Castro remembered amid West's waning dominance

How would one of the world's most fierce challengers of Western imperialism, the founding President of Cuban socialism Fidel Castro, have responded today to a newly rampant Western power bloc, a decade after he died? How would the astute, veteran of revolution himself, view his principal enemy, this same power bloc, whose lead power, the United States (US), is in its sixth month of war in the Persian Gulf causing worldwide economic chaos and, while the bloc's sponsored colony of Israel is in its third year of direct military genocide in Palestine? Fidel, noted for his analytical acumen and political strategic success, would be quick to see all this violent geopolitics as first evidence of a desperate, declining imperialism. As do many Left and even some Liberal analysts do today, this late revolutionary legend would also pragmatically acknowledge that the imperialists remain globally dominant. The renewed attempt at economic isolation and dislocation of Iran is now proof that the military onslaught by the entire Western power bloc and its regional allies has not succeeded. More than 100 nations of the Global South are now economically struggling with the shock of the US sanctions against Iran, cowed as they are by America's brute economic force. But many other stronger powers, led by rival economic superpower China, are not cowed, and whatever Washington might say, the world knows that they will not comply. Indeed, even the US' own strategy think tanks are pointing out to White House that the sanctions have reached their limit – even though that limit does partly cripple Iran. Those same think tanks, even as they fully endorse Washington's need to sustain its 'global leadership' (read continued imperial dominance), have also been warning an ebullient national leadership about the limits of crude militarism. SCO The latest expression of geopolitical defiance of the domineering West came last week at the annual summit meeting of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan. The SCO comprises Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic, representing some 40 percent of the world's population and over 20 percent of economic production. The Bishkek Declaration, after the two-day meeting ending September 1, condemns – without naming the countries- the US and Israel's war on Iran and Western sanctions on some SCO Member States. The SCO declaration strongly condoles Iran over the killing of its Spiritual Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, in a joint US-Israeli bombing that also wiped out most of his direct family. Commentators are saying that two important Asian States, both nuclear-armed and with close ties to the West, namely, India and Pakistan, are also signatories to this statement. Even as such world community criticism mounts against the West, the world must stagger along, bombardment by bombardment. The socially violent demographics of Western economic sanctions are now adding up in terms of starvation, collapsed livelihoods, stunting and psychological trauma. Even the societies of the Western power bloc waging all these imperialist wars are also feeling the pinch, even if it is slightly more costly food and fuel – not to forget more expensive international holiday travel. Cubans and people across the world are celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (August 13, 1926 – November 25, 2016), respected by socialists worldwide as 'Comrade Fidel' but, most intimately by his compatriots, as El Caballo (The Horse). Apparently, in the Cuban lottery number system, the horse represents the number one. Revolution As with all socially progressive, persevering and self-sacrificial, social movements, especially those movements that achieved successful national transformations – whether in Soviet Russia, Vietnam, China – Cuba, too, has its folklore, its iconic events and moments, and its personas. Certainly, in Cuba, the dominant persona, its 'father figure', is Fidel Castro. Castro is what Mao is to China and Ho Chi Minh is to Vietnam and Mahatma Gandhi and Subash Chandra Bose are to India. Significantly, however, given that martyrdom is often revered even more than living achievements, there is another hero of the Cuban Revolution who is easily more popular worldwide in a romantic and poignant sense: Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. Readers will acknowledge the greater familiarity of that name in this country because of a social movement that briefly exploded in insurgency (with lauded social goals) and openly attributed its militant inspiration to Cuba's revolutionary success but also, specifically, to that insurgency's best known martyr: Che Guevara. Guevara, Argentinian by birth, met Castro in Mexico, Cuba's closest Latin American neighbour, while Castro was spending one of his several exile periods in that country. Mexico has had a history of Left-leaning Governments that have given shelter to many exiled revolutionaries. Before Castro, there was Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky who ended up in Mexico City fleeing the wrath of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. He