[Peace-discuss] Denying History: Cuba in the German Liberal Press

[E. W. Johnson]

history favours the intrepid.  - Ruz.

On 02/24/2015 03:11 AM, David Johnson via Peace-discuss wrote:
>
> *Denying History: Cuba in the German Liberal Press*
>
> By: Florian Zollmann <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/staff/fzollmann>
>
> Description: Hundreds of thousands turned out to listen to President 
> Raul Castro
>
> *Hundreds of thousands turned out to listen to President Raul Castro's 
> messaged on the 55th anniversary of the Cuban revolt. | Photo: Reuters*
>
> Published 21 February 2015
>
> 0
>
> Description: Coments
>
> The U.S.-Cuban negotiations were extensively discussed in the liberal 
> German press. A closer reading of the news indicated a slant in coverage.
>
> On 17 December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President 
> Raul Castro announced “normalization” of U.S.-Cuban relations. As a 
> first step of rapprochement, an agreement between both countries 
> included the release of political prisoners. It was also announced 
> that at a later point in time restrictions on trade, travel and 
> exchange were going to be eased. Obama was also considering to discuss 
> in Congress as to whether the embargo imposed on Cuba in 1962 should 
> be dissolved. Already in 1961, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had 
> terminated diplomatic relations with Cuba in reaction to the Cuban 
> Revolution.
>
> The U.S.-Cuban negotiations were extensively discussed in the liberal 
> German press. A closer reading of the news indicated a slant in 
> coverage: Cuba was depicted as a terror state and a nefarious actor. 
> The USA, on the other hand, was described as a benign actor with noble 
> aims such as to bring democracy and reforms to Cuba.
>
> This was suggested by the following exemplary quotes: The /Süddeutsche 
> Zeitung /argued that the Cuban regime was “undemocratic” and “conducts 
> human rights violations.” (Süddeutsche.de, 17 December 2014) The 
> /Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung /referred to Obama who had asked “his 
> Foreign Secretary John Kerry to assess Cuba’s status as a ‘terror 
> don’.” (FAZ.NET, 17. December 2014) /Die Welt /highlighted how 
> “Washington seeks a new way: trade, tourism and (…) unprecedented 
> communication freedoms are assumed to encourage reforms” in Cuba 
> (Welt.de, 18. Dezember 2014). The /Frankfurter Rundschau 
> /contextualized Cuba and terrorism: “Since 1982, the island is on 
> Washington’s list of states which, in the eyes of the USA, support 
> terrorist activities.” (FR-Online.de, 20. Dezember 2014).
>
> *Terrorism*
>
> Since the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959 and the 
> disposal of U.S.-supported Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, numerous 
> Cuban exiles have settled in the state of Florida. To a significant 
> extend, Cuban exiles constitute political refugees who seek to 
> establish an alternative political and economic system in Cuba.
>
> The USA has been supporting Cuban exile groups with political and 
> financial means. In fact, the CIA has aided exiles in conducting 
> subversive activities against the Castro regime. Noam Chomsky argues 
> in his book /Hegemony or Survival 
> <http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1027/tomgram%253A__noam_chomsky_on__terrorizing_cuba/> 
> /that shortly after the Cuban Revolution in March 1959, the National 
> Security Council (NSC) “considered means to instigate regime change” 
> in Cuba. Already in May 1959 “the CIA began to arm guerrillas inside 
> Cuba,” Chomsky further writes, and in Winter, CIA-led Cuban exiles 
> conducted bombing raids. Chomsky describes such policies as 
> “international terrorist attacks against Cuba.” In /Hegemony or 
> Survival/, Chomsky further documents how similar policies had been 
> conducted by U.S. successor governments. For instance, Chomsky writes 
> the following about the government of U.S. President Richard Nixon: 
> “Terrorist activities continued under Nixon, peaking in the mid-1970s, 
> with attacks on fishing boats, embassies, and Cuban offices overseas, 
> and the bombing of a Cubana airliner, killing all seventy-three 
> passengers. These and subsequent terrorist operations were carried out 
> from US territory, though by then they were regarded as criminal acts 
> by the FBI.”
>
> The U.S.-American politician Bill van Auken wrote on the /World 
> Socialist Website 
> <http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/18/cuba-d18.html> /that the 
> USA has sponsored and protected Cuban exile terrorists” whose attacks 
> “have claimed thousands of lives.” To label Cuba as a terrorist state 
> would thus constitute “a grotesque inversion of the real relationship.”
>
> *Castro’s Idea*
>
> Such views are hardly disseminated by the German liberal press which 
> rather associates Cuba with terrorism. Press coverage demonizes Cuban 
> society and this framing serves U.S. interests. Who remembers that 
> before the Revolution, the Cuban people were subjugated by a US client 
> regime? U.S. historian Paul Street argues this in an article for 
> /ZNet/ 
> <https://zcomm.org/zcommentary/the-narrow-media-spectrum-on-us-cuban-relations/>: 
> “Mid-20th Century Cuba was a desperately impoverished island scarred 
> by savage economic inequality, military dictatorship, and related 
> scourges of racism, disease, and illiteracy all reinforced by U.S. 
> control in service to great U.S. business interests. The Batista era 
> (1952-1959) witnessed the nearly total domination of the Cuban economy 
> by U.S. corporations and the related political domination of the 
> island by Washington.“
>
> After the Revolution, the USA was concerned about Cuba’s independence, 
> which could have served as a model for other countries in the Latin 
> American hemisphere. This is evidenced by John F. Kennedy advisor 
> Arthur Schlesinger’s 
> <http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1027/tomgram%253A__noam_chomsky_on__terrorizing_cuba/>warning 
> <http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1027/tomgram%253A__noam_chomsky_on__terrorizing_cuba/>about 
> “the Castro idea of taking matters into one's own hands. “Schlesinger 
> wrote in a report for the Kennedy administration that “Castro’s idea” 
> could be particular effective in areas where “the distribution of land 
> and other forms of national wealth greatly favors the propertied 
> classes,” because in such regions, the poor could be “stimulated by 
> the example of the Cuban revolution” and demand “opportunities for a 
> decent living.” Accordingly, it could be argued that the subversive 
> policies against Cuba and the economic sanctions were designed in 
> order to counter progressive developments in Cuba. This was so because 
> in practice, “Castro’s idea” included the nationalization of 
> industries at the expense of U.S. business interests. This critical 
> context has largely been ignored in the German press.
>
> But if we assess the current rapprochement between Cuba and the USA, 
> the historical background and its implications need to be considered. 
> U.S. interests in Latin America have not changed. As Paul Craig 
> Roberts 
> <http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/12/19/regime-change-cuba-paul-craig-roberts/> 
> comments: “Normalization of relations with Cuba is not the result of a 
> diplomatic breakthrough or a change of heart on the part of 
> Washington.” In fact, Roberts further argues: “Normalization is a 
> result of U.S. corporations seeking profit opportunities in Cuba.” 
> Together with “normalization,” foreign currency and a U.S. embassy 
> will settle in Cuba. This has the broader goal of taking over Cuba’s 
> political and economic affairs: “In short, normalization of relations 
> means regime change in Cuba.”
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20150224/8b19a013/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 88116 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20150224/8b19a013/attachment-0001.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/png
Size: 584 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20150224/8b19a013/attachment-0001.png>