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Cubans Overwhelmingly Back Socialism
HAVANA -- A petition to declare Cuba's socialist system ``untouchable'' has been signed by nearly 95 percent of Cubans of voting age, officials said Sunday.
The signature campaign, running from Saturday morning through noon Tuesday, is being carried out at more than 120,000 stations around the country.
By the end of Saturday, 69.6 percent of Cubans age 16 or older had signed, ``passing all'' forecasts, Pedro Ross Leal, head of the Confederation of Cuban Workers, told state radio stations Sunday. The legal voting age here is 16.
Fidel Castro was the first to sign on Saturday and estimated that at least 7 million of Cuba's 11 million citizens would follow in support of the petition for a constitutional amendment declaring the nation's economic, political and social system will not be changed. That figure roughly matches the number of people of voting age.
By the end of Saturday, 69.6 percent of Cubans age 16 or older had signed, ``passing all'' forecasts, Pedro Ross Leal, head of the Confederation of Cuban Workers, told state radio stations Sunday. The legal voting age here is 16.
Fidel Castro was the first to sign on Saturday and estimated that at least 7 million of Cuba's 11 million citizens would follow in support of the petition for a constitutional amendment declaring the nation's economic, political and social system will not be changed. That figure roughly matches the number of people of voting age.
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Oh wait.
That was the USA.
Viva la revolucion!
Join the fight to turn Cuba into a drug cartel-controlled capitalist gangster island! Support the CIA terrorists!
No you mistake us for capitalist pigs. We just shoot them.
by Amnesty International
AI-index: AMR 25/002/2002 20/05/2002
CUBA - The situation of human rights in Cuba
II. Prisoners of conscience
As mentioned above, Amnesty International considers all those who have been imprisoned for their beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, colour or language to be prisoners of conscience, as long as they have not used or advocated violence, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
In Cuba, freedom of expression and association are restricted both in law and in practice. This affects, among others, 'independent' journalists and trade unionists -- those working outside the state media or official trade union. The following is a short list of some of the offences contained in the Cuban Penal Code which usually result in the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience. . . .
web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AMR250022002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\CUBA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cuba: Some improvements, but human rights violations continue
by Amnesty International
AI-index: AMR 25/006/2002 20/05/2002
Media Advisory
Cuba: Some improvements, but human rights violations continue
Amnesty International today released a report reviewing the human rights situation in the country, where a number of fundamental rights continue to be denied against the backdrop of the United States' economic embargo.
After the release of dissident Vladimiro Roca on 5 May, Amnesty International reports that there are currently six "prisoners of conscience" in Cuba, imprisoned solely for the non-violent expression of their beliefs.
"Although the number of 'prisoners of conscience' has decreased significantly from past years, dissidents are still being targeted both by state officials and government supporters," Amnesty International said.
The organization continues to record a shift from long term prison sentences to other forms of punishment and harassment including: short term detentions; interrogations; summonses; official warnings; threats; intimidation; eviction; loss of employment; restrictions on travel; house searches; house arrests; telephone bugging; and physical and verbal acts of abuse. . . .
web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AMR250062002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\CUBA
add your comments
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution
by Human Rights Watch • Monday June 17, 2002 at 09:41 PM
CUBA'S REPRESSIVE MACHINERY
Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution
Summary
Over the past forty years, Cuba has developed a highly effective machinery of repression. The denial of basic civil and political rights is written into Cuban law. In the name of legality, armed security forces, aided by state-controlled mass organizations, silence dissent with heavy prison terms, threats of prosecution, harassment, or exile. Cuba uses these tools to restrict severely the exercise of fundamental human rights of expression, association, and assembly. The conditions in Cuba's prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture. In recent years, Cuba has added new repressive laws and continued prosecuting nonviolent dissidents while shrugging off international appeals for reform and placating visiting dignitaries with occasional releases of political prisoners.
This report documents Cuba's failures to respect the civil and political rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as the international human rights and labor rights treaties it has ratified. It shows that neither Cuban law nor practice guarantees the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration. Cuba's obligation to respect the declaration arises from its incorporation into the United Nations Charter, rendering all member states, including Cuba, subject to its provisions. The UDHR is widely recognized as customary international law. It is a basic yardstick to measure any country's human rights performance. Unfortunately, Cuba does not measure up. . . .
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/
And the people we shot at werent even CIA agents ... they were just hard working people trying to democratically bring about change in their communities. We showed them!
Thank you for supporting the mafia drug-running illegitimate American government. Of course, what choice do you have? Ahahaha
Tell you what, why dont you go to Colombia and express your freedom of speech? And see how quick the US-trained, US-armed, US-supported death squads let you live.
Idiot.
I feel the same way about anarchists and liberals in the USA! Viva la revolucion (morons).
