(From down under in Australia, a Trotskyist organization which is NOT anti-China as all other Trotskyist tendencies I'm aware of are. I've encouraged this tendency to sign up for CubaNews to share the viewpoints they hold with readers of this list. As someone with my own Trotskyist background, one of which I've personally quite proud of, it always interests me to see how others from the tradition of Trotskyism look at the world. Though I no longer consider myself a Trotskyist, I'm still learning every day, and know that there's more for each of us to learn all the time. Only the brain-dead or those who think they have all of the answers already cannot learn.)=====================================================================

From: Trotskyist Platform <trotskyistplatform@gmail.com>
Sent: Feb 20, 2008 12:51 AM
To: Walter Lippmann <walterlx@earthlink.net>
Subject: Cuba-China

Hi,

Sorry I have not got back to you earlier. We were flat out producing our latest pamphlet and participating in several Aboriginal rights rallies.

Did you end up getting to read the material I sent you earlier and some of our articles and leaflets. Any comments?

Please find attached two articles you may be interested in from our latest pamphlet (Issue 9, Feb-May 2008).

Thanks for sending the speech by Fidel on the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution.

Enclosed is an article that referenced comments made by Castro about the PRC's response to the recent snow blizzard there. The comparison with the U.S. capitalist rulers' response to Katrina is striking especially when you consider that China is still a much poorer country. The recent snow blizzard destroyed more houses and infrastructure than Katrina (and forced 1.5 million people to be relocated) did but because of better rescue efforts the death toll was some twelve times less. Two million PLA soldiers and reservists were mobilized, state-owned coal, oil, power companies aided the rescue/reconstruction by carrying out operations that were not profitable but essential, state-owned mobile phone companies granted stranded travelers free mobile calls etc.

I saw a recent posting of yours in an Australian left website about health statistics in China and Cuba. They are very interesting and useful. One interesting comparison is that (despite Australia being a very resource rich and imperialist country and China being a resource poor country per capita) the average life expectancy in China is 14 years higher than the discriminated Aboriginal population here. Also the average life expectancy for China's minority peoples is some 12-13 years higher - and at lowest 10 years (in Tibet) higher - than the oppressed Aboriginal people here.

The trend in China's life expectancy is also interesting. In the first 29 years after China's Revolution, the PRC achieved a genuine miracle in health care by doubling the life expectancy of the world's most populous country from just 34 years to 68 years. But in the 24 years since the 1978 onset of the "reform and opening up" policies, life expectancy only grew by a further 3 years. This period saw a shift towards "user pays" health care.

Now in the last couple of years there have been strong moves back towards universal, public health care. Last year saw a massive percentage increase in the PRC's public health budget financed by increased taxation of the rich. These are one of the shifts to the left (yes contrary to the propaganda of the Western media and the simplistic analysis of many Western socialist groups) that has occurred recently in China. The other aspects include making compulsory school education truly free, the introduction of pro-worker labour laws, curbs on property speculation, increased moves to control prices rather than let the market set them, increase in proportion of mining done by state-owned enterprises. Unfortunately there have been moves in the opposite direction too that are dangerous. These include allowing minority stakes of capitalists in more and more state-owned corporations and allowing capitalists in a creeping way a greater say in politics under the guise of "united front." Of course all these developments are objects of intense factional struggles within China and within the Chinese Communist Party, the outcome of which will be influenced by the international political climate and the external pressures bearing down upon China.

For what its worth I wanted to give you my thoughts on Fidel's speech which you sent me. There are many great points made in it. There are some things I disagreed with too.

I liked how Castro talked about how China was blockaded after the revolution like Cuba was/is. Thought it was great he mentioned the PRC's heroic role in the Korean War. Some of the points like the PRC's ascension to the UN however cannot be fully understood without taking note of the (harmful to the socialist cause) Mao-Nixon alliance.

The point I did not agree with most is when Castro overplays that the main axis of struggle will be the Third World countries together with China in the UN against the U.S. and its allies on the basis of the principles of "international law." Such struggles of course will and do indeed occur. But we know that the Third World capitalist rulers are also dependent on and subordinate to the imperialists (even if they do not often like that). I believe that it is the struggle between classes (which Fidel's speech does not place much emphasis at all on) in both the imperialist countries and the Third World that will be decisive – of course that struggle will be intertwoven with the fight against imperialist subjugation of Third World countries.

I also do not agree with the inference that all separatist struggles today are necessarily reactionary. They can certainly be manipulated by and subordinated to imperialism to serve such purposes – like the Iraqi Kurdish movement and (in a slightly more complex way) Kosovo independence has been. But for example the struggles for self-determination of the Kurds in Turkey and the Tamils (my own background here) in Sri Lanka are just; even if the movements are currently led by nationalists (which means they could in future ally themselves with imperialism). The opposition to "independence" for Taiwan and Tibet should not be made on the basis of opposing separation per se but on the basis of opposing capitalist counterrevolution. If hypothetically the revolutionary forces in China had taken Taiwan but not the mainland and they then called for "independence" because they believed (rightly or wrongly) at a certain stage tactically that it would strengthen their cause then we would support that. Today we must resolutely oppose Tibetan and Taiwanese "independence" because it would strengthen capitalist forces in China and the world and would lead to the return of the horrific oppression of the Tibetan people that occurred in the pre-PRC days.

Having said all that, I think Castro's speech had some terrific points about the economic and social gains made by the Chinese Revolution, about how Hong Kong was formed and about the intensity of the Western capitalist propaganda targeting both China and Cuba.

Anyway I have been going on a while here and probably kicking in open doors a lot too. But give me a break I was just reading comrade Fidel!

Below is that article from the Chinese media that I mentioned earlier.

Cuban leader expresses confidence in China's ability to combat disasters

www.chinaview.cn 
2008-02-02 10:47:35 Print

Special Report: China's war on snow havoc

HAVANA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cuban leader Fidel Castro has expressed confidence in China's ability to tide over difficulties caused by unusually heavy snowstorms that recently hit its southern and central regions.

China is a revolutionary country, "perfectly organized, with great economic and human power, where all the resources are immediately put at the service" of the people, the Cuban leader said in an article published on Friday.

Castro, 81, is recovering from an 18-month intestinal hemorrhage surgery which forced him to temporarily hand over power to Defense Minister Raul Castro.

The Cuban leader constantly writes articles to express his views on environment, economy and other issues, but has not appeared in public since the surgery.

In the article, Castro also warned of climate change, citing the dangers of the increasing oil consumption, food scarcity and the excessive exploitation of oceans.