In need of sincere policies
The Cubans suffered dearly at this time from extreme sanctions and an inability to join the world community in matters of freedom and trade. However in these dire times the Cubans under the leadership of Castro miraculously achieved universal health care and education
The year 2016, like all other years, witnessed the demise of some important figures. One of them was Fidel Castro. He ruled Cuba for over five decades till he gave the reigns of power to his brother Rahul Castro and then passed away peacefully on 25 November 2016 followed by the whole nation and the world at large mourning his death and in the process celebrating his life.
Castro came into power through a coup in the year 1959 when he over threw Batista’s government, which in essence was a puppet of the USA. In his time in power his small island nation adopted socialism and stood defiant against the US even at the height of the Cold War.
The Cubans suffered dearly at this time from extreme sanctions and an inability to join the world community in matters of freedom and trade. However in these dire times the Cubans under the leadership of Castro miraculously achieved universal health care and education and that too of such high standards that Cuban doctors today are considered among the best in the world.
On the other hand there is Willam Shakespears’ King Lear. This is the lead character in one of the more famous plays written by the most famous play write of all time. The short version of the story is that King Lear as the name suggests is king and he has three daughters. He decides to divide his kingdom between the three and as a formality he asks all three of his daughters to tell him how much they love him. When the youngest and most loved of his daughters refuses to indulge her father in flattery he shuns her away. He instead divides his kingdom between the two elder daughters who are willing to flatter him to his hearts desire.
This act is soon followed with the loss of the king’s status, which is followed with the loss of his kingdom and soon the loss of the king’s sanity.
And here lies our choice; we can either follow the foolish King Lear and subsequently fall in the same abyss he chose for himself or alternately we can learn from Fidel Castro and find an independent reality of our own.
I do not propose that we adopt socialism but I do propose that we develop an identity that is purely our own. That we make decisions based on national interests as opposed to the interests of foreign powers
The West suffering from their proverbial nervous breakdown with Brexit and their anti establishment Trump is no different from King Lear. By destroying the very principles of equality and welfare that they took decades to develop, and to batter it for a false sense of identity; which they seem to seek through rejecting the identity of others. They are no different from a foolish king who eventually lost his kingdom because one of his daughters did not speak the words that he wanted to hear.
Such is the state of affairs of the western powers, which have decided for us for as long as we can remember. Whether it is the issue of waging wars, balance of trade or socio economic development the west has indirectly or directly told us what to do. This in turn has left us in a mess, either we are in heavy debts paying of the loans they themselves granted us being well aware of our lack of capacity to repay or alternately we are left suffering from the aftermaths of wars that we shouldn’t have been party to in the first place.
This has been the prevailing scenario with the western powers standing united. Now with the west choosing division in the place of unity they have initiated their downfall and we shall fall with them if we follow their lead.
The other option is we take the example of Fidel Castro. He was a man who stood up to the super power and refused to accede to their dictates and did it for sixty years and did it right in their back yard.
I do not propose that we adopt socialism but I do propose that we develop an identity that is purely our own. That we make decisions based on national interests as opposed to the interests of foreign powers. The ideology and the objectives of every nation ought to be devised on their own understanding of what is in their best interest.
With the Pak China Economic Corridor the power balance has already changed. However even in the present scenario our relations with China and Russia will harm us if our state policies are not sincere and assertive and we don’t sit in the driving seat of our own destinies.