"Fidel" is a bloated dictator pig who probably doesn't want the embargo and his own travel restrictions lifted since then everyone would leave to go shopping in Miami (or probably Aruba, where they have Dutch-style universal health care, in case you trip and fall coming out of the jewelry store).
While the sanctions are a huge part of his country's problems, so is the Soviet style collectivism he has imposed, which turns people into passive zombies. He is almost entirely responsible for the catastrophe in agriculture since government owned mega-farms do nothing but breed corruption, food shortages, and bureaucracy.
Even the Cuban achievements in literacy are exaggerated, since Cuba was already a moderately literate society before Castro came to power. Only health care and education are exemplary counterweights to capitalism and they are not dependent on a bloated state repression apparatus.
This stuff about "we shoot people so who cares if he does" is vile and offensive.
Leninism is the socialism of drones.
"wow, i'm a wealthy, conservative republican c.e.o. i hate communism, but i sure like smoking these cuban cigars. i wonder what my money supports, if i hate it so much..."
what are we afraid of? kill 'em all, those dogs. why not be afraid of cuba, in a boogeyman sort of way? they're so powerful and evil and wealthy, right? ready to invade america at any moment. why not go down to miami, and shout through the streets that cuban communists are hiding in the palm trees. fuck diplomacy. fuck dialogue like the kind carter attempted, and got shit for support from the current administration. war! kill 'em all! those fuckers! they shouldn't be allowed to live! die! they've been a thorn in our side for decades. bomb the thorn away. for every problem, there's a new war...
you refuse to see living, breathing humans. all you see are categories, races and enemies. you're like the worst bureacracy. everything and everbody in little cubbyholes. easier to control that way...
hey, its your world after all. the right sits on the throne...
Of course I back socialism. My back aches in the sugar cane fields over socialism. My back aches in the tobacco fields over socialism. If I try to say anything negative about socialism, my back aches from the bamboo cane whipping. So, of course I back socialism. Every inch of my back has been socialized with something ever since that bastard Castro took...WHACK......OOOOOOOWWWWWWhttp://WWW....there goes my back again.
For that matter, why do any brutal regimes ever last? The answer is pretty obvious -- power is the reason. We just have to take that power away from them. Every so often it people get close to doing that. The question is, will this generation? And most people here will do their damnedest to make sure we do.
You and what army? You anarchist can't tie your shoes without instructions. How the hell you gonna push aside the powers that be?
If you and nessie are the pinnacle of thought in anarchy, we have nothing to fear.
Buenos Aires, Genoa, Quebec, Goteburg, Prague, Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Quito, Venezuela, Seville, London ... you notice the millions of people protesting and rioting in those cities? Maybe they will come to your town soon. Regardless, this is the mark of a birth of the "post-left" ... anarchists and libertarian communists who oppose neo-liberalism, inspired by the Chiapas uprisings throughout the 90s.
Just nod your head and keep drooling.
you wanna know what it is? why the right sits on the throne?
fear and guns.
fear of "different" people ("look at those punks..."), fear of homosexuals ("homosexuality is a choice. if you read the bible, you will become un-homosexual"), fear of cuba, fear of the marxist critique ("there's communists in them bushes over there. see 'em?"), fear of protesters, fear of minorites ("why can't you black people be more like white people?"), fear that you'll be shot randomly so better pack a gun at all times, fear of islam, judaism, buddhism... (j. ashcroft, "we have no king but Jesus"), fear of the left, fear of sex ("sexual desire is a crime against god")... fear.
people who live in fear buy guns.
you sit on the throne because you have the power and the guns. you own the military, the internal security apparatus, and the economy. you own it. you bought your power with your wealth, and you hold your power with your military. there's no conspiracy involved in that. but you don't lead. you rule. you're not intelligent. you're not special. you don't have winning arguments. all you got is wall street and B-2 bombers. these are very powerful. but the crucial distinction is that they're powerful enough to rule over people, but not to lead them.
Where are all you chickenshits when there's a protest going on? Why dont you come out and talk your racist ignorant bullshit? You should be rightly scared.
>It always tickles me when homos think we're afraid of them.<
and then...
>And now, the fags are after our children.<
... you sound irrationally afraid to me. do you know any gay people? or do you think you know gay people...
>some of the fears we have are readily justifiable. Look at the statistic on the ratio of blacks to whites in prison for violent crimes, Kruschev's we will bury you speech with Sputnik beeping over our heads,<
sputnik was nothing but a beeping satellite. it had no cameras. and that was 50 years ago! do you know any black people? or do you think you know black people...
after all that obvious fear, here is what you started with...
>Fear and guns? If we have the guns, what do WE
have to fear?<
you tell me stupid-fuck. you wanna live your life in fear, GO AHEAD. BURY YOURSELF IN YOUR FEAR. HAVE A NICE LIFE.
here's some stupid shit from johoe.
