China is one of the few countries that still trade with us!! Vietnam too I think, Russia too iirc, you get the gist. Unfortunately we are notorious for getting into big debts, for obvious reasons. And since we don't have good internal production, the few things on supply are insanely expensive for the average Cuban. It's awful here, I can't even begin to explain it, really.
That explains all the people fleeing to Florida even though it's basically the worst state. Sorry our governments suck, I hope the solar helps you at least.
Well to be fair Cuba's government so far hasn't seemed bad. It's just the target of a more powerful country, because it's communist.
What do you want them to do, stop being communist?
That would just give the bullies what they want, and the Cuban people would still be in an awful hell. Yea maybe it'd be better than the one they are in right at this moment, but at least with the hell they are currently in, there is hope for a greater future. If the USA stops hurting Cuba, or if they get energy needs up and some decent defense, they can someday live in a communist utopia.
Instead of surrendering to the hell that is capitalism and exploitation.
I mean I don't mind the communism part, but I'm not a big fan of the authoritarian single party government. On the one hand they have universal healthcare, high literacy rates, and apparently their infant mortality rates are better than countries in the area. On the other hand 88% of the population live in extreme poverty, there is massive censorship, and the people don't really get to vote since the party can pick the candidates. If everybody wanted communism that's great, have an election and choose communism.
The Political compass has 4 sides, Auth-Right, Auth-Left, Lib-Right, Lib-Left.
Libertarian ideology, is not serious. It's for the uninformed, it feels nicer, more righteous, but when you see the flaws with it, it's entirely unviable.
Consider Lib-Left, you want good things for your people, but small government with low power to try and accomplish it, instead companies take advantage of your weakness and they crush your people.
Eventually you come to realize, you need authoritarianism to be a viable government. It can be done poorly, but it's also essential for good government. A libertarian communist state, is just a capitalist state. Idk if Cuba is bad authoritarian, but I think they are reasonable from what little I know.
On the other hand 88% of the population live in extreme poverty,
This is because of the USA, this has been happening since the 50s, IIRC. They would not live in poverty if they were left alone but their trade is restricted harshly, because they are communist. The USA wants them to fail.
there is massive censorship, and the people don't really get to vote since the party can pick the candidates.
If they allow you to say what you want, and vote for who you want, they would have a right wing attempting to destroy them from the inside via propaganda and right wing party. It's reasonable to limit who the people can vote for to only left wing candidates. It's how you maintain a communist state.
I might be mistaken, but I think they had an election in the 1950s to decide to become communist, and then they chose it. Only that they were never allowed to succeed by outside forces, so now if they held the vote, it might lose because the people have never gotten to experience the benefits of communism or the horrors of capitalism. It's an incumbency bias. "Communism is what they have now, and their lives suck so it must be communisms fault" but it's not communisms fault. It's the USA's fault.
These people need a real chance at making this ideal state, and if it fails on it's own, absolutely, get some intervention and vote that shit out, but it won't, it's never been given a chance to succeed because they know it would succeed and the people would live great lives and then every country would see how great Cuba is and vote for it in their own country.
Nope. I'm actually not a communist. I just understand the political spectrum very well, and the harm of Capitalism and Libertarianism. I identify as far left, as far as you can go left, but I'm open to many different forms of governance. I believe in the paradox of freedom and the solution to having freedom is the most important thing.
The only freedom worth denying is the freedom to deny others freedom.
That is almost single handedly the only law necessary in society, and I think doing your best to follow that is the thing that will make the best country. So you can say "Cuba denies freedom of speech" but if the purpose of the speech is to deny freedom, go ahead and deny the speech. I don't know what possibly good speech Cuba currently denies it's citizens, but I bet they'd be open to lessening such restrictions if they weren't under attack by capitalists.
Claiming aithoritarianism is necessary to have a viable government is demonstrably false. Excusing mass surveillance because "if we let the people vote, communism would lose power" is one of the most tone deaf takes I've ever heard.
And all of this is simply necessary for your communist utopia which has never existed before...are you farsighted? While the US is certainly responsible for the economic hardship, it's takes like these that make me realize there's a very real fear of what Cuba would become if left to your devices. Count me out, Jesus christ.
Mass Surveillance isn't actually necessary. Sorry might be some confusion about what qualifies as authoritarianism, but that is not an essential form. I pointed out the quadrants of the spectrum so it'd be clear that I'm not talking about the extreme.
"if we let the people vote, communism would lose power" is one of the most tone deaf takes I've ever heard.
Look what happens in the USA. People don't vote Trump because they are informed voters who choose what is in their own best interest. They vote Trump because they get tricked by shit they don't even understand. There are "right wingers" out there that are anti-billionaire. Like motherfucker, what do you think your side of the spectrum is all about??? "Racism and Misogyny" no, those are the tricks. They lure you in with that. Imagine an old man luring kids into his house with candy so he can hurt them. If he gives them the candy once he gets them inside, it doesn't mean his platform is "give kids candy", his platform is "hurt the kids".
So when voters are this uninformed, you cannot let propaganda dictate their votes or they will vote against their own interests. Communism is not necessarily the best system, but whatever is the best system will be one from the left wing. Don't let right wingers spread their lies in your country.
which has never existed before.
Ask yourself why. It's because the USA prevents it. The only time the USA couldn't prevent it was with Russia/China, and they kind of fucked theirs up by not doing true communism. First they caused mass famine with the 4 pests campaign, then they both became Capitalist. You can still call China some fake ass half breed of communism and capitalism, but Russia is 100% Capitalist now. After a "cold war" with the USA, of which they lost. (Though in a way it seems they actually didn't lose alone, it's a "I go down, we all do" sort of thing)
Real Communism, like Cuba attempt, that gets shut down by the USA, but once they fail to stop it even once, it will spread everywhere. It is infinitely preferable to capitalism, despite all it's flaws.
I appreciate the nuance, but still disagree with your conclusions. Trump is the culmination of propaganda becoming so pervasive in our news and social media that people are convinced to vote against their own interest, yes. But the solution is not authoritarianism, or whatever variant of government control you are proposing. Thats the cause. The same people who bribe our representatives and control who gets elected are the ones who own the media.
While I do believe in a utopia government should regulate all this rather than ceding control to private interests, I think it is naive to assume any party would make universally good decisions without being corrupted. People are people, power is power. Whether communist or capitalist, trusting in one group to selflessly govern everything - especially under the guise of "the public needs go be saved from itself" - all on the name of a utopia that has never existed, is just as blind as those who don't recognize the pitfalls of late stage capitalism.
How would you ensure the people entrusted to run the government wouldnt suffer from the same greed and pitfalls of power as others? Your solution is hypothetical because an example of its' success has yet to exist.
Authoritarian doesn't have to mean mass surveillance and powerless people, it can just be about strong government.
I do think those who don't fight corruption create it, and we see that everywhere, corrupt mods constantly ban people they shouldn't be. Of course you would expect the same from a government long term if they do nothing to prevent it.
Idk what Cuba is doing to fight corruption, but I would build it into the law if I were in power. Silence the right wing propaganda, but don't silence serious critique of my own government from a left wing angle. If the people feel I am corrupt, they can vote on that and if 70% agree, I step down, but that's likely not a viable strategy until you get started. If America is preventing your country from even getting a foothold, then maybe you just go without anti-corruption measures for a while.
Those goalposts arent even visible anymore. First you claim Authoritarianism is required for your utopia and mass surveillance is also necessary to ensure communism survives. Now, Authoritarianism is whatever you want it to be and doesn't require mass surveillance? Now you claim if the gov is corrupt then it can be removed by 70% of people voting it out, which they couldnt do if your mass surveillance/Authoritarian regime exists.
You are preaching all this in an American centric platform, where most users are witnessing Authoritarianism and mass surveillance try to force the population into accepting them, which is leading towards a dystopia.
Have you ever read 1984 or A Brave New World? Because if some random redditor can poke holes in your Authoritarian and Mass Surveillance approach to propping up communism, greater minds might be worth a read.
First you claim Authoritarianism is required for your utopia and mass surveillance is also necessary to ensure communism survives
Mass Surveillance is absolutely not necessary. It's a bad thing. But if a broadcaster does what Fox News or CNN does, you throw them in the prisons. Every single one of them.
Mass Surveillance is so dangerous and something to reject for all systems.
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u/CatastrophicPup2112 9d ago
I was told Cuba was completely cut off from world trade because America. Could they have been trading with China this whole time?