FIDEL REFELECTION: "THE POWERLESS POWERS"

[magbana]

(Here Fidel takes up the defense of immigrant workers and of the
emerging economic powerhouses of the Third World, such as China
and Brazil. They are under attack by the xenophobic forces who's
racist campaigns aim to divert public attention from capitalism
and its contradictions by scapegoating the immigrant workers.

(Fidel also takes up the attacks on civil liberties and the new
U.S. legislation legalizing government spying against the people
of the United States. Given the relentless attacks to which Cuba
is subjected on so-called "human rights" ground, Fidel's latest
reflections add an indispensable corrective

(As this kind of commentary shows, Fidel Castro is a tribune for
the peopleS and nations of the world. These ideas should be given
the widest possible circulation everywhere, in my opinion.)
===============================================================
From Walter Lippmann's Cuba News list - comments above are from
Walter.

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

THE POWERLESS POWERS

It is a serious subject.

The Summit meeting of the leaders of the eight most highly
industrialized powers on the planet took place on July 7 to 9 at a
mountain retreat on the banks of the Toyako, a lake formed inside the
volcanic crater located in the north of the island of Hokkaido, on
the northern reaches of the Japanese archipelago. It would be hard to
choose a site more removed and distant from the madding crowd than
this.

At approximately 98 miles from there, 21 thousand Japanese police
agents, furnished with impressive shields and helmets, were guarding
the urban centre of Sapporo, ready to neutralize any protests. Yet,
another 20 thousand were patrolling the streets of Tokyo itself, the
capital of Japan.

In alphabetical order, the G-8 members are: Canada, France, Germany,
Great Britain, Italy, Russia and the United States. The leaders of
these nations live beset by problems that include those inherited
from the past and the growing tendency of the United States towards
political, economic, technological and military dominion. All of them
are becoming weighed down by a cluster of pressing national and
international problems, all requiring urgent solutions.

They invited the so-called Group of the G-5 to their meeting in
Toyako: Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa; the aim was to
listen to them over breakfast.

Also invited to exchange ideas for an hour were another three
countries with emerging economies: Australia, South Korea and
Indonesia.

The world’s population, according to estimates, reached 6,709 million
inhabitants on July 11, 2008 and over 65% of it lives in the
abovementioned developing nations.

During the three days, there were all kinds of multilateral and
bilateral meetings. The developing countries who had been invited to
the meeting held parallel meetings in Hokkaido where they spoke
frankly and with no reservations.

In the Summit’s final declaration, the industrialized powers of the
G-8 proclaimed that a great concession had been obtained: the United
States, and with it all the rest of the group’s powers, had pledged
to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions being called for by the year
2050; in 42 years! In other words: when hell freezes over. None of
the other critical problems that had given rise to such an odd summit
had been resolved.

“…they failed to reach an agreement with emerging countries about how
to respond to climate change.”

“The 16 largest economies pledged to carry out massive cut-backs in
greenhouse-gas emissions even though emerging countries reiterated
their demands for funds and technology from the most powerful
countries."

“President Hu Jintao denied accusations that the food crisis was due
to the economic growth of some of the developing countries."

“Lula suggested that FAO attributed the global rise in food prices to
speculative maneuvers with raw materials.”

“The World Fund for Nature described the behavior of the wealthy G-8
nations as pathetic; it accused them of dodging their
responsibilities in the fight on climate change.”

“Agricultural subsidies were today the main point of friction during
the G-8 and G-5 meeting.”

“European Central Bank officials stated that they continued to be
concerned about inflation in spite of the rise in interest rates.”

“‘It is a complete failure, they have not advanced and they have
avoided adopting clear objectives for reductions of medium-range
greenhouse-gas emissions,' indicated Greenpeace, an important
international organization committed to the defense of the
environment.”

“‘Russia is extremely annoyed over Washington and Prague signing an
agreement on Tuesday for a space shield,’ said President Medvedev in
Japan.”

“Russian military experts reacted with indignation to the signing
of an agreement between the United States and Prague for the
installation of an anti-missile shield and they demanded tough
reprisal measures.”

On July 10, complaints about the consequences of the current chaos
continued to reach Cuba, whether directly or indirectly tied in with
the Summit in Japan.

“Coral is also suffering stress due to factors such as climate change
and pollution; these have resulted in one-third of these reef
constructors to be in danger of extinction. Coral reefs, whose
construction requires millions of years, are the habitat for more
than 25 percent of all marine species.”

That same day, unrelated to the other news item, the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released the following news
item: “Temperature variations due to climate change will have a
strong impact on fishing and aquaculture, with important consequences
for the food security of some populations. It was explained that
aquatic foods have a higher nutritional capability and contribute to
20 percent or more of the average per capita consumption of animal
protein for 2,800 million people, fundamentally in developing
countries.”

On that day, severe criticisms also emanated from the African
continent:

“The European Immigration Pact is beginning to arouse indignation in
Africa; Senegal asked that a reaction is due, in the face of what
some describe as a 'wall' being built by Europe to keep off the
desperate peoples of the South”, declared the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of that nation at the close of a reunion of experts in Dakar.

And El País newspaper from Burkina Fasso, published:

“In order to hold back the horde of desperate people who generally
arrive from the South to besiege its borders, Europe has found
nothing better than to raise up a wall.

