[Marxism] Note about the year 2007

[Walter Lippmann]

(These are some notes I sent to the CubaNews list 
looking back at 2006 and ahead for the new year.) 
===================================================

Just a few notes about the year just concluded and the one beginning.

Welcome to the year 2007. It's going to be as active or more a year as
was 2006. Last year as a remarkable one in so many ways one can hardly
encompass it all: the election of Evo Morales and the Movement Toward
Socialism in Bolivia, of Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and finally of 
Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, as well as the re-election of Luis Ignacio
"Lula" da Silva in Brazil and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela marked a further
deepening in the process of Latin American integration. These were the
ideals of Marti and Bolivar, and of Fidel Castro and and the Cuban
revolutionaries of the second half of the twentieth century.

On the world arena, the death of the 3000th U.S. soldier in Washington's
fruitless attempt to conquer and occupy Iraq was joined in time with the
macabre spectacle of Washington's occupation regime's execution of Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein. Both events reflect at once the demonstration
of Washington's will and methods of occupation, and also the costs to the
United States, above all its working class and immigrant populations, of 
this government's frantic efforts to expand the United States empire.

Fidel Castro doen't think that the people of the United States will allow
Bush to complete his term. He put it this way on November 28th of 2006:

"Currently, we are facing an adversary who has dragged the United States 
to such a disaster that the American people are almost sure to prevent 
him from completing his presidential term."

Fidel studies U.S. politics very attentively and his observations are
based on over fifty years of carefully learning his adversary's ways.
Cynthia McKinney introduced an impeachment motion, but was once again
pushed out of Congress. While the incoming Democratic leadership of the
Congress has, so far, ruled impeachment off the national agenda, will
they be able to keep it off as the numbers of U.S. war dead continues
its steady rise?

Thanks to Cuba's close ties with Venezuela and China, the island is in
the process of an economic upturn. While Fidel Castro's recent illness
has sidelined the island's Commander-in-Chief, some of the elements in
the U.S. political establishment have begun to realize that Washington's
nearly five decade long seige hasn't succeeded in dislodging the Cuban
Revolution. The U.S. has precious little leverage with Cuba, since it's
pretty much painted itself out into a corner regarding the island. This
is why the recent Congressional visit to Cuba could portend at least a
partial reduction in the travel restrictions, for families, anyway.

CubaNews will shortly reach a significant milestone: having sent out 
SIXTY THOUSAND MESSAGES: from, about or related to Cuba, the editorial
criterion on which the CubaNews list is edited. The list has grown from
a few dozen initial subscribers to nearly 900 on the main list as well
as thousands of others through postings to other lists and forwardings
by readers of selected messages. If you know of others who want to get
a better idea of the reality of Cuba today, please pass this on so that
others may subscribe. The list's homepage has subscription details:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

The list will continue to collect and share materials from the Cuban
media and from the mainstream corporate media and the alternative and
left media as well. Our interests focus on Cuba, the Cuban diaspora in
the world, and Cuba's life and politics, and their influence on the
world more generally. This is a very broad set of parameters, but this
is the framework in which CubaNews works. Perhaps it's best to call it
a Cuba-centric approach. If it's from Cuba, about Cuba or related to
Cuba, it may be of interest to the readers of this list. In addition,
if it affects Cuba, or if it reflects Cuba's influence on the inter-
national scene, CubaNews list may well share it with you in hopes it
will prove of interest and of value to you.

One of our most important contributions is the provision of lots of
original translations from Spanish to English of materials from the
Cuban media, which we make available to our English-speaking readers.
Readers who are fluent in Spanish and can help with this work should
please get in contact with me and let me know of your interests. 

Beside the changes on the international political scene, and only a
few of the key events have been indicated, the change in control of
the U.S. Congress in the recent mid-term elections gives us reason to
hope for some changes in U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba, especially in
the area of visitation rights. For those who are reading these messages,
Cuba is very important. For most people in the United States, Cuba isn't
that important. Since the whole episode of Elian Gonzales, nothing has
generated as much interest in Cuba and U.S.-Cuban relations until Fidel
Castro went out on sick leave in July of last year. There's been greater
interest in Cuba shown in the corporate media since Fidel's illness, and
some of it has been more objective, more balanced than what we've been
used to in the preceding 47 years. This gives me reason for hope for a
change in relations. Nothing radical or rapid, but hope nevertheless.

One of the good things for me about living in Los Angeles, which still
is the capital of the movie world is the possibility we have here to 
see lots of motion pictures, both feature and documentary, from around
the world. In the movie world as well I sense a growing interest in the
challenges facing the world and the people of the United States if we're
unable to bring about profound changes in the culture and institutions 
of the United States. Greed and violence are still the principles which
dominate in our culture. Visions of new and sustainable ways of living
can begin to be visualized via the prism of motion pictures. Sensitive
and caring artists are today seeking to explore the profound malaise in
which the United States finds itself through the medium of the cinema. 

For example, last Friday I saw FAST FOOD NATION, a highly immaginative 
movie which, among other things, takes up the challenges to the U.S. of
its dependence on undocumented immigrant labor. The U.S. military is as
well deeply dependent on these immigrants. It reminded me very much of
A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN, which can also help educate a public greatly
in need of an understanding of the life and world of immigrant workers.
Another movie covering the same territory is BABEL, one of whose parts
focuses on the lives of undocumented immigrants as well. While most 
people tend to think of immigrants as dark-skinned people from Spanish-
speaking countries, there's also a growing cinematic discussion of other
immigrants issues, as in SWEET LAND, which depicts immigrants who don't 
have dark skins, but who receive the brunt of popular xenophobia just as
if they were today's Latino migrants. In this case, the fear toward the
immigrants is mixed in with red-baiting as well. 

Today, these immigrants are at the heart of the organized labor movement,
its most dynamic sector. If the labor movement is to have any future as
a vehicle for social change and progress in the United States, it will 
be in large part through an understanding of, and an indispensible sense
of solidarity with, the immigrant sector of this society.

CHILDREN OF MEN, a further example of the dystopian fantasy similarly 
takes up these issues which are at the hear of the contradictions now
wracking a changing U.S. (It takes place in the UK, but the immage of
immigrant workers being rounded up by the state isn't that far removed
from what we're seeing in the United States of America at this time.

Cubans are among Hollywood's biggest fans. U.S. films and culture, in all 
of their glory and dread, are quite popular on the island. The ongoing 
interactions of the two countries, which diplomat Wayne Smith has referred 
to as THE CLOSEST OF ENEMIES, will continue to be what interests CubaNews
list in 2007 as it has since the list was founded way back in August 2000.

The struggle to free the Cuban Five, including publicizing each and ever
step of the seemingly interminable process will be an important part of
the list's work. It's still remarkable to me how many people still don't
know about the five and the struggle to free them. Last year we began to
get a few modest breaks in the media, but a lot more will be needed if
the Five are ever to see the light of day as free individuals.

We welcome your interest and your participation. Your questions and your
criticisms are also welcome. I'll try to improve the service as much as
possible, including those nettlesome formatting issues which have been a
pain so frequently to the readership. Your active participation is very
much welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read this as well.

Yours in solidarity,


Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews