Engländer und Iren sind sich wieder mal nicht einig. Die einen behaupten Castro sei für die anderen eine Art weltlicher Santa Claus. Der englische Observer argumentiert, dass das nicht stimmen könne. Immerhin gäbe es auf Cuba einige hundert politische Gefangene und auch bösen europäischen Sextourismus. Beides würde der richtige Weihnachtsmann niemals zulassen. Deshalb sei Gerry Adams von der irischen Sinn Fein auf dem Holzweg. Er müsse nun endlich Abschied nehmen vom marxistischen Mythos. Castro sei nicht der großväterliche, gutmütige Bärtige, für den die Linke in Irland ihn hält. Kubas Einparteienherrschaft sei bestimmt durch Intoleranz, Zensur und ein verderbliches Machtmonopol.
Wollen uns die Engländer die Festtagsfreude verderben, oder haben die Iren Recht?

In Antwort auf:

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Fidel Castro is no Santa Claus

The Observer

Fidel Castro is a kind of secular Santa Claus for the Irish Left. Bearded, cuddly and grandfatherly, El Commandante is as important a myth for Marxists as Father Christmas is for children. Like the man with the big white beard, red fur-lined suit and black sack, Irish leftism's factions want to believe that their icon, and more importantly the ideology he embodies, actually exists. And when they catch a glimpse of the political version of the toys hidden in the attic or the wardrobe - in Cuba's case, the hundreds of political prisoners, the thousands upon thousands of exiles - the true believers turn a blind eye lest such a sight might shatter their illusions.
Gerry Adams has just been to Santa Castro's grotto where he asked for a socialist republic, a free health service and even a request that his fellow bearded one slide down the chimneys of west Belfast for a visit. Whether he gets any of these things for Christmases present or future is doubtful given that his party first has to administer Stormont rule in Belfast while one of its Ministers tries vainly to save the NHS in Northern Ireland from breaking apart. Perhaps though his third request may yet be fulfilled if the Cuban people ever get the chance to elect their leaders and decide to send Castro packing.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the coverage of Adams's trip has been the lack of criticism in the Irish media of Castro's one-party state. It has always been hipper to throw your arms around Fidel than some of his old comrades such as East German despot Erich Honecker or the Czech tyrant Gustav Husak. Unlike the grey men of the eastern European politburos, that combination of rum, cigars, sand and sun always gave Castro's brand of totalitarianism a sort of sexy quality.
The problem is the only sex that counts on the island today is the cheap kind that predatory Westerners pay for in dollars and pairs of Levis. Cuba has become a magnet for sex tourism. In their quest to survive the cruel, idiotic, counter-productive American trade embargo, the Cuban regime has allowed tourists' haunts to become sexploitation centres.
Cuba now resembles China, socialist only in name, run on Leninist-capitalist lines, combining the free market with a distinctly unfree one-party political system. Terrorists such as members of the ETA murder gang are harboured, eluding justice back in Spain. Meanwhile more than 300 dissidents including trade unionists and writers are interned in prison camps simply for their beliefs, according to Amnesty International. Astonishingly, the Irish media touched on none of the regime's nasty aspects during Adams's trip to Castro's grotty grotto.
The fact, for instance, that Adams was once an internee, detained without trial, should have prompted reporters to ask for his thoughts about political prisoners in Cuba. That particular subject was not broached because it would have been the equivalent of showing the kids the toys before Christmas Eve, thus exposing the Santa myth.
This diffidence in exposing the dark side of Castro's communism is partially rooted in that very Irish phenomenon of forever siding with the underdog. In the face of a mighty and spiteful neighbour, Cuba clearly is the heroic underdog. America is the villain of the piece, its trade blockade inflicting misery on ordinary Cubans while providing a convenient excuse for the politburo's own failings. Moreover, Cuba's achievements in health and social welfare have been all the more remarkable for that. None the less the one-party system should not be seen as some kind of 'social tax' for those gains.
In the minds of Irish and Western leftists Castro's Cuba evokes images of a world that almost everywhere else on the planet has ceased to exist. The legends of 'socialismo o muerte' and 'Hasta la victoria' alongside the murals of Che, still Christ-like in immortality, re-create a lost Arcadia, as comforting and intellectually soporific as the memories of childhood at Christmas. But in the grown-up adult world reality is always more complex.
Beyond the slogans of struggle and the five-hour speeches, up in the attic, out of the sight of the children of the revolution, lie some nasty reminders of the regime's dark side, things that Western leftists would quite rightly never tolerate at home - political show trials, oppression, censorship, a monopoly of power. Yet then again, maybe some of them would. Perhaps this is exactly what they have in mind for the rest of us if they ever achieved state power.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year to you all

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