Cuba needs the blockade. They don’t want it lifted. It is the perfect excuse. It can and is constantly and consciously used to keep the fires of hatred burning, mostly against the U.S.. And if anything goes wrong in Cuba, there is always the blockade to blame.
Don’t forget that the force used by socialists to galvanize and unite the people is envy and hatred. Socialism cannot exist without an enemy. To establish a socialist State, any hateful issue against the rich is exploited. And once the State has been established, the hatred is immediately shifted to an outside enemy: The Capitalist West. Without an enemy to focus its hatred upon, socialism loses its force. Lift the blockade and the Cuban state will soon destroy itself. The hatred will turn upon itself.
No defense of capitalism
Capitalism, too, draws its force from a negative emotion or vice, i.e. greed. Insatiable greed. The present economic crisis demonstrates clearly what this leads to. Where is the justice (assuming we should worry about that) in CEO’s earning 500-1000 times more than the least paid worker? Where is the justice in constantly maintaining capital ownership in the hands of 2%-5% of the population? And, then, what of the lie that it does not matter, economically, that this is so? It does matter a great deal. For one thing, It stifles consumption and thereby economic growth.
“Casino capitalism”, promoted and maintained by “banksters”, has caused a huge increase (U.N. estimate 13%) in hunger and poverty in poor countries. No doubt, a multiple of the number of victims of 9/11 has died as a consequence. Is it really surprising that Hugo Chavez wants revenge? He, too, needs an enemy who is not very hard to find. “Socialismo ó muerte” has once again become a powerful slogan throughout Latin America. Only the deaf and blind fail to see that we need new solutions. Why does academia fail to thoroughly study and analyse Louis Kelso’s binary economics theory?
For now may it suffice to say that there exists a justice-based interfaith alternative for Cuba and the world. We call it “Solidarism”, The Just Third Way.