RE: Political kidnapping of 6-year-old Cuban Elian Gonzalez

I quite agree (and have never disagreed) with virtually all you say, though
I think it's more a question of international law than national law. On the
one minor point of disagreement, whether it is an issue of marginal
importance, I actually think I was probably wrong on that - this is taking
on some significance, isn't it?

As I said from the start, the only thing I responded to and disagreed with
was the white-washed characterization of Castro's Cuba.


AC
-----Original Message-----
From:   owner-wsn@csf.colorado.edu [mailto:owner-wsn@csf.colorado.edu] On
Behalf Of colin s. cavell
Sent:   Monday, January 17, 2000 2:12 PM
To:     WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK
Cc:     WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK
Subject:        RE: Political kidnapping of 6-year-old Cuban Elian Gonzalez


On Monday, 17 Jan 2000 01:49:12 -0500, Anthony Chase
<achase@emerald.tufts.edu> wrote:  "In fact, as I said in plain English, I
quite agree Elian should be returned and, obviously, Castro is only of
marginal importance to this issue which is, itself, an issue of marginal
importance."  It appears Mr. Chase, that everyone is in agreement that
Elian Gonzalez should be returned to live with his father, and, further,
that whether one likes or dislikes Fidel Castro should not be the issue.
Rather, it is a question of law, both national and international.  And,
lastly, as to whether or not this is an "issue of marginal importance," we
can disagree.

As regards the links you suggested which indicate problems with the Cuban
judicial system, one should, in the spirit of intellectual honesty (the
opposite of which you decry), look at information critical of the U.S.
judicial system as well, for surely Mr. Chase, you would not want to be
depicted as:  "one which [who] has chosen hip posturing in place of
confronting in a critical manner the complexities and realities of all
ideological constructs" (Chase, Fri, 14 Jan 2000, 23:45:58 -0500).  In
this spirit, the following links are offered:

http://www.hrw.org/wr2k/Us.htm

http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/countries/indx251.htm

http://www3.cuba.cu/politica/webpcc/demanda%20gobcubaeeuu.html


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Colin S. Cavell                         Young and old were taught that anti-
Department of Political Science         Communism was heroic. Three million
Thompson Tower                          copies were sold of the book by
Box 37520                               Mickey Spillane published in 1951,
University of Massachusetts             One Lonely Night, in which the hero,
INTERNET:  cscpo@polsci.umass.edu       Mike Hammer says: "I killed more
VOICE:     (413) 546-3408               people tonight than I have fingers
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cscpo    on my hands. I shot them in cold
blood
                                        and enjoyed every minute of it. . .
.
They were Commies . . . red sons-of-bitches who should have died long
ago. . . ."  A comic strip hero, Captain America, said: "Beware, commies,
spies, traitors, and foreign agents! Captain America, with all loyal, free
men
behind him, is looking for you. . . ."  And in the fifties, schoolchildren
all
over the country participated in air raid drills in which a Soviet attack on
America was signaled by sirens: the children had to crouch under their desks
until it was "all clear."

               --from Howard Zinn's
                 "A People's History of the United States"
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=

______________________________
On Sun, 16 Jan 2000, AC wrote:

> I think these sources should enlighten you as to the ongoing rights
> situation in Cuba, and should also answer Colin Cavell's somewhat
disjointed
> post to Beatty which, I believe, asserts that having a system of law is
the
> same as what has come to be known as "the rule of law." It's quite obvious
> there are plenty of laws which are applied in Cuba, thank you very much,
> just as a reading of these sources makes clear there is not rule of law.
The
> distinction is so basic that the head spins to think one even has to note
> it.