I posted the following on Louis Proyect's MARXMAIL list tonight:

David Thorstad hasn't visited Cuba in over two decades, but he's
still circulating his recollections as if there was something new
or significant about them. He has every right to do that, but one
or two changes have come about in Cuba since 1987, of which David
Thorstad has been informed, but to which is is quite indifferent.

This "self-organization of the oppressed masses" of which David
opines so stridently is a fine idea in the abstract, but as usual
David, like so many other crabby critics, invariably leaves out of
his considerations Washington's active program of organizing the
destabilization of Cuba through outside intervention, which was
the case, as far as I know, of that demonstration which was NOT
held in Cuba, but whose publicity was designed to counteract all
the favorable publicity which World Anti-Homophobia Day, planned,
organized and carried out by the Cuban government, at which the
Cuban National Assembly President, Ricardo Alarcon spoke, and
which even featured a drag show. (over 45 images here)
http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2008/n368_05/368_22.html

I've said it once and a thousand times that just as there is a
Federation of Cuban Woman, there ought to be a Cuban equivalent
of Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) an
body which could, within the framework of the existing society,
help deal with cultural, political, social and legal problems
facing LGBT people on the island. I first wrote about this in
2001, and have repeated it ad nauseam, but people like David
Thorstad, for whom gay rights is the definition of everything,
stubbornly ignore it because it doesn't fit into their agenda
of permanent hostility to all things Cuban Revolutionary.

A 2001 comment on gays in Cuba by me:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/two-months-4.html

Based on his own writings, no one is likely to accuse David of the
sin of "cheerleading". Actually, he seems to prefer to "hoot",
to "jeer" and to "catcall" when it comes to Cuba in the 21st century.

David Thorstad's "Tovaritch, Chiclets!"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/77640

More current information is regularly available:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/lgbt-cuba.html


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
p.s., Thorstad's approach reminds me of what Robert DeNiro's stuffy
Italian-American father advised his adolescent son in the movie
A BRONX TALE: "Don't let the little head think for the big head."

Marxmail is a voluntary association of people who wish to discuss
one or another question within the framework of a Marxist outlook.

Anyone who is a member can ask a question. Anyone who wants to is
able to answer a question, if they choose to do so. It's a totally
voluntary thing in either or any case. Just because someone thinks
their own ideas, comments or suggestions are serious doesn't mean
anyone else will either share that opinion or decide to respond.
=======================================================================
DAVID THORSTAD writes:
I myself a couple of weeks ago raised what I thought were serious
questions about reactionary articles of the Cuban penal code, and
regime-glorifying commentary about homosexuality and the supposedly
enlightened Cuban regime, which allows same-sexers to play on a
beach, and is approving state-financed sex-change operations
(apparently a goal of Mariela Castro, who has confused trans issues
and antigay oppression, it would appear), yet maintains a penal code
that contains several reactionary articles, mostly antigay. Only one
person responded--intelligently, to his credit (David Picón Álvarez).

I had urged Cuban regime supporters to respond to the issues
I raised, but none of them have so far. For instance, why should the
Cuban regime not allow independent same-sex organizations? Why no
independent gay publications? Álvarez asks whether independent gay
organizations should be allowed. I say yes, they should. As Emma
Goldman put it, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your
revolution." Apparently, the Cuban regime thinks letting gays party
on a beach is enough to satisfy them. The regime may be right, but it
remains to be seen.

Why berate Miami gusano same-sexers for spreading false rumors about
a gay march in Havana, but not support an independent gay pride march
in Cuba? What kind of "freedom" prevents the self-organization of the
oppressed masses? Should independent self-organization of the masses,
including those who are oppressed because of their sexual behavior,
be banned?

Should same-sexers be expected to join in mass demonstrations like
the one I went to in Havana in 1987 where the most popular slogans
were explicitly antigay? (My article "Tovaritch, Chiclets!" gives the
details. If anyone wishes to read it, they can write me directly.)
I am still waiting to hear why no supporters of the Cuban regime,
whether on this list or not, have ever whispered a word of criticism
against reactionary Cuban penal code provisions that provide for the
death penalty for consensual sex. Why is the Cuban regime more
backward than even the odious Supreme Court of the United States when
it comes to the death penalty (as its recent rape ruling shows)?

Why the long silence about these issues by regime supporters or list
members, and instead the heart-sinking and mostly unenlightening
diarrhea over the offensive posts by Gibson? I myself was radicalized
mostly by the Cuban Revolution, but that doesn't mean I support
cheerleading.

David


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WALTER LIPPMANN
Los Angeles, California
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
"Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
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