How do you like them apples?
There is a certain breed of
John Bercow, for his faults, has managed to say something sensible for once that might actually upset the Labour backbenchers he is so desperately trying to butter up for his anticipated bid for Speaker.
A typically shallow and weak response from the Left. The Minister should have damned the Cuban government to eternal outcast until they pack this appalling behaviour in. Presumptively locking someone up is a despicable violation of basic freedoms and so over to you"John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the number of people convicted of the crime of social dangerousness in Cuba in each of the last five years. [265458]
Gillian Merron: We are very concerned about the use of charges of "social dangerousness" in Cuba to arrest those whom the Cuban authorities believe may cause a crime in the future.
During Cuba's review at the Human Rights Council in February 2009, the UK recommended that Cuba refrain from using such laws to restrict the rights of freedom of expression and association.
The Cuban government does not publish statistics on the number of people convicted on these grounds, but the non-governmental Cuban commission for human rights and national reconciliation, estimates that there are currently between 3,000 and 5,000 people in prison in Cuba convicted of “pre-criminal social dangerousness.”
Our embassy in Havana has requested these figures from the Cuban authorities and I will write if we receive a reply."
Defend your beloved Castro now. TB dares you.
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2 comments:
You've got me kind of wrong there. I don't back Castro. Sorry to be a pain.
In the words of Marx himself, 'democracy is the road to socialism'. Cuba is an example neither of the road to take there, nor the destination itself.
Castro's regime is itself responsible for imprisoning hundreds of democratic socialists, as well as executing trots in large numbers... there are no free trade unions, and industry is centrally controlled by a bureaucratic clique, often directly against the interests of both workers and the public. Such a state of affairs can only be described as socialist by someone who spent way too long taking money from the Kremlin. State ownership does not denote socialism. It simply denotes openness to one of many options that socialists often use in pursuit of their cause.
I'll back Cuba when its own citizens are free to decide whether they'd like to themselves. I can't disagree with their green energy or health policies, but that's not enough when unemployment is sky high and you can get locked up for having a coke.
Also, never followed up on John Bercow's question because I never noticed it.
The confusing bit is that New Labour aren't anything like Cuba or Chile in philosophy.
Except for the authoritarian streak of course.