In a message dated 15/05/2003 13:07:17 GMT Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
To begin with, the corrected address to send signatures is [log in to unmask].
Secondly, who is [log in to unmask]? I don't generally see the point in
responding to posts from anonymous authors.
Thirdly, I think _your_ statement fails to recognize adequately the real threat that
is posed by the U.S. government towards Cuba. The 'dissidents' that you
referred to met with and received funding from James Casson, head of the US
interests section in Cuba. Do you support the right of the CIA to finance and plan
covert actions against sovereign nations? Don't those sovereign nations have the
right to arrest and punish traitors -- and what else would you call citizens of
your own nation who receive funds from an imperialist power to subvert
your country so that it can become a better investment for foreign capital?
Jerry
[log in to unmask] is Alan Johnson, an editor of Historical Materialism: Critical Research in Marxist Theory and New Politics: A Journal of Socialist Thought. The statement was drawn up by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy, which is based in New York. I signed the statement in a personal capacity. A reply to your questions is contained in this press release from the CPD.
COMMENT FROM THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY
The text below is not part of the statement to be signed, but a comment from the Campaign for Peace and Democracy on some issues that often arise in discussion about democracy in Cuba. People who agree with the statement itself need not agree with this comment in order to sign the statement.
All the information available to us indicates that, apart from the individuals accused of hijacking, none of the prisoners were charged with violent actions; rather, they have been accused of collaborating with U.S. diplomats to undermine the state, and/or receiving American government funds. Many of them, as well as other Cuban dissidents, have met with James Cason, head of the U.S.Interests Section in Cuba, and some have received duplicating materials, funding or other resources directly from the U.S. government or from NGOs funded by Washington.
One reason dissidents turn to the U.S. for help is that Cubans are not consistently allowed access to the tools necessary to disseminate their views to the public: computers, copying machines, printers, etc. Obviously they would not be as likely to accept American aid, and the political influence that generallyaccompanies it, if Cuban citizens, whatever their views, were free to acquire these items themselves, without obstacles.
Many dissidents (and non-dissidents) in Cuba look to the United States, some because they actually favor an unbridled U.S.-style capitalist system, others because they sincerely believe that the U.S. is interested in promoting genuine political and social democracy in Cuba. The latter are terribly mistaken, because Washington’s interest is in reconstructing a society of private wealth and privilege and in promoting a conservative, and probably repressive, pro-U.S. government in Havana.
But this is a political problem that in no way justifies repression. Rightwing politics and support for the U.S. in Cuba cannot be countered by censorship and imprisonment. Neither the Cuban government nor any other government has the right to stifle or obstruct the free expression of opinions, no matter how repellent or misguided we think they might be. Instead, progressives should try to influence Cubans by simultaneously protesting the Castro government’s repression and U.S. interventionism, and exposing Washington’s reactionary agenda for their country.
