Pedro Campos

Pedro Campos reiterates his proposals on how to get the Cuban economy moving forward without turning the country over to capitalist exploitation.

“Mao would be broken-hearted. He would probably turn over in his grave if he saw how capitalism was developing in China. However Deng would be ecstatic,” summed up political scientist Zhang Wei Wei.

It’s increasingly apparent that one of the great tragedies of the left is the sectarian idea that the emancipation of the workers is the work of enlightened, adept & daring groups or individuals and not that of the workers themselves.

It’s time for the left — all those individuals and collective defenders of anti-capitalist, socialist, and revolutionary democratic ideas, ranging from intellectuals to certain officials within the party and the government, and especially the many rank-and-file communists — to consider regrouping our own forces to defend the popular gains previously achieved.

The recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI visit was an extraordinary opportunity for the government to show its tolerance and its democratic vocation. However, the government’s behavior appeared more like a paramilitary operation designed to face an eventual uprising than to receive a special and friendly visitor.

This doesn’t mean privatizing the Cuban health care system and turning it over to capital to exploit doctors and patients, but instead limiting the role of the government, socializing production, for the good of the services provided and the workers.

Cuban reform czar Marino Murillo has just presented “a policy that has been adopted for the experimental creation of non-agricultural cooperatives.” My first reaction is to celebrate this step.

Everything done for reconciliation, respect for differences, love for one’s neighbor, protecting the helpless, fairness and social justice in Cuba is positive.