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| Wednesday, 21 January 2004 |
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'Humanity at a cross-roads' Extracts of speech given by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba at the Karl Marx Theatre on January 3, 2004 for the 45th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
Many of us who had the privilege of witnessing that exciting day are still alive; many others are deceased. On January 1, 1959 the overwhelming majority of those here tonight were less than 10 years old or had not been born or there were still many years to go before they would be born. It was never our purpose to attain individual or collective glory, honours or recognition. However those of us who today have a legitimate right to call ourselves Cuban revolutionaries found ourselves obliged to write what has turned out to be an unprecedented page in the annals of history. Unhappy with the social and political situation in our country, we simply resolved to change it. This was not something new in Cuba; it had happened many times for almost a century. We believed in the rights of the peoples, including the right to independence and to rise up against tyranny. It was from the exercise of such rights in this hemisphere, conquered by European powers by fire and the sword, mass slaughter of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of millions of Africans, that a group of independent nations emerged, one of which was the United States of America. When on July 26, 1953 the Cuban revolution fought its first battle against an illegal, corrupt and bloody regime, 8 years had not yet gone by since the end of World War II unleashed by fascism in 1939, which took the lives of more than 50 million people and brought about the destruction of the economies of all the then industrialised countries, with the exception of the United States, which was out of reach of enemy bombs and guns. The fascist ideas that were the cause of that colossal conflict were in total contradiction with the principles proclaimed by the 13 former British colonies in America on July 4, 1776 in their Declaration of Independence, which literally read: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (...) That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." The French Declaration of the Rights of Man, which resulted from the 1789 French Revolution, carried this point even further when it proclaimed: "When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties". The fascist ideas also clashed head on with the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter after the gigantic battle that was World War II. Among the principles the Charter proclaimed to be essential pre-requisites of a world political order are respect for the rights of the people to sovereignty and independence. Actually, the rights of the peoples have never been respected throughout humanity's brief known history, so full of wars of conquest, empires and an infinite variety of forms of plunder and of ways for human beings to exploit other human beings. Nevertheless, at that historic point in time and despite the reality that the victorious powers imposed a world political order with privileges for a minuscule group of the most powerful states that became ever more irritating, many nations, institutions and people were hopeful that a new and promising stage for humanity was beginning. More than 100 nations or groups of nations, including human groups that still lacked a national identity, were formally recognised as independent States. It was a time that greatly favoured illusions and deception. The big difference between the age of the Greeks and our age lies not in the intellectual capacity of our species but in the exponential and seemingly infinite development of science and technology that has taken place in the last 150 years, and which completely eclipses the negligible and ridiculous political capacity we have shown for facing up to the risk of perishing as a species, a risk which really is threatening humanity. Less than 60 years ago, when the first nuclear device equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT exploded over Hiroshima, it became clear that technology had created a tool which, if developed, could bring about the obliteration of human life on this planet. From that day on the development of such new weapons and weapon systems, hundreds of times more powerful, varied and accurate has not ceased, not for one day. Today, there are tens of thousands of them. Actually, very few have been destroyed under deceptive and limited covenants. A small group of countries that have a monopoly over such weapons have taken upon themselves the exclusive right to produce and improve them. Meanwhile the contradictions and interests of its members change and humanity develops under a web of nuclear weapons that threaten its very existence. Someone could say something similar to what that Persian emperor said as he and his huge army closed in on the 300 Spartans defending the pass at Thermopile: "Our nuclear weapons shall hide the sun". The lives of the billions of human beings who inhabit this planet depend on what a few think, believe and decide. The worst of its all is that those who wield such great power do not have psychiatrists to look after them. We cannot just accept this. We have the right to denounce it, to exercise pressure and demand changes and an end to such an absurd, unheard of situation, which makes hostages of us all. No one should ever have such powers or else no one on this earth will be able to talk of civilisation again. There is another lethal problem as well: nearly 40 years ago some people began to voice their concerns over what has come to be called the environment, because a barbarous civilisation was destroying the natural conditions for life. This extremely sensitive issue was then put on the table for the first time. Quite a few people thought it was just some alarmists exaggerating, a kind of neo-Malthusianism, like in previous centuries. They were, in fact, well-informed and intelligent people who took to building a public awareness on this issue, at times worried sick that it was too late to take useful measures. Regrettably, those who due to their great political responsibilities should have shown greater concern, showed only ignorance and disregard. More than ten years have passed since the UN-convened Rio De Janeiro Summit and despite the usual proliferation of speeches, pledges and promises, very little has been done. Nevertheless, there is a growing awareness of the mortal danger. And the struggle must grow and will grow. There is no option. Recently, a conference was held in Havana on desertification and climate change, which was also convened by the UN. It was an important effort to inform, raise awareness and call people to join the struggle. In Rio De Janeiro, I was a witness to the deep concerns and fear of representatives from small islands in the Pacific and from other countries threatened by the risk of being either partially or totally submerged by the seas because of climate