Political Stance

[TopSix]

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: 7.75

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.18

Libertarian right winger, yeah baby.

That, I believe, makes you a neoliberal Chris.

[PullMyFinger]

If he's neo-liberal, am I a communist?

Economic Left/Right: -3.25

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.38

Me, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Where did I leave those sandals?

[DornochCaley]

I got...

Economic Left/Right: -4.59

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.72

[PullMyFinger]

How do you know they have the highest standard of literacy in the world? Because the communist regimes reports say so? Lol, take that with a grain of salt. And what use is literacy if the government tells you what websites and books you can and can't read?

Literacy rates in Cuba in 2002

Female over 15 years 99.79092216%

Male over 15 years 99.80731392% Joint over 15 years 99.79907436%

Female 15 - 24 years 99.9536914%

Male 15 - 24 years 99.95740613% Joint aged 15 - 24 years 99.95560368%

Source :- Gapminder website

If they're not the highest in the world they can't be from it.

Incidentally, life expectancy in Cuba is 78 years compared to 79 years here or 42 in impoverished areas like Dingwall.

[TopSix]

I just took the political compass test:

Economic Left/Right: -0.88

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.23

I'd classify myself as a new liberal. I remember Reading TH Green's writings a while ago and being in agreement.

[TopSix]

If he's neo-liberal, am I a communist?

Economic Left/Right: -3.25

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.38

Me, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Where did I leave those sandals?

I'd say no. You obviously don't advocate state intervention in regard to the laws surrounding the individual. In some senses it's strange to see Mandela out there as the ANC was, for many years, classified as a communist party. However, after the fall of apartheid, RSA ended up with a Rainbow Constitution - arguably the most liberal constitution ever written.

[Renegade]

Me on the Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: 0.62

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.59

BTW - How do you paste the picture onto the post?

Edited December 16, 2009 by Renegade

[PullMyFinger]

BTW - How do you paste the picture onto the post?

Pritt stick.

"Save picture as" then upload it into "attachments" then add into post, simples.

Not that you care anyway. :angry:

Edited December 17, 2009 by PullMyFinger

[starchief]

Yes, I'm a vegetarian environmentalist. How did you know? :cold02:

[DornochCaley]

UNICEF confirms that Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean that child malnutrition has been eliminated.

Yep. Must he just terrible in Cuba. :P

[Renegade]

Wow Latin America! It must be amazing if you can have better record against than such juggernauts as Guatemala and El Salvador...

[PullMyFinger]

Wow Latin America! It must be amazing if you can have better record against than such juggernauts as Guatemala and El Salvador...

I'll bite, what do you mean by juggernauts?

There are also other countries in Latin America such as Brazil, Peru. Argentina, Mexico, Uraguay to name but a few.

Having eliminated child malnutrition is not to be scoffed at.

[stevico1]

Yeap...

December 25th....

3 days after their trial began.

Now that's what I call justice!

Was a bit of a Kangaroo court to say the least, and there were/still are those that if not quite as guilty with blood on their hands as well.

[DornochCaley]

Wow Latin America! It must be amazing if you can have better record against than such juggernauts as Guatemala and El Salvador...

Its not as if Britain has been free of Child Malnutrition for a while is it? Infact its not been long at all. So for a country who is boycotted by the biggest industrial power on earth, then Cuba are doing brilliant.

[ictchris]

Amazing that so many people try to leave this Cuban paradise by swimming 70 odd miles to Miami. Clearly those people haven't been reading the latest UNICEF reports!

[starchief]

I don't think it's fair to compare a still-developing country subjected to sanctions to the world's only real superpower. Try comparing it to Venezuela, Brazil or some other Latin American country of similar development.

[Caley Stan]

Amazing that so many people try to leave this Cuban paradise by swimming 70 odd miles to Miami. Clearly those people haven't been reading the latest UNICEF reports!

I don't think it's fair to compare a still-developing country subjected to sanctions to the world's only real superpower. Try comparing it to Venezuela, Brazil or some other Latin American country of similar development.

I think the trade embargo that has been imposed on Cuba for over 50 years means that there is no comparison to be made - even with other Latin American countries. While Cuba's achievments in health and education are admirable, the authoritarian nature of the regime has not been diluted in that time and the people have simply had enough. The moment that the Soviet Union collapsed was the beginning of the end of socialism on that island. Without powerful allies, and with an economy concentrated on something as volatile as sugar, Cuba's system was simply unsustainable. In recent years it has been forced to open its doors to tourism and to dollars sent by the Miamian diaspora. Anyone with access to either of these sources of income can make more money in a day than highly trained public servants do in a year. Socialism in Cuba is dead and i predict that the regime that created it will be gone within the next decade.

No doubt the neo-liberals will turn a blind eye to the increasing numbers of Cubans who make their way across to Florida as they toast the freedom of Cuba.

[caley100]

The other side of tourism of course is that muggers have more opportunity to earn us dollars. :P

[ictchris]

I think the trade embargo that has been imposed on Cuba for over 50 years means that there is no comparison to be made - even with other Latin American countries. While Cuba's achievments in health and education are admirable, the authoritarian nature of the regime has not been diluted in that time and the people have simply had enough. The moment that the Soviet Union collapsed was the beginning of the end of socialism on that island. Without powerful allies, and with an economy concentrated on something as volatile as sugar, Cuba's system was simply unsustainable. In recent years it has been forced to open its doors to tourism and to dollars sent by the Miamian diaspora. Anyone with access to either of these sources of income can make more money in a day than highly trained public servants do in a year. Socialism in Cuba is dead and i predict that the regime that created it will be gone within the next decade.

