[QatzelOk]

If any case, Communists are worse zombies, at least when it comes to China.

The reason China has so many factory "zombies" who are underpaid and over-worked, is because that is the ideal employee for capitalism. Not for communism.

Likewise, Charles Dickens wrote all about the horrors of factory zombies... in capitalist England in the 19th Century. So the "zombiehood" you describe is a result of capitalism's maximization of industrial output, and not in any way a product of communism.

If China didn't have to buy American dollars, Chinese workers could probably get paid more for working less, and then the zombiehood would have to go back to the USA and its new factories (that haven't been built yet since American capitalist companies moved production to China).

[Hindsite]

If China didn't have to buy American dollars, Chinese workers could probably get paid more for working less, and then the zombiehood would have to go back to the USA and its new factories (that haven't been built yet since American capitalist companies moved production to China).

China's spreading of the covid-19 pandemic around the world and lying to the World Health Organization is likely to make American capitalist companies bring production back to America.
Praise the Lord.

[QatzelOk]

China's spreading of the covid-19 pandemic around the world and lying to the World Health Organization is likely to make American capitalist companies bring production back to America.
Praise the Lord.

LIES

If only China had a George Washington who "never tells a lie'" right?
George Washington never told lies about WMDs, chemical weapons in Syria, a dozen war-causing false-flags, the CIA's dirty tricks all over the world.

GREAT FACTORIES AGAIN

It took about 30 years to transfer most of the world's industrial production to China. Do you think the USA (and Canada) will be firing up our own plants tomorrow morning? And where will the capital come from?
Our bankrupt ten-times-over banks are currently choking us to death for loose change.

[Hindsite]

LIES

If only China had a George Washington who "never tells a lie'" right?
George Washington never told lies about WMDs, chemical weapons in Syria, a dozen war-causing false-flags, the CIA's dirty tricks all over the world.

GREAT FACTORIES AGAIN

It took about 30 years to transfer most of the world's industrial production to China. Do you think the USA (and Canada) will be firing up our own plants tomorrow morning? And where will the capital come from?
Our bankrupt ten-times-over banks are currently choking us to death for loose change.

You are apparently not well informed on recent events.

[Patrickov]

The reason China has so many factory "zombies" who are underpaid and over-worked, is because that is the ideal employee for capitalism. Not for communism.

Likewise, Charles Dickens wrote all about the horrors of factory zombies... in capitalist England in the 19th Century. So the "zombiehood" you describe is a result of capitalism's maximization of industrial output, and not in any way a product of communism.

If China didn't have to buy American dollars, Chinese workers could probably get paid more for working less, and then the zombiehood would have to go back to the USA and its new factories (that haven't been built yet since American capitalist companies moved production to China).

I said "zombies" as in "no-critical-thinking-government-approving-zombies", much like how some Trump supporters are seen in America. The above quote does not match what I said at all. Read my previous post (and the one from Member AFAIK before me) again, please.

[skinster]

The world rediscovers Cuban medical internationalism
Just weeks ago, in late February 2020, US Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders was vilified by the US establishment for acknowledging education and healthcare achievements in revolutionary Cuba.

Now, as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic sweeps the globe, the island’s medical prowess is back in the spotlight, first because the Chinese National Health Commission listed the Cuban anti-viral drug Interferon alfa-2b among the treatments it is using for Covid-19 patients. Effective and and safe in the therapy of viral diseases including Hepatitis B and C, shingles, HIV-Aids and dengue, the Cuban anti-viral drug has shown some promise in China and the island has now received requests for the product from 45 countries.

Then, on 21 March a 53-strong Cuban medical brigade arrived in Lombardy, Italy, at that time the epicentre of the pandemic, to assist local healthcare authorities. While images spilled out over social media, little was said in mainstream outlets. The medics were members of Cuba’s Henry Reeve Contingent, which received a World Health Organisation (WHO) Public Health Prize in 2017 in recognition for providing free emergency medical aid. In addition to Italy, Cuba sent medical specialists to 37 of the 59 countries in which their healthcare workers were already operating, to treat Covid-19 cases.

