Análisis y Debate - Junio 2002

DIÁLOGO (ANÁLISIS Y DEBATE) - Junio 2002

Date:: 01 Jun 2002
Time:: 12:09:50

Comments

psrdc.org

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Although yesterday, the Canadian state began making arrangements for the evacuation of Canadian citizens from the Indian sub-Continent, I observe little indication that Cuban social revolutionary democrats are concerned about the possible impact of the actions by members of non-governmental organizations in Kashmir.

In my opinion, if the people of Kashmir were aware of the secular nature of the Poder Popular form of government in Cuba, they might make use of that paradigm and the danger of nuclear war would be alleviated.

In which practical and legal ways can Cuban social revolutionary democrats encourasge Cuban Friends of the Peoples of Asia to familarize the peoples of Asia with the Caracas Strategic Action Plan?

Saludos

David Whitefield

Date:: 02 Jun 2002
Time:: 13:57:33

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends

1. Several years ago, an excellent analysis was provided to young people in Caracas by Fidel Castro. Copies of the transcipt are available in English and Spanish.

2. The peoples of the entire world are threatened by nuclear and similar weapons of mass destruction as well as by environmental degradation. These are the products of “civilization”. In my opinion, this point requires no debate

3. What can be done by the PSRDC to prevent the further escalation of violence and degradation?

4. Practical answers to that question can be found within the best features of your own revolutionary culture. Unless you do so, young people will not become middle aged.

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield

Date:: 03 Jun 2002
Time:: 01:24:53

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Over the last few months while I have been talking to you about Canada, preparations have been being made for the 28th Annual Meeting of the Group of Eight countries in Kananaskis, near Calgary.

Can the G8 produce meaningful results?

What, specifically, does the Canadian state hope to achieve?

At Kanaskis, there will be discussions at the highest level and Canada’s Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, has made it clear that Canada’s first priority to ensure that the G8 takes urgent action to meet Africa’s priorities as identified by African leaders in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Plan.

The Plan will focus on areas of health, agriculture, education and water as well as on political issues.

In Africa and elsewhere, the water issue is of crucial importance. Thirsty people cannot wait for the application of “advanced technological” solutions.

In several locations in Cuba, a highly effective water purification that has been developed by Dr. David Manz of DAVNOR, is being used by the Sherritt International Corporation. This technology is being used in Mexico and several other Latin American, African and Asian countries.

On several occasions, Dr. Manz has expressed his willingness to engage in working talks with decision makers in Cuba about collaboration with the Sherritt International Corporation in the process of extending the use of the technology by training the people who would apply it. I understand that there has been no response from Cuba and that this is explained by the common Cuban belief that all North Americans are alike which has contributed to their concern for improving relationships with the United States of America.

On several occasions, Fidel has indicated that he is aware of the differences between Canada and the United States of America.

Clean water is of enormous importance. I understand that Cubans have the legal right to use their initiative for constructive purposes.

In what practical can members of your Party provide encouragement to Decision Makers in Cuba to collaborate with Dr. David Manz?

Fraternally,

David Whitefield

Date:: 03 Jun 2002
Time:: 11:43:26

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Yesterday, the Canadian Minister of Finance resigned .

In Canada, as in many other countries, deep political divisions strengthen the power of the military industrial complex, finance capital and the United States of America.

Prior to his resignation, the Minister of Finance had been engaging in a campaign to further decentralize state power by strengthening the powers of municipal governments. There is no doubt that the former Minister of Finance “represented” the interests of Canadian finance capital. A few days previously, Prime Minister Chretien had rejected proposals to equip the Canadian armed forces with large amounts of “state of the art” equipment and had again called attention to the need to export much more of the high quality products of Canada’s agricultural sector.

(Much of the pasta consumed in Cuba is made from Canadian wheat. Columbia is the largest single customer of the Canadian Grain Marketing Board. Several years ago, Canada offered to provide credits to Cuba so that the food crisis in your country could be alleviated.)

Is a clandestine effort being made, in Canada, to sabotage discussion of the Africa Action Plan at the Meeting of the Group of Eight countries?

I understand that, although many Fifth Columnists are still at large in Cuba, Fidel is not afraid to stand in the rain and to address the people directly. Fidel, however, is not the issue. The aim is to encourage members of your party to implement the Caracas Strategic Action Plan, to ensure that international anti-humanitarian Fifth Columunists are defeated and to avert humanitarian catastrophic disaster in Africa by concentrating work in a few places, chosen by the Africans themselves, that can provide a paradigm for future work.

Clean water is not the only need. The people of Africa require food, houses and access to solar-and-wind generated electrical power. Canadian experts in these areas who are now busy at work in the Phillipines have expressed interest in working with Cubans.

At Santa Fe, there are military medical experts. The Centro Iberolatinoamericano de la Tercera Edad at the Galixto General Hospital is renowned as the institution that leads the world in the provision of combined proven traditional and scientific health services. Internationally, Cuban nurses are respected for much more than their personal beauty. The Cuban state is respected for its work to combat racism and to revitalize interest in traditional African culture.

Yours fraternally

David Whitefield

Date:: 04 Jun 2002
Time:: 19:49:26

Comments

Dear Comrades & Friends,

As an old friend of the Cuban people, my hope is that members of your party are working hard, collectively, ss permitted by Cuban law, to execute the Strategic Action Plan that was presented, several years ago, by Fidel Castro in Caracas.

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield

Date:: 05 Jun 2002
Time:: 14:25:20

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Over the last few months while I have been talking to you about Canada, preparations have been being made for the 28th Annual Meeting of the Group of Eight countries in Kananaskis, near Calgary and the priorities of the Canadian state in implementing its humanitarian foreign policy. In addition, I have been urging you to adopt the broad Weltanschuung that was used by Fidel in his analysis that was presented, several years ago in Caracas.

Fidel’s approach can be compared with the response of experts in the United States of America to the implications of nuclear war in the Indian Subcontinent where, it is calculated, 12 million people would die. On the other hand, the impact of radiation in the United States of America would be “slight”.

Members of your Party might provide a collective answer this question:

Which attributes of Yanki “civilization” are worthy of saviour?

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield

Date:: 05 Jun 2002
Time:: 21:34:31

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

This afternoon, I attended a meeting in the University of Calgary to learn about the preparations for the Summit. I was surprised to learn that no members of your Party have contributed to the discussion by indicating ways whereby Cubans could be involved in the effort to formulate an effective Africa Action Plan. These ways could include working together in the clean water program, in a campaign to reduce the level of illiteracy in Africa and to involve the Cuban experts on Military Medicine in Santa Fe and various Cuban experts on tropical medicine. Not least in importance is the need for emulate of the success of the Cuban people in the struggle against HIV/AIDS and to provide women with access to effective contraception.

Members of your Party who wish to contribute constructively to the discussions at the G8 can do so through the web at www.ucalgary.ca and the G8 section on the Home Page.

In my opinion, such action would strengthen respect for international law and reduce the tendency to use force in internsational relations.

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield.

Date:: 08 Jun 2002
Time:: 17:06:33

Comments

Dear Maribel,

Already, we have expressed our general agreement with the analysis and program of action that was presented by Fidel in Caracas. Although we do not believe that all women in blue-jeans look alike, we believe that the answers to your problems will be found in the finer features of your traditional culture.

Fraternally,

David Whitefield

Date:: 08 Jun 2002
Time:: 20:40:08

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends

Although on June 22, 2002, an opportunity is presented for the discussion of crtitcal issues such a sustainable global growth prior to the G8 Conference, it seems to be beyond debate that no-one from Cuba or Latin America will participate in the debate.

Fraternally,

David Whitefield

****

CRITICALLY EXPLORING THE ISSUES MAIN PAGE

EVENTS

BULLETINS

G6B CONFERENCE

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH CONFERENCE

G8 LINKS

WHAT IS G8?

MEDIA CONTACTS

ACADEMIC ADVISORS

FAQs

Sustaining Global Growth: Prosperity, Security and Development Challenges for the Kananaskis G8

University of Calgary, Calgary Saturday, June 22, 2002

Program as of June 3, 2002

Hosted by the University of Calgary, the Guido Carli Association, the G8 Research Group and the Research Group on Global Financial Governance

Registration Information

Conference registration is free for faculty, staff, students and members of the public, but only those who have pre-registered will be admitted since space is limited. Those wishing to register should contact Ms Barbara Burggraf, Director of Development and Community Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences. Telephone 220-7903, or e-mail bburggra@ucalgary.ca. A name tag for pre-registered participants may be picked up at the conference site between 8 and 9 am on June 22. Conference Prospecti:

Prosperity, Security and Development Challenges for the Kananaskis G8

Evaluating Koizumi’s Reform and Its Implication for the Global Economy Takashi Kiuchi, Economic Advisor, Shinsei Bank, Tokyo, Japan

Designing for African Development: The Role of International Institutions Nicholas Bayne, London School of Economics and Political Science

Globalization: Private Sector Perspectives by Chiara Oldani and Paolo Savona

Agenda

Note: Paper titles are subject to change.

9:00 Welcoming Remarks

Stephen Randall, University of Calgary

Paolo Savona, Luiss Guido Carli University

John Kirton, University of Toronto

9:15 G8 Challenges, Canadian Contributions

Chair: Stephen Randall, University of Calgary

Presenters:

John Kirton, University of Toronto, and Ella Kokotsis, G8 Research Group “Prospects for Canada’s Kananaskis Summit”

Allan Crawford, Bank of Canada

“Trends in Productivity Growth in Canada”

10:45 Refreshment break

11:00 Generating Growth: Private Sector Perspectives

Chair: Elizabeth Wilman, University of Calgary

Presenters:

Paolo Savona, Luiss Guido Carli University, and Chiara Oldani, Luiss Guido Carli University “Globalization: The Point of View of the Private Sector”

Alain Verbeke, University of Calgary, and Alan Rugman, Indiana University and University of Oxford “The World Trade Organization, Multinational Enterprises and Civil Society”

12:30 Lunch break

Keynote address: Nicholas David, University of Calgary

“African Development: The View from the Village”

2:00 Critical Challenges in International Finance: The Asian Dimension

Chair: Harrie Vredenburg, University of Calgary

Presenters:

Takashi Kiuchi, Shinsei Bank “Evaluating Koizumi’s Reform and its Implications for the Global Economy”

George von Furstenberg, Fordham University, and Jianjun Wei, Indiana University “The Chinese Crux of Monetary Union in East Asia”

3:30 Refreshment break

3:45 Designing for African Development: The Role of International Institutions

Chair: Eugene Beaulieu, University of Calgary

Presenters:

Ivan Mbirimi, Commonwealth Secretariat “Designing for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa”

Nicholas Bayne, London School of Economics and Political Science “The New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the G8’s Africa Action Plan: Is This a Marshall Plan for Africa?”