change. This is sad. The first to suffer the consequences of environmental damage are the poor. They do not have cars, or air conditioners; it is possible they do not even have furniture, if they have houses, that is. The effects of huge emissions of carbon dioxide causing atmospheric warming and the destructive effects of the Ultra Vilelt Rays that pass through the damaged Ozone Layer filter have a greater impact on them. When they fall ill, it is common knowledge that there are no hospitals, doctors or medicines for them or their relatives. A third problem: according to the most conservative estimates possible, world population took no less than 50,000 years to reach one billion. This happened around 1,800, just as the 19th century was beginning. It reached two billion 130 years later, in 1930. It reached 3 billion in 1960, thirty years later; 4 billion in 1974, fourteen years later; 5 billion in 1987, thirteen years later; 6 billion in 1999 only 12 years later. Today, it stands at 6.3 billion. It is really amazing that in just 204 years world population increased by 6.4 times from the figure of one billion reached in 1800, after no less than 50 thousand years, calculated in a relatively arbitrary and conservative way so as to have a point of reference, but that should be further analysed. It could have taken many more years, if we limit ourselves only to the time it took to reach its current capacity. At what rate is it growing now? 1999: Population 6,002 millions; growth 77 millions. What will the world population be in the year 2050? The lowest estimates say it will be 7,409 millions; the highest say 10,633 millions. According to many experts, there will be around 9 billion in habitants. The enormous alarm generated by this colossal demographic explosion plus the accelerated degradation of the natural conditions needed for our species' survival have caused people to react with true dismay in many countries, since almost one hundred per cent of the growth I mentioned will take place in Third World countries. Aware of the growing deterioration and reduction of land and water resources of the famines in many countries of the indifference and wastage in consumer societies and the educational and health problems facing the world population, one could imagine that if all of these problems are not solved our human society might become one where its members devour each other. It would be a good idea to ask the Olympic champions of human rights in the West if they have ever used a single minute to reflect on these realities, which to a very large degree are the result of the current economic and social system. It would be worth asking them how they feel about a system that, instead of educating the masses as a fundamental element for making progress in the search for urgently needed, viable solutions, with the support of science, technology and culture, spends one trillion dollars every year on alienating consumerist advertising. With the money spent in just one of those years to spread this peculiar poison, all the illiterate and semi-illiterate people in the world could be taught to read and write and even reach ninth grade in less than ten years and no poor child would have to go without schooling. Without education and other social services, crime and drug abuse can never be reduced or eradicated. This we proclaim from Cuba, a country blockaded for 45 years, accused and condemned more than a few times in Geneva by the Untied States and their closest allies but which is about to provide health, education and cultural development services the like of which the developed and rich West has never even dreamed of and, what is more, these are absolutely free for all citizens, with no exceptions whatsoever. The neoliberal globalisation imposed on the world, designed to facilitate greater looting of the planet's natural resources, has, in the wake of the fateful "Washington Consensus" led most of the countries in the Third World, and especially those in Latin America, into a desperate and unsustainable situation. The first fruit of this disastrous policy was the "lost decade" of the 80s during which economic growth in the region only reached 1%; it rose to 2.7% between 1990 and 1998, much lower than false hopes and pressing needs, to drop again to 1% between 1998 and 2004. The foreign debt, which in 1985, the year of that treacherous "consensus", was $ 300 billion, today stands at more than $ 750 billion. Privatisation wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars worth of national assets that took many years to create but which evaporated with the speed at which capitals feel from those countries to Europe and the Untied States. Unemployment reached record heights. Of every 100 new jobs created, 82 are in the so-called "informal sector" which includes a long list of those who earn their living any way they can without any kind of social or legal protection. Poverty has grown alarmingly, especially extreme poverty; it has grown by 12.8% involving 44% of the population. Development is stagnant and social services are deteriorating by the day. Neoliberal globalisation, as was to be expected, caused a veritable disaster in these services, first and foremost health and education. If old and new forms of looting, such as unequal terms of trade, the unceasing, forced flight of capital, the brian drain, protectionism, subsidies and the WTO's edicts are added to this, then no one should be surprised by the crises and other developments in South America. Latin America is the world region where neoliberal globalisation was applied most rigorously and excitingly. Now it is facing the challenge of the FTAA which will sweep away national industries and turn the MERCOSUR and the Andean Pact into appendages of the US economy: it is a last assault on the economic development, the unity and the independence of the Latin American peoples. But, even if this attempt at annexation is successful, this economic order will still be unsustainable, both for the Latin American peoples and for the people in the Untied States whose jobs are threatened by plentiful cheap labour recruited by the maculas from among those who were prevented by the existing poverty, educational disaster and unemployment from getting properly trained. Cheap, unskilled labour is something that the Latin American oligarchies can offer on a grand scale.A summary of all that I have said shows my profound conviction that our species, and with it each one of our peoples, are at a turning point in their history: the course of events must change or else our species shall not servive. There is no other planet we can move to. There is no atmosphere, no air and now water on Mars, neither is there any transportation for us to emigrate there en masse. Either we save this what we have, or many millions of years will have to go by before another intelligent species arises that can start all over again the adventure we have gone through. Pope John Paul II has already explained that the theory of evolution is not irreconcilable with the creation doctrine. |
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