Desperate to undermine the Cuban lesson in solidarity, on 24 March the US State Department tweeted that the Cuban motive was ‘to make up the money it lost when countries stopped participating in the abusive program.’ The object of its ire? Medical programmes under which Cuban personnel are contracted by host governments to provide healthcare that is free at the point of delivery to poor and underserved populations overseas. Reaping the benefits of socialist state investments in education and health, Cuban medical exports have emerged in the context of a punitive and extra-territorial 60-year US blockade that prevents Cuba pursuing normal international trade. The contracts provide revenue to the Cuban state, as well as higher salaries to participants. Under pressure from the Trump administration, Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia have ended contracts, in order to eliminate a vital source of revenues for Cuba, leaving millions of people without healthcare. The strategy of sabotaging Cuban medical exports originates in the Bush-era ‘Medical Parole Programme’, which encouraged Cubans to abandon missions in return for US citizenship, and was not ended by Obama until his final days in office in January 2017.

This is not the first time that Cuba’s global health leadership has taken the world by surprise. In 2014, during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa when the WHO called for ‘compassionate doctors and nurses, who will know how to comfort patients despite the barriers of wearing PPE [personal protective equipment] and working under very demanding conditions’, Cuba was first to respond and sent the largest medical contingent. Jorge Pérez Ávila, then Director of Havana’s hospital of tropical diseases (IPK), told me that over 10,000 Cuban medical professionals volunteered for the mission. From these, a group of 256 were selected; all of whom had previously faced natural disasters and disease outbreaks in developing countries. They went to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, countries where Cuban medical missions already operated, and quickly reduced their patients’ morality rate from 50% to 20%, introducing an education programme to prevent the disease spreading.

The effort was praised by the Obama administration and on announcing rapprochement with Cuba on 17 December 2014, President Obama said, ‘American and Cuban health care workers should work side by side to stop the spread of this deadly disease.’ (1) Interviewed at that time in Liberia, Cuban doctor Leonardo Fernández shied away from the special praise for the high-profile mission, saying that the Cuban medics combating Ebola were no different from those in Brazilian jungles, those working alone in indigenous communities for months, or serving in African villages, in temperatures reaching 48 degrees. Indeed, the Cubans combatting Ebola were but a drop in the ocean compared to the 400,000 Cuban medical professionals who have worked overseas in 164 countries since 1960 and about whom politicians and the mainstream media have said almost nothing.

Still, since the first mission to earthquake-struck Chile in 1960, millions of lives have been saved and hundreds of millions of lives improved. By 2014, Cuban medical professionals had performed 1.2 billion consultations overseas, attended 2.2 million births and performed over 8 million surgeries (2). Some 76,000 Cuban medics had worked in 39 African countries since the early 1960s. Cuba had sustained over 20,000 healthcare workers in Venezuela for a decade, with thousands more in neighbouring countries.

Another aspect of Cuban medical internationalism has been to bring foreigners to Cuba, as patients or medical students. Under the ‘children of Chernobyl’ programme which ran from 1989 to 2013 some 22,000 children and 4,000 adults, victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster received free medical care, accommodation, food and therapy in Tarará, 10 miles outside Havana. Despite the severe economic crisis following the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the Cubans footed the bill — an astonishing expression of solidarity that has received almost no acknowledgement.

In late 1998 Cuban medics rushed to Central America after Hurricane Mitch killed 30,000 people and left 2.5 million homeless. Beyond the immediate devastation they were shocked to find whole communities lacking healthcare facilities and personnel. As a consequence, in November 1999 Fidel Castro inaugurated a new Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Havana to provide free medical training to students from the region. The doctors graduating there, he said, would save more lives every year than those lost in the hurricane: ‘Twenty years can pass without a Mitch and a million people will silently die in Central America without anyone taking notice’ (3).