5:00 Concluding Reflections: Plans and Possibilities for Kananaskis

Chair: John Kirton

Panelists:

Takashi Kiuchi, Shinsei Bank Ltd. Paolo Savona, Luiss Guido Carli University Nicholas Bayne, London School of Economics and Political Science Ivan Mbirimi, Commonwealth Secretariat

6:00 Adjournment

Speakers’ Biographies

Sir Nicholas Bayne, KCMG, is a Fellow at the International Trade Policy Unit of the London School of Economics and Political Science. As a British diplomat, he was High Commissioner to Canada from 1992 to 1996, Economic Director at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1988 to 1992, and Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from 1985 to 1988. He has published numerous articles and books, including Hanging In There (Ashgate, 2000); he is co-author, with Robert Putnam, of Hanging Together: Co-operation and Conflict in the Seven Power Summits (Harvard University Press, 1987) and, with Stephen Woolcock, of Economic Diplomacy (Ashgate, in press). Sir Nicholas also contributed to New Directions in Global Economic Governance: Managing Globalisation in the Twenty-First Century (Ashgate, 2001) and New Directions in Global Political Governance: The G8 and International Order in the Twenty-First Century (Ashgate, in press).

Eugene Beaulieu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Calgary. He joined the department after completing his Ph.D. at Columbia University in New York City in 1997. Before pursuing a doctorate at Columbia, Professor Beaulieu worked as economist for the government of Kenya and for the Bank of Canada. His research examines the political economy and distributional consequences of international trade policy in Canada and the United States. He was awarded the 1998 Petro-Canada Young Innovators Award to study the impact of Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement on manufacturing plant closures in the United States and Canada. More recently Dr. Beaulieu was awarded a three-year grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada to conduct research on the political economy of Canada's trade policy from its first use of commercial policy with the Cayley and Galt tariff in 1858 to the present.

Nicholas David is Professor Emeritus and Faculty Professor in the Department of Archeology at the University of Calgary. Educated at Cambridge (B.A. Anthropology and Archaeology) and Harvard (Ph.D. Anthropology), he is best known for his development of the anthropological subdiscipline of ethnoarchaeology, on which he has written the definitive text, Ethnoarchaeology in Action (with Carol Kramer, Cambridge University Press, 2001). His African experience goes back to 1956–57, when he served in the 4th Battalion of the Queen’s Own Nigerian Rifles, and his research, beginning in 1967, has involved long immersions in African village life. Director of the Mandara Archaeological Project in Cameroon and Nigeria since 1984, his recent work also includes video programs and numerous articles on technology and society in the Mandara mountains.

John Kirton is Director of the G8 Research Group, Associate Professor of Political Science, Research Associate of the Centre for International Studies and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Toronto. He has advised the Canadian Government on G7 participation and international trade and sustainable development, and has written widely on G7 summitry. He is co-author of Environmental Regulations and Corporate Strategy: A NAFTA Perspective (Oxford University Press 1999) and co-editor of The G8’s Role in the New Millennium (Ashgate, 1999), Shaping a New International Financial System: Challenges of Governance in a Globalizing World (Ashgate, 2000), Guiding Global Order: G8 Governance in the Twenty First Century (Ashgate, 2001), and New Directions in Global Economic Governance: Managing Globalization in the Twenty-First Century (Ashgate, 2001). Professor Kirton is Principal Investigator of “Strengthening Canada’s Environmental Community through International Regime Reform” (the EnviReform project) at the University of Toronto.

Takashi Kiuchi is Economic Advisor of the Shinsei Bank, Ltd. He has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, and a member of the Faculty of Economics at Yokohama National University. He served as an advisor on governmental committees on numerous occasions and authored many articles and scholarly works, including ‘The Asian Crisis and Its Implications’ in Shaping a New International Financial System: Challenges of Governance in a Globalizing World, edited by Karl Kaiser, John Kirton and Joseph Daniels (Ashgate, 2000).

Ella Kokotsis is the Communications Co-ordinator at the Independent Electricity Market Operator and is Director of Analytical Studies for the University of Toronto G8 Research Group. She served on the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy’s Task Force on Foreign Policy and Sustainability in preparation for the 1995 G7 Halifax Summit, and has prepared commissioned policy papers for the Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy Development at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Author of Keeping International Commitments: Compliance, Credibility, and the G7, 1988–1995 (Garland, 1999), Dr. Kokotsis holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Toronto.

