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Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Cuba, human rights and the greater good
Opinion The invocation of human rights discourse in Cuba is sensitive and often controversial. I vividly remember my first trip to Cuba in the mid-1990s, where we (I was travelling with a group of students from Saint Mary's University in Halifax) visited the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in Havana. When a question and answer discussion started, I asked about Cuba's human rights record within the country. The room suddenly grew quiet. But, as is often the case, the Cuban representatives attending the session were more than happy to entertain my query. They wanted to make clear to the group that context, historical experience and cultural patterns and values are critical to grappling with such a thorny issue. I want to be very clear myself from the outset that this op-ed piece is not about defending or excoriating Cuba's human rights record. Readers can visit the country, talk to the people, and see for themselves. This piece hopes to foster greater understanding and context and spur debate. As a socialist and revolutionary country, Cuba gives more prominence to social policy challenges — as opposed to Western-style civil and political rights — and thus values economic, social and cultural rights or responsibilities. For them, the emphasis is on the valuing of 'human' life, as became clear during the ICAP discussion, and rests on advancing Cubans' human dignity, taking care of their basic human needs and tending to their overall welfare. Cuban President Fidel Castro, in an October 1979 speech before the UN General Assembly, stated emphatically: 'I speak on behalf of those who have been denied the right to life and human dignity.' Put another way, governmental preference should be given to collective or group rights/interests and not individual civil and political rights. It is also true that Global North free and fair elections are absent in Cuba, as are constitutionally mandated press freedoms and, most important, the right to engage in political dissent. Moreover, the Madrid-based non-governmental organization, Prisoners Defenders, maintains that there were over 1,000 political prisoners in Cuban jails in 2024. On the other hand, the Cuban government gives priority to responsibilities (as advanced by a socialist state that embodies the people) around equality, family, labour and, most significantly, community or group rights. Again, the focus revolves around human dignity, economic sustenance and ensuring that basic needs are met. For instance, the state seeks to keep the cost of housing low, subsidizes housing materials and offers low-cost rental fees. To a large extent (and these days everything is in short supply in Cuba), access to decent health care, education (including at the university level), a job and a small retirement pension are all guaranteed by the Cuban government. Socially speaking, Cuba has legally entrenched same-sex marriage (and adoption rights), prohibits discrimination based on gender, identity and sexual orientation and has recognized transgender people (and made gender affirmation surgery available for free). It has also codified responsibilities for equal family responsibilities for children, a family life free from violence and an inclusive LGBTTQ+ public health and education program. Much work, of course, still remains to be done in these areas. It is instructive to note that Cuba's turbulent and troubled history has been shaped by colonial dominance (by Spain and then the United States) that was characterized by economic exploitation, a sugar plantation economy and violent slavery and political repression. However, during these periods there was no cultural transplanting of any conception of the inalienable political rights of individual human beings. After 1959, socialist Cuba began to place higher priority on modernization/industrialization, counter-dependency, an end to economic subjugation and the fulfilment of basic economic and social rights (given its abject poverty) within the wider community. And it was clearly Spanish and U.S. colonization that reinforced among the Cuban people the notion of group cohesion, oneness and the emergence of a resilient value system. Accordingly, the Cuban state took on the core role of developing the country economically and socially with the purported best interests of its people in mind. Any interest in entrenching individual political rights had to take a back seat to ensuring human dignity for everyone and redistributing the fruits of a state-driven developing economy — as well as guaranteeing freedom from starvation, freedom from exploitation and the satisfaction of basic human needs. Of course, governmental promises and pledges around human rights are not the same thing as actual positive results on the ground — as we have seen in Cuba, the Global South and the industrialized North. Looking forward, though, can the Cuban state fulfil its social and economic responsibilities to the people without embracing free market capitalism? Or, will the manifestations of those rights (e.g., access to health care, education and state entitlements) fall prey to the profit motive and rugged individualism? And will traditional Cuban values of group-mindedness, looking out for the welfare of others and sharing what they have still remain over time? Lots of questions. Very few answers, I'm afraid. Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
