4A
EDITORIAL AND OPINION/ITge Clarlsm ^ost
Thursday, September 7, 2006
CI)e Cfjarlotte
The Voice of the Black Community
1531 Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203
Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher
Robert L. Johnson co-publisher/general manager
Herbert L White editor in chief
OPINION
The only
critique of
Castro that
matters
Cuban leader has been Working more, and enjoying it less
steadfast in support of blacks
By James Early
SPEC/AL TO THE POST
Influential pockets of America, especially the mainstream
corporate media, are obsessing about Fidel Castro’s health
problems and possible death. The black world must tha^fore
pay close attention to these groups. Their ^eeful reactions
reveal America’s not so fiiendly intentions towards Castro and
Cuba, a land that has consistentiy stood by African and
African-American people.
Castro is justifiably revered ^obally as a political icon.
Several reasons show why First is his visionary leadership.
Fidel did not just dream a nation fine of injustice, poverty dis- •
ease and ignorance. Envisioning a coimtry of ‘hew man” he
and his comrades with direct and consistent collaboration
with Cuban citizens of all sectors brilliantly wrestled back
their coimtry—an island being e^qsloited, debauched and cor
rupted by the greed and imperial domination of U.S. capital
ism. And despite missteps and some failures the self-deter
mined nation^ revolutionary project has transformed much of
the dream into life-defining achievements in health, educa
tion, and physical security
The Cuban Revolution finm the beginning squarely con
fronted institutional racism, an ongoing social and governance
transformation with a renewed national focus in the last few
years in the Color Cubano project imder the ministry of cul
ture and other special social and educational polices institut
ed by the Cuban government.
In less that half a century, Cuba did not jiost achieve great
things inside the coimtry It shared. A soHdarity foreign policy
benefited underprivileged peoples in other lands. Cuban edu
cators, doctors, scientists, artists, athletes and analysts are
winning hearts and minds across the world by contributing to
the material, intellectual and spiritual uplift of all
humankind.
Cubans built medical fadhties, trained health personnel and
educated students fiom marginal communities - in Afiica, the
Caribbean, and even the U.S. While black and white
Americans were being ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, Castro
and the Cuban people (along with Venezudan President Hugo
Chavez) offered to send doctors and supplies. But d^pite the
failures of FEMA and the American Red Cross, the Bush
administration rejected the generous offer because of its
hatred of Castro and the Cuban National Project he has led
since 1959.
Most inspiring, Cubans died to liberate non-Cuban people of
color. The battle fought in Cuito Cuanavale, an Angolan town,
best exemplifies this. In 1988 Cuban and Angolan soldiers
stopped apartheid South Afiica's war machine that had invad
ed Angola and was bent on capturing Cuito Cuanavale and
then all Angola. The purpose? Tb impose the murderous Jonas
Savimbi as an. apartheid-defending puppet president of
Angola. Defeating apartheid South Afiica at Cuito Cuanavale
was highly significant. It marked the beginning of the end
both in the liberation of Namibia and of South Afiica, and in
ending Angola's nightmarish dvil war.
A grateful Afiican world defiantly insisted on thanking
Cuba. Thus, in May 1994, a fiieshly inai^urated President
Nelson Mandela said to Castro, pubhcly 'You made this pos
sible.! And it is why the ANC had elaborated earher, "TOthout
the ... Sacrifice of the Cuban people ... We possibly would not
have reached the historic victory ... Cuba remainls] a shining
example.!
Castro is not immortal. He will surely die one day However,
the accomplishments that really count fl ideals of equality and
justice, fii'eedom, and solidarity that Cuba has institutional
ized under his leadership n will endure. This crucial point
seems lost on some Americans such as the reactionary Cuban
community engaging in crass, morbid jubilation and the cor
porate media, enraged and vaigeful, demonizing Castro as an
anachronistic dictator fix)m a by-gone communist era while
dismissii^ his profound and continuing influence on modem
history
There ai-e also the saisationalist pundits and bloggers,
chumii^ out wild speculation, and the Bush-Rice foreign pol
icy machine, issuing stale ideological critiques and pohtically
threatening polices to 'bring democracy to the Cuban people.”
