socialist guinea pigs

servile-masses-arise:

socialistguineapigs:

servile-masses-arise:

socialistguineapigs:

reason-in-revolt:

cuba is not socialist.

it’s an authoritarian regime. trade unions are oppressed and the workers are still fucked over, it’s been under castro and his ‘revolution’ (which was basically a load of middle class people overthrowing a horrible regime to put in place another rather shitty regime, it…

True, Cuba is not socialist. But I would argue that it isn’t any more authoritarian or less democratic than a country like the US. The poor have power there in the sense that they get insanely good health care and mental health care, free education throughout life, free food and housing. The poor in the US are listened to far less than the poor in Cuba.

Lower infant mortality rate, higher literacy, better mental health, and much more of a community focus, make Cuba a far better country to live in than the US for even middle-class Americans.

Eh? Cuba is a far better place to live than in the US? I’m no fan of US society but that is bullshit. Cubans aren’t allowed to travel, they are not even allowed to talk politics with tourists and there’s only one newspaper. There’s free healthcare but no drugs in the clinics. People are paid in a currency that’s worth nothing, they are forced to use the black market for which the punishment is long term imprisonment. Shit, not paying your busfare will get you jailed in Cuba. Ordinary people are not allowed internet access. It’s fucked. 

The US is fucked too but at least they allow you to leave. Cuba is literally a prison.

I spoke to Cubans about politics. I spoke to strangers I met on the street about politics. I think you’re thinking of how Cuba was a few decades ago.

The currency is not worth nothing. It’s not Zimbabwe. It’s currently 26 CUP to 1 US dollar. And far more importantly, Cubans get their necessities for free, so they only need money for extras. They’re less likely to go into debt than Americans. Do you have any idea how costly education, healthcare and housing are in the US? Add food to that, and you’re in debt for life. You have less than zero dollars.

I’d rather get sick in Cuba than in the US. My parents got sick in Cuba and got medicine immediately. Sure, there was a short supply, but that was because of the embargo imposed on Cuba. Castro didn’t ban or limit medications. I’d rather have Cuba’s limited health care system than have my house taken away because of one ambulance ride, and then be denied a life-saving surgery because I can’t afford $7000/year insurance.

You get enough to survive which is more than I can say for many, many people in the US.

As for leaving. You really think the poor in the US have that option? Whether it’s jail or money that prevents you from leaving, the outcome is the same. They’re just as trapped as anybody in Cuba. Moreso, since they starve and die of preventable diseases.

Btw, don’t ever, ever claim that Cuba jails people more often than the US. The US has the highest incarceration rate PER CAPITA in the world. It’s #1. Cuba is #7. Your chances of being put in prison, especially if you’re poor, are FAR HIGHER if you live in the US. Think about that one.

Cuba is a dictatorship. But so is the US. Don’t fool yourself. The wealthy have complete control over the government, and power is continuously stripped from the poor. If you’re poor and black, chances are you end up in jail.

 ”Cubans get their necessities for free, so they only need money for extras.”

Nonsense. Cubans get a small amount of food which even the government accepts is not enough to live on exclusively. The rationing system is notoriously corrupt and unreliable, everyone uses the black market.

Do you have a concept of what a necessity is? Maybe you’ve never had to run your own household so I’ll list some. Let’s start with the most obvious necessity for all life on this planet - water. How about electricity? If you have a job, chances are you’ll need transportation. A good one is a safe, adequately maintained place to live. 

The Cuban government provides none of these things for free, so don’t tell me that Cubans get their necessities provided, it’s not true.

For the very poor in Cuba and in the US, their existence is very similar, identical in many ways, I agree. At the same time, don’t be praising a country where you get longer jail time for killing a cow than a human being. While the poverty is the same, in the US you can speak your mind in a public place, you can write down criticism of the government and distribute it, you can join a trade union, you can go on strike. It may not seem like much to you, but these are rights that working people struggled hard and gave their lives to secure in the US. It’s disgusting that socialists would sully their memory by singing the praises of a state that is locking up and torturing people for trying to win those rights for their own people.

Oh, give it up. I’m not “singing the praises” of Cuba. This is how ridiculous that is: Anybody who dares to say that one bad country isn’t worse than the US is “singing its praises.”

I’m an anarcho-communist. I oppose government of any kind. I have lived in the US, I have seen the shit that even middle-class people have to go through. Middle-class people are rendered homeless because of hospital bills!

Don’t tell me that the poor have more rights in the US than Cuba. Cubans don’t get kicked out onto the street for not paying rent or for high hospital bills. They get frankly more food than many of the poor in the US. Of course there is rationing and malnutrition. The poor in the US have that too, but they’re much more likely to starve!

You haven’t addressed the incarceration problem. You simply stated an absurd law in Cuba, as if the US doesn’t have any of its own. A higher percentage of poor people in the US are in prison than in Cuba. That is an unmistakable fact.

As for so-called “freedom of speech,” I worked for a peace organization that was on the FBI’s watchlist for being anti-war. American citizens are put on no-fly lists for writing blog posts that criticize the US. You can get put in prison without trial under military tribunal. Protesters are sometimes packed into “free speech zones” because they’re not allowed to express their political opinion where others might hear them. The US was about to censor the Internet China-style, for godssake!

People with mental health problems who cannot function in society live on the street, unless their family has the money to put them into a private institution. Child abuse is treated as nonexistent, and children are rarely protected. Child abuse is a priority in the Cuban mental health system. Gay children turn towards suicide due to lack of education about and acceptance of homosexuality. In the cuban health education system, it is mandatory to teach that homosexuality is a natural sexual orientation.

Freedom to join trade unions? Are you for realz? Many places have the freedom to fire you if you join a union. Unions have been continuously stripped of their power in the US. Labor protections are almost nonexistent in the US.

I live in New Zealand. I left the US, because my family was one of the lucky ones that had enough money and resources to. My father, who was part of a teacher’s union, had his health insurance stripped from him and his family. A lot of good the union did him then.

The fact that the US is called a “First-World” or developed nation makes me laugh. It has more access to medicine, yet a higher death rate and infant mortality rate than Cuba, and Cuba is not a First-World nation. Mental illness is through the roof in the US. Violence is ridiculously high.

But yeah, saying that the poor are slightly better off in one dictatorship than in another is “singing its praises” and undermining any struggle for freedom that Cubans have had. That’s completely rational. I have a question: What about Americans’ struggles for freedom? All I ever hear is how horrible Cuba is and how wonderful the US is. That mindset leads many people to reject any opposition to the US government, and to call protesters “whiny,” “lazy,” and “entitled.”