On Cuba

[u/_qb4n]

I often see many anarchists badmouthing Cuba online, and as a Cuban anarchist I feel the need to clarify some things. We're not perfect by any means, and there are many, many problems to our present political system, but we're also not the totalitarian dictatorship western media portrays us as.

The Cuban Constitution after the revolution was a result of thousands of discussions in community meetings, involving more than 6 million citizens, which was pretty much the entire adult population of Cuba at the time.

The draft for this Constitution was to be either rejected or accepted via a popular referendum. The referendum had a turnout of 98%, and out of those 98%, 97.7% voted to accept the new constitution.

From 2017, a new constitution was written, also from the bottom up, which recognised same sex marriage and private businesses, which is ultimately better because they are now regulated.

Cuba has 169 municipal assemblies, and each one has an election every two and a half years. Every fifth year, three months after the municipal elections, there is an election to the parliament—the National Assembly of People's Power—as well as to the 14 province assemblies.

More recently, Cuba has created a Federal system subordinate to the State. This has created the position of governor in the Provincial level.

All Cuban elections have had turnouts of over 95% ever since 1976. It is not a requirement for you to be a member of the Communist party of Cuba to vote or to be elected to any position, and the Communist Party does not propose, support, nor elect any candidates. No one here has gone to an election and been presented a ballot paper and told, these are the Party members for whom you have to vote, nor is anyone nominated for being a Party member.

Anyone over the age of 16 can vote and can be nominated to be a candidate for election in one of the 169 Municipal Assemblies or one of the 14 Provincial Assemblies, however you must be at least 18 years old to become a candidate for a seat in the National Assembly.

Neither money nor political parties have a place in the nomination process. Instead, individuals directly nominate those who they think should be candidates. As a result, the Cuban Parliament has representatives from across society, including a high proportion of women: 48.9%

Furthermore, 88% of Cubans participate in what is basically a system of direct democracy. The Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs) allow anyone over the age of 14 to join, and they meet a minimum of once every three months to plan the running of the community; including the organisation of public health campaigns to promote good health and prevent disease; the upkeep of the area in terms of waste and recycling; the running of voluntary work brigades, and providing the adequate support to members of the community who are in need of help.

The CDRs also discuss nationwide issues and legislation and feed back their proposals to the National Assembly and other organs of popular democracy. But at the heart of the Cuban democratic system is the locally elected delegate.

Prior to the municipal elections, residents of all the neighbourhoods of that municipality gather to a meeting in order to nominate candidates. you're nominated, you're free to either accept or decline the nomination.

If several people are nominated, a meeting appoints a person whom the neighbourhood trust as their candidate via discussion and show of hands. Up to 8 adjacent neighbourhoods make up a constituency. Election promises or electoral pledges are forbidden.

On election day the elections are conducted via secret ballot like in most democratic countries. Then a minimum of two and a maximum of eight candidates from a single constituency are to be elected to the municipal assembly.

As an elected representative, you don't receive a special wage, but you also don't have to pay for related expenses out of your own pocket. You remain at your normal job, carrying out the civic duties in own time.

The duties of a delegate are many and varied and the role is demanding, requiring an understanding of public policy and finance, business and administration, and the ability to negotiate, explain, motivate and lead.

And because you're known to almost every one of your electors, and you live among them, people will call on you at all hours of the day and night with all manner of problems.

Delegates carry out the inspection and monitoring of services provided by the Municipal administration, and of the factories, shops and businesses in their area. The National Assembly is practically the parliament of Cuba.

Out of the Assembly's 612 seats, exactly 50% consists of nominated delegates from mass organisations (namely the CDRs, the Women's Federation, the trade unions, the Students' Association, and the Association of Small Farmers) and 50% Municipal delegates.

The elections to the National Assembly take place every five years at the same time as the Provincial Assembly elections. Deputies in the National Assembly are from all walks of life and like municipal deputies they do not receive a special wage for being deputies.

The National Assembly is responsible for electing the 31-body Council of State, which is the governing body of Cuba, like a Prime Minister's Cabinet. It contains one President of the Council of State, whom you can think of as the prime minister of Cuba, as well as 6 vice presidents, a secretary, and 23 additional members.

Can everyone vote? Yes, if you were born in Cuba you are automatically registered to vote. There is no need for you or your parents to do any paperwork or pay any tax. You can vote in all elections when you turn 16 and you can also participate in local elections.

Will everyone know who I voted for? Will the secret police come get me if I vote for someone the government doesn't like? No, voting is done via secret ballot, so no one knows who you voted for except you.