Fury blinds these Castro-haters to the obvious: Cuba is more
than the towering figure of Fidel Castro.
Cuba is no paradise. And Fidel Castro is no god, just an
extraordinary statesman over the last half-century who,
despite at times stumbling on some fundamentally important
issues of participatory democracy has never fallen away fiom
the Cuban nation’s sol^nn historical quest for true indepai-
dence and self-determination.
However, besides history's, only one appraisal of Castro real
ly coimts - that of Cuban citizens. Only they will properly
weigh Castro’s successes and failures, and determine where
their country must go. It is therefore Cuba's sdf-appraisal
that the Afiican world must value.
JAMES EARLY is a board member of TransAfrica Forum
(wwwSrcaisafriccforum.org).
Although most U.S. work
ers were off on Labor Day we
ergoy fewer government holi
days and vacations than
employees in Western
Europe. Still, we remain
staunchly devoted to work,
evo! as we grow increasir^y
worried about job security
“Americans believe that
workers in this country are
worse off now than a genera
tion ago — toiling longer and
hard^ for less wages and
■ benefits, for
employers who
aren't as loyal
as they once
were, in jobs
that aren't as
secure, and in a
^obal economy
that might very
well send their
work overseas,”
according to a new study by
the Pew Research Center.
Even with those general
worries, the report states, on
an individual level, the atti
tudes of U.S. workers toward
their jobs have remained
remarkably consistent ov^
the years.
“Most people stUl have pos
itive feelings about their own
jobs, and even though many
are troubled by the way the
forces of modernizations are
affecting the American work
place, the level of public con
cern today is not substantial
ly greater than it had been a
decade or two ago,” the study
says.
Those findings wa^ con
tained in a special Labor Day
report titled: ‘Tublic Says
American Work Life is
Worsening, But Most
Workers Remain Satisfied
with Their Jobs.”
Those surveyed were asked
about eight different aspects
of the world of work and most
said all eight areas had got
ten worse. Yet, 89 percent
said they were either satis
fied or completely satisfied
with their own job.
Employees were asked
whether five trends affectii^
the workforce - immigration,
offshoring, automation, mod
em communication and tech
nology and dedining union
ization - had helped or hurt
American workers.
“The offshoring of jobs drew
the most negative assess-
maits, with the pubhc saying
by a margin of more than 5-1
that this has hurt rather
than helped American work
ers,” the Pew study said. “The
piibhc says the same thii^
about the increasing number
of immigrants working in
America, but they do so by a
more modest margin of 2-1.
They also say the decline in
union membership has hurt
rather than helped, but the
margin on this question is
more narrow, 3-2.”
The pubhc is almost evenly
spht on the question of
automation and is most posi
tive about technology with 69
percent saying the use of e-
mail and other new ways of
communicating has been
helpful.
In 1997,41 percent of work-
os felt benefits were better
than they had been a genera
tion before. Bythis year, how
ever, 45 percent say worko-
benefits aren't as good as
they were a generation ago.
U.S. employees work hard
er than their European coun
terparts, including the
, Japanese. It is often said that
Americans five to work while
Europeans work to five.
Because workahohcs are
held in high esteem in the
U.S., Americans, on average,
have more money, larger
houses, bigger cars and other
items consideiod status sym
bols.
But Professor Mauro
Giullen of the University of
Pennsylvania’s Wharton
School explains: ‘Tt is a sign
of sodal status in Europe to
take a long vacation away
from home. Money is not
everything in Europe, status
is not only conferred by
money Having fun, or beir^
able to have fun, also is a sign
of success and a source of
sodal estppm ”
Guillen's comments are
part of an interesting article
on cultural differences
between Europe and the U.S.
on the
http://knowledge.wharton.up
enn.edu/ Web site.
Because most jobs in
Europe are covered by collec
tive bargaining ^reements,
workers have been able to
negotiate longer vacations
there. Workers in France and
Spain, for example, get a
mandatory 25 paid vacation
days per year. By contrast,
the U.S. is the only industri
alized nation that does not
require companies to provide
sa minimum number of paid
vacation days. Consequently,
a third of aU womai in the
U.S. and one-fourth of all
men do not receive paid vaca
tions. Disturbingly, more
companies are pressii^ to
reduce the numb^ of vaca
tion days an employee
receives.