Ivan Mbirimi is Chief Programme Officer in the Economic Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Chiara Oldani is currently Lecturer of Economics and European Economics at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome. She graduated in 1999 magna cum laude and studied at Warwick University in 2000–2001, where she received a Master of Science in Economics. She is currently a doctoral student in Monetary and Financial Economics at Tor Vergata University in Rome.

Stephen Randall, FRSC, is Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Professor of History at the University of Calgary. He is President of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (Calgary branch), and was a founding member of the Canadian Council for the Americas (Alberta branch) as well as the Western Canada office of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas. He is an elected member of the Royal Society of Canada. A specialist in United States foreign policy and Latin American international relations and politics, he holds the Grand Cross, Order of Merit, from the Government of Colombia. Dr. Randall has served with the United Nations in international election supervision (Nicaragua 1990, Cambodia 1993); with the Organization of American States (El Salvador 1991, Venezuela 1993); with the Carter Presidential Center (Jamaica 1997). He is the author or editor of a number of books, including The Diplomacy of Modernization (1977), United States Foreign Oil Policy (1984), Hegemony and Interdependence: Colombia and the United States (1992), Ambivalent Allies: Canada and the United States(1994, 1996), Canada and Latin America (1992), Federalism and the New World Order (1994), An International History of the Caribbean Basin (1998), North America Without Borders (1992), and NAFTA in Transition (1995).

Alan Rugman holds the L. Leslie Waters Chair in International Business at the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and is Thames Water Fellow in Strategic Management at Templeton College at the University of Oxford. Author of The End of Globalization (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2001), he has published widely, including ‘From Globalisation to Regionalism: The Foreign Direct Investment Dimension of International Finance’ in Shaping a New International Financial System: Challenges of Governance in a Globalising World, edited by Karl Kaiser, John Kirton, and Joseph Daniels (Ashgate, 2000).

Paolo Savona is professor of Political Economy at LUISS-Guido Carli University in Rome, Italy. A graduate of the University of Cagliari, he is also chair of Impregilo Group and of Consorzio Venezia Nuova, deputy chair of the Aspen Institute Italia and an editorialist for the Corriere della Serra, Italy’s leading newspaper. Professor Savona is co-editor of the Open Economics Review, and author of, among other publications, The New Architecture of the International Monetary System (Kluwer, 2000). Formerly the Minister of Trade and Industry in the 50th Italian government, he has served in a wide variety of positions, including researcher in the special studies section of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington DC, director of the financial market section of the research department of the Banca d’Italia, secretary general for economic planning in the Ministry of Budget and Planning in Rome.

Alain Verbeke holds the McCaig Chair in Management (International Business) in the Strategy and General Management Program at the University of Calgary. Previously a member of the faculty at the Solvay Business School at the University of Brussels, Professor Verbeke has experience at several universities in Canada and Europe, including the University of Oxford, the University of Antwerp, the University of Toronto, and Dalhousie University. He has also held a number of business appointments and was also founding chairman of the board and managing director of the Policy Research Corporation N.S.

George M. von Furstenberg, for many years a titled Professor of Economics at Indiana University, is the inaugural holder of the Robert Bendheim Chair in Economic and Financial Policy at Fordham University. His academic pursuits have alternated with work as Division Chief at the International Monetary Fund from 1978 to 1983 and at agencies of the Government of the United States, such as HUD (1967–68), the President’s Council of Economic Advisors (Senior Economist, 1973–76), and the Department of State (1989–90). In Washington, he has also been a resident fellow, economist, or advisor at the Brookings Institution and AEI. His interests are consequently oriented toward poetry, broad and international, with core subjects of macroeconomic theory and international finance. Professor von Furstenberg’s book projects include regulation and supervision of financial institutions in the NAFTA countries and learning from the world’s best central bankers. He is co-editor, with John Kirton, of New Directions in Global Economic Governance: Managing Globalisation in the Twenty-First Century (Ashgate, 2001), and a contributor to Shaping a New International Financial System, edited by Karl Kaiser, John Kirton, and Joseph Daniels (Ashgate, 2000), and Guiding Global Order: G8 Governance in the Twenty-First Century, edited by John Kirton, Joseph Daniels, and Andreas Freytag (Ashgate, 2001). Professor von Furstenberg joined the G8 Research Group and its Professional Advisory Council in 1999, and in 2000 was president of the North American Economics and Finance Association, focusing on integration processes in the Western hemisphere.

Elizabeth Wilman is Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Calgary. She holds a Ph.D. in natural resource economics from the University of Michigan. Recent publications include “Carbon Offsets” with M.S. Mahendrarajah, forthcoming in Land Economics; “Bioprospecting and Biodiversity Contracts," with D.M. Mulholland, forthcoming in Environment and Development Economics; and “International Principal Agent Contracts to Limit Global Warming," in Designing Institutions for Environmental and Resource Management, E.T. Loehman and D. M. Kilgour (eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 1998.