ELAM was soon enrolling students from around the world, including the United States. By 2019, 29,000 doctors from 105 countries had graduated. Half of them were young women, 75% the children of (agricultural) workers, representing 100 ethnic groups. In 2009, then-WHO director, Dr Chan, declared: ‘For once, if you are poor, female, or from an indigenous population, you have a distinct advantage [in admission]. This is an institutional ethic that makes this medical school unique.’ (4)

In late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina battered Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Within hours, Cuba offered to send three field hospitals and medical personnel. By 4 September there were 1,586 Cuban volunteer medics ready to leave for the disaster zone. This was when the brigade was named the Henry Reeve Contingent, in honour of a US citizen who fought with Cuban independence forces against Spain (1868-1878). President Bush’s administration ignored the offer and omitted Cuba from a list of countries who had offered help.

There was no shortage of need, however, and the Henry Reeve Contingent was despatched first to Guatemala following Hurricane Stan in October 2005, and then days later to Pakistan-administered Kashmir following the earthquake that killed 80,000 people and left 3.3 million homeless. Over the next seven months 2,400 Cuban healthcare workers treated 1.7 million patients in 32 field hospitals they subsequently donated despite not having diplomatic relations with Pakistan. Within a decade 900 Pakistani medical students had graduated from ELAM.

In January 2010, a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, killing 230,000 people and leaving 15% of the population homeless. The Henry Reeve Contingent arrived within 24 hours, joining the 344 Cuban medical professionals already working in Haiti, alongside hundreds of Haitian physicians trained in Cuba. Cuba-Haiti medical cooperation had been initiated 11 years earlier following Hurricane Georges in 1998. By 1 April 2010, another 748 Cubans had arrived, along with 481 Haitian graduates from ELAM and 278 ELAM graduates from 28 other countries. To compound Haiti’s woes, in October 2010 an outbreak of cholera began, introduced via UN peacekeepers and spread due to the unsanitary conditions in temporary camps lacking safe drinking water or sewage facilities. The Cubans established cholera treatment centres and oral rehydration posts, set up tent-by-tent examinations and launched a public health campaign.

Why does Cuba do it? Cynical and superficial explanations focus on geopolitical and financial gains to Cuba: the government seeks allies and advantages in world forums — soft power; it forces healthcare workers into foreign-service contracts to earn the country export revenues; or Cuban professionals are simply motivated by the higher earnings they receive working overseas. More serious commentators observe that Cuban ‘medical diplomacy’ has been a cornerstone of foreign policy since the 1960s, before the realpolitik and economic imperatives of the post-Soviet era. Other researchers note that Cuban missions differ from most global health security responses, which are anchored in military and defence programmes and aim to protect domestic populations from external threats of disease. (5) They recognise that Cuban medical internationalism is rooted in a ‘principle of solidarity’ with the global population, but not the notions of responsibility, charity and altruism common in aid frameworks (6).

The revolution of 1959, which shaped the Cuban view of solidarity, combined the values of national independence hero José Martí with Marx’s analysis of capitalism. Taking up battle cries from both Martí (‘homeland is humanity’) and Marx (‘workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains’), Cuba’s revolutionary leaders sought to promote a global struggle against diverse forms of underdevelopment, imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism. They view global poverty and poor health as a result of those exploitative structural conditions. The post-1959 public healthcare system was constructed on those values; free, universal state provision was endorsed as a human and constitutional right. Cuban medical internationalism is an extension of those principles overseas.

‘I believe that healthcare is a human right not a privilege,’ declared Bernie Sanders at a rally in Chicago on 7 March, just before the Covid-19 began to rip through a US population that has been systematically denied access to universal public healthcare in the name of liberty. It is a principle for which Cuba has also been vilified. No country in the world will find it easy to confront the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. But this moment calls for global cooperation and solidarity, and on that front, Cuba provides a lesson for us all. We can start by demanding an end to US sanctions that stop Cuba from getting access to the resources it needs to fight this deadly pandemic, both for their own population and for the global beneficiaries of Cuban medical internationalism.
https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/cuban-medical-covid

[QatzelOk]

Right after the Vietnam War, this sitcom about American doctors in the Korean War was popular.

It "explained" that the USA were the doctors to the world.

Of course, we know the real World Doctor is Cuba, a small island nation with one 30th the population of the heroic nation that made the TV sitcom about itself. And the World's Doctor has a fraction of the consumption per capita of the TV-based nation to its north.

I find Cuba is more Spanish than Spain, and more American than the USA. But here, it's also more M*A*S*H* than MASH, the TV show.