When employees do receive
vacation days, they tend not
to take all of them. Time
taken off in Western
European countries exceed
the allotted vacation days. In
Prance and Spain, workers
take off 30 days a year; in
Sweden they take off 35 days;
in Italy, 25 and in Britain, 25.
IntheU.S., workers take 10.2
vacation days each year.
“There’s a tendency to real
ly relax in Europe, to disen
gage fix>m work,” says
Christian Schneider, manag
er of the Wharton Center for
Human Resources. “When an
American finally does take
those few days of vacation per
year, they are most likely to
be in constant contact with
the office.”
That can be chalked up to
the growing number of cell
phones, hand-held devices,
laptops and old-fashioned
workaholism. I know about
this first-hand - I wrote this
column in Johnson City,
Tbnn., over the Labor Day
weekend.
GEORGE E. CURRY is editor-
in-chief ofthe NNPA News Service
and BlackPressUSA.com. To con-
lacl Curry, go to his Web site,
www.georgecurrycom.
Racial ‘tribes:’ Has CBS lots its mind?
When I read the story I
could not beheve it. I
assumed it to be a joke or a
p.r. stunt.
The thought that in 2006 a
major media network would
suggest that competition on a
so-called reality show should
be on radal lines defies belief
That, however, is precisely
what CBS proposes to do
with its ratings-dedining TV
show “Survivor.” The so-
called “tribes” wUl now be
divided along racial lines.
What about U.S. history
does CBS fail to imderstand?
Do the executives at CBS
bdieve that the USA has suf
ficiently overcome racism
that it can now be used in the
arena of entertainment? Has
someone failed to understand
the potential for ecacerbating
racial conflict?
That this action is outra-
' geous is obvious to any rea
sonable person. Why CBS
would choose to commit sudi
an act of lunacy is another
matter. Wbre than anythir^
dse this decision reflects a
combination of cynicism (if
you have never seen the clas
sic 1970s film “Network,”
now is the time to see it) and
a superficial understanding
of race and racism in the
USA.
^Sjjjjjjjjj^^ Leaving cyni-
cism aside for a
moment, the
^jjpi bgijgf ^at
• racial divisions
can be treated
neutrally grows
out of the white
backlash to the
Fletcher black. Latino,
Asian and
Native American freedom
movements of the 1950s,
1960s and early 1970s.
Most particularly with the
advent of the Ronald Reagan
presidency in 1981, white
people were fed an almost
irresistible story-line. It was
Bill
simple: racism allegedly
ended with the 1964 Civil
Rights Act. There were now
no structural impediments to
the advancement of people of
color. Any further problems,
it was argued, were now per
sonal rather than institution
ally racial. This storjdine was
precisely what'many, if not
most Whites wished to hear.
It eased their consciences.
' The problem is that this
storyline is a fallacy and
institutional racism (not to
mention ideological racism)
exists at eveiy level of U.S.
society ranging fixjm health
care to housing. Yet, this
racism is obscured by the
absence of ejqDhcitly racial
signs and discriminatory
laws.
The absence of legal racism,
in other words, makes it pos
sible for vast segments of
White America to exist in
near total dmial as to what is
and has been unfolding
before their eyes.
For CBS to pretend, or to
believe that racism no lor^r
exists or matters, is only to
say that the dominant forces
in that institution remain
trapped in the Reagan-esque
hallucination that has played
a major role in helping to
undermine the victories that
we - people of color and our
allies — won in the fimt place.
A si^estion for CBS: Take
“Survivor” off the air and
dehver an apology to those
who have fought, and contin
ue to fi^t, racist discrimina
tion. Do we need to remind
CBS that racism is no game?
It never has been?
BILL FLETCHER, is cm inter-
nalional and labor writer and
activist. Currently serving as a
Visiting Professor at Brooklyn
College-CUNY, he formerly
served as president of TransAfrica
Forum. He can be reached at
pctpaq54@hotmailcom.