Would you like to talk about another initiative that you have – a more personal one?

That one I do out of the need I just mentioned – to be surrounded by people, giving them alternatives, opportunities, talking with them. I had thought about something like this a while ago with a friend. In principle, we wanted to set up a program for culinary arts, to take some dish and build a whole activity around it. Later we opened it up a little more to include all artistic forms and we had it in a larger place where people could enjoy everything we were able to bring together. If we reduced the scope and size, only those people who were interested in the culinary arts would come and we wouldn’t have activities for those who like to sing or recite, or for people who like to read.

We hold this program every last Sunday of the month at 6:00 in the evening in differing locations. We wanted to take it to different neighborhoods to overcome the geographical fatalism that people have in their minds, plus that’s also a way to reach new people. We aren’t from the downtown area, so we try to see that every area has an opportunity. Our objectives are very simple: to give the youth and people of any age a place where they can relax in a healthy manner; where they can feel good with very simple, very spiritual things, because we don’t have audio equipment or professional talent or economic resources – nothing. Everything is achieved with our sweat and effort and with our own limited resources.

Do you want to explain to the readers why you won’t give your real name?

Well, because people manipulate information a lot. I’ve been speaking here very spontaneously, without any intentions or interests of any type, but everything can be manipulated politically. With respect to the opinions I’ve just expressed, some people could say that these are political or counter-revolutionary statements; in that way they also manipulate concepts themselves. That’s why it’s better this way.
Well in Cuba we have an excess of problems with housing, right?

Exactly. So imagine who the people were in this program. They were the same ones who hadn’t been enrolled in school, which was my situation… However I entered from the heart, because that was what I wanted to do. I knew that I wasn’t going to pass the math admissions exam because I’m not good in that subject, but they said they were going to drop the exams for me to get into the social work program. I was super excited with that.

Havana building crying for help.

There was a moment, before I got in, though, when they said they weren’t going to take any more students. I was devastated since I couldn’t imagine doing anything that wasn’t social work, because that’s what I liked – helping people.

But suddenly you changed, and it wasn’t precisely due to any economic reason…

It’s what I told you, when you meet reality head on, reality trumps everything. I saw that there was no relation between what we had studied, what was so beautiful in school with such good professors, and what we found in the street.

But weren’t you tempted by the toiletries bags and the wage of almost five hundred pesos?

No, absolutely not. I might die with bread and water, but I’ll have bread and water working in what I like.

It seems that at this point the readers will want to know what job you have that’s so phenomenal that it’s worth going hungry and giving up a toiletry bag and 475 pesos for a flat wage of a little more than 300 pesos.

I earn 355 pesos as a cultural promoter. It’s not a “phenomenal” job for many people, but for me it’s something I wanted to do and where I’ve been able to find myself.

So do you feel that in your present job you’re really being useful?

Yes…yes. You have to understand that a cultural promoter is a social worker in the cultural sphere. In the end, everybody who works in relation to society is a social worker. That’s something inside a person… I also love cultural development, but as a social worker they didn’t allow you to venture further on. Everything was very limited to roles, to steps, to bureaucracy. But here I see that I’m useful because I work with children, with grandparents, with people who are disabled, with children with psycho-social problems. And you see the concrete results because when you organize an activity for a group of people, you can see their happiness as the activity unfolds, and then they thank you. They’ll see you in the street and they’ll ask you when the next activity will be held. You can see their gratitude, though it’s not necessary for them to thank you at that exact moment.

What activities do you organize for those people?

In the summer we set up children’s activities, ones that are both recreational and educational, ones appropriate for the development of their childhood. We also have activities for the elderly. You know that with the elderly in this country (I say this because I’m not familiar with elderly development in other countries) what families do is send them to pick up bread, to pick up newspapers and to run other errands. We assist in the community dining rooms, the grandparents’ centers, the geriatrics centers, and we organize activities that range from art exhibitions to participation in sports and table games. We involve them in singing and reciting.

But what about the resources to carry out those activities?

Well, I’ve already told you that this work is that of a social worker. You have to arrange things here and set up things over there. Because right now, with the situation that the country is in —which is the same situation our country has always been— you don’t have the luxury of having a warehouse where you can go and get the things you need. Fortunately I see that the Ministry of Culture has a bit more resources: audio equipment, local talent from the neighborhood cultural centers, and we can rely a great deal on the natural promoters from the Popular Council. So from all of that comes our work.

Havana street scene.