[QatzelOk]

In Epsiode 68, Doctors Ramirez and Martinez, while performing surgery on the victims of a colonial war in central Africa, ask themselves: "Is Cuban communism more Christian than Christianity?"

And then later get hammered and wake up with hot-legs Barbara! Comedy magic ensues!

Solo por TeleSur!

Banda sonora

[skinster]

[skinster]

[QatzelOk]

Cuban-Doctors-Arrive-in-Qatar-to-Fight-COVID-19



The Henry Reeve International Contingent, specialized in disaster situations and epidemics, is made up of 200 doctors, nurses, and specialists that will assist the local healthcare system.

Cuba's government informed Wednesday that a brigade of around 200 health professionals arrived in Qatar in order to help fight the global coronavirus pandemic in the Gulf State.

“Cuban doctors are excellent...We have a positive experience with the Cuban Hospital,” the Co-Chair of National Pandemic Preparedness Committee Abdullatif Al Khal emphasized. ...

But here's something striking about this:

15 fascinating facts about Qatar

1. It is the richest country on the planet

Qatar’s per capita GDP is $130,475, according to the International Monetary Fund.
That’s some way ahead of Luxembourg, in second place, with $116,808. ...

Is there a doctor in the house? No, just piles of money that touch the clouds.

[Atlantis]

Prey that you won't have to rely on Cuban doctors when you are really ill. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. The reason why they managed to turn out so many of them for the 3rd world is that their training isn't very thorough. And if they get half a chance, they are corrupt as hell.

[XogGyux]

Idiots praising Cuba... Instead of praising, offer yourself to exchange places with them and see how it turns out for you .

[Pants-of-dog]

Prey that you won't have to rely on Cuban doctors when you are really ill. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. The reason why they managed to turn out so many of them for the 3rd world is that their training isn't very thorough. And if they get half a chance, they are corrupt as hell.

I doubt this is true.

——————————

Idiots praising Cuba... Instead of praising, offer yourself to exchange places with them and see how it turns out for you .

The implicit comparison here is between Cuba and whichever developed nation the supporter of Cuba lives in.

Using myself as an example, the idea is that I should compare Canada to Cuba and see what I think.

And this comparison is actually a compliment to Cuba, because it assumes that Cuba has a standard of quality that is high enough to actually compete with a developed country. And in many ways, like health and education, it does compare favourably with many developed countries.

Now, if you were to ask any leftist person in the developing world if they would trade places, they would probably say yes in a heartbeat. This is why Cuba has such a strict immigration policy.

These days, the easiest way to migrate to Cuba is either marry a Cuban, or flee a right wing dictatorship.

[XogGyux]

I doubt this is true.

——————————



The implicit comparison here is between Cuba and whichever developed nation the supporter of Cuba lives in.

Using myself as an example, the idea is that I should compare Canada to Cuba and see what I think.

And this comparison is actually a compliment to Cuba, because it assumes that Cuba has a standard of quality that is high enough to actually compete with a developed country. And in many ways, like health and education, it does compare favourably with many developed countries.

Now, if you were to ask any leftist person in the developing world if they would trade places, they would probably say yes in a heartbeat. This is why Cuba has such a strict immigration policy.

These days, the easiest way to migrate to Cuba is either marry a Cuban, or flee a right wing dictatorship.

