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Learning About a Very Healthy Revolution

15/10/08

While its usual home is in Gleann Colm Cille in county Donegal, Belfast had the honour of hosting this year’s Camp Havana between October 3 and 5.

The annual event aims to bring the issue of Cuba and its revolution more directly to the people of Ireland. While there was much dancing, music and history throughout the weekend, the principal theme of this year’s event was an appreciation of the Cuban healthcare system. In this regard, Saturday afternoon saw An Chultúrlann on west Belfast’s Falls Road host a talk on various aspects related to healthcare in Cuba.

Around 50 people braved heavy rain and made their way to hear the Cuban ambassador to Ireland Noel Carrillo, the surgeon Dr David Hickey, and éirígí’s Daithí Mac an Mhaistír all speak in what was a very informative and inspiring session.

First up, there was a screening of Roberto Chile’s short documentary Let There be Light. This beautiful piece about the sight restoration programme called Operation Milagro (Operation Miracle) was truly moving and a resounding testament to the righteousness of the Cuban approach to social rights. Restoring the gift of sight to many, many thousands of poor people across the Americas is indeed a Cuban gift to humanity.

Dr Hickey gave a presentation about the impact on the Cuban population of the Cuban model of healthcare. He outlined the remarkable advances made in the profession of medicine since the triumph of the Revolution. Cuba’s very honourable position in world rankings for health outcome indicators was an example of what is possible with political will and struggle. Dr Hickey also spoke about the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana. This school is a model of medical training excellence and, with its many thousands of international student doctors, a truly revolutionary example of solidarity between nations. Dr Hickey also alluded to the very intriguing idea that a Medical School on the Havana model being set up in Europe with Cuban input was very seriously being looked into. Click below to see Dr Hickey’s talk.

éirígí’s Daithí Mac an Mhaistír spoke about the lessons that Cuba has to offer us here in Ireland. He forcefully asserted that it was political philosophy, practice and organisation of society in Cuba that made the advances in health outcomes the population possible. That this could be done in what is a “third world” country was a lesson that all revolutionaries needed to understand and extrapolate to their own situations.

He noted how “people are very familiar with the tremendous achievements of healthcare in Cuba. You have heard today about these too. What I think is very important to do however, is make sure we also reflect upon and understand the political processes that make these advances possible. It is all well and good to lionize Cuba, and solidarity is taken as 100% given. But the real moral of the Cuban story is that those of us who don’t live there need to set about bringing about those changes where we live.

“I am a political activist who is committed to brining about social revolution in Ireland. In the context of recent economic events and the seismic shocks to the capitalist system, the objective of social revolution doesn’t seem so distant a proposition. I have spent a lot of time in Cuba and am deeply interested in its revolutionary process. I’d like to talk a little, if I may be so bold, about the political lessons of the Cuban revolution – specifically in terms of the politics that makes such social advances as we see in that country possible.”

He continued, “in trying to learn the health lessons of Cuba such that we might be better equipped to bring about a similar improvements in our own country, it is very important that we locate healthcare in Cuba within its wider context of Cuban economic, social & political policy & practice. As is the case with other social phenomena, healthcare in Cuba can not be understood in isolation from its economic & political context; the Cuban approach to medicine and the idea of the medical practitioner as a servant of people and society is intimately bound up with, and reflective of, Cuban revolutionary political philosophy.”

He finished his contribution by quoting El Ché (“The life of a single human being is worth a million times more than all the property of the richest man on earth... Far more important than good remuneration is the pride of serving one’s neighbour. Much more definitive and much more lasting than all the gold that one can accumulate is the gratitude of a people”) and asserting that “the revolution has shown that the health of the people of Cuba matters more than the pursuit of gold. In today’s economically disastrous times, that proposition is coming to be seen by more and more people as the only logical and sustainable option facing humanity.” Click below to see Daithí’s talk.

Noel Carrillo updated people about the hurricane recovery operation that is underway in Cuba – where the population and economy has been very severely affected by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The ambassador gave a good overview of work being carried out to recover the country to its prior level of functioning and production. He outlined aspects of the co-coordinated response and advances being made in petrochemical fabrication of hurricane resistant houses etc. As is always the case in Cuba, response to natural disaster is very adequate, and professionally and competently carried out. Noel also spoke about the continuing crime of the US economic blockade that has been damaging Cuba for decades. Click below to see the ambassador’s talk.

The Cuba Support Group are to be commended for the work they do in Ireland on behalf of Cuba. Camp Havana is an excellent initiative and its continued success is very much hoped for.

Contact the Cuba Support Group at http://www.cubasupport.com/

Text of Daithí Mac an Mhaistír’s speech:

People are very familiar with the tremendous achievements of healthcare in Cuba. You have heard today about these too. What I think is very important to do however, is make sure we also reflect upon and understand the political processes that make these advances possible. It is all well and good to lionize Cuba, and solidarity is taken as 100% given. But the real moral of the Cuban story is that those of us who don’t live there need to set about bringing about those changes where we live.

I am a political activist who is committed to brining about social revolution in Ireland. In the context of recent economic events and the seismic shocks to the capitalist system, the objective of social revolution doesn’t seem so distant a proposition. I have spent a lot of time in Cuba and am deeply interested in its revolutionary process. I’d like to talk a little, if I may be so bold, about the political lessons of the Cuban revolution – specifically in terms of the politics that makes such social advances as we see in that country possible.