>They become Collaborators.<
? oh yeah? i thought the left was supposed to be irrationally concerned about conspiracies. if you see a leftie, be sure to call the f.b.i. and the c.i.a...
>They somehow feel safer believing in pure Evil
instead of fighting it.<
yeah you idiot. you keep talking out of your ass like that. you keep saying that to those that have been tear gassed and bludgeoned and arrested and sit in jail. all for what they believed.
be afraid. you like to be. it gives you an excuse for hate and guns and power. have a nice life idiots. and about the fact that the "left" has no functioning alternatives to capitalism YET, at least we're trying.
i can't beieve this! no, you don't know shit about me man. you're 100% wrong. how far down this rabbit hole are you gonna go...
>Do I know any blacks? Har! yeah, I own three that are plowing my fields right now. Idiot.<
you're proving my points man. even if it's sarcasm...
i read on another post you wrote that you got 2 kids and you're trying to make it work. i'll tell you that there's nothing wrong with that. good luck. teach your kids to respect themselves and other people.
the big probem: the "right" refuses to admit there's problems going on, and the "left" refuses to admit there's good things going on...
In a world that's so overcrowded, how could gayness possibly be an "abomination"? It's the relentless breeding (especially by white people in the First and Second World) that's a threat to the planet's harmony.
Also, there is nothing morally wrong with homosexualality, but there is in communism!
I deliberately said what I did because I knew that someone would take the bait. Congratulations!
Note that I said first AND second world; but, more precisely, current reproduction rates among first world whites are excessive because whites soak up far more resources than they require. Wealthy whites are not at zero population, contrary to what you say, but I wish they were; even zero population + 1 is too much.
Reproduction rates among, say, poor Africans are less troublesome because, in the absence of health care and gender equality in these countries, larger families are necessary to keep these peoples extant.
There is greater population density in Western Europe than in sub-Saharan Africa.
I've never said communism, especially the Leninist kind, is good. Check again. You must have me confused with some ISO zombie.
JoJo ain't no Maoist Motherfucker. JoJo ain't no literate motherfucker. JoJo ain't no witty motherfucker. JoJo ain't no intelligent motherfucker. JoJo ain't no insightful motherfucker. JoJo ain't shit, motherfucker.
JoJo: you my bitch, motherfucker. I love you, motherfucker. You da bomb, motherfucker. You my ho, motherfucker.
Ride my big 12 inch red tractor, motherfucker! Yeah, motherfucker!
I the Maoist Motherfucker!
by nessie • Thursday June 20, 2002 at 05:30 PM
That's not what the Bible says.
See: Acts 2: 44-45
So what are you saying here, that the Bible is wrong about some things?
This has been used once before. Time to shine the light on this one.
This scripture is not talking about communism. This was a special event for a special set of circumstances.
The Jews had come to Jerusalem for Passover and the feasts and celebrations that followed. These events lasted 50 days culminating in the Day of Pentecost. Those who traveled to Jerusalem, knowing how long they would be there, would bring only enough supplies to last them throughout the time of the feast, then they would return home. When those who heard the Apostles preach on the Day of Pentecost heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, they believed, and stayed around Jerusalem to learn more. Since they only brought enough supplies to last the 50 days of the feasts, it was necessary for those who were believers in Jerusalem to assist them with things like food, shelter, etc. Thus you have recorded vs 44-45, which say "And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need." They had all things in common because they had one Head, which was Christ. Helping their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ was more important than any possessions they owned. This is not a declaration of a form of government. You cannot find in the Bible where God ordaines any form of government here on earth to be the correct form of government.
God does not say any philosophy of government is moral or immoral. As always, it is those who are in control who make it moral or immoral.
This scripture should never be used in a political discussion for it does not hold any political properties.
Wouldn't it be great if these two troglodytes "came-out" right here and right now?
You two could move in together, play chess, contrive obtuse put-downs, and then, having whipped each other into a frenzy of excitement, "take turns" on the internet.
http://www.hollywoodsquares.com/whoswho/theregularsbio.asp?CelebID=52
Do you know what it means?
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/07/29/pope.cubans/index.html
The Toronto Globe and Mail, however, reports that the conference organizers are "disappointed" that the children are seeking freedom. "You know that's not why we held World Youth Day," Paul Kilbertus, the conference's communication director, tells the paper. "We wanted people to come for the right reasons. We were diligent as we could be when working with Canadian immigration officials--we're sorry that there are people who've used the opportunity to take part in a religious event as an excuse to get in the country."
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20020730/wwyd0730/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
Also defecting, according to Reuters: Alcibiades Hidalgo, formerly a deputy foreign minister and an aide to Raul Castro, Fidel's brother.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1264767