Sunday 27 November 2016

So Castro's dead?

Apparently the Cubans in Miami were partying in the streets into the small hours of the morning at news of his death. I am not sure why. Will anything change in Cuba?
Probably nothing much will change. Raoul is in control. His policies are little different from those of his brother. Unless there is another revolution Cubans will go on being poor in a communist state.
I have never believed in old style communism. I never believed in the policies of Chairman Mao and his little book. Even as an idealistic teenager - and  yes, I was one - I didn't believe in those things. 
I believed then, as I do now, that everyone is equal. They are equal in the sense that all life is valuable and has the potential for good. We also have to acknowledge and accept that everyone is different. The idea that someone who cleans the operating theatre is worth less than the surgeon who operates in it doesn't wash with me. I don't believe it. But the idea that the cleaner who works fixed hours and then leaves work should be paid an equal or greater amount to the surgeon and all s/he takes on doesn't wash with me either. That's not equality. 
Telling people what to think, say, and do isn't equality either. That's more about denying the obvious truth that people are different. 
And,  if everyone is equal, why is there a "Dear Leader" with all the privileges and power able to dictate to others? Why do some many of them dress in military type attire?
Yes, I know it's naive on my part. I'm not smart at political thinking. I've never formally studied the subject. I don't understand. 
But I do understand human misery. I do understand repression...and fear...and poverty...and lack of information. Cuba has had too much of that. If that's "communism" at work then, to my mind, it doesn't work.  It isn't respect for other people driving it, it's the opposite. 

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