CommonSpace columnist Yvonne Ridley says it's hypocritical to slam Fidel Castro in his death while supporting oppressive regimes in the present day
I WAS interested to read that some of our Holyrood parliamentarians have verbally clashed over the legacy of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro just as the 10-day mourning period in Cuba ended.
Outrage erupted after Labour's Elaine Smith lodged a motion calling the former president of Cuba "a champion of global social justice" which won the support of her deputy leader Alex Rowley and fellow MSPs Neil Findlay and David Stewart, as well as the SNP's Colin Beattie and Richard Lyle.
Flawed as Castro was, it seems rather fitting that he should be remembered in such a way, but before the tributes could flow Tory Ross Thomson put a dampener on proceedings by submitting an amendment, calling Castro a dictator and ranting about his human rights record.
Ross Thomson shows he is out of touch with grassroots opinion by exhibiting an alarming display of double standards which has become the trademark of the Conservatives.
To be fair to Thomson, he's not the first to stick in the boot to a dead man whose Communist revolution overthrew one of the most brutal regimes in South America back in 1959 and, as usual, he is out of touch with grassroots opinion by exhibiting an alarming display of double standards which has become the trademark of the Conservatives.
Under Castro Cuba punched well above its weight on the global stage, spreading the revolution beyond its modest borders to the wider world – in particular in Africa, starting at the top with Algeria helping to bring an end to a brutal French occupation, right down to South Africa where Cuban intervention helped accelerate the demise of the apartheid regime.
I'm wondering as to the exact source of Thomson's outrage. Obviously when Castro overthrew the vile Batista regime he upset hoards of powerful and wealthy Cubans who fled to America having profited from a corrupt dictator who ran Havana alongside the US Mafia, turning the country into a giant casino and brothel.
Hot on their heels there was an exodus of the business elite, many of whom already had property in Miami. They all assumed that their flight would be temporary and Castro would soon be overthrown so they could resume their filthy rich activities off the backs of Cuba's poor.
I'm a little unclear about Thomson's intentions at trying to trash Castro's reputation and achievements which included establishing a free, world-class health service as well as an education system designed to give all an equal chance.
Are we to assume that Thomson approved of the CIA training and arming of groups of Cuban émigrés in Florida in order to create counter-revolution in Cuba? Known as Brigade 2506, they invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 in a disastrous attempt to overthrow Castro's government.
Following this debacle, anti-Cuban terrorist organisations emerged around Miami, again funded and trained by both the CIA and the Mafia and involved a number of attempts to bomb Cuban embassies and damage the Cuban economy.
So do forgive me if I'm a little unclear about Thomson's intentions at trying to trash Castro's reputation and achievements which included establishing a free, world-class health service as well as an education system designed to give all an equal chance.
Oh, he also redistributed the wealth in the country and decreased poverty, in spite of decades of crippling sanctions under a US-led blockade.
He was supported by fellow Tory MSP Annie Wells, who said it was "appalling" to see leftwing politicians "lionise a man who jailed and murdered his opponents and put gay people in concentration camps".
Although the targeting of gay people in Cuba stopped after a brutal witch hunt in the 1960s and 1970s, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell gives a fair assessment here of Cuba's persecution of homosexuals. The article was written in 2002 but is still relevant today.
Meanwhile, back in Holyrood Thomson's amendment, which would virtually replace Smith's entire text, said a million Cubans had gone into exile since the revolution while "many others have been shot in their attempts to flee", before criticising Castro's human rights record.
He was supported by fellow Tory MSP Annie Wells, who said it was "appalling" to see leftwing politicians "lionise a man who jailed and murdered his opponents and put gay people in concentration camps".
What I find particularly galling is their double standards. Both are in a party which not only refuses to condemn the gay and human rights record of Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates but is happy to sell them weapons which are being routinely used on civilian populations at home and overseas.
How did they feel when Downing Street ordered flags in London to fly at half mast when the last Saudi ruler died?
Yet both are in a party which not only refuses to condemn the gay and human rights record of Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates but is happy to sell them weapons.
Hospitals, schools and places of worship have been bombed in Yemen, for instance, using weapons and bombs sold by Tory governments to Saudi.
In the meantime, a quick check on Thomson's Facebook page shows he's almost obsessed with The White House but what about the human rights record of various US administrations, especially those responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives in central America during the dirty wars organised by the CIA?
It's not that Thomson has political amnesia, but he knows as much about the late Fidel Castro and his legacy as he does about US dirty tricks in that region probably because much of it was carried out before he was born. Ignorance, however, is no excuse.
For instance, when Thomson was a toddler, US President Bill Clinton in which he apologised for some of the worst human rights abuses committed during four decades in which 200,000 people died.
How did they feel when Downing Street ordered flags in London to fly at half mast when the last Saudi ruler died?
The grovelling apology, unprecedented in US presidential terms, revealed the full, bloody extent played by the US in a brutal counter-terrorism campaign that caused the deaths of thousands of civilians in Guatemala's civil war.
It followed the publication in 1999 of the findings of the independent Historical Clarification Commission which concluded that the US was responsible for most of the human rights abuses committed during the 36-year war.
"It is important that I state clearly that support for military forces or intelligence units which engaged in violent and widespread repression of the kind described in the report was wrong," Mr Clinton said. "And the United States must not repeat that mistake. We must and we will instead continue to support the peace and reconciliation process in Guatemala."
The remarks came as the US declassified thousands of documents made available to the commission which tell how the US initiated and sustained a murderous war conducted by Guatemalan security forces against civilians suspected of aiding leftwing guerrilla movements.
Perhaps next time Theresa May gets an invite to Riyadh or Abu Dhabi, Thomson should accompany the British PM so he can give a lecture on human rights and gay rights.
As late as April 1998, Bishop Juan Gerardi, who co-ordinated the Catholic Church's report on atrocities, was brutally murdered.
Possibly the tip of a very nasty iceberg, I doubt if US human rights abuses in South America will be discussed in Holyrood but before Thomson and his colleagues attempt to kick up the ashes of a great revolutionary leader they should take a closer look at the activities of some of their own friends.
Perhaps next time Theresa May gets an invite to Riyadh or Abu Dhabi, Thomson should accompany the British PM so he can give a lecture on human rights and gay rights.
Thomson is an MSP whose amendment proves he has nothing of value to say about the life of Fidel Castro and, if he cares to take my advice, he should withdraw his amendment instead of proving my point.
Picture courtesy of AK Rockefeller
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