They did it. They really did it. (Cuba Delegation Reflections: Part 0)

Originally published on Jordan’s WordPress blog

Cuba and the Camera Man

There’s this documentary on Netflix called “Cuba and the Cameraman”. I’ve watched it so many times and I cry uncontrollably throughout the entire movie every time. It’s not that the film is particularly made to be sad. I imagine other people do not react like this. But I first watched it while in the throes of radicalization – a key moment in the development of my politics. 

Before I ever read theory, I learned about revolutions. Their history. Their triumphs. Slave colonies slaughtering and driving out their masters and creating an entirely new society. Huge undefeatable monster structures of domination being toppled by so many Davids with slingshots. The Soviet Union building mass housing for workers. Haiti training a Peoples Army while the masters slept and fought amongst themselves. 

Revolution Is Loving 

Cuba is special. Their revolution did all the things, but one thing they didn’t do is kill the bourgeoisie. Not like China, where the peasants offed their landlords in mass in a righteous rage. Not like the USSR who eliminated the entire family of the worst exploiters. To be clear – I’m not saying that capitalists don’t absolutely deserve the worst. The point is – this shines a light on the core value of communism – a society built on love and community. It’s not “authoritarianism” or “totalitarian” which are meaningless words developed by the Cold War. It is inherently opposed to a punishment-based system. 

The word “communism” is constructed to mean a system (“ism”) of community (“commune”). Cuba gave the worst oppressors the opportunity to join in community, and in any case, maintained their right to self-determination. If they were committed to a system of exploitation, they were free to leave. They even lined up free one-way boats for them to sail away to a different life of their own choosing. 

It was a compassionate revolution. A revolution built on love. 

I cry through the documentary every time to the point where I’m sort of blacking out in the middle. I can’t even tell you everything that happens in it, only that a few photographers visit Cuba many times over a period of years and document the changes in the lives of the people. The thought that always runs through my mind is: “They did it. They really did it.” And then…how devastating it is to have that project being crushed by embargoes and sanctions. How unspeakably cruel sanctions really are. 

People in the United States are largely blind to what it means to be cut off from world trade or how sanctions starve children. What does it feel like to have the economy you’re a part of strangled within an inch of its life? This observation of privileged blindness includes me. I live in the empire and have never been outside of it. 

I’m Not Naive  

Typically, if I’m discussing Cuba, I will paint it in the most positive light possible. This is not because I don’t know the other side. This is because the negatives are so magnified, so blown out of proportion, and dressed in blatant lies by the Western press and politicians that pointing to the hardships or contradictions isn’t helpful anymore. Countering them is helpful. Highlighting the liberatory accomplishments is helpful. Cuba does truly show us in real time that housing for all is possible. Universal healthcare makes sense. Higher education benefits society more than billionaires acquiring a 17th yacht. 

Not only does it show these things are possible, Cuba has maintained these revolutionary feats under impossible odds. 

THEIR ODDS ARE IMPOSSIBLE. 

They shouldn’t have been able to succeed. They shouldn’t have been able to eliminate covid 19 while the rest of the world could trade vaccines. They shouldn’t be able to feed people as a basic right – treating rice and beans like a sidewalk or firefighter.

But they did.

There aren’t any homeless Cubans. 

Every Cuban citizen goes to college – debt free. 

The country’s main export is doctors. 

On Hope

Karl Marx’s method of observing the world, which is being applied by Cuba, shows us that a better world is not only possible, it’s inevitable. 

Capitalism cannot be sustained any longer.

Yes, it means a fascist state will rise up to defend what’s left of this system. The billionaire class and their lackeys will thrash and writhe, directing genocide at whatever undefended group can be scapegoated (see: trans and queer people). But it is because they are dying. 

And from the ashes of this capitalist hellscape, a phoenix blazing with solidarity will rise in its place. Its flames burn bright with our love for each other. It cannot be separated from the planet and its interconnected ecosystems. It soars above social constructs that were used to divide and conquer. The phoenix is here with us, now. Each breath from abolitionists and two-spirit peoples and mutual aid practitioners adds fuel as it burns hotter and brighter. 

Our revolution is near. Cuba exists. We exist. 

Viva la Revolucion!

Don’t let the bastards get you down.

“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.”

Che Guevara, 1965. Socialism and man in Cuba.