“The building of new walls is an anachronism in this era of
globalization…”

The shower of complaints goes on. While Prime Minister Gordon Brown
of Great Britain was still in Japan, a study made by the British BBC
network informed of low morale in the British Armed Forces.

“According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Defense of the
United Kingdom, almost one-half of this country’s military personnel
are ready to leave the Armed Forces.

“Forty seven percent of those surveyed in the Royal Army and Royal
Navy and 44 % of those in the Royal Air Force said that they felt
like retiring from the Armed Forces.

“Among some of the concerns expressed…are the frequent deployments
abroad, the pay and the living conditions.

“The regular army already suffers from a deficit of some five
thousand soldiers while there is the concern that experienced young
officers and non-commissioned officers are deserting in unprecedented
numbers.

“On the matter of morale in the different branches, 59 percent of
those interviewed in the Army said that the level was “poor” or “very
poor”: 64 percent of the Royal Navy, 38 percent of the Royal Marines
and 72 percent of the Royal Air Force."

Something which offends personal sensitivity, in any social system,
is the lack of respect for privacy. In the past, for example, there
were laws protecting correspondence. Later this protection was
extended to telephone communications, a more rapid and instantaneous
form of communication. The United States law banned telephone
surveillance without legal warrants. Violation of this would result
in lawsuits which, in that country, totaled substantial amounts of
money.

Last July 9, while Bush was meeting with his G-8 colleagues and
the United States government –despite its genocides– wanted to be
considered a champion of human rights, the United States Senate
passed, 68 in favor to 28 against, “a law that modernizes the U.S.
Spy Bill and grants immunity to telecommunications companies
collaborating with the government…”

The fight on terror is the ubiquitous excuse, and phone surveillance
had been going on for years without any sort of permission. “Now it
is easier to protect U.S. citizens”, declared Bush, speaking from the
White House Rose Garden.

“The initiative authorizes eavesdropping without legal warrants being
used by United States networks, whether U.S. citizens or foreigners”.

The previous 1978 law “did not include new communications technology
such as cell phones, the Internet and e-mail”.

Since the vast majority of communications are picked up by the
U.S., “the measure passed protects communications companies from
multi-million-dollar lawsuits by persons alleging violation of the
right to privacy”.

The law is being applied retroactively. “The American Civil Liberties
Union described the law as ‘unconstitutional' and as ‘an attack on
civil liberties and the right to privacy’.”

News coming from Sweden reported: “The center-right alliance of
Prime Minister Frederick Reinfeldt has rejected the proposal of the
Social Democratic Party to review the law allowing the Defense Radio
Department (FRA) to access all telephone conversations and the flow
of information by cable both from and to the country.

“What is being called the FRA Law, also baptized the Orwell Law after
the 1984 book by that British author, has been strongly criticized by
big business in an open letter published in the Dagens Nyheter,
Sweden’s main newspaper.

“The government justified passage of the law, approved last June 19,
to improve the fight on terrorist threats.”

Another Swedish paper, the Svenska Dagbladet, yesterday reported that
“one of the main reasons for the law is, of course, the control of
information coming from Russia and to use it in the negotiations of
exchanges with other countries, since already about 80 percent of
Russian foreign communication flow by cable goes through Sweden.

“The regulation will enter into effect on January 1, 2009. Thousands
of people demonstrated a few days ago in Stockholm and Malmö against
the FRA Law and there are already plans for similar mobilizations
throughout the country in the next few weeks, expressed through
several ‘blogs’ and Facebook social network groups.”

Complaints are pouring in everywhere. For example, a cable states:
“The Germans are more pessimistic about their economic outlook than
at any other time since reunification in 1990, due to the rise in
prices, according to a poll.”

Others report:

* “Unemployment rate in Canada rose 6.2 percent in June.” * “Russian
government rejects the proposal presented by Condoleezza Rice for
international mediation to resolve the conflicts in the separatist
regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, resulting in growing tension
between Moscow and Georgia.” * “Two NATO soldiers died and another
was wounded on Thursday in a bombing attack in eastern Afghanistan,
announced the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).” *
Russia states that Iranian testing of a new long-range missile
confirms that Moscow is right to describe the emplacement of the U.S.
anti-missile shield in Europe as unnecessary.” * “The Israeli Army
offers assurances that accusations of alleged Israeli fighter jets
training in Iraq for a possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities
are unsubstantiated.” * “Great Britain expressed disappointment in
the veto imposed by Russia and China in the UN Security Council to
the Draft Resolution intended to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.” *
“Sudan today summoned the ambassadors of the five Permanent Member
countries of the UN Security Council to demand an explanation about a
possible warrant for the arrest of President Al Bachir.” * “A new
‘special bomb’ is the main threat for American soldiers in Iraq,
according to U.S. General Jeffery Hammons." * “The bodies of two
American soldiers who disappeared in Iraq more than a year ago have
been found.”

These are all dated July 11. In these lines one could add dozens of
similar news items that were printed on the same day. On Saturdays,
information diminishes; Sundays, there is hardly any news, the
journalists are resting. Today is Monday.

In our world of today, every day there are new and ever-more thorny
problems rising up and they drain the abilities of the heads of state
and governments who are called upon to deal with them.

This is not a criticism: it is an observation. It cannot be expected
of human beings to have supernatural abilities.

Optimism will always be the best option. There is no other
alternative. That's the reason why I once spoke about a species in
danger of becoming extinct.

Fidel Castro Ruz

July 14, 2008.

2:24 p.m.