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Fidel Castro

Obi Egbuna Jr Simunye—

When so-called African Americans feel one is either peddling falsehoods or genuinely misinformed about a particular subject matter being discussed, they politely will say you better ask somebody.What better way for Africans at home and abroad to counter the propaganda by the US-EU imperialist apparatus concerning the passing of our all-time favourite American President Commandante Fidel Castro, who transitioned to the ancestors on November 25.

This perspective is firmly rooted in an ideological and analytical framework aimed at putting both the Democratic and Republican party on notice, that their days of boldly proclaiming to speak for and represent all of America, which geographically speaking is an entire hemisphere, is quickly coming to an end.

For certain so-called African Americans, who had previously reserved this distinction for their favourite white liberals, be it Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton as well as the millennials that embrace the imperialist narrative which portrays current US President Barack Obama as the ultimate consolation prize for the suffering and exploitation we endured from chattel slavery to modern day segregation, a much needed psychological housecleaning will help them further identify with their lord and saviour Jesus Christ when he chased money-hungry merchants and thieves out of the temple and said “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves”.

Before Africans deal with the pollution of the environment, we must confront the contamination of our hearts, minds and souls. Our unconditional love for Commadante Fidel Castro can only be fully digested and appreciated when examined on a Pan African scale.

For those who believe in chronological order, this begins with Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Abdel Nasser being the first world leader to recognise the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, which was very befitting to have the leaders representing Mother Africa’s first independent country to break the shackles of settler colonialism and the physical space considered by many the cradle of civilisation take this courageous and visionary step.

The next step in this journey is to remind the African world and those in solidarity with our liberation struggle, that the very first African nation Commandante Fidel Castro visited was Guinea in May of 1972, where he received the Order of Fidelity Award, the country’s highest political honour.

We remember how the Commandante described Guinea’s revolutionary leader, the Pan African giant Ahmed Seku Ture, as “One of the most extraordinary men of his era and this continent and the soul of a real apostle”.

Let the historical record show that the Commandante was completely comfortable referring to a son of Africa as an apostle, a label the Commandante had prior to this only bestowed on the leader of the first Cuban insurrection, the writer, poet and freedom fighter Jose Marti.

We of course must also highlight the feeble attempt of John F Kennedy to coerce Algeria’s first President, the Pan African icon Ahmed Ben Bella to cancel his state visit to Cuba, which our comrade not only ignored but took the trouble to prepare his welcoming remarks when first arriving in Cuba in Spanish. As President Mugabe and the Zimbabwean delegation safely touched down in Cuba a few days ago to pay their respects, let us remember 16 years ago while attending a special G77 summit when the historic land reclamation programme began.

According to the late Zimbabwean national hero Comrade Nathan Shamuyarira during the 8th Non Aligned Movement Summit in Zimbabwe in September of 1986, Commandate Fidel Castro was back and forth between the sessions and the Cuban Embassy in Harare for the purpose of receiving briefings and giving instruction to the Cuban troops who were fighting side by side with the FMLN in Angola against the CIA-trained mercenaries of UNITA.

It was at this gathering that Commandante Fidel Castro and President Mugabe reached an agreement that resulted in Zimbabwean teachers going to the Island of Youth in Havana to undergo training. This is the main reason Zimbabwe boasts a literacy rate of 97 percent, which to date is Africa’s highest. The very first Zimbabwean teacher to complete the training is the chair of the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association Comrade Fananidzo Pesanai.

It was at this same NAM summit that Burkina Faso’s first President Thomas Sankara somehow found his way to Beitbridge for the purpose of having a view of South Africa. Comrade Sankara had spearheaded a medical campaign in his country aimed at eradicating polio, meningitis and measles that saw 2,5 million Burkinabe children vaccinated, thanks to the help of Cuban doctors. Comrade Sankara and President Mugabe were the first two African head of states to receive the Jose Marti Award, Cuba’s highest political honour.

The Commandante’s connection to Africa is too often reduced to Cuba’s fighting in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau and friendship with Madiba Nelson Mandela, which is at best a Marxist Leninist interpretation of Cuban African relations. A stretch is mentioning Che Guevara’s solidarity brigade in the Congo.

This is problematic because it implies that Commandante Fidel Castro was a pawn of the Soviet Union, who only embraced African nations that made Marxism Leninism their political gospel.

We take pride in acknowledging that Commandante Fidel Castro’s decision to involve Cuba in the struggle to defend Angola’s sovereignty and President Mugabe sending Zimbabwean army to aid FRELIMO in defeating RENAMO and to fight in the DRC is the reason that SADC is Africa’s most politically and militarily stable region on our mother continent today.

As we turn to the African Diaspora, the common sentiment in Haiti when comparing Cuba and the United States is the US send their best soldiers to Haiti while Cuba sends their best doctors to Haiti, meaning the US comes to Haiti to take lives while Cuba comes to save lives.

It came as no surprise that Commandante Fidel Castro, like all true revolutionaries, certainly had his share of detractors without question, whose main points of disagreement were concerning the path of socialism or deliberate attempts to cover up the perpetuation of racism in Cuba.

Those who blindly parrot the inflammable rhetoric of the reactionary stool pigeon Carlos Moore, who authored “Castro, The Blacks and Africa” and “Pichon: Race and Revolution in Castro’s Cuba”, who also spearheaded the document “Acting on our conscience a declaration of African American support for the civil rights struggle in Cuba” that was signed by 60 high profile intellectuals, artistes and activists in our community. The signees included actress Ruby Dee, Essence magazine founder Susan Taylor, SNCC and Black Panther Alum Kathleen Cleaver Neal, President Obama sidekick Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Dr Ron Walters, who evidently never saw the need to question Mr Moore’s connection to the Ford Foundation, who gave him the grant to write his first book and the National Endowment for Democracy, who spearheaded the so called Afro Cuban renaissance aimed at addressing race relations in Cuba.

If we accept their narrative, this means rejecting Commandante Fidel Castro’s decision to appoint a son of Africa Nicholas Guillen the poet laureate of the revolution, help arrange for Frantz Fanon’s book “The Wretched Of The Earth” to be translated into Spanish or the countless African medical students at the Latin American School of Medical Sciences, who will return to their nations of birth the best doctors to ever treat its citizens in modern times.

The African world will always affectionately remember the Commandante for everything, from giving refuge to Assata Shakur, threatening to go to war with the Yankees if one grain on Kwame Ture’s hair was touched and turning the playground of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky to a revolutionary society positioned next to the nation that is home to 4,9 percent of the world’s population and 26,5 percent of its wealth.

Obi Egbuna Jr is the US Correspondent to The Herald and the External Relations Officer of ZICUFA (Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association). His e-mail is [email protected]