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I just finished reading your article on Fidel Castro.
I enjoy reading your articles, even though I very often disagree with your views. You often have a contrary standpoint to my own, but very often you write things that make me think, and there have been occasions where I have conceded points due to your arguments. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with the your article on Castro.
You say that Cubans are “Proud that the island nation never buckled under the pressure of the biggest superpower right across the sea from them; proud that it went its own way regardless of international isolation and economic ruin.”
Then you go on to say that you find that very attractive. Isn’t that just a little reminiscent of apartheid? “proud that it went its own way regardless of international isolation and economic ruin.” Huh?
What you are then saying, is that you condone a ruler that promised democracy before he came to power, then once he gained that power, promptly did a 180 degree turnaround, outlawed opposition parties, established forced labour camps for anyone that dared say anything against him?
He had his crony, the despicable Che Guevara, who murdered a lot of people who just looked like they wanted to oppose their totalitarian police state.
Che: “A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.”
Of course the people of Cuba are proud of the abject poverty they live in, and “love” Fidel Castro. It’s either that or death. What would you choose? Shades of Mugabe, Mr Du Preez? Zimbabwe also has a high literacy rate. And of course we can all see how the high literacy rate, coupled with massive human rights abuses has benefited Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is, of course, the poster boy of the success of the dictatorial rule, or maybe not?
Castro ran one of the best propaganda campaigns ever.
Castro: "Propaganda is vital—the heart of our struggle. We can never abandon propaganda…use a lot of sleight of hand and smiles with everybody. We must follow the same tactic we employed in our trial; defend our points of view without raising hackles. There will be plenty of time later to crush all the cockroaches."
This way of referring to their enemies was used to de-humanise anyone opposing them, and if used often enough, would remove any qualms of conscience from their operatives, making it much easier to murder people, as they were just insects to be crushed underfoot.
They got the world to believe that they fought a guerrilla action to depose Batista. What they really did was to bribe the army of Batista to surrender. How else could a guerrilla force of two to three hundred men and women defeat a standing army of over 20 000?
Castro was the architect behind the Cuban missile crisis. He brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction. He didn’t care about the millions of people that would have died.
So Mr Du Preez, what I gather from your support of Castro, is that it’s ok to suppress millions of people, murder thousands, create millions of refugees, and remove any form of bettering yourself, unless you agree to become part of the small group that lives in the lap of luxury, as long as you are prepared to turn a blind eye to the suffering imposed on anyone else who has aspirations of bettering themselves, being thrown in jail, tortured, and even murdered.
I cannot believe that people, and especially an educated, well-travelled, and well-read person that 'lived through an oppressive system', such as yourself, Mr Du Preez, can in any way shape or form, find anything good in what Castro did and stood for.
You, Mr Du Preez, a journalist that (hopefully) would believe in freedom of expression and speech could support anybody that brutally and ruthlessly suppressed that very freedom in his own country and people. And then my last little rant, to turn it into a race thing?
Tut tut Mr Du Preez, tut tut.
