Peaceful Protest

Obviously if you get into a group of more than 3 people, you’re going to get your head smashed in.

So I recommend the following bit of civil disobedience:
Every time you pass a policeman, flinch and mutter “Please don’t hit me”.

Opening Cuba Up

There was an interesting article in the Guardian today, about Obama easing restrictions on US citizens travelling to Cuba.

It finishes with a thought:

In recent years British and other tourists have flocked to Cuba to see what it is like “before Castro goes”. When he dies, goes the logic, so will his system and a unique experience in nostalgia. Is time running out for a stroll through the tropical time capsule? Probably. But Cuba seems already poised for change. Free elections, consumer culture, internet cafes, porn­ography, well-stocked supermarkets, obesity: it may come in a rush, or bit by bit, but transformation will come. The result will be an island that looks more like everywhere else. For some outsiders that may be cause for regret. So be it. Cuba is not their island and they do not live there. If Cubans want to be more like the rest of the world, warts and all, who has the right to stop them? (my highlight)

That’s the bit that worries me. No-one would deny Cubans good food, freedom of speech, a degree of control over their political rights etc. but will they choose free-wheeling consumerism? And what if they don’t?

The Cuban people appreciate the great things their revolution did: in health care and in education, but mostly in independence. The US have stayed out for 50 years – something that never happened in the proceeding 150 years.

I hope the Cubans get to control the next phase of their island’s history. My fear is that they won’t: that rather than transforming into a social democracy, and keeping in place the best of the revolution and the hard-won successes of the past 50 years, they’ll have Starbucks, privatisation and free-market Freidmanite capitalism forced upon them.

Mind you, the Chileans under Allende, the Argentinians, the people of El Salvador and the Venezuelans can all vouch for having the freedom to choose a socialist path in the region.

Can’t they?

History

It’s an interesting coincidence that on the day one of the remaining four First World War veterens died, I spotted this sign at Victoria Station which I’d never seen before.

More Here

Sunday Outing

The magnificent Balcombe Viaduct

I’ve seen it many times from the train, but never from the valley. It’s a real monument to a time when engineering was art and each project was a testament to the glory of its builder and the fast-moving industrial world.