Roberto Chile’s documentary ‘Let there be light’, testifies to the undeniable fact, as the poster advertising this year’s Camp Havana proclaims, that Cuba is a ‘provider of Healthcare to the world’. Operation Milagro, or Operation Miracle as it is known in English, truly deserves its name. More and more people are having the miracle of sight restored to them. On August 20th 2005 alone, Cuba achieved what is almost certainly a world record - performing 1,648 eye operations at 20 hospitals in a single day. Where else on this planet might we see similar to this amazing and exemplary feat? Where else would you find the poor and ‘wretched of the earth’ attended to in such a fashion, for free?

The following list of countries in which Cuba provides assistance in the area of health is further confirmation, if such was needed, of the extent of Cuban internationalism and its status as a ‘provider of Healthcare to the world’.

In the Americas you have:
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago

Africa
South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Chad, Uganda, Zimbabwe, RASD, Algeria

Asia
Qatar , Yemen , Laos , Pakistan , East Timor , Indonesia

Europe
Italy , Switzerland , Ukraine

Source: Statistical Registers of the Central Medical Cooperation Units, 2005 Statistical Yearbook of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health

In trying to learn the health lessons of Cuba such that we might be better equipped to bring about a similar improvements in our own country, it is very important that we locate healthcare in Cuba within its wider context of Cuban economic, social & political policy & practice. As is the case with other social phenomena, healthcare in Cuba can not be understood in isolation from its economic & political context; the Cuban approach to medicine and the idea of the medical practitioner as a servant of people and society is intimately bound up with, and reflective of, Cuban revolutionary political philosophy.

Speaking at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the World Health Organization (WHO), Fidel Castro asked why, in a world where there is so much wealth, “do 12 million children under five years of age still die every year? Why are 200 million children under five years of age undernourished? Why do 250 million children and adolescents work? Why is it that 110 million do not attend primary school?”

Fidel asked these questions in 1998. Ten years later, would anyone really suggest that this situation has gotten better? Are we any nearer to the devoting more than 3% of the egregious amounts of money dedicated to obliterating life on actually making humankind healthier? Are there any less of these needless millions of deaths of children? Of undernourished children? Of child labourers? Of millions of children not receiving basic education?

Fidel was of course rhetorically posing these questions. He and the vanguard of the Cuban Revolution alike know the reason why these statistics stand as an indictment of the notion of ‘human progress’. The fact that the increasing immiseration of humanity continues apace, and in this last 10 years of ‘boom’ and exponential global economic growth no less, highlights the impossibility of human advancement under capitalism.

Cuba has managed to make healthcare in Cuba what it is because it has socialized medicine. Children in Cuba do not die from illness, disease & malnutrition because Cuba is socialist. Just as child labour and illiteracy don’t exist in Cuba because Cuba is socialist.

The US liberal think-tank the Council on Hemispheric Affairs has noted how:

“From the outset of the revolution, Fidel has made the health of the individual a metaphor for the health of the body politic. Therefore, he made the achievement of developed country health indicators a national priority. Rather than compare Cuban health indicators with those of other countries at a similar level of development, he began to compare them to those of the United States. This was particularly true for the infant mortality and life expectancy rates. Both are considered to be proxy indicators for socioeconomic development because they include a number of other indicators as inputs. Among the most important are sanitation, nutrition, medical services, education, housing, employment, equitable distribution of resources, and economic growth. It is, therefore, symbolically important for Cuba to compare favorably with the US in an effort to demonstrate what Fidel sees as the moral superiority of Cuba’s social development policies.”

This quotation very accurately identifies the central objective of the Revolution – that of the health of people. ‘Your health is your wealth’ as my mother would say.

In a world where the money spent in the US per annum on pet food & cosmetics alone would be enough to eradicate world hunger & illiteracy forever, a planned economy & socialized medicine are the only guarantee that one will enjoy good health. The disastrous state of the Irish health system is testament enough to this fact.

The senile decay of capitalism; its inability to develop the productive forces, its pathetic inability to use science for human good, and the fetter on economic & human development that this system is, demands that an alternative be found.

Cuba has always flown the flag in this regard. Cuba has been flying the flag of an alternative, better world for 50 years.

The beginnings of an alternative international system are taking root through ALBA. Cuba has been central to its foundation. The Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (or ALBA - which also means 'dawn' in Spanish) is an international cooperation organization based upon the idea of social, political, and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is advocated as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas proposed by the United States. Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia are members and have entered into a Peoples' Trade Agreement which aims to implement the principles of ALBA between those four nations. Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Ecuador, Dominica, & Honduras have all also joined or are in the process of joining.

Unlike neoliberal free trade agreements, the ALBA represents an attempt at regional economic integration that is based on a vision of social justice and mutual economic aid. It establishes trade upon fundamentally different lines to that of capitalism. ALBA on the contrary, is concerned with production to meet human need, exchange of goods & services to the mutual advantage of countries involved, and trade in social services, all underpinned by the idea of co-operation & solidarity between nations & peoples.

The Cuba-Venezuela Agreement, which was signed on December 14, 2004 by Presidents Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, was aimed at the exchange of medical resources and petroleum between both nations. Venezuela delivers about 96,000 barrels of oil per day from its state-owned petroleum operations to Cuba at very favorable prices and Cuba in exchange sent 20,000 state-employed medical staff and thousands of teachers to Venezuela's slums.

Operation Milagro is an integral part of this agreement. It and the ALBA model are an affirmation of the principle of socialist internationalist co-operation and a commitment to the future of humanity.

As El Ché recognised: “The life of a single human being is worth a million times more than all the property of the richest man on earth... Far more important than good remuneration is the pride of serving one's neighbor. Much more definitive and much more lasting than all the gold that one can accumulate is the gratitude of a people.”

The revolution has shown that the health of the people of Cuba matters more than the pursuit of gold. In today’s economically disastrous times, that proposition is coming to be seen by more and more people as the only logical and sustainable option facing humanity.

Go raibh maith agaibh.”

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