Also, since you’re connected to cultural institutions, you also have to have some spark, some self-motivation. You might not have audio equipment one day, but there may be a good moderator and a good singer; so you go with that to organize your activity for the grandparents. If there’s a clown that has a performance every Saturday morning, then you have to lasso the kids and take them there. It’s a beautiful job from my point of view because I like to do things for people. I have an immense need to share, to always give and do things. In other words, I’ve found that I can do more for society as a cultural promoter than as a social worker.

But for less money

Yes, for less money, but with more happiness.

Would you like to talk about another initiative that you have – a more personal one?

That one I do out of the need I just mentioned – to be surrounded by people, giving them alternatives, opportunities, talking with them. I had thought about something like this a while ago with a friend. In principle, we wanted to set up a program for culinary arts, to take some dish and build a whole activity around it. Later we opened it up a little more to include all artistic forms and we had it in a larger place where people could enjoy everything we were able to bring together. If we reduced the scope and size, only those people who were interested in the culinary arts would come and we wouldn’t have activities for those who like to sing or recite, or for people who like to read.

We hold this program every last Sunday of the month at 6:00 in the evening in differing locations. We wanted to take it to different neighborhoods to overcome the geographical fatalism that people have in their minds, plus that’s also a way to reach new people. We aren’t from the downtown area, so we try to see that every area has an opportunity. Our objectives are very simple: to give the youth and people of any age a place where they can relax in a healthy manner; where they can feel good with very simple, very spiritual things, because we don’t have audio equipment or professional talent or economic resources – nothing. Everything is achieved with our sweat and effort and with our own limited resources.

Do you want to explain to the readers why you won’t give your real name?

Well, because people manipulate information a lot. I’ve been speaking here very spontaneously, without any intentions or interests of any type, but everything can be manipulated politically. With respect to the opinions I’ve just expressed, some people could say that these are political or counter-revolutionary statements; in that way they also manipulate concepts themselves. That’s why it’s better this way.

copy, paste, copy paste, copy paste. snore.

'The image of Che was just so right for the time,' says liberal American writer Lawrence Osborne, whose critique of Guevara appeared recently in the New York Observer. 'Che was the revolutionary as rock star. Korda, as a fashion photographer, sensed that instinctively, and caught it. Before then, the Nazis were the only political movement to understand the power of glamour and sexual charisma, and exploit it. The Communists never got it. Then you have the Cuban revolution, and into this void come these macho guys with their straggly hair and beards and big-dick glamour, and suddenly Norman Mailer and all the radical chic crowd are creaming their jeans. Che had them in the palm of his hand, and he knew it. What he didn't know, of course, was how much that image would define him.'

Time for you to stop creaming your jeans Dread?

"posting articles does no good, since i also have a pc."

Remember: GIGO?

At least I read the articles and understand them before posting them. And they just happen to be germane and pertinent to the subject matter.

i really have no crystallised idea of what your agenda is. sometimes i believe that you are trying to educate readers, but then i realise that you cannot, since you have not managed to educate yourself. then, i believe that you are just a shill for right wing, laissez faire, anti socialist, neocon crap. yes, that is more like it. whichever side of the coin faces up, you are still a lightweight, with very little to offer. in essence, an evangelist for trickle down philosophies, which have long been discredited. or, maybe you just want to appear as if you are some professorial guy, posting a million meaningless articles , daily. just once, i would like to read something YOU penned.

How a Nice Friendship Might Begin

August 5, 2010 |

Yusimi Rodriguez

Bus stop. Photo: Caridad

HAVANA TIMES, August 4 — I’m on the bus again. It’s five-thirty in the afternoon, and all that people want to do is get home. So do I. Bus stops are beginning to seem like they were in the nineties crisis. Two years ago, when new buses and routes appeared, we thought our problems with public transportation were gone. Now, reality has proven us wrong.

Today I caught the bus at the first bus stop, so I’m standing in an almost comfortable spot, without disturbing anyone and without being disturbed. I know it won’t last, but for a while I can look around and feel like a spectator watching a movie.

Like in a movie

There is a middle-aged woman standing close to the door and a middle-aged man standing behind her. As we get to the second bus stop, people almost assault the bus and come close to killing each other to get on. The middle-aged man is now crushed against the middle-aged woman and soaking her with his sweat. It’s inevitable and they both know it.