Doing a through critic of Cuba (and by critic I mean analysis/evaluation, not necessarily a "bad" critic as the word is usually understood) is tricky even for people that have first-hand knowledge of the place. Like anything in the word, you can find good things and bad things. Look at North Korean, awful country, but they do seem to put impressive, beautiful (if you are into that sort of stuff) and well organized military parades.
The left-and-right view points that we tend to associate with US politics and general "western countries" politics blur when it comes to Cuba. The numbers, if you believe them, might lead you to believe that it is doing well. The reality, of course, is much sadder. Remember, that Cuba despite the extremely corrupt governments that preceded the dictatorship of Fidel, was actually an advanced country with great infrastructure, technology, economy, etc. On a different path, Cuba could have been a smaller Canada to the south of the US or a more prosperous Mexico.
Instead, it is a fraction of what it could have achieved.
Hospitals and Schools were crumbling when I left the country in the early 2000's. The books were 30 or even 40 years old, outdated, missing pages. Medical instruments were scarce.
Btw do you know what a pipette is? There is a version of the pipette which is a bulb pipette. Basically it is like a long straw usually made of glass. At one end, it sucks fluid, at the other end, usually you attach a device that provides with suction force. Usually this device is a rubber bulb, but sometimes it could be a small electronic "gun" that does it automatically. You know what we used in Cuba when those bulbs were lost and destroyed because they were decades old? MOUTHS!
That's right, this country which tries to put the appearance of being a medical powerhouse would put their doctors and technicians to use their mouths to use pipettes. Keep in mind that in a lab, the fluids taken with pipettes can vary from culture media (nasty tasting but harmless) to urine and blood. Accidents have occurred I saw it all first hand as I spent my childhood in hospitals as most of my family were doctors in Cuba.
Claiming that somehow they have achieved something truly impressive is simply wrong.

[skinster]

Instead of praising, offer yourself to exchange places with them and see how it turns out for you .

If I had the option to move to Cuba, I would, for the better healthcare, education, culture, weather etc.

[Pants-of-dog]

Doing a through critic of Cuba (and by critic I mean analysis/evaluation, not necessarily a "bad" critic as the word is usually understood) is tricky even for people that have first-hand knowledge of the place. Like anything in the word, you can find good things and bad things. Look at North Korean, awful country, but they do seem to put impressive, beautiful (if you are into that sort of stuff) and well organized military parades.
The left-and-right view points that we tend to associate with US politics and general "western countries" politics blur when it comes to Cuba. The numbers, if you believe them, might lead you to believe that it is doing well. The reality, of course, is much sadder. Remember, that Cuba despite the extremely corrupt governments that preceded the dictatorship of Fidel, was actually an advanced country with great infrastructure, technology, economy, etc. On a different path, Cuba could have been a smaller Canada to the south of the US or a more prosperous Mexico.
Instead, it is a fraction of what it could have achieved.

I doubt this.

Cuba has had a similar history to most Caribbean nations, and those nations almost all continued with the dictatorships provided by the USA. Haiti under the Duvaliers would be an example of what Cuba could have become.

Hospitals and Schools were crumbling when I left the country in the early 2000's. The books were 30 or even 40 years old, outdated, missing pages. Medical instruments were scarce.

This has not been my experience.

Btw do you know what a pipette is? There is a version of the pipette which is a bulb pipette. Basically it is like a long straw usually made of glass. At one end, it sucks fluid, at the other end, usually you attach a device that provides with suction force. Usually this device is a rubber bulb, but sometimes it could be a small electronic "gun" that does it automatically. You know what we used in Cuba when those bulbs were lost and destroyed because they were decades old? MOUTHS!
That's right, this country which tries to put the appearance of being a medical powerhouse would put their doctors and technicians to use their mouths to use pipettes. Keep in mind that in a lab, the fluids taken with pipettes can vary from culture media (nasty tasting but harmless) to urine and blood. Accidents have occurred I saw it all first hand as I spent my childhood in hospitals as most of my family were doctors in Cuba.
Claiming that somehow they have achieved something truly impressive is simply wrong.

Photo taken from here:
http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2016-03-10/imp ... emphasized

It has been a while since I used a pipette, but I believe the woman in the Cuban medical facility is using a pipette “gun”.

[XogGyux]

https://twitter.com/jacobinmag/status/1253073593182781440?s=20



If I had the option to move to Cuba, I would, for the better healthcare, education, culture, weather etc.

Go ahead sir. If possible, pay it forward by helping someone get out as well .

I doubt this.

Cuba has had a similar history to most Caribbean nations, and those nations almost all continued with the dictatorships provided by the USA. Haiti under the Duvaliers would be an example of what Cuba could have become.



This has not been my experience.






Photo taken from here:
http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2016-03-10/imp ... emphasized

It has been a while since I used a pipette, but I believe the woman in the Cuban medical facility is using a pipette “gun”.