A quaint road in Delhi gains spotlight after PM Modi is conferred honour in Cyprus
On Monday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred Cyprus' one of the highest civilian honour—the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III—it cast a quiet glow on a corner of central Delhi. Tucked behind Lodhi Road, a short, tree-lined stretch named Archbishop Makarios Marg suddenly found itself in the spotlight. The road, renamed in the 1980s, honours Makarios III, the towering figure who served as Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus from 1950 to 1977 and later became the country's first President. He is widely regarded as the founding father of the Republic of Cyprus, leading its transition from British colonial rule. The award Modi received also bears his name, cementing a historical thread between Nicosia and New Delhi—one woven through shared diplomacy and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The Archbishop Makarios Marg, historians recall, was once called Golf Links Road. But in the wake of the 1983 NAM summit hosted in Delhi, it was among several roads rechristened in tribute to international leaders aligned with India's vision. 'A host of important leaders were in Delhi for the summit, including Fidel Castro,' said author Sohail Hashmi. 'Soon after, roads were renamed for them—Josip Broz Tito Marg, Gamal Abdel Nasser Marg, Ho Chi Minh Marg—and Makarios Marg. He was a freedom fighter and central to Cyprus' struggle for independence.' 'Pandit Nehru's role was instrumental in the non-aligned movement and this continued till the 1980s, particularly during Indira Gandhi's time, when India wholly believed in this ideology,' Hashmi added. Prime Minister Modi, accepting the honour in Cyprus on Monday, expressed gratitude to the President and people of Cyprus, dedicating the award to the historic friendship between the two nations. The road named after Makarios is a relic of a diplomatic era that once burned brightly. Political scientist Anuradha Chenoy, former dean at JNU's School of International Studies and now with OP Jindal Global University, said the road-naming spree of the 1980s was a reflection of India's deep commitment to NAM. 'I remember that summit—Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, had all come to Delhi,' said Chenoy. 'It was also a time when the city was being reimagined spatially. The Shanti Path diplomatic enclave was coming up, embassies were being consolidated, and roads were named after world leaders who stood for decolonisation and sovereignty. Makarios had passed away not long before. Naming a road after him was part of that ethos.' Congress leader Jairam Ramesh remembered the archbishop's connection to India. In a post on X, he recalled Makarios' visit to India in 1962, where he spent two weeks as a guest of the Nehru government. 'When Pandit Nehru died in 1964, Cyprus declared a national day of mourning,' Ramesh wrote. 'In the early 1980s, a beautiful and busy street in Delhi's Golf Links area was named after him—although his name is split into two parts on the signboard.'
Fox News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Maher shreds Sean Penn for meeting with Castro, Chavez after actor criticizes HBO host's Trump meeting
HBO host Bill Maher accused actor Sean Penn of being a hypocrite this week after the actor slammed the comedian's meeting with President Donald Trump. During the latest episode of Maher's "Club Random" podcast, the comedian and political commentator called out Penn's meetings with world dictators when the actor pointed out that he wouldn't have gone to dinner with Trump like Maher had. "Really, you meet with f---ing Castro and Hugo Chavez, but not the President of the United States?" Maher asked. The disagreement came while the two discussed Maher's meeting with the president at the White House in April. Maher has maintained that the meeting with Trump was "gracious and measured" and suggested the president was a different man in private than he appears on camera. Penn met with late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in Caracas in 2007. According to Chavez at the time, he and the actor discussed "why the (U.S.) empire attacks Chavez so much." The actor also met with late Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro years prior, as well as Raul Castro in 2008. Maher began by asking Penn whether he believed having dinner with Trump was the right move. The actor said he could see the reasons why Maher would go to dinner with Trump, but admitted he wished the dinner was perceived as "less successful" for the president than it was, or that Maher had less praise for Trump's demeanor during their evening together. Maher disputed that point, stating, "Well, it was less successful because I never stopped saying all the things I've always said about him. It would have been successful if he had somehow seduced me into supporting him. So it wasn't successful." "The only reason I would not accept an invitation is because I see, I see no – it's a long flight," Penn said, struggling to give his answer. Maher cut him off mid-thought, bringing up his meetings with the Latin American dictators. Penn defended himself, saying there were good things that came out of those meetings. "Yeah, I saw good results come out of some of those things in terms of the agendas that I had… I just personally wouldn't trust anything that was said in the room, including the personality," he added, appearing to suggest taking Trump at face value was beyond the pale. Maher shot back, "It's not a matter of trusting it. It's a matter of seeing it, a matter of experiencing it, a matter of knowing it. It's like saying, 'I don't want this medical test because, you know, I don't want to know.' I want to know." "Fair enough," Penn replied.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Bill Maher blasts Sean Penn for disclosing dinner with Trump