Date:: 14 Jun 2002
Time:: 14:58:31

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Here, in Canada, we speak frequently with the people about the impact, on Cubans, of the collapse of the Socialist Bloc and of the subsequent Period of Emergency. We try to understand that, for young people in Cuba, life has been hard and that there seems to be no hope that, in the future, their lives will be better. We regard “realistic pessimism” as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Also, we believe that the most progressive social, economic and cultural development in our lifetime has been the emergence of the Mujer Nueva - the proletariat of the Era of the Scientific & Technological Revolution.

In Caracas, Fidel asked the young people of the world to give serious thought to this idea and to implement their conclusions in practice.

As old people, we shall be doing what we can, over the next few weeks to inject these ideas into the G6 and G8 Sustainable Global Economic Growth talks in Kananaskis. We have no guarantee of success. We are aware, however, of the progress that has been made in Cuba during the Period of Emergency which, in our opinion, is being drawn to its successful conclusion. Viewed from afar, we can see only the broad outlines of the achievements of the Cuban people. In the talks, we shall be asked for concrete details which, in our opinion, should be presented by responsible representatives of the Cuban people.

In undertaking this work, I am meeting an “informal” commitment to a former Cuban Ambassador to Canada and to other members of the Cuban Embassy. We believe that even “informal” commitments should be taken seriously.

On Cuban soil, in the presence of two other Cuban diplomats, the representative of the Cuban state shook the hand in agreement with an old Leninist.

Although the legal and moral principles that are involved are of significance, they will not be resolved in Courts of Justice. By what practical, legal means can members of your Party uphold the honour of the Cuban state?

At this time, we must solve several concrete problems. We require specific details about the Cuban achievements that are most highly respected by the Mujer Neuva. These include:

a. The services at the Centro Iberolatinoamericano de la Tercera Edad at the Galixto General Hospital in the University of Havana.

b. The family planning services that are provided to Cuban women.

How can that information be presented? We hope that Cubans will attend and participate actively in the G6 and G8 talks. We recognize, however, that there are obstacles that are being intensified by “heroic” members of various ultra-leftist groups who are inserting viruses into the electronic mail system.

Many young people are familiar with this electronic system and are aware of how to overcome these obstacles.

For what practical reasons should members of your Party provide women with information about the services mentioned above?

The opposite of respect for women - which can lead to affection - is not violence or hatred. It is indifference.

What is to be done, in practice, by members of your Party to overcome this indifference?

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield

Date:: 15 Jun 2002
Time:: 21:49:31

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Although we do not think that the truth of Fidel's assertion that all women look the same when wearing blue-jeans, we wholeheartedly agree with the highly principled Leninist anlysis and Strategic Action Program that he presented in Caracas. The answers the questions that you are debating will be found in the study of the finest expressions of your own revolutionary tradition. On several occasions, when visiting Cuba, I have gone to the Museum of the History of the Campaign against Iliteracy and have admired the photographs of the now middle-aged heroic men and women who engaged in that magnificent adventure. Can that story be written in prose? During my last visit, I attended a magnifiecent performance of Afro-Cuban dance. Could the combined experience of the camapign against illiteracy and the campaign to revitalize interest in Afro-Cuban art be combined in ways that would contribute to the effort to avert catastrophic humanitarian disaster in Africa. If such an aim is feasible, how can it be injected by Cubans into the Kananaskis discussions about Sustainable Global Economic Growth?

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield

Date:: 18 Jun 2002
Time:: 16:38:49

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

We are old people without computer skills. Recently, most email that has been received contains Viruses.

We admire your efforts to develop non-partisan debate among socialists. We are Leninists who agree with the analysis provided by Fidel in Caracas. Here, in Calgary, we are learning about Japanese culture from talented young women who work in a restaurant and about Latin and South American culture from a group of very talented young women who work in kiosks at the local market. Edugrys, a Venezuelan, was a student in Caracas who with thousands of young people, participated with Fidel in that famous conversation. We agree with a group of Harvard university scholars who issued a statement yesterday in which they described as “imperialistic” the regime that rules their country. They claim that the regime expects the rest of the world to obey international law while they are at liberty to break it again by using all means, including assassination, to overthrow the regime in Iraq. We believe the proletarian internationalism is the best counterforce.

In addition, the regime in the United States of America is trying to use financial sanctions:- for example, it is imposing an embargo on relationships with institutions in the Republic of Cyprus. The impact is dialectical. Since January, the price of the Yanki dollar has depreciated by ten percent against the Euro.

Last weekend, in the city of Halifax, the recently appointed Canadian Minister of Finance was able to obtain agreement from his G7 counterparts for measures to reduce Third World debt and increase aid by around $40billion.

The Minister, however, explained that these measures will be offset by measures that are being imposed by the regime in the United States of America to prevent exports of Third World agriculural products to the United States of America. We agree with an opinion expressed yesterday by a Nigerian who is working in preparation for the G8 that African’s should follow the example of Cuba by asserting control over the means of production and by trading among themselves.

Here, we speak to the people about the achievements of the Cuban Revolution.

In Havana, I have stayed in the home of a nurse practitioner who provides excellent health services, including family planning services, to the community in Marianao. I have visited the Museum of the Campaign against Illiteracy and enjoyed concerts by young people in the nearby palace of a former dictator. I have visited the beautiful city of Santa Maria del Rosario in the municipality of Cotorro and have shown photographs and have spoken of the performance of the dramatic ballet, “The Sale of African Slave Women” to large numbers of people. We have spoken about the magnificent performance of a Cuban-African ballet that we watched in April in a theatre in Vedado. We have spoken to many people about the Centro Iberolatinoamericano de la Tercera Edad.