No doubt the neo-liberals will turn a blind eye to the increasing numbers of Cubans who make their way across to Florida as they toast the freedom of Cuba.

The trade embargo has ensured that the socialist state has remained in place - it's a massive US policy failure. If they got rid of it the regime would be gone far sooner. As it stands, the semi-siege economy remains in place and the Soviets have been partially replaced by Venezuela, who trade oil for doctors. However, when Venezuela's economy collapses (they devalued their currency last week and Chavez' policies have made the country a complete basket case) it will face the same situation again.

I like the phrase 'The Miamian Diaspora'. It sounds like a Nu-Prog band that would support the Mars Volta.

[TopSix]

Pros and cons in both systems. Takes us back to thinking of Isaiah Berlin's positive v negative liberty theory. Do Cubans want a free Market economy which operates in a global, volatile state, or stick with things the way they are? ICTChris makes a good point in relation to there being a seige mentality perhaps.

[Caley Stan]

The other side of tourism of course is that muggers have more opportunity to earn us dollars. :P

However, when Venezuela's economy collapses (they devalued their currency last week and Chavez' policies have made the country a complete basket case) it will face the same situation again.

No more of a basket case than the succession of US backed dictatorships and their Chicago School chums who have ravaged Latin America over the last few decades. At least Chavez is accountable to his electorate, most of which lives in dire poverty and sees an opportunity to redistribute some of the wealth and power that has been concentrated in the hands of a relatively small elite since the oil was discovered in the 20's. Personally, i don't have much faith in Chavez' domestic project. His lasting legacy will be the effect that his rhetoric and his race has had on the rest of the region. The idea that the indigenous and the poor can stand up to the power that has kept them down for so long is permeating throughout Latin America.

?El pueblo unido, jam?s ser? vencido!

[DornochCaley]

The other side of tourism of course is that muggers have more opportunity to earn us dollars. :P

However, when Venezuela's economy collapses (they devalued their currency last week and Chavez' policies have made the country a complete basket case) it will face the same situation again.

No more of a basket case than the succession of US backed dictatorships and their Chicago School chums who have ravaged Latin America over the last few decades. At least Chavez is accountable to his electorate, most of which lives in dire poverty and sees an opportunity to redistribute some of the wealth and power that has been concentrated in the hands of a relatively small elite since the oil was discovered in the 20's. Personally, i don't have much faith in Chavez' domestic project. His lasting legacy will be the effect that his rhetoric and his race has had on the rest of the region. The idea that the indigenous and the poor can stand up to the power that has kept them down for so long is permeating throughout Latin America.

?El pueblo unido, jam?s ser? vencido!

Point i was trying to get across. The US have backed so many Fascist dictators in Latin America. Without the US most the Dictators would never have came to power. The US have exploited South America for a long, long time. And they will continue to do so. Atleast Castro had the balls to stand up to them.

[ictchris]

No more of a basket case than the succession of US backed dictatorships and their Chicago School chums who have ravaged Latin America over the last few decades. At least Chavez is accountable to his electorate, most of which lives in dire poverty and sees an opportunity to redistribute some of the wealth and power that has been concentrated in the hands of a relatively small elite since the oil was discovered in the 20's. Personally, i don't have much faith in Chavez' domestic project. His lasting legacy will be the effect that his rhetoric and his race has had on the rest of the region. The idea that the indigenous and the poor can stand up to the power that has kept them down for so long is permeating throughout Latin America.

?El pueblo unido, jam?s ser? vencido!

The wealth and power is still in the hands of a small elite, it's just they occasionally mouth Chavista slogans. The population of Venezuela still, in the main, live miserable lives beset by poverty and violence. The nationalisation programme by Chavez has seen shops lie empty due to his attempts to control food prices and the revenues from Venezuela's oil fields are falling due to inefficient production. Chavez also periodically moves his army to the border with Columbia. Is it really beyond comprehension that when the economy completely collapses Chavez might try and secure his power by a military move against Columbia?

The countries who were influenced by the Chicago School are the most prosperous and politically free in Latin America.

Point i was trying to get across. The US have backed so many Fascist dictators in Latin America. Without the US most the Dictators would never have came to power. The US have exploited South America for a long, long time. And they will continue to do so. Atleast Castro had the balls to stand up to them.

What's the difference between the Fascist dicactors and Castro? Try speaking out against the Castro revolution in Cuba, see what happens. Try using the internet, visiting another country, forming a free trade union or political association in Cuba. The main difference is that countries like Cuba allow left-wingers to indulge in Citizen Smith-style, anti 'imperialist' posturing.

[Yngwie]

The other side of tourism of course is that muggers have more opportunity to earn us dollars. :030:

When I went on a tour of Havana there was this mouthy Scouse tourist, wearing the biggest, chunkiest, gold chain I've ever seen. He proclaimed loudly to everyone "I'm not racist, but you've got to watch the darkies here". Anyway, the next day we were all heading back to Varadero when he got onto the the bus, minus the chain thanks to his aforementioned friends. To everyone's amusement, he'd spent the previous day at the police station whilst the rest of us experienced the most incredible city.

His muggers became wealthy by Cuban standards, but what can they spend their money on?

[ictchris]

I'm not racist, but

Ah. The signature call of the idiot.