Bill Maher was baffled that Hollywood star Sean Penn would question his dinner with Donald Trump after the Oscar winner had met with the likes of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Penn stunned the comedian on his Club Random podcast when he said he would have not met with the president as Maher did in April. But in the ultimate retort, Maher turned the tables back on Penn: 'Really? You'll meet with [expletive] Castro and Hugo Chavez, but not the President of the United States?' Penn met with socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2007, in Caracas, when he was considered a villain by the Bush administration. In 2008, President Raul Castro of Cuba granted him his first interview with a non-Cuban and at one point, he met Fidel Castro while on a trip to Havana. He also visited Iraq in 2002 and Iran in 2005. In 2016, he shocked the world, admitting to have met and interviewed Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán. Maher was actually seeking the left-wing actor's approval for his dinner with Trump: 'But you do, I hope, think I did the right thing to have dinner with him.' 'Absolutely, you're so smart,' replied the Fast Times at Ridgemont High star. 'Look, this is the President of the United States, whether we like it or not, doesn't matter,' Penn continued. 'I think that when you talked about it on the show that I would have preferred that I saw his mission or his will to have the dinner, I wish I would have seen it as less successful. Because you're so smart on policy.' Maher retorted: 'Well it was less successful because I never stopped saying all the things I've always said about him. It would have been successful if he had somehow seduced me into supporting him.' That's when Penn said he would not have done it, in part jokingly that 'it's a long flight' but also suggesting there would be no purpose. Penn responded to Maher's crack about having met Castro and Chavez by saying he 'saw good results come out of some of those things.' 'I just personally wouldn't trust anything that was said in the room,' Penn summed up. Maher replied: 'It's not a matter of trusting it, it's a matter of seeing it, a matter of experiencing it, a matter of knowing it.' He compared it to someone who didn't want to get tested medically because they might not want to know something was wrong with them. Penn ultimately agreed. Unlike Castro and Chavez, Penn later expressed regret for the interview with El Chapo, saying his goal was to start a conversation about the war on drugs. The acclaimed actor also accused the Mexican government of endangering his life by claiming that his meeting with El Chapo led to his eventual capture. El Chapo was arrested the next year and eventually extradited to the United States, where he is on trial. Maher said Donald Trump was 'gracious and measured' in what he described as a positive meeting with the president, to the point that he walked away with a cheeky gift. Maher has always attacked Trump on his HBO show dating back over a decade, when the two were involved in a lawsuit over Maher claiming the president's father was an orangutan. On Friday's show, he took time out exclusively to 'give you my book report on my visit to the White House,' which saw him have dinner with Trump and UFC owner Dana White. The lefty comedian confirmed the meeting had been arranged by musician and Trump fan Kid Rock, who also attended: 'Because we share a belief that there's gotta be something better than hurling insults at each other from 3,000 miles away.' He slammed those who saw the event as some kind of important diplomacy meeting. 'For all the people who treated this like it was some sort of summit meeting, you're ridiculous. Like I was gonna sign a treaty or something? I'm a [expletive] comedian, I have no power! He's the most powerful leader in the world, I'm not the leader of anything,' Maher said. The comic did say that he wanted to represent 'a contingent of centrist-minded people who believe there's got to be a better way of running this country than hating each other every minute.' He confirmed that Trump was a 'different' person than he'd seen in the public eye over the last decade and even the night before, when the president publicly wondered if the meeting was even a good idea. 'The guy I met is not the person who, the night before, [expletive]-tweeted a bunch of nasty crap about how he thought this dinner was a bad idea, and what a deranged [expletive] I was. He's much more self-aware than he lets on in public,' Maher added. Perhaps most striking to Maher was that Trump ' laughed' and has a sense of humor about himself. 