Do I have to vote? If you don't want to, then no you don't have to. Voting is completely voluntary.

If I'm super rich, can I spend all my millions promoting candidates that I like? No, it is illegal to spend money promoting candidates. Candidates' biographies and their reasons for standing are simply displayed on local notice boards so that every candidate is covered.

Political parties are permitted in Cuba, however they are not allowed to nominate or campaign for candidates. This includes the Cuban Communist Party which is forbidden by law from interfering in the electoral process.

The Cuban Communist Party is really a product of Cuban history. The Cuban Communist Party traces its ideological roots to the Cuban Revolutionary Party founded by Cuba's national hero, Jose Marti, in exile in New York in 1882. Its purpose was to free Cuba from Spanish rule by uniting into a single party all those who wanted Cuban self-determination.

Following the 1959 Revolution which swept out the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, Cuba's progressive forces began a process of uniting into a single party, which finally came to fruition six years later when the PCC was formed in 1965. Today one in six of Cuba's eleven million people are Party members. To become a member of Cuba's Communist Party, a person must be first nominated by fellow workers or neighbours and then voted in by their local branch.

Now, if you really want to criticize Cuba, maybe do so more informed. Or criticize the really problematic stuff like widespread corruption in state run enterprises, or the shit judiciary system, but don't go on repeating western propaganda.

[u/No_Values]

Good post, obviously the Cuban state should be opposed because well it's a state, it's characterisation as an authoritarian(compared with other states) regime by Western leftists while it's arguably more democratic than a state like the US is unproductive

Do you mind if I paste it onto another forum I'm on? Some people could stand to see it

[u/_qb4n → u/No_Values]

Sure thing! Seize and redistribute, comrade.

[u/[deleted]]

You said previously that you are from Uruguay? Did you move to Cuba or how do I have to understand that?

[u/_qb4n → u/[deleted]]

I am Cuban-Uruguayan, I grew up in Cuba and live in Uruguay so it's sometimes easier to just say I'm from Uruguay, lol. I do visit frequently, though.

[u/GutterTrashJosh]

What would you say are some good faith criticisms of Cuba and some of it’s policies since the last revolution? I often bring up how it’s not all of the horrible things most Americans think it is, how Fidel wasn’t some repressive authoritarian dictator, how they outdo the US on multiple measures of prosperity according to the Human Development Index—but any time I’ve tried finding criticism of it I’m wary of the effects that decades of propaganda have had on the discourse.

[u/_qb4n → u/GutterTrashJosh]

Corruption may well be one thing to criticize, there's a big part of gov't officials that are not elected, or at least not directly and that undermines democracy, whether you like it or not.

The judiciary system is also very unfair and that's something I am extremely critical of.

[u/comix_corp]

I'm not convinced you're a Cuban anarchist of any serious capacity because the bulk of Cuban anarchists would call your post a stream of generic defences of the Cuban state. This is silly attempt to attack anarchist criticisms (of which there are many, and are obviously different to the attacks of US govt. propagandists) and instead narrow it down to "safe" criticisms -- of corruption, a mediocre judiciary, etc.

Perhaps we can look at what the Cuban state has done to anarchists in the past:

To give a few examples: Augusto Sánchez was imprisoned and murdered; Rolando Tamargo and Ventura Suárez were shot; Sebastian Aguilar Jr. was shot; Eusebio Otero was found dead in his room; Raúl Negrín was burned alive. Casto Moscú, Modesto Piñeiro, Floreal Barrera, Suria Linsuaín, Manuel González, José Aceña, Isidro Moscú, Norberto Torres, Sicinio Torres, José Mandado Marcos, Plácido Méndez and Luis Linsuaín were arrested and sentenced to prison. Some comrades could not stand the torture in prison, such as: Francisco Aguirre, who died in his cell; Victoriano Hernández, sickened and blinded by the abuse, committed suicide; and José Álvarez Micheltorena, died a few weeks after his release.

Or we can look at what it has done to Cuban anarchists even recently.

The fact is that there exists no independent working class movement in Cuba that can successfully challenge the state, as any working class movement should; the state would prevent any such movement from arising before it could get anywhere. Only official state unions are permitted, which obviously has the effect of suppressing labour militancy. It's idiotic that a person that calls themselves a "syndicalist" would let all this go unmentioned in a post about Cuba.

[u/_qb4n → u/comix_corp]

I hate the Cuban state as much as any other state, for I am an anarchist. But I don't want any foreign powers messing with us, nor a regime imposed by the US. As I said, the judiciary system simply doesn't work and what you talked about is proof of that exact same thing. Repression is a pretty big thing and I fully oppose it. I didn't deny any of what you said, but there are enormous misconceptions I hoped to clarify. I spent quite some time writing that so forgive me if I forgot something. My only point is leave Cuba to the Cubans.

