Fifty years of the Cuban Revolution

On January 1, 2009, the small island nation of Cuba celebrated the 50th anniversary of a revolution that overthrew a brutal dictatorship and set Cuba on its long and often complicated road towards socialism.

Worldwide, the media reports combined standard distortions and lies on the question of democracy on the island with a focus on the revolution's most obvious symbols: its historical leader Fidel Castro, and the iconic guerrilla army that marched into Havana in the first week of 1959 with Castro and Argentine-born revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara at its head.

At best, this view presents only a partial picture of the Cuban Revolution. It overlooks the hundreds of thousands in the urban underground movement who opposed the murderous US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista who was brought down by the revolution — fighting street-battles, conducting industrial sabotage, and organising general strikes, such as the strike on January 2, 1959, that brought the regime to its knees.

The same view of Cuba also ignores the struggle of workers and other popular sectors that, after Batista fled, transformed the anti-dictatorship struggle into a revolution that overthrew an entire political class — whose corruption and autocracy threatened to betray the Cuban people's aspirations for democracy and social justice. A socialist revolution was begun on the doorstep of the greatest capitalist power on earth.

The survival of the Cuban Revolution for half a century in the face of endless aggression from the most powerful nation on Earth only 90 miles away is an outstanding feat in itself, but the reality of the Cuban Revolution and its achievements deserves much deeper, and fairer, treatment that it gets in the Western media.

Cuba's revolution continues

Following the announcement by Fidel Castro on February 19 that he would not stand in the election by Cuba's National Assembly (AN) for the position of president, the Western media coverage has ranged from grudging acknowledgement of Cuba's social gains in the face of 50 years of US aggression, to outrageous claims of "dictatorship" and US government plans for a "transition" in Cuba.

The coverage has also been full of speculation that a new president could open the path to restoration of capitalism in Cuba, usually presented as "bringing democracy", via a series of "reforms".

On February 24, the newly elected 614-member AN voted to promote Raul Castro to the position of Cuban president. Fidel, whose image as the quintessential bearded guerrilla came to symbolise Cuba's revolution, led the revolution since the overthrow of the brutal US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Fidel had been president of the Caribbean island since 1976. He remains an elected member of the AN, and first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP). Despite Cuba's long-standing policy of promoting youthful leadership at different level of government, the Western media have responded to the transition from Fidel as president, begun in 2006, like vultures circling.

Cuban permaculturalist to tour Australia

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc in the early 1990s, Cuba lost access to the oil, fertilizers and virtually all trading partners that the small island nation depended upon to survive. Cuba faced economic collapse virtually overnight.

Cuba, however, refused to give up on building a socialist society — maintaining, for example, its universal free healthcare and education — while it entered into the period of economic hardship known as the "Special Period", and the United States tightened its decades-long blockade of the country.

During this time, however, it faced an even more challenging crisis: securing food to sustain the population. Over half the country's food had come from the USSR, and most of its petroleum, fertilisers and pesticides were imports.

Early in the "Special Period", a number of Australians travelled to Cuba to introduce permaculture, a form of sustainable, low-input agriculture. The ideas were eagerly taken up by the Cuban government as part of its policy of "linking people with the land". The government immediately set about creating urban agricultural cooperatives and investing in biotechnology and agricultural science.

Cuban agriculture is now over 95% organic, and the city of Havana itself now produces over 60% of its fruit and vegetables within the city's urban and peri-urban spaces, in community gardens and cooperatives.