Fidel Castro has resigned after almost 50 years as president and commander-in-chief of Cuba, leaving power in the hands of his brother Raul.

 

Mr Castro, who is 81, seized power in a 1959 revolution and was the world’s third longest-serving head of state.

 

A staunch enemy of the United States both during the Cold War and more recently, Castro maintained Cuba as one of the last bastions of communism to the end of his rule but earned international condemnation for the country’s human rights record.

 

How will history judge 'el lider maximo'? Was he a ruthless dictator or a charismatic revolutionary? Or a bit of both?

 

What does his resignation mean for Cuba? Do you think that the end of Fidel's rule will open the way for democracy in Cuba?

 

Source : Sunday Telegraph

Doubt it. His brother Raul is now in charge. From what I've read about him he's even more hardline than Fidel. Don't think anything much will change tbh.

He was a communist, enough said

 

Communism was the biggest political evil of my lifetime so good riddance to him, hopefully Chavez will be next and Kim Il Jong

He was a communist, enough said

 

Communism was the biggest political evil of my lifetime so good riddance to him, hopefully Chavez will be next and Kim Il Jong

At least Chavez was elected democratically which is more than can be said for Castro or Kim Jong Il.

I like Chavez, he does good things for Venezuela; even if he does have quite a 'bold' personality.

 

Also, I fail to see how one could describe communism as a political evil, it's done a lot of good in Cuba. Admittedly the mis-use of communism for selfish/power means is a political evil but the root principal of communism is far from so I'd argue.

Communism was the biggest political evil of my lifetime so good riddance to him

 

This is such a stupid thing to say :mellow:

Anyway, having visited Cuba i can honestly say i was devestated by his decision to resign. The cubans are so badly treated by the Americans and Castro's 'political evil' ending will allow the Americans in to take over which just isnt right. CUBA FTW <3

This is such a stupid thing to say :mellow:

Anyway, having visited Cuba i can honestly say i was devestated by his decision to resign. The cubans are so badly treated by the Americans and Castro's 'political evil' ending will allow the Americans in to take over which just isnt right. CUBA FTW <3

 

If you think communism is good do a Google search on Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge Communist regime in Cambodia and come back and tell me communism is a good thing :)

If you think communism is good do a Google search on Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge Communist regime in Cambodia and come back and tell me communism is a good thing :)

Communism didn't massacre those thousands of people, one man did; who used communism as a tool to oppress and kill people. The same happens still in China now but to a far smaller extent.

 

The actual ethos/substance of communism is very different. Too many people have mis-used it for their own good in history. I'd argue it's pretty ignorant to view communism and see it from such a single dimensional perspective. You've had capitalist dictators/massacres remember, does that make capitalism evil?

 

The political spectrum runs in a circle and the extreme right essentially meets with the extreme left at a point. Look at Nazi Germany and Hitler's workers programmes. One could argue that they were very left wing/communist in nature but the dictatorship was very fascist and right wing in form.

 

Communism has done a lot of good for Cuba. It's America's crippling embargos which have left it in the state it's in. America simply doesn't respect it's fellow countries right to act in the manner that they so choose. It's one of a million reasons America is utterly detested by much of the world.

If you think communism is good do a Google search on Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge Communist regime in Cambodia and come back and tell me communism is a good thing :)

Pol Pot was probably the most evil leader of my lifetime. Whether you could call his regime Communist - or any other named ideology - is another matter.

If you think communism is good do a Google search on Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge Communist regime in Cambodia and come back and tell me communism is a good thing :)

He didn't mention that "communism was good" at all.

 

Funny thing is, that Pol Pot towards the end of his reign was actually helpedby the Americans!

 

So strangely it seems that the west at the time didn't think that Pol Pot was the evil man everyone now thinks he is...

Communism and fascism always seem to turn out much the same in reality. While the ethos may be different, the countries adopting either system always seem to end up as totalitarian states with no democracy, no freedom of expression etc etc.

 

Not all in Cuba is bad. They have a reasonably good health service and a very high literacy rate. As had the Soviet Union. But how Cuba has treated it's dissidents (authors, artists, journalists) over the years is appalling. And sorry but to me the right to be able to think for myself and openly disagree with the government is the most important indicator of a civilised society.

 

Freedom of expression is the most basic human right. Cuba doesn't have that. Until it does I won't be holding it up as any kind of shining example.

The actual ethos/substance of communism is very different. Too many people have mis-used it for their own good in history. I'd argue it's pretty ignorant to view communism and see it from such a single dimensional perspective. You've had capitalist dictators/massacres remember, does that make capitalism evil?

 

Spot on. Is Communism more evil than Fascism/Nazism..? I dont think so... In fact, I would argue that Globalised Capitalism is far more evil and oppressive than Socialism or Marxism...

 

The likes of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot absolutely and shamelessly distorted Marxism for their own evil ends, neither Marx nor Engels would ever have any truck with those individuals any more than Nietsche or Wagner would want to be associated with Hitler.. Saying Pol Pot or Stalin represents Communism is like saying Osama Bin Laden represents the majority of Muslims...

 

If you think communism is good do a Google search on Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge Communist regime in Cambodia and come back and tell me communism is a good thing :)

 

I dont think communism is a good regime as such, i see it has it's positives and yes Pol Pot was an evil dictator who used communism as a tool to opress all those people but that's not the general idea of communism. Cuba was a prime example of communism working in it's finest.

I personally see him as a charismatic revolutionary, a leader and a hero!

 

A living legend

Edited March 4, 200817 yr by Iosif Andrei