Winnipeg Gathering Celebrates the Victories of the Cuban Revolution

On May 7 under the banner of Cuba, Si!, the Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee organized an evening of entertainment and political discussion to celebrate the victories of the Cuban revolution and the 44 years of resistance of the Cuban people against U.S. imperialism.

Presentations of music, singing and poetry reading were followed by a panel discussion on the current situation in Cuba. Dr. Ahmod Randeree began the discussion with a presentation on the successes of the Cuban health care system. He pointed out that Cuba's health care system, unlike Canada's, is focused on keeping people healthy rather than merely treating them after they become ill. Cuba's emphasis on preventive medicine means that the entire society is drawn into organizing and participating in the health care system. Cuba also boasts the highest ratio of doctors to citizens in the world, with one doctor to 170 people. Dr. Randeree compared this figure to Manitoba where the ratio is approximately one to 1000 in the city of Winnipeg and much higher in the rural areas. He also pointed to the fact that the infant mortality rate in Cuba is as low or lower than that in all of the G7 countries as evidence that the Cuban health care system is effective.

Ken Kalturnyk discussed the state of human rights in Cuba, with particular emphasis on the so-called "independent journalists" who were convicted last year of being paid agents of the U.S. government. He pointed out that the U.S. defines human rights in terms of the right to own private property and multi-party elections, neither of which has anything to do with real human rights. He showed that in terms of real human rights - the right to food, shelter and clothing, the right to proper health care and education, the right to conscience and the right to personal security, especially from the state - Cuba has a far better human rights record than the United States, which has become one of the greatest violators of human rights, both at home and abroad.

History professor Henry Heller spoke on the political system in Cuba, comparing it to the political system in Canada and the United States. He stressed that democracy cannot be reduced to a matter of voting in elections, but must include such things as participation in running the economy and making decisions about all of those things which have an impact on our lives. He pointed out that historically multi-party elections have not been synonymous with democracy and that, in the case of Cuba, a multi-party system was instrumental in maintaining Cuba's subordination to the United States. He stated that Cuba's system of participatory democracy was far superior to Canada's system of representative democracy in terms of providing ordinary citizens with a meaningful degree of control over their own lives.

The panel discussion was followed by an hour of questions and answers, as well as informal discussion.