Actually that is a micropipette. The difference is that micropipettes are used for tiny volumes. Those did exist in Cuba with the caveat that the tips used were scarce resources.
I was talking about regular size glass pipettes such as this one:

This is something that I saw first hand.

I doubt this.

Cuba has had a similar history to most Caribbean nations, and those nations almost all continued with the dictatorships provided by the USA. Haiti under the Duvaliers would be an example of what Cuba could have become.

Well, you are factually wrong. Not everyone that speak Spanish is a Mexican either. . Joke aside, here are the facts:

Prior to the Cuban Revolution, Cuba ranked fifth in the hemisphere in per capita income, third in life expectancy, second in per capita ownership of automobiles and telephones, first in the number of television sets per inhabitant.[26] Its income per capita in 1929 was reportedly 41% of the U.S., thus higher than in Mississippi and South Carolina.[27]

Now. That is not to say everything was Rose smelling. Wealth inequality was a big issue and the governments were corrupt. But the fact is the regime took control of this infrastructure that already existed.

This is what I understand as a pipette gun. The device connects to an existing, usually glass (I've seen polycarbonate/plastic) pipette and functions as a suction device. This is a relatively "first word" solution.
In Cuba, most likely they would have had original a bulb-type pipette. Like these:

However, overtime the rubber degrades or people lose them. Labs would have probably have hundreds of glass pipettes but just a handful of bulbs because you can use the same bulb on different pipettes. So even tough many of the glass pipettes broke over the decades, many still exist. The bulbs, however not.
There is yet another mechanism:

Listen. I lived in that place 17 years. I was born there. I have been inside the hospitals. You are not going to sell me any of this shit propaganda.

[Donna]

Doing a through critic of Cuba (and by critic I mean analysis/evaluation, not necessarily a "bad" critic as the word is usually understood) is tricky even for people that have first-hand knowledge of the place. Like anything in the word, you can find good things and bad things. Look at North Korean, awful country, but they do seem to put impressive, beautiful (if you are into that sort of stuff) and well organized military parades.
The left-and-right view points that we tend to associate with US politics and general "western countries" politics blur when it comes to Cuba. The numbers, if you believe them, might lead you to believe that it is doing well. The reality, of course, is much sadder. Remember, that Cuba despite the extremely corrupt governments that preceded the dictatorship of Fidel, was actually an advanced country with great infrastructure, technology, economy, etc. On a different path, Cuba could have been a smaller Canada to the south of the US or a more prosperous Mexico.
Instead, it is a fraction of what it could have achieved.
Hospitals and Schools were crumbling when I left the country in the early 2000's. The books were 30 or even 40 years old, outdated, missing pages. Medical instruments were scarce.
Btw do you know what a pipette is? There is a version of the pipette which is a bulb pipette. Basically it is like a long straw usually made of glass. At one end, it sucks fluid, at the other end, usually you attach a device that provides with suction force. Usually this device is a rubber bulb, but sometimes it could be a small electronic "gun" that does it automatically. You know what we used in Cuba when those bulbs were lost and destroyed because they were decades old? MOUTHS!
That's right, this country which tries to put the appearance of being a medical powerhouse would put their doctors and technicians to use their mouths to use pipettes. Keep in mind that in a lab, the fluids taken with pipettes can vary from culture media (nasty tasting but harmless) to urine and blood. Accidents have occurred I saw it all first hand as I spent my childhood in hospitals as most of my family were doctors in Cuba.
Claiming that somehow they have achieved something truly impressive is simply wrong.

Nah. There is no way Cuba would have achieved Canada's level of development had it remained in the American sphere of influence. What really unleashes the forces of modernization and development is a combination of strong government, abundant geography and scaled exploitation (a lot of logistics, a lot of land and a lot of bodies), conditions which existed in America and Canada but not in Cuba.

The idea that poor countries just need better political management is one that is largely ignorant of the complexities of global capitalism and the different strengths in political structures under different stages of social development. With that said, there is a massive track record of failure in opening up formerly colonized nations to the global system, whether they emerge from situations with weak or chaotic government or the dissolution of stagnant interventionist experiments. The result is always a sensitively tuned catastrophe for people in those societies.

[XogGyux]

Here. You don't have to go that far.