Rush hour bus ride. Photo: Caridad

They’ve gotten used to it, as we all have. He is being crushed by someone else, who in turn is being crushed by another person, and so on. Instead of complaining, the woman looks at the man with sympathy and resignation. The man apologizes and offers her his hand towel to wipe some of the sweat off.

They are both tired. They have taken buses their whole lives and none of this is new to them. The woman says she now has to continue working at home. She has to cook for herself and her son, who gets home later. The man has to cook too, but only for himself. They are both divorced. She has a son. He is childless.

They catch the bus at the same stop every day, at the same time, but they had never spoken. And today, they wouldn’t have either if the bus hadn’t been so crowded, forcing them to stand pressed against each other.

They are usually pinned against people who complain all the time without trying to understand the situation. Today, despite the unbearable heat and his elbow in her ribs, they both smile. They would have talked even longer had the driver not been driving so fast, as people inside screamed out of fear for their lives.

The woman says that fortunately she’s getting off on the next stop, but that she will catch the bus again at the same time tomorrow. The driver doesn’t stop at the official bus stop, but five blocks after it, so she’ll have to walk five blocks back with her bag.

Nonetheless she smiles. This is just the usual same old thing. She gets off and waves to the man. He does the same.

Yes, this would have been a nice story. It’s a pity it only happened that way in my mind.

Now, here’s what really happened:

The middle-aged man wanted to walk to the back of the bus, but the lady was standing in the way, just in front of the door. The man asked her to move, but she said she couldn’t because she was getting off at the next stop. The bus stopped five blocks before the stop, but she didn’t budge.

She argued that this was not the designated bus stop and that the driver had to stop at the official one. The man told her the driver wouldn’t stop there and therefore it would be better if she got off and let people move, she was in the way. She insisted that the driver had to stop at the official bus stop (and she had a point).

But it was the man who was right in the end, because the driver stopped five blocks after the official stop. When the woman could finally get off (now she would have to walk all the way back), the man yelled at her: “Stupid bitch. Now you have to walk anyway, you fat cow.”

The woman hollered back, “You need to go wash your stupid funky ass.” The bus drove on. I could only feel sad about the woman, about the man, about us all, because we’ve gotten used to this. The best way to solve problems is by insulting each other, and we even enjoy it. End of story.

Erasmo Calzadilla: My parents named me Erasmo 34 year ago, when I was planted in a neighborhood of retired military personnel situated toward the southern city limits of Havana. I don’t know why, but I’m impassioned with thought, philosophy, art, science, friendship and music; in short, everything good that has stirred the passions of humans, nature, and God – or whoever was the creator. Actually I graduated in pharmacy, but I work as a professor at institutions that believe in me and are welcoming. It is important to highlight that I also hold a well-defined political position: I am a bitter opponent of those who are bossy, abusive, and imposing, those who believe they hold the truth, etc., independent of their attire. To them, I occasionally dedicate a few angry words.

Cuban Socialism: Fact or Fiction?

April 18, 2010 | Print This Post Print This Post Email to a Friend Email to a Friend

Erasmo Calzadilla

Havana scene by Caridad

Forty-nine years ago, on April 16, 1961, a few hours after a CIA-planned air attack on several Cuban airfields took place as a prelude to the Bay of Pigs invasion, Fidel Castro declared the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution in a mass rally.

I’ve always been intrigued by the way this course toward socialism was decided.

Only three years prior, we were a capitalist colony when a popular revolution occurred that was nationalist and anti-imperialist – but non-socialist. We were not socialist because the US media was able to implant a horrendous image communism in our minds, but also because our way of life and work had little to do with socialism.

I’ve often wondered whether there was any type of mass discussion before deciding on the path we would take, or if it was one of the ideas of our great leader and his adjuncts. I don’t know how these questions were dealt with back in ‘61, but from what I’ve experienced personally, I can easily believe that such radical changes in the life of an entire nation truly unfolded from the mind of a social architect with enough power to direct the destiny of a whole people.

Revolution seemed an extremely interesting process; entailing all power to the people. If it had really worked out like this —even if we had ended up being worse off economically today, which I doubt— the balance would have remained positive. We would have been itching closer to becoming the first modern nation that achieved a genuinely popular government.

However, the charisma of one man, the political immaturity of our people and US aggression conspired against the victory of true socialism.

I believe the Cuban experience has its merits —which can be confirmed when we look at the lives of our neighbors in the region, even those of the richest— but I’m convinced that being satisfied with the crumbs of tranquility that emanate from extreme paternalism is an unworthy goal.