Now, we hope that this anectodal information will be more formally injected into the forthcoming G6 and G.8 “Sustainable Global Development” conferences.

Saludos,

David Whitefield

Date:: 19 Jun 2002
Time:: 10:01:00

Comments

Solamente desde la Educación y la Cultura,adquirida y deseada como algo propio del Ser Humano,puede conseguirse el hacernos verdaderamente libres.La escala de valores de la Sociedad Capitalizada por el Consumo y el Dinero sin fin, solamente conllevará ruina,odio y destrucción,por el irrefrenable egoismo que genera.Todos los gobernantes que quieran despegar del fango deben examinar sus conciencias y valorar si están haciendo todo lo posible en ese campo.Un abrazo.

Date:: 19 Jun 2002
Time:: 15:34:10

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Since my first visit to Cuba , I have noticed that the health of the people has risen significantly and that the improvements, following the Revolution, were dramatic.

I was so impressed by what I obeserved at the Centro Iberolatinomaricano de la Tercera Edad any by the report by the Pan American Health Organization that I have told large numbers of people about them.

Saludos,

David Whitefield.

“The Centro Ibero Latinamericano de la Tereca Edad.

“This Center, established with the financial support of the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization provides comprehensive services to elderly and is a research center. The Center operates under the aegis of the "Calixto Garcia General Hospital" leading health institution in Cuba. Among the services offered are medical services, prevention and control of illnesses associated with aging, and an extensive program of individual and family counseling” [Extracted from the web. This information can be confimed by Reports of the WHO and its subsidiary, the Panam Health Organization e.g.]

Regional Core Health Data System - Country Health Profile 2001: CUBA This summary contains information from the Core Health Data System updated in the year 2001, and the General Health Situation and Trends for CUBA (Summary of the Country Chapter, Health in the Americas, 1998 Ed.) in the following aspects:

1.Socioeconomic, Political, and Demographic Overview 2.Mortality Profile 3.Analysis by Population Group 4.Communicable Diseases 5.Noncommunicable Diseases and Other Health-Related Problems 6.National Health Plans and Policies 7.Organization of Health Services 8.Research and Technology 9.Surveillance and Data Systems 10.Expenditures and Sectoral Financing 11.Technical and Financial External Cooperation

(19/Oct/2001) In English (60.46k) en español (64.91k)

Date:: 20 Jun 2002
Time:: 16:34:26

Comments

La unica globalizacion es la impuesta por el imperialismo yanqui que explota y trata de llevar a la edad media atodos los que se le oponen

Date:: 23 Jun 2002
Time:: 14:01:14

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends

In my mind's eye, I see social revolutionary democrats who have not learned to apply themselves diligently to their work. Some educators refer to a generation of young people, who have been educated by TV, as having difficulty in paying attention in the class room and who claim that, if they are asked to concentrate on their work, they are being harrassed.

I hope that at least a few have obtained copies of the Caracas Strategic Action Plan and are applying it.

As mentioned before, we are making use of all available non-violent means to build a party of a new kind based on the proletarait of the Era of the Industrial and Technological Revolution. We make use of all possible means. Although we think that, for international purposes, the Calgary university web site is inadequate, we think that the papers that were presented prior to the Sustainable Global Economic Growth Conference would have benefited from criticism by young people.

As to the achievements of the Cuban Revolution, I hope that you and other young people are working to ensure that more people are aware of them. In order to draw attention to them, we "spam" as many websites as we can.

Your fratrernally, David Whitefield

David

Date:: 25 Jun 2002
Time:: 19:58:29

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends

We understand that some of the participanys think that we have sent to many messages in which we have asked you to pay close attention to the Caracas Strategic Action Plan and the International Economic Program of the Cuban communist party.

We understand that you can obtain copies of these documents at the Museum of the History of the Cuban Communist Party in Old Havana.

Also, we understand that about half of the sugar processing factories in Cuba will be closed and that, in order to pay for petroleum imported from Venezuela, the prices in dollar stores will be increased as an effort is made to increase the number of toursits who visit you country.

We believe that there can be a substantial increase in the number of culurtural, health and educational tourists from Canada who visit your country and that Cubans are responsible for finding practical ways to implement the policies of the Cuban state.

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield.

Date:: 26 Jun 2002
Time:: 13:59:40

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

¡Nunca mas os importunare!

Fidel ha abierto la puerta...

¡Abreme la puerte por compasión si no lo haces por amor! A pesar de tu falsedad, to seré siempre fiel ¡Abreme la puerte!

Frío sopla el viento sobre mi pálida mejilla pero más frío es tu amor por mí : La escarcha, que hiela la vida de mi corazón, nade es ante la pena que me causas.

La luna desvaída desciende de ola blanca y se hunde conmigo el Tiempo; ¡Falsos amigos, falso amor, adíos! ¡Nunca mas os importunare!

