keep the soldier Kevin Scott as a prisoner of war, we have taken the political decision to release him as a gesture that is part of the atmosphere of the peace talks being held in Havana with the Colombian government, to come to an agreement to end the social and armed conflict in our country.
To this end we request the integration of a humanitarian commission headed by Senator Piedad Cordoba, a delegate of the community of Saint Egidio and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Colombian jungle, July 19, 2013.
Central Secretariat of the FARC-EP.
Fight Back News Service
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Between Heaven and Hell
- Declaration of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People’s Army (FARC-EP), June 7, 2013 –
The dialogues in Havana are in limbo because of the man who wants to go down in history as the president who made peace in Colombia.
Echoes of the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s just protest over [President Juan Manuel] Santos receiving the opposition leader Capriles in Nariño Palace are reverberating loudly.
Not a few believe that the visit to Bogota of Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States, was the origin of Santos’ outburst. And they link it to a plan of Washington headed up by a Trojan horse named the “Pacific Alliance” which, managed by Washington, aims to destabilize and derail popular governments like those of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Uruguay, among others. What would prompt Santos to announce Colombia’s fanciful entry into NATO? To threaten Venezuela, Brazil?
Don’t believe those who attribute the president’s behaviour to ingenuousness, because Santos is no fool. As a statesman he is obliged to measure the effect of his actions.
Juan Manuel Santos knew his provocation against the legitimate government of Venezuela would go off like a firecracker on the dialogue table in Havana, because the issue of Venezuela, the companion and facilitator of the process, is a very sensitive one to the FARC, who see the Venezuelans as the main generators of confidence, and consequently, the main drivers of the peace process.
For all these reasons and because it comes precisely when the enthusiasm for peace planted its flag on the Everest of Colombians’ reconciliation, encouraged by the partial agreement on the land issue — the heart of the conflict, Santos’ invitation to Capriles has been so perplexing. The attitude of Santos deflated the optimism, the atmosphere conducive to peace that had been built with such effort in Havana. It all boils down to the fact that were it not for Venezuela the peace talks in the Cuban capital would not be taking place.
It is contradictory, abysmally contradictory, to aspire to go down in history as the president who made peace, while at the same time launching a string of attacks against peace. The cold blooded murder of Alfonso Cano, the commander and champion of reconciliation, is now an indelible stain. On the other hand no one can understand why the government rejects the necessary bilateral ceasefire proposed by the FARC since the beginning of the talks, if what we are dealing with is stopping the war. During the last six months the Minister of Defence has acted like a sectarian sniper against the process, giving the impression that there is no unity of purpose on the part of the government. And even the President himself does not miss an opportunity to discredit his counterparts with unfounded accusations and threats to break off [the dialogues].
There are other elements as well affecting the dialogue and the construction of an agreement like the government’s annoying cracking of the whip over time and rhythm. What is the rush? To precipitate a bad deal, a botched peace? The progression of such a momentous agreement should not be interfered with either by the timing of an election or legislative deadlines. Parallel with the sessions at the table someone is orchestrating a media campaign from on high, spreading with a certain perfidy the notion of the guerrilla as victimizer on one side and on the other, the State as an angel, fluttering innocently with no historical responsibility for the institutional violence and terrorism.
A government that really wants peace is not always drawing the red lines of its intransigence, of its non-negotiables, but rather acts with magnanimity to facilitate understanding. Where is the goodwill, where the good judgment? What can be seen here is a big inconsistency. And also great stinginess when one’s defence is based on stubborn arguments [and] outrageous privileges. These attitudes contribute little to building an atmosphere of peace. So what are the dialogues for?
Understand that this is not a process of submission, but of peacebuilding. It is not about incorporating the insurgency into the current political system, as it is, without any changes to favour the excluded majorities. Then what would the fight have been for? The best epilogue of this war must be sealed with structural changes of a political, economic and social nature that will give rise to overcoming poverty and inequality.
We must defend this peace process, this hope. After decades of military confrontation we should combine our wills resolutely, everyone, the government, the FARC guerrillas and the social and political organizations of the country, to reach the yearned for reconciliation with social justice. What do Uribe and FEDEGAN [Colombian Cattlemen's Federation] matter if we are resolved to achieve peace.
Secretariat of the General Staff of the FARC-EP
Mountains of Colombia, June 7, 2013
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50 YEARS SINCE OF FIDEL CASTRO'S VISIT TO THE USSR
On July 18, 2013 in Moscow, a Conference was held devoted to the 50th anniversary since the first visit by Fidel Castro to the USSR. The conference was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cuba in the Russian Federation, the young members of the National Assembly of People's Power, the leaders of the Union of Young Communists and the Federation of University Students, members of the Federation of Cuban Women, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Moscow City Duma, the Moscow Mayor's Office, and other organizations.
In his welcoming speech addressed to those present, the Ambassador of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cuba in the Russian Federation Emilio Garcia Ratmir Lozada said, "Today we remember the historical event that was not only the birth of friendly relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union, but also opened a new page in relations between Russia and Latin America. It is through Cuba and our Comandante Fidel Castro that the knowledge of Russia came to the countries of the Latin American continent, "- said Emilio Garcia Lozada.
During the six weeks of his visit Fidel Castro visited the cities of Severodvinsk to Samarkand, to get familiar with all areas of Soviet life, from the strategic nuclear forces to the shops in an ordinary mining town. The main thing is that he saw firsthand the lives of ordinary Soviet people. The Soviet Union produced a lasting impression on Fidel Castro.
The conference discussed the prospects of cooperation between Cuba and Russia. It was noted that after 50 years of Russian-Cuban relations, they continue to be an example of a strong and fruitful international cooperation. Cuba continues to be a major partner of Russia in the Western Hemisphere. One of the key themes of the conference was to discuss the trial of the five Cuban patriots condemned by the U.S. to long prison terms.
The speakers expressed their confidence in the unbreakable friendship of Cuban and Russian peoples, preserving and strengthening their mutual affection, supported by practical deeds. As said, by the Cuban ambassador: "We would like our relations to be fruitful for the new generation of Cuban youth, as the ten young people that are visiting these days in Russia, became followers of the ideas that are bequeathed Fidel Castro who visited the Soviet Union 50 years ago . "
At the conclusion of the plenary session, a slide show and documentary films were shown dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Fidel Castro's visit to the USSR and the heroism of Cuban soldiers in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War.
S.V.Khristenko
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