The Cuban Press isn't going to like this piece of News. Will he be allowed to pick up his prize and return to Cuba?

21 October 2010 Last updated at 07:12 ET


Cuba dissident Farinas awarded Sakharov Prize by EU
Guillermo Farinas on 5 March 2010 Mr Farinas spent four months on hunger strike this year

The European Parliament has awarded its Sakharov human rights prize to Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas.

In July Mr Farinas, 48, ended a hunger strike after Cuba's communist government announced it was freeing 52 political prisoners.

During his campaign for human rights he has staged more than 20 hunger strikes and spent more than 11 years in prison.

An Israeli human rights watchdog and an Ethiopian opposition activist had also been nominated for the prize.

Mr Farinas, a psychologist, journalist and former soldier, had been near death while on hunger strike this year, doctors said.

The MEPs who nominated him for the prestigious award called him "a beacon of hope for dozens of journalists and activists who are currently in prison".

Cubans have been awarded the prize twice before: dissident Oswaldo Paya in 2002 and the Ladies in White group of women whose husbands are jailed in Cuba, who won the award in 2005.


* Cuba 'to release more prisoners'
* Cuban hunger striker returns home

Announcing the award on Thursday, the parliament president Jerzy Buzek said Mr Farinas "was ready to sacrifice and risk his own health and life as a means of pressure to achieve change in Cuba".

"I hope to hand over the award to him in person, here in Strasbourg, in December, which would be a tremendous moment for the European Parliament and for all Cuban prisoners of conscience.

"I sincerely hope that, together with Guillermo Farinas, the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco), another Cuban Sakharov laureate from 2005, will also be able to collect their Sakharov Prize in person."

GUILLERMO FARINAS

* One of best-known Cuban dissidents; staged more than 20 hunger strikes
* Ended four-month hunger strike in July
* Supporter of non-violent protest, said he was ready to die in fight for human rights in Cuba
* Trained and worked as a psychologist
* Independent journalist and founder of independent Cubanacan Press
* Received several international human rights awards

The European Union, like the US, has urged Cuba for years to free political prisoners and improve human rights.

The Sakharov Prize was named after the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and was first awarded in 1988. It includes a cash award of 50,000 euros.

The Russian human rights group Memorial won the award last year.

Spain has called on the EU to normalise relations with Cuba, but the Czech Republic and Slovakia - former communist bloc countries - are among the member states against that idea.

EU foreign ministers are due to discuss relations with Cuba next week.

Its a bit one-sided to demand informed mass discussion in Cuba when virtually none occours in the US due to the media being owned by corporate interests.
Good evidence for this is the meetings etc. on health reform in the US. In the end a deal was done behind closed doors.
Europe has at times come closer to having popular government and genuine debate.

S.

Cubans line up to buy potatoes in Havana in March 2010.
AFP/Getty Images

Cubans line up to buy potatoes in Havana in March 2010.
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October 22, 2010

In Cuba, every person receives a basic monthly food ration from the communist government. It's not enough to survive on, but no one starves, either.

Now, with changes coming to the island's economy, the rations — a hallmark of Fidel Castro's revolution — are also in doubt.

In every Cuban neighborhood, there's a government food pantry called a bodega. A blackboard lists the available items and their prices. Government clerks weigh out portions of rice, sugar, beans and other basics.


A customer displays his ration card as he waits to buy food at a government store in Havana in 2009. The Cuban government has slowly been chipping away at the rations system — and more changes appear to be coming, worrying many Cubans.

In Havana's Vedado neighborhood, one dismal bodega is set up in the ruined shell of a former supermarket that was long ago nationalized. Cubans wander in carrying little booklets called libretas. Every household has one. While the items aren't free, prices are so low they're affordable even to ordinary Cubans earning less than $20 a month on average. The government provides milk to pregnant women and children up to age 7.

On a recent day, Julia Rivas is picking up rations for herself and her daughter. She says she depends on the provisions to get by, even if they don't last through the month.

"We get dish detergent, but it only comes every three or four or six months," she explains.

The government of President Raul Castro now says it cannot afford to maintain this system. More than 70 percent of the island's food is imported, costing the cash-strapped government $1.5 billion a year. Castro has been turning over idle state land to private farmers and cooperatives, hoping they'll produce more, but so far the experiment hasn't delivered.