'First good sign, before I left for the capital, I had my staff collect and print out this list of almost 60 different insulting epithets that the president said about me,' Maher said. 'I brought this to the White House because I wanted him to sign it, which he did with good humor,' he added. He joked about how the hoards of MAGA haters must be hating this: 'I know as I say that, millions of liberal sphincters just tightened.' 'I'm gonna report what happened and you decide. If that's not enough pure Trump hate for you, I don't give a [expletive],' Maher said unapologetically. He said that the president did not ask him for his support and when he gifted Maher several Trump hats, he didn't ask him to take a photograph wearing them. 'I'm just taking it as a positive this person exists because everything I've ever not like about him was, I swear to God, absent, at least on this night with this guy,' he said. The discussion largely was one of Trump asking for Maher's thoughts on various hot political topics, which he said he was heard out on, if not agreed with. He confronted Trump mostly that he agreed with him on several issues, like immigration, improving police morale, keeping transgender people out of women's sports and several other ideas. 'I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him,' he said. Maher said that while he voted for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, 'I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was comfortable talking to Donald Trump.' 'I feel it's emblematic of why the Democrats are so unpopular these days,' he said, taking shots at liberals for their ineffective means of protest against the president. The pair even joked about the orangutan lawsuit, with Maher explaining he didn't like how he discussed Barack Obama's place of birth and Maher saying the president understood. All along, he seemed to reiterate that he wished the Trump he met would be like that all the time, asking: 'Why can't we get the guy I met to be the public guy? I went into the mind and that's what's down there. A crazy person doesn't live in the White House. A person who plays a crazy person lives there, which I know is [expletive] up, its just not as [expletive] up as I thought it was,' he said in summary. He said that he believes that the pair will likely go back to insulting each other, joking about Trump starting 'a new list.' However, he said that he believes Trump understands that 'I have a job to do.' 'MAGA fans, don't worry. Your boy gave me nothing, just hats and a very generous amount of time and a willingness to accept me as a possible friend even though I'm not MAGA, which was the point of the dinner,' he said. However, late on, the two shared a moment in the Oval Office where both admitted that there were a lot of people who liked that they were meeting but a lot of people who didn't want them to meet whatsoever. It was there that they were both in complete agreement. 'The people who don't even want us to talk? We don't like you,' he said.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Bill Maher eviscerates Sean Penn with ultimate comeback after Hollywood star calls out his dinner with Trump
Bill Maher was baffled that Hollywood star Sean Penn would question his dinner with Donald Trump after the Oscar winner had met with the likes of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Penn stunned the comedian on his Club Random podcast when he said he would have not met with the president as Maher did in April. Maher's response: 'Really? You'll meet with f***ing Castro and Hugo Chavez, but not the President of the United States?' Penn met with socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2007, in Caracas, when he was considered a villain by the Bush administration. In 2008, President Raul Castro of Cuba granted him his first interview with a non-Cuban and at one point, he met Fidel Castro while on a trip to Havana. He also visited Iraq in 2002 and Iran in 2005. In 2016, he shocked the world, admitting to have met and interviewed Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán. Maher was actually seeking the left-wing actor's approval for his dinner with Trump: 'But you do, I hope, think I did the right thing to have dinner with him.' 'Absolutely, you're so smart,' replied the Fast Times at Ridgemont High star. 'Look, this is the President of the United States, whether we like it or not, doesn't matter,' Penn continued. 'I think that when you talked about it on the show that I would have preferred that I saw his mission or his will to have the dinner, I wish I would have seen it as less successful. Because you're so smart on policy.' Maher retorted: 'Well it was less successful because I never stopped saying all the things I've always said about him. It would have been successful if he had somehow seduced me into supporting him.' That's when Penn said he would not have done it, in part jokingly that 'it's a long flight' but also suggesting there would be no purpose. Penn responded to Maher's crack about having met Castro and Chavez by saying he 'saw good results come out of some of those things.' 