Hamjatta, One thing I am certain of ,you know very little about the situation in Cuba.I have in my posting tried to show you that because of ideological reason, I am not in support of the Cuban political system and yet you are insisting that I am defending Cuba because of Ideological reasons,I told you to discuss about whether Cuba is a socialist State or not was not my take off in defending that little nation. Let us face the reality,the very reason why America,for more than two decades ,did everything they can to overthrow the Cuban regime is dictated by their fear of having Cuba to succeed in lifting the poverty conditions of her People,this has never been an agenda for any American government in the more than 400 years of it existence.You don't even understand my opposition to the USA political system,let me get it for you once and for all.Hope it will help to clear the misunderstanding. I am against the political system of the USA,not only because of the fact that this political system have also been responsible for the murdering of millions of Africans and the enslavement of million more,the continuous economic exploitations of not only her own people but billions of people all over the world in the interest of few cooperates and a systematic discrimination of the black people in that country,the fact that the dirty wars that the USA have instigated(as in Afghanistan) resulting in the murdering of millions all over the world,and not a single nation is demanding the extradition of an American to the war crime courts is an enough evidences that with this system intact there will be no peace in this world. If you have read and understand my article you will understand that I was defending Cuba on the basis of justice and truth and not for any ideological reason ,I am a Marxist and I don't believe that Cuba is neither a Marxist or a Socialist State,this I have said there is no reason to come into details in this debate,what is important here is the fact that,a country called the USA is denying a peaceful nation in going ahead with what they believed is the only way forward to do away with poverty and decadence which the political system in the USA is not able to do anything with.There is no other nation in this world that has contributed so enormously to the Liberation of the African continent than this little poor nation.Mandela was right to say that it was not the business of any body to tell them who their friends should be,because in their difficult times it was countries like Cuba that was by their side and providing them with their material needs whiles countries like the USA continue to do all they can to contribute to the brutal and inhuman oppression of the African people in that country. What Cuba believed to be democracy is not what you believed it to be,ok,but you will find yourself going around the same issue that Cubans have no liberty to vote for different political parties and nothing more.When I visited Conakry a almost one year after the dead of Sakou Toury followed by the military coup,with the confusssion,corruption and criminality that prevail in that country,the first thing I said to my self was that my opposition to Sekou Touray was based on what I did not know was going on .When I visited Poland after the State Capitalist regime was forced out of power,there were very few difference that I saw from what was going on in Conakry.Today we know poverty has increased much more and faster in the former State Capitalist USSR ,and not the freedom they were promised and no wonder that even with open market capitalism,State Capitalist political Parties in Eastern Europe are still a political power to be reckoned with. I know that It is just debating tactic and manipulation to attribute this to me ; "if you claim blacks _ARE CURRENTLY BEING DENIED THE VOTE IN AMERICA_ how come we have black District Attorneys, Congressmen, Mayors, Police Chiefs, Judges, etc, etc? Are you trying to imply here that the blacks occupying elective offices in the US were never voted in office through democratic elections?" Brother,I have no doubts that I know the American political system more than you do.What I said was that: When Florida exposed the lies of Western democracy,Fidel was jubilation,he was telling them to come to Cuba to learn about democracy.In Cuba you are not denied to vote because you are black but they can deny you to vote because they consider you to be reactionary and in America you can be denied to vote because you are black. I was getting you a picture of what happened during the Florida crisis and if you want a debate on the issue of Black electorate(Black Votes) and those black elected in the USA,we can take on that too. What economic liberties can America teach us ?That as long as Kyoto is against the interest of American capital ,so it has no right to life,no matter its consequences on ordinary American people.That American Capital when at anytime it needs more profit can fly to Mexico or another place leaving ordinary Americans without job and health insurance.If you don't understand that economic liberties in the USA is in the first place a solid concrete wall in defence of American capital and not necessarily in the interest of ordinary American and the very reason why on daily basis working people in America are struggling against. (Just take a look at the activities of American Capital in the Nigerian Delta,and its impact on the total American economy growth before and during the Abacha dictatorship) What more political liberties are we going to learn from America ?that an elected Gambian President should have as a priority to satisfy the economic/financial interest of big capital because they contributed the starting capital for his/her election,,just as George Bush did for the Oil industry after his election to office.We have this already in the Gambia and this is why we don't like the involvement of the Amodou Sambas in Gambian Politics.We know the price we have to pay. By the way economic and political liberties for who ?the rich and powerful o r the wretched of the earth ?Hope you will be more concrete ,be more precise as to what political,economic liberties we are to learn from the USA as you did with Cuba,here you made mention of the Health System .I don't know what we can learn from the Political or economic liberties that are part of the USA Political System other than that I must not be a passive witness to the introduction of such an injustice system in my country,perhaps you know what we should learn,it is better to tell me than accusing me of engaging in propaganda.I am interested in the liberation of the Gambia,not from one economic and political inequality to another.Not from a brutal and heartless capitalist economic and political order to another.We will never be able to learn from Cuba with the Cold War rhetoric's in our minds."Attac" is a reality and not a cold war propaganda. On a last note,perhaps you should try and find out the course to the racial crisis that the UK is experiencing at present. For Freedom Saiks . From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 9:38 PM Subject: Re: World Bank President Praises Cuba > Saiks, > > Because your last piece was based more on sentiments and propaganda than, > say, reason and evidence, i will choose to respond to the most significant > aspect of it here. In your attempts to rebutt my assertions that Castro is > dictator and that Cuba is a political dictatorship, you wrote: << .So from > the start these are two polls far apart from each > other,the West will critic Cuban on the bases of the countries political > system,they call it dictatorship.When Florida exposed the lies of Western > democracy,Fidel was jubilation,he was telling them to come to Cuba to learn > about democracy.In Cuba you are not denied to vote because you are black but > they can deny you to vote because they consider you to be reactionary and in > America you can be denied to vote because you are black. >> > > Come to Cuba and learn about democracy? You kidding me, are yer? Geez..... > democracy and Cuba? That's like oil and water in holy matrimony! Not only is > this passage very disingenuous but it is so grossly inaccurate that i do not > know where to begin in debunking the off-the-wall assertions inherent in it. > For starters, if you claim blacks _ARE CURRENTLY BEING DENIED THE VOTE IN > AMERICA_ how come we have black District Attorneys, Congressmen, Mayors, > Police Chiefs, Judges, etc, etc? Are you trying to imply here that the blacks > occupying elective offices in the US were never voted in office through > democratic elections? Saiks, your problem is not only that of a sentimental > and knee-jerk hatred of all the US stands for but you even disregard the > basic truth about the US. This makes having a fruitful discourse with you > impossible. When Yus forwarded this piece about Cuba's achievements in her > public services, i praised the efforts of the dictatorship and proposed that > we ought to study carefully this success and where possible, we ought to > learn from Cuba. Yet, you cannot even bring yourself to say even a good thing > about the US. The US might not be perfect in all spheres, but by God it has > alot to teach us about so many things Cuba never ever can. Top on that list > would have to be political and economic liberties. If you can't agree even on > this, then Saiks you are a tough act to follow when it comes allegiances to a > doctrine. Let us please give the devil its due. What happened in Miami can > never negate the strides the US has and continues to make in her political > institutions and life. By the way, since when were ordinary Cubans been given > the vote to vote in a communist dictatorship in Cuba? > > All the best, > > Hamjatta Kanteh > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] > if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------