Fidel ha abierto la puerta, el ha abierto de par en par; ve el descolorida cadáver en la llanura, “Mi verdadero amor!” grito, y cayo junto a su lado.

Porque también la resistencia es una cortesía.

Saludos,

David Whitefield

Date:: 26 Jun 2002
Time:: 17:10:28

Comments

SPAMMING INFORMATION ABOUT THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION THAT IS IMPORTANT TO WOMEN

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRAL HEALTH PROGRAM FOR CENTRAL AMERICA, THE CARIBBEAN AND AFRICA

1.Introduction 2.General Principles of the Integral Health Plan 3.Priorities in the Program of Cooperation 4.General results of the Medical Missions 5.Experience in some countries 6.Countries and NGOs that cooperate with Cuba

Introduction

At the end of October and the beginning of November, 1998, hurricane Mitch wreaked havoc on the countries of Central America. Hardest hit by the hurricane were Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, in addition to other Central American areas such as Belize, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These latter had in addition been severely hit some months before by hurricane George.

In a meeting held in El Salvador on November 9, 1998, the heads of state from Central America revealed to the world the full extent of the destruction due to hurricane Mitch and the dire consequences of it on the social and economic infrastructure of the region. The dead and the disappeared numbered more than thirty thousand. The Central American presidents issued a seven-point communiqué in which they asked for help from the international community.

Cuba responded immediately to this request and cancelled the debt to Nicaragua – the only country indebted to Cuba – in the amount of 50.1 million dollars. At the same time Cuba signified its willingness to send medical and auxiliary personnel for the time needed, and asked the developed countries to contribute technical equipment and medical supplies. Given the seriousness of the situation in these countries, the Government of Cuba proposed and began to put in place an Integral Health Plan for Central America and the Carribean, a plan which was later broadened to include some countries of Africa and Asia, at the request of the governments involved.

The plan involved the sending of as many health workers as were deemed necessary, as well as the willingness to provide programs of formation for medical professionals and technicians, either in Cuba or in the host countries, in order to guarantee the continuity of the program.

General Principles of the Integral Health Plan

The cooperation offered by the Government of Cuba involved the provision, on a gratuitous basis, of health professionals, in particular General Practitioners for a maximum period of two years.

The teams would offer their services in rural areas where their work would not interfere with that of medical professionals from the country in question. This would only be done after presenting documents confirming the professional capacities of the health workers to be sent by Cuba.

The host country would provide air transport by commercial or charter flights for the personnel involved, and in addition provide them with a stipend equivalent to one hundred US dollars monthly, along with food and lodging.

Priorities in the program of Cooperation

Integral medical attention at both primary and secondary levels Technical assistance Formation of human resources Further capacitation of human resources already in service Development of health programs Management of programs of medical supplies

General results of the Medical Missions

The program now consists of 1929 men and women who make up 47 medical teams in fourteen countries. A total of 2638 collaborators have already contributed their services through this program.

This has involved medical attention to more than 4 666 913 persons, including more than 42 611 surgical operations.

They have assisted at 22 655 births.

The Cuban assistance has given complete vaccination to 142 975 persons providing protection against ten kinds of illness.

Experience in some countries

Belize

The presence of the Cuban medical teams has made possible the establishment of 45 health centres, 37 of which are located in rural areas, with family medical services made available to some 100 000 persons.

Honduras

The provision of medical attention to the people by the Cuban program covers some twelve per cent of the population, but in Departments such as Intibuca and Mosquitia, where the complexities of geography and economic limitations created special conditions, the program covered eighty-five per cent of the population.

In the Mosquitia Department of Honduras, located in the Northeastern part of the country, there was a forty per cent reduction in infant mortality. According to official data from the Honduran Ministry of Health for 1998 the infant mortality rate was 92 for every 1000 live births. With the presence of the Cuban medical teams infant mortality at the end of the first semester of the year 2000 had fallen to 46 for 1000 live births. That is to say, in a year and a half of this collaboration fifty-four infant lives were saved in this Department.

In the Department of Santa Barbara, which has a population of 300 000 inhabitants, in six months of work by the Cuban medical teams infant mortality was reduced by fifteen per cent, from a rate of 60 per 1000 live births to 45 per 1000 live births.

At the request of the First Lady of the Republic of Honduras and of the leaders of the Tawahka people, considered by UNESCO as an anthropological reserve of this region, and which is in danger of extinction as a consequence of serious depopulation, a program of integral attention to these communities has been initiated with the project of protecting and of developing this people.

The Cuban medical assistance program has also been able, through the work of electro- medical engineers, to carry out repairs of a significant amount of medical equipment. It is estimated that this has resulted in savings of some 371 266 US dollars on the part of the Honduran Ministry of Health.

Guatemala

Cuban medical assistance in Guatemala during the eighteen months of work has put into place, together with the Ministry of Health, in each of the departments where they were present, a network of primary care which has resulted in the application of a program of Maternal and Infant care and in the reduction of the rate of infant mortality from 40 per 1000 live births to 18.5 live births.

In collaboration with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health a teaching program for family medicine has been implemented in six Departments of the country.