Cubans supplement their diets mostly by shopping at produce markets. They are among the few spaces set aside for private enterprise; one is located next to the Vedado bodega. While it is filled with fresh local items, prices are steep for Cubans on fixed incomes. The vendors are widely despised for trying to cheat customers with faulty scales.

A Cuba without coffee? I can't believe that they would cut it from the ration book. That's something you don't mess around with.

- Patricia Rodriguez, a university student

Raul Perez, a 78-year-old retired pediatrician, says he can no longer muster the energy to argue. "They never sell you the right weight for what you are buying, so they are stealing your money. Before you buy it, you know they will rob you, but you really can't do anything," Perez says.

Some Cubans resent the monotony of the rations and the government paternalism they symbolize. But they are a lifeline for most people, and one that has been steadily thinning.

While the government has not proposed an alternative to the ration system, the availability of potatoes and peas was cut last year, and their street prices have shot up since then. Sugar and salt rations have also been reduced.

A major editorial last October in the Communist Party newspaper Granma called for abolishing the ration system outright, a signal that it may be only a matter of time.

Edenia River is picking up her family's monthly allotment of 6 pounds of rice per person at the Vedado bodega. The rice is shipped to Cuba from China. She says she would "die" without the subsidized food. Rivera buys a pound of rice each day for her family and says she doesn't have the extra 40 cents it would cost at market prices.

"I hope they never take the ration book away," she says.

Not everyone in Cuba needs the assistance, but even government critics agree it would have to replace the current system with one that still protects the neediest Cubans, including children. Only there's no income tax system in Cuba, or way to assess who is poor, and who deserves help. The government's new market-oriented reforms may increase productivity, but inequalities will also widen, as Castro's egalitarian model further unravels.

A classic Cuban espresso bar in Old Havana is one of the last good deals around, selling shots of sweet cafecito for less than 5 cents.

But just as Cuba now has to import sugar, its coffee collapse is another embarrassment. The island harvested fewer than 6,000 tons last year, down from 60,000 tons a half-century ago, forcing the government to spend $40 million on imported beans.

University student Patricia Rodriguez says she has heard the rumors that coffee rations will be cut next. "A Cuba without coffee?" Rodriguez asks. "I can't believe that they would cut it from the ration book. That's something you don't mess around with."

Two other customers sipping espresso nearby say they expect the coffee ration to disappear any day. But they shrugged off how Cubans might react.

Is there anything we can do about it? one of the men says. He just shakes his head, and walks away.

Many countries made the mistake of depending on cheap food and terms of trade that made thier industries such as textiles grow.

Sugar was subsidised by big nations to the extent that the price did not even cover the inputs.

These policies, having destroyed agriculture in many countries are now leading to more poverty.
Many examples - but Phillipines is one.

http://www.ausaid.gov.au/country/country.cfm?CountryId=31

"
Poverty
Poverty is a significant problem, and in combination with high income inequality, it poses a serious threat to stability in the Philippines. The proportion of the population living below US$1.25 a day in 2006 was 23 per cent or around 20 million people. At the same time, about 44 per cent or over 40 million Filipinos were living on less than US$2 a day. While the Philippines was able to reduce poverty incidence from as high as 30 per cent in the early 1990s, the actual number of people living in poverty has increased over the last two decades. The global food and fuel price crises in 2007 and 2008, and the global economic crisis that followed, are estimated to have pushed even more people into poverty.

Economic growth in the Philippines has been unable to lift many of the rural poor out of poverty who traditionally rely on the agricultural sector for employment and typically have less access to basic services, lower levels of education and larger families to support. Even during periods of stronger economic growth, such as 2004–2008, poverty continued to rise. Various factors have contributed to the lack of progress on poverty reduction in the Philippines. Some of these are:

•high population growth, which averaged 2 per cent annually over the past decade, and places additional strain on the cost of household living and demand for basic services
•income inequality, which increased in the 1990s and remains relatively high—the poorest 20 per cent of the population accounting for only 5 per cent of total income or consumption
•inability of the government to provide sufficient basic services, especially to people in poorer remote regions
•vulnerability of poorer communities to natural disasters and civil unrest which adversely affects livelihoods.

US international bandits such as Delmonte turn good fertile land into pesticide riddled guarded pineapple plantations.

Cuba's many successes need to be recognised and now the agricultural sector needs great attention.

In Latin countries one suspects agriculture is considered not a worthwhile occupation. This is partly due to US media influence.

Cuba needs to move fast to increase production and shift the diet away from just rice - this idea was the product of US domination.

S.