was assassinated there by Stalin's agents. Guevara and Castro famously launched their first insurgent expedition against Cuba's Batista dictatorship from Mexico with the first contingent being transferred by sea in a yacht. Cuba marked the 100th anniversary of Fidel Castro's birth on August 13, 2026, with nationwide cultural and political commemorations amid the island's severe economic crisis. It is notable that the celebrations are taking place amid worsening social and economic conditions caused by the militarily enforced blockade by the US. It is carried out by US Forces in the (Caribbean) seas around Cuba for the purpose of literally preventing all essentials – from energy to food and medicines – from reaching that hapless nation. The US also has a base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, which was acquired as part of the Cuban Independence agreement with Spain. However, it plays no part in the military blockade, being a counter-terrorism facility. In the capital, Havana, thousands gathered at venues such as the Karl Marx Theatre and the National Theatre in Havana for official galas and events. More than 1,500 activists and delegates from over 60 countries reportedly travelled to Cuba to join the centenary events. Castro's brother, Army General Raúl Castro and current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel presided over the main political and cultural tributes. The week included concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra, photography exhibitions at the José Marti Memorial, ballet performances, and book fairs. Visiting international delegations praised Castro, remarking on his legacy of national sovereignty, and the thriving public services of education and health care. Media also reported ordinary citizens marking the milestone amid the ongoing deep economic crisis, chronic power blackouts, and shortages of basic goods, all the result of decades of US-imposed sanctions. True to his role as a national patriarch, Fidel Castro had a multi-faceted family life. He had two legal consorts and several informal relationships. Mirta Díaz-Balart was his first wife, whom he married in 1948 and divorced in 1955. Dalia Soto del Valle was his long-term partner from the 1960s onward, whom he later married in 1980 and remained with until his death in 2016. Natalia 'Naty' Revuelta and María Laborde were companions with whom he also had children outside of his marriages. With Mirta Díaz-Balart, he had Fidel Ángel 'Fidelito' Castro Díaz-Balart (1949–2018), eldest son, a nuclear physicist. With Naty Revuelta he had Alina Fernández (born 1953), daughter, who later became an outspoken critic of the Cuban Government and moved to the US. With Dalia Soto del Valle he had five sons: Alexis, Alexander, Alejandro, Antonio (an orthopedic surgeon), and Ángel (Angelito). His other children were Jorge Ángel and Francisca Pupo, born from other relationships. Ideological Not a great philosopher-leader of the ilk of Lenin and Mao, Fidel Castro had an evolving ideological journey, beginning as a pure nationalist and anti-imperialist. As he himself proclaimed his ideological roots, he followed in the steps of Simón Bolívar, legendary rebel of the early continent-wide anti-Spanish colonial struggle. Bolivar literally founded much of South America's nations of today. José Martí, Cuba's own first nationalist and anti-colonial leader, was his next inspiration. Fidel Castro formed an interconnected ideological lineage of Latin American liberation, anti-imperialism, and revolutionary nationalism. Simón Bolívar (1783–1830), known as 'The Liberator,' freed large parts of South America from Spanish colonial rule and (unsuccessfully) advocated a unified Hispanic-American confederation. José Martí (1853–1895) was Cuba's own national hero and poet. Martí deeply revered Bolívar's legacy as the path to Cuban independence from Spain and resisting US hegemony. Fidel Castro, who became the founder-leader of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, explicitly framed his socialist Movement as the fulfilment of Martí's political thought, which in turn was rooted in Bolívar's anti-colonial mission. Initially, Castro's insurgency did not include the Communist Party (CP) of Cuba, although his cadres included many Marxists. His was a national liberation movement against the US puppet regime of Fulgencio Batista, a Cuban military officer and politician. Batista served as President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, and again from 1952 till his ouster in 1959. On coming to power, Castro drew in the Marxist organisations, including the Cuban CP into a grand socialist coalition. As he then systematically argued, in the face of imperialist might, socialism was the only way forward for a developing nation recovering from the yoke of Western colonialism. Today, if he were alive, Castro is sure to be provoked into defiance in the face of the immense violence of ongoing Western power bloc geopolitics. And he will feel vindicated by the success of the Chinese hybrid model of development. He will also be intrigued by the new path this country seems to be taking.