Gambia

Emergency centres staffed by Cuban collaborators have confirmed the reduction of infant mortality rates by thirty-four per cent, from a 1998 rate of 121 per 1000 live births to 90 per 1000 live births. With 154 collaborators it has been possible to cover ninety per cent of the population.

The creation of a small faculty in Gambia has permitted the training of some twenty-two young people in medicine. This effort has enjoyed the support of the Gambian authorities as well as of the World Health Organization, which has made possible the purchase of textbooks and computers with a contribution of 35 thousand US dollars.

Equatorial Guinea

In this African country, which had an infant morality rate of 111 per 1000 live births, the presence of 139 Cuban health collaborators throughout the national territory has provided medical attention to eighty per cent of the population.

Work has begun on the founding of a School of Medicine, with a team of Cuban professors, in which thirty young Guineans will be enrolled.

Countries and NGOs that cooperate with Cuba

There are sixty-one NGOs, particularly in Central America, that have joined with the Cuban medical teams in the development of the Integral Health Program. Outstanding are MOPAWI with a contribution of 45 000 US dollars, Norwegian Popular Assistance with a contribution of 320 000 US dollars, the Italian GVC, Doctors without Frontiers and Pastors for Peace. Recently the American Friends Service Committee joined the effort with a contribution of 11 000 US dollars.

France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Lybia and Nigeria have joined the effort with Cuba in the development of the Integral Health Program with the provision of medical supplies. In the Summit Meeting of the Group of 77 and China, Cuba offered 3000 medical doctors to work in the development of a health program in the African continent, as an example if South-South cooperation. This offer was well received by the Heads of State taking part in the Summit, and countries such as Nigeria, Algiers, Lybia, South Africa and Botswana have offered financial support which will make the development of the plan a real possibility.

Date:: 26 Jun 2002
Time:: 20:52:44

Comments

This afternoon, I sent an email to Sol y Son. I asked them to arrange a package holiday for me at the Meson de la Flota in Old Havana.

What can be done to improve email communications with Cuba?

Yours fraternally, David Whitefield

Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 09:02:44 -0600 (MDT) From: MAILER-DAEMON@ucalgary.ca (Mail Delivery System) To: dwhitefi@ucalgary.ca

The attached message is being returned to you because it could not be delivered to one or more of the destination e-mail addresses.

University of Calgary Directory services are provided at: http://www.ucalgary.ca/directory

University of Calgary users may obtain further assistance by contacting Information Technologies Help Desk (220-5555) mailto:consult@ucalgary.ca with the information given below.

The reason the mail was not delivered at this time is:

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Part 1.2

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Date:: 26 Jun 2002
Time:: 21:45:35

Comments

Dear Comrades & Friends

Shortly after International Women's Day 2001, I travelled from Havana to Vardero. Before reaching Matanzas, I noticed that several wells operated by Sheritt International are polutting the air as is a rum factory.

Subsequently, I have spammed Canadia envirnmental with this information, together with the information that Cuban rum with tobacco is an excellent cure for pain.

In addition, I noticed that there is a pleasnnt Podear Popular office in Mazalan and that, with its small beach a location close to Varadero, it would be a good holiday location for family tourists.

As to a picture of my girl friend, my wife has met all of the women with whom I have freiendly relations in Cuba with the exception of a Cuban poet who introduced me to the poems of Nicolas Guillen.

Yours frtatertnally,

David Whitefield

pancorbo <pancorbo@cdict.umtz.edu.cu>

Date:: 27 Jun 2002
Time:: 13:58:34

Comments

Dear Comrades and Friends,

Yesterday, as the G8 “leaders” discussed the idea that was presented by the President of the regime that governs the United States of America on behalf of the military-industrial-finance complex to depose the President of the Palestinian Authority, it was announced that the directors of yet another massive Yanki telecommunications corporation have been caught with their hands in the cookie-jar.

Today, the leaders will concentrate on preparing an Action Plan for Africa. Last night, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced that proposals submitted by citizens will be considered.

For technical reasons, I have been unable to contact the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa so that I can acknolwdge the source of the Cuban-based Action Plan. My hope is that your Party can do so, on my behalf.

Forgive my adding a few more personal thoughts. Although, for my wife, the temperature in Cuba is too hot, she admired very much of what we saw. My own plan is to return to Cuba for a holiday later in this year and I hope to meet some of you face to face because, in my opinion,the proletariat can become so concerned by "economism" that they ignore the changes that have taken place within the myths that surround the "nation state" that were analysed by Eric Hobsbawm.

Finally, I continue to receive VIRUS contimanated e-mal from Cuba.

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield

{VIRUS?} Language Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 07:44:36 -0400 From: FoinAtne <FoinAtne@ecsl.cu> To: dwhitefi@ucalgary.ca

Date:: 28 Jun 2002
Time:: 08:14:09

Comments

Dear Comrades & Friends,

I have no intention to "spam" your site in the future.

This afternoon, at Kananaskis, the Prime Minister of Canada announced that agreement has been reached for An Action Plan for Africa.

I hope that the Plan will be succesful and that you will apply yourself to the work of providing an informed and comprehensive analysis of the trade union movement.

Yours fraternally,

David Whitefield

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