Ideas
Cannot Be Killed
By Fidel Castro
30 May, 2007
Countercurrents.org
A
few days ago, while analyzing the expenses involved in the construction
of three submarines of the Astute series, I said that with this money
"75,000 doctors could be trained to look after 150 million people,
assuming that the cost of training a doctor would be one-third of what
it costs in the United States.” Now, along the lines of the same
calculations, I wonder: how many doctors could be graduated with the
one hundred billion dollars that Bush gets his hands on in just one
year to keep on sowing grief in Iraqi and American homes. Answer: 999,990
doctors who could look after 2 billion people that today do not receive
any medical care.
More than 600,000 people
have lost their lives in Iraq and more than 2 million have been forced
to emigrate since the American invasion began.
In the United States, around
50 million people do not have medical insurance. The blind market laws
govern how this vital service is provided, and prices make it inaccessible
for many, even in the developed countries. Medical services feed into
the Gross Domestic Product of the United States, but they do not generate
conscience for those providing them nor peace of mind for those who
receive it.
The countries with less development
and more diseases have the least number of medical doctors: one for
every 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 or more people. When new sexually
transmitted diseases appear such as AIDS, which in merely 20 years has
killed millions of persons, -- while tens of millions are afflicted,
among them many mothers and children, although palliative measures now
exist-- the price of medications per patient could add up to 5,000,
10,000 or up to 15,000 dollars each year. These are fantasy figures
for the great majority of Third World countries where the few public
hospitals are overflowing with the ill who die piled up like animals
under the scourge of a sudden epidemic.
To reflect on these realities
could help us to better understand the tragedy. It is not a matter of
commercial advertising that costs so much money and technology. Add
up the starvation afflicting hundreds of millions of human beings; add
to that the idea of transforming food into fuels; look for a symbol
and the answer will be George W. Bush.
When he was recently asked
by an important personality about his Cuba policy, his answer was this:
“I am a hard-line President and I am just waiting for Castro’s
demise.” The wishes of such a powerful gentleman are no privilege.
I am not the first nor will I be the last that Bush has ordered to be
killed; nor one of those people who he intends to go on killing individually
or en masse.
“Ideas cannot be killed”,
Sarría emphatically said. Sarría was the black lieutenant,
a patrol leader in Batista’s army who arrested us, after the attempt
to seize the Moncada Garrison, while three of us slept in a small mountain
hut, exhausted by the effort of breaking through the siege. The soldiers,
fuelled by hatred and adrenalin, were aiming their weapons at me even
before they had identified who I was. “Ideas cannot be killed”,
the black lieutenant kept on repeating, practically automatically and
in a hushed voice.
I dedicate those excellent
words to you, Mr. W. Bush.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.