The U.N. and the Cuban Revolution

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Once again the United Nations is showing itself to But the government of Cuba made two mistakes be a tool of the imperialist powersprimarily of the The first mistake was to view the motions before The U.N. Security Council's vote on Aug. 24 au- the Security Council as a means of defending the thorizing the use of "minimum force" to halt all oil right of the Kuwaiti people to self-determination. to and from Iraq provides the U.S. government with They were not. These motions were intended to show the cover it has been looking for to go on the mili- a united world opinion backing armed U.S. imperialList intervention to suppress the right of the Arab people to self-determination-and that's how they have The instrumental role in getting this resolution approved was played by the Soviet Union. The U.N. vote came only after Soviet President Mikhail The second mistake was to look at Kuwait as just Many other semi-colonial country. It isn't. It is a fake Gorbachev, lining up fully behind U.s. imperialism, threatened "additional international actions" against "country"-in reality nothing more than a big oil with this stance how commited he is to collaborate Cuba should have cast its votes in that framework, and denounced these motions for what they were. with the U.S. warmakers in promoting worldwide Unfortunately, Cuba's votes may well come back to In contrast to the Gorbachev leadership of the Soviet Communist Party, the Soviet leadership in Castro states, correctly, in the same letter that these U.N. motions were "just a pretext for the United Lenin's time, when the Soviet government was still States. They are seeking to legitimatize armed interrevolutionary, denounced the then-existing League of vention in the name of the international community. Nations as a "den of thieves" and refused to join and lend prestige to this club dominated by the imperialist Castro also warns in his speech of a major catastrophe and holocaust in the Middle East "caused by In this regard the revolutionary government of the growing and speedy preparations for a direct miliCuba made an important mistake in voting in the tary intervention by the United States and its allies. Security Council to condemn Iraq's invasion of and No less alarming is the evidence pointing to the steps annexation of Kuwait-and, later, in abstaining on aimed at the creation, for the same interventionist motions to embargo Iraq and to enforce it by military purpose, of a multinational force whose composition reveals a new correlation of forces on a world scale In explaining Cuba's vote against the annexation of Kuwait, in a letter to the leaders of the Arab countries Castro was fully justified in warning against the reprinted in the Aug. 13 Granma Weekly Review, use of a multinational force to provide a fig leaf for U.S. intervention against the Arab masses. But then "Not without pain and bitterness did we take that why did Cuba abstain-rather than vote against-the necessary and just step in line with our principled U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized policy concerning the inadmissibility of resorting to "United Nations" military action against Iraqi ships? force and military superiority to solve the contradic- Cuba is undoubtedly coming under pressure from tions among countries, more so when involved here the Soviet Union, its erstwhile "ally," to line up beis a fratricidal confrontation between Third World hind United Nations "peace-keeping solutions" to the U.S. war in the Middle East. But such a road is a dead Given the unstinting aggression against Cuba for 30 years by the United States, we agree with and un- The Arab masses-like the oppressed majority in derstand Cuba's fear of giving the imperialists any ar- Latin America and throughout the world—are the best gument that might be used for future justification for allies of the Cuban Revolution. It is to them that aggression against Cuba. We also agree with the Castro should offer his total solidarity in the fight principle that revolution cannot be exported by bayo- against imperialism-and it is to them he should nets. The oppressed Third World nations should stick look for support in the struggle to defend the Cuban 18 SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1990 United States-against an oppressed people.

tary offensive against Iraq and the Arab people. counterrevolutionary military action. powers.

action.

Fidel Castro stated: peoples." together against imperialism. here. been used.

company.

haunt it. end. We are now facing such a disaster." against the interests of the Arab peoples." Revolution against the U.S. warmongers. to business. I've just read an estimate that in 1980 corporations paid about 50 percent of revenues in taxes, and today about 38 percent.

Basically, I expect this offer from the governor: Since there's not enough money, there can only be a moderate salary increase this year, and further increases can only be funded if costs are contained; i.e., student-teacher ratios are raised.

Steven Johnson, Williamson, W.Va.

Class line

Dear editor, You should devote more space to strikes and other labor issues and less to abortion, the environment, etc. Stick to the hard class line!

D.B., New York, N.Y.

Censorship

Dear editor, The article on women in Poland [Socialist Action, July 1990] was highly interesting and informative, but I must take issue with the position on pornography set forth therein.

In the first place, the widespread appearance of "Playboy-style calendars" is mentioned as setback for women. In my personal opinion, this view is questionable at best. While many women do find such "objectifying" material offensive, many other women do not, and the scientific evidence overwhelmingly contradicts the notion that it promotes sexist violence.

Even more serious is including the fact that "pornography was legally banned" among gains for women under the postwar regime. Anti-pornography laws are not gains, but attacks on everyone's civil liberties, especially women, who most often work in porn.

This apparent deviation from the Dear editor, I am a retired member of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen. The April-May issue of the union journal gives thanks to Bricklayers and the AFL-CIO for helping to defeat the Sandinistas in the February elections.

When the Sandinista government came to power, Ronald Reagan appointed John T. Joyce, president of the Bricklayers, to his board along with Oliver North and the rest of the crew to destroy the Nicaraguan government.

Let's not blame Reagan and Bush alone for the state of the union movement. It's time for labor to wake up. We started to wake up in 1936 under John L. Lewis. We can do it again.

Joe Stack, San Francisco, Calif Healthcare Dear editor, The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW) and the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) have formed an alliance around the effort to secure national healthcare. The goal is to educate workers, as well as the general public, of the need to address our healthcare crisis with a national program modeled after the Canadian healthcare system.

The United States has the world's most technologically advanced and expensive healthcare system. Yet we are the only developed country other than South Africa that fails to guarantee all citizens access to medical care.

Close to 38 million Americans have no health coverage at all. Another 40 million have inadequate coverage, and 7 million are said to be "uninsurable." It takes guts to reform the system, but the result will be worth the effort.

Denis J. Staphano, Financial Secretary, OCAW Local 8-234, Linwood, Pa.