Red Ken Livingstone, London’s Mayor, plans to pull out the stops in 2009 to celebrate 50 years of communist paradise in Cuba. Make your travel arrangements now.
Speaking at a recent public meeting at Central Hall, Westminster, Mr Livingstone said: “We’ve got the backing of the Cuban government for a massive festival to celebrate 50 years of justice in Cuba.”
According to human rights organisations, Cuba is one of two countries in the Americas (the other being Haiti) where political freedom is completely curtailed. The British Government singles out Cuba as one of only two Latin American states which is of “major human rights concern”.
There are 33 countries in the Americas. The bi-partisan US foundation, Freedom House, classifies 22 of them as “free”, nine as “partly free”, and two, Cuba and Haiti, as “not free.
Political parties, other than the Communist Party, are prohibited in Cuba, as are free trade unions. Freedom of expression is banned and, according toAmnesty International, there are 70 prisoners of conscience.
There is no press freedom and Cuban citizens are not allowed to travel freely – they are also affected by a US economic blockade.
Severe racism against Cuba’s black minority is reported by human rights monitors.
Mr Livingstone said: “The Cuban revolution of 1959 was an extraordinary event not just for Cuba but for the region as a whole and I have never concealed my support for this fact.
“There is no reason why Cuba should be singled out for controversy except for people coming at international issues from a very Right-wing perspective.”
What? You were looking for commentary? I’m sure Fausta will have something up, later. Fausta’s post is up.
RELATED: Chavez to shut down opposition TV
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he will not renew the licence for the country’s second largest TV channel which he says expires in March 2007.
In an address to troops, Mr Chavez said he would not tolerate media outlets working towards a coup against him.Radio Caracas Television, which is aligned with the opposition, supported a strike against Mr Chavez in 2003.
But the TV’s head said there must be some mistake as its licence was not up for renewal in the near future.
Thanks, Jimmy; you’ve done it again!
In the case of Chavez, do we only like democracy when the candidate agrees with us? The people of Venezuela seem to be pretty sure who they want to be their President.
Democracy seems to be a problem in many Third World countries, where the electorate votes for silly men (Chavez, Maliki, Achamainjubhabi, the Hamas guys, etc), and I hardly see how that’s Jimmy’s fault.
Don’t get me wrong, I think elections are part of Universal Human Rights (like free speech or habeus cropus) and, as such, voting is the right of each person in a proper society. But, surely we’re not the first to note that sometimes the collective will of the people is a bad choice.
You can’t blame Herbert Hoover on Jimmy, any more than you can balme Chavez on Jimmy saying “that was a so-so fair election.”
At least that’s my opinion. Then again, I like and respect post 1980 Jimmy Carter, his humanatarian work, and his attempts to spread goodwill and peace internationally, so my opinion is not probably not reflected of PW posters at large
I think that Jimmy is stupid in his choices of regimes to which to lend support and legitimacy. I think that he’s morally obtuse, and that he has known about this for a long time. I think that Chavez’s turn in this direction was utterly previsible. I think that the man is a pompous, narcissistic dolt, who cannot understand how mercy can only exist where there is justice. But that’s just me.
I think Jimmy Carter is the architect of self-loathing america.
I remember the collective sigh of relief when a certain Californian was elected president and the huge failure that was Jimmy Carter went away.
He sucked as a president. And he couldn’t or can’t stay away. I don’t remember him being such a glutton for the limelight during his presidency. But maybe he’s taken lessons from observing Clinton’s behavior… or, rather, inability to shut the f*** up.
I find him gross and a good candidate, therefore, for UN Sec General. There he can talk, postulate, and theorize all day long, attend parties where the rest of the busy-bodied intellectual elite agree, come to consensus, talk some more, resolve to talk a bit more, and never really come to any course of action beyond reconvening to talk about stuff some more.
Yuck.
Apparently putting the money quote in red type wasn’t obvious enough, maybe if we bold it:
Chavez to shut down opposition TV
You think a lack of free speech and press might have something to do with the poor decision making? And I know and work with some expat Venezuelans who would disagree with your assessment of Chavez popularity, they have probably just been watching the wrong TV channels I guess.
Not with socialists in charge, they won’t.
So. Timmy. Just what the fuck color is the sky on your planet?
I’m sorry about Red Ken. It would be nice to think that he would be sacked for maladministration if he spent so much as one penny of taxpayers’ money puffing his murdering ideological hero, a man who gives piles a bad name.
But he will probably get away with it as our Press appears to have a bit of a blind spot where Stalinists are concerned.
So you’re saying, Timmy, that the people of Venezuela approve of thugs who want to climb to absolute power over the corpses of their opponents?
Good to know that, when Caracas is treated like Dresden or Tokyo, the Petulant Left won’t be whining about innocents being killed, but will smugly proclaim that the fascist pigs had it coming.
No, it isn’t just you, Dan.
Mind you, this Head of the UN scam is one I hadn’t considered before. Maybe RedKen would like to go along as Chief of Staff.
We would want to move it out of New York though and put it somewhere nearer the task in hand. Gaza would be ideal.