'I just personally wouldn't trust anything that was said in the room,' Penn summed up. Maher replied: 'It's not a matter of trusting it, it's a matter of seeing it, a matter of experiencing it, a matter of knowing it.' He compared it to someone who didn't want to get tested medically because they might not want to know something was wrong with them. Penn ultimately agreed. Unlike Castro and Chavez, Penn later expressed regret for the interview with El Chapo, saying his goal was to start a conversation about the war on drugs. The acclaimed actor also accused the Mexican government of endangering his life by claiming that his meeting with El Chapo led to his eventual capture. El Chapo was arrested the next year and eventually extradited to the United States, where he is on trial. Maher said Donald Trump was 'gracious and measured' in what he described as a positive meeting with the president, to the point that he walked away with a cheeky gift. Maher has always attacked Trump on his HBO show dating back over a decade, when the two were involved in a lawsuit over Maher claiming the president's father was an orangutan. On Friday's show, he took time out exclusively to 'give you my book report on my visit to the White House,' which saw him have dinner with Trump and UFC owner Dana White. The lefty comedian confirmed the meeting had been arranged by musician and Trump fan Kid Rock, who also attended: ' Because we share a belief that there's gotta be something better than hurling insults at each other from 3,000 miles away.' He slammed those who saw the event as some kind of important diplomacy meeting. 'For all the people who treated this like it was some sort of summit meeting, you're ridiculous. Like I was gonna sign a treaty or something? I'm a f***ing comedian, I have no power! He's the most powerful leader in the world, I'm not the leader of anything,' Maher said. The comic did say that he wanted to represent 'a contingent of centrist-minded people who believe there's got to be a better way of running this country than hating each other every minute.' He confirmed that Trump was a 'different' person than he'd seen in the public eye over the last decade and even the night before, when the president publicly wondered if the meeting was even a good idea. 'The guy I met is not the person who, the night before, s***-tweeted a bunch of nasty crap about how he thought this dinner was a bad idea, and what a deranged asshole I was.' 'He's much more self-aware than he lets on in public,' Maher added. Perhaps most striking to Maher was that Trump ' laughed' and has a sense of humor about himself. 'First good sign, before I left for the capital, I had my staff collect and print out this list of almost 60 different insulting epithets that the president said about me,' Maher said. 'I brought this to the White House because I wanted him to sign it, which he did with good humor,' he added. He joked about how the hoards of MAGA haters must be hating this: 'I know as I say that, millions of liberal sphincters just tightened.' 'I'm gonna report what happened and you decide. If that's not enough pure Trump hate for you, I don't give a f***,' Maher said unapologetically. He said that the president did not ask him for his support and when he gifted Maher several Trump hats, he didn't ask him to take a photograph wearing them. 'I'm just taking it as a positive this person exists because everything I've ever not like about him was, I swear to God, absent, at least on this night with this guy,' he said. The discussion largely was one of Trump asking for Maher's thoughts on various hot political topics, which he said he was heard out on, if not agreed with. He confronted Trump mostly that he agreed with him on several issues, like immigration, improving police morale, keeping transgender people out of women's sports and several other ideas. 'I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him,' he said. Maher said that while he voted for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, 'I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was comfortable talking to Donald Trump.' 'I feel it's emblematic of why the Democrats are so unpopular these days,' he said, taking shots at liberals for their ineffective means of protest against the president. The pair even joked about the orangutan lawsuit, with Maher explaining he didn't like how he discussed Barack Obama's place of birth and Maher saying the president understood. All along, he seemed to reiterate that he wished the Trump he met would be like that all the time, asking: 'Why can't we get the guy I met to be the public guy?' 'I went into the mind and that's what's down there. A crazy person doesn't live in the White House. A person who plays a crazy person lives there, which I know is f***ed up, its just not as f***ed up as I thought it was,' he said in summary. He said that he believes that the pair will likely go back to insulting each other, joking about Trump starting 'a new list.' However, he said that he believes Trump understands that 'I have a job to do.' 'MAGA fans, don't worry. Your boy gave me nothing, just hats and a very generous amount of time and a willingness to accept me as a possible friend even though I'm not MAGA, which was the point of the dinner,' he said. However, late on, the two shared a moment in the Oval Office where both admitted that there were a lot of people who liked that they were meeting but a lot of people who didn't want them to meet whatsoever. It was there that they were both in complete agreement.