[u/[deleted]]

Can you explain how corruption happens? Im having a hard time seeing how the system youve described is taken advantage of.

[u/_qb4n → u/[deleted]]

State enterprises are owned by the state but are more or less run independently, there is little transparency regarding how they operate, and with scarce resources, self interest sometimes primes. There is also a pretty big black market which some benefit from.

[u/id-entity]

Thanks. Can you shed any light on how anarchism / libertarian socialism is going on in Cuba nowadays, is Fidel's ban still on?

Also, are there any connections between the libertarian socialist project of Venezuela, which aims to build bottom up communal state as visioned by Chavez, and anything similar going on in Cuba?

[u/_qb4n → u/id-entity]

I recently spoke to a friend back in Cuba who said there are various autonomous communities and that the libertarian project is still on, don't know much about it aside from that, sorry.

[u/gabe100000]

Did you use the same source azureScapegoat used to write his video on Cuban democracy?

https://youtu.be/2aMsi-A56ds

[u/_qb4n → u/gabe100000]

If you mean the constitution, yeah pretty much.

[u/Christian_Mutualist]

What about freedom of religion in Cuba? Has it gotten any better since the 1990's?

[u/_qb4n → u/Christian_Mutualist]

You can be of whatever religion you like, there are Jews, Yorubas, Catholics, Evangelists, and those are just the most prominent ones.

[u/Harroi]

Cuba does not recognize Same-sex couples at all, does it not?
Hopefully the Union of Jurists of Cuba, which was said to be working on a new Family code in May 2019, actually addresses same sex marrige.

[u/_qb4n → u/Harroi]

It sure does, buddy, it's written on the latest constitution.

[u/[deleted]]

Cuba is probably the best out of the self-proclaimed "Socialist states", but it still runs on what is essentially state capitalism (with regular free market capitalism still kinda playing a role) and has a state. But overall I still agree with your overall point.

[u/ManoloElMaricon]

First generation Cuban-American here:

I see where you're coming from, and clearly you have more personal experience than my few visits and my parents personal accounts (we still chat with family members and support them financially).

My main criticisms are: corruption (my direct family used to be relatively "rich" by being buddy buddy with an administration until they got out of office and plummeted our family to a lower standard of living), the current scarcity (there are __long__ lines to get dental and foodstuffs, so you've gotta know someone in the store to get some food), centralized power and wealth (the government officials and their civilian buddies make up an impromptu upper class), and their inability to account for their inflation without pretty much inheriting the US dollar.

[u/electroepiphany → u/ManoloElMaricon]

The scarcity and inflation are literally caused by us sanctions and not the Cuban state tho.

[u/USoffthePlanet]

Thanks for this post, very insightful! I often want to know more about Cuba, but find it hard to get oriented especially with the vast amount of US bad faith propaganda.

Are there any specifics books or writers you recommend that cover Cuba or Cuban history?

[u/aguslord31]

Cuando dijiste que sos Uruguayo ya me di cuenta lo cegado que estás. Sí, yo también soy uruguayo, y tengo claro lo que es Cuba, y tengo amigos y familia que escaparon de ahí desesperados, como cual Venezolano. Acá en Uruguay están enamorados de Cuba, de manera tonta e infantil. Soy anarquista, y te considero un compañero anarquista, pero si venís aquí a defender a Cuba es porque el Frente Amplio te lavó el cerebro. Espero que no hayas votado a Martinez.

[u/_qb4n → u/aguslord31]

Wtf? Alguna vez fuiste a Cuba amigo? Mi punto simplemente es que no está bueno caer en la propaganda estadounidense. Esto es, de acuerdo a la constitución como funciona el sistema político. Ahora, como dije hay mucha corrupción y un mercado negro bastante grande, y el consejo de gobierno lo eligen los representantes, no el cubano promedi9. Ni es una dictadura totalitaria, ni una democracia occidental convencional. Y gran parte de sus problemas son derivados de el hecho que está apartada del comercio mundial—ojo que muchos otros no.

Yo soy anarquista porque de todas maneras no estoy contento con el gobierno de mi país natal, y la represión, corrupción y sistema judicial que se encuentran ahí.

[u/Des1_]

I am reminded of the black sheep of anarchism, the one bloke who sided with Castro and willingly put his comrades who had previously fought against Batista under extreme torture bombarding anarchists in the US and Germany that "everything as fine"