Cuba dictator Raul Castro and President Obama at the memorial
service
for the late Nelson Mandela: was their proximity planned - or
accidental?
U.S. and Cuba: Pragmatic Capital will Trump Rural Conservatives (O
Globo, Brazil)
"The handshake between Barack Obama and Raúl
Castro was more than simple formality. The Ceremonials Division of the Office
of the Chief of U.S. Protocol could simply have removed Obama from the Castro's
proximity. This is something they've always been good at. Why not this time?
... For such capitalists, communism in Cuba, as with China, is no hindrance
whatsoever. When it comes to increasing the benefits to capital, there is a clarity and
objectivity that egocentric philosophers and moralists fail to comprehend."
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and September
11, the world has changed more than conservatives imagine. If communism has been taught some
lessons, capitalism, too, has gone off the rails. Bill Clinton's
comment that "the U.S. has to live with the fact that things are no longer
what they were" affirms this fact.
Thus, at the memorial service for Nelson
Mandela, the handshake between Obama and Raúl Castro was
more than simple formality. The Ceremonials Division of the Office of the Chief of U.S. Protocol could simply have
removed Obama from Castro's proximity. That is something they've always
been good at. Why not this time?
Evidence that there was something else in the
air was the immediate reaction of U.S. conservatives - Republicans, especially
from the Midwest and Alaska - birthplaces of the Tea Party. The reaction brings
to light U.S. domestic differences, between the center of the country and the
east and west coasts. Even today, the regions feeds the polarization between
conservatives and liberals. Within the center are the core beliefs in
"simplicity" and "protecting values" that oppose
and are in permanent conflict with the "depravity" and
"permissiveness" of urban life, whether on the east in New York or
the west in Los Angeles or San Francisco. We might surmise that in light of
the "moral reservations" that reside within the central U.S., confronted
by September 11, a paradoxical feeling of both anger and jubilation emerged.
And it was from these same areas that much of
the "moral reservations" to the greeting of Obama and Castro emerged.
Obama's domestic struggle is likely a result of
the victory of Obamacare, which extends health care to
a significant segment of the population, a landmark that reflects the diminishing
hold of the neoliberal model. Yet evidently, neoliberalism
is more active than ever, and in a sense, paradoxically, the approach on the horizon
between Obama and Castro form part of such a model.
Cuba's
work force, with a reasonable level of education and health, has certainly generated
interest on the part of global capital and sectors of U.S. capital alike, which
are not as "pure" as their fellow citizens from the center! Moreover,
the arrival of capital, along with its technology, is of interest to the Cuban
government - as is job creation for its eager and well-trained youth. These
young people are intellectually capable of absorbing the scientific and
technological progress inherent in a wide variety of production processes. Furthermore,
many of these are in sectors of production on the east and west coasts, both predominantly
democratic. For such capitalists, communism in Cuba, as with China, is no hindrance
whatsoever.
When it comes to increasing the benefits to capital,
there is a clarity and objectivity that egocentric philosophers and moralists fail
to comprehend.
Perhaps that is why, in a recent statement, Raúl Castro said that any strengthening of ties is
possible, provided that both nations respect one another's unique needs and characteristics.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Incidentally, before we finish, it is
interesting to recall that in terms of development and expanding horizons,
Brazil is much more in line with the U.S. than Europe. Our country is also seen
as "morally conservative" and looks upon large metropolises as "dens
of debauchery." And here too, our conservatives search the interior for
ways to clear the air of such urban corruption - its ideas, and its conflicts!
And as in the United States, they, too, fly to Paris to
take a "dip into civilization." Clearly, though, similarities are not
identities.
