Tariq Ali visits Cuba
Campaign News | Friday, 2 December 2005
Anti-war activist praises Cuban internationalism
From the Cuban Press: Havana, Nov 29:
The Pakistani writer and filmmaker, Tariq Ali, author of an essay titled "Bush in Babylon: The Re-colonization of Iraq," is in Havana to meet Cuban academics.
In his book he criticizes the imperial lust of the US to re- colonize the Third World. "US intelligence never expected the resistance to have been organized before the invasion, nor that the Iraqi military had a strategy to resist against the invaders and their lackeys from their own communities," said Ali.
In statements to Granma daily newspaper, Ali also stressed the great impact of the assistance offered by Cuban doctors in his native country which was recently affected by a potent earthquake. He expressed his gratitude by saying: "The gesture of the Cuban doctors will go down in the history of internationalism. Many of my compatriots have learned a new word for love: Cuba."
"The earthquake hit the poorest communities hardest. In Pakistan there are many good hospitals but they are not located in the area where the disaster occurred, which is also difficult to reach.
The number of Cuban doctors, nurses and health technicians is greater than all the local health personnel in the region. However, it's not just a matter of numbers, it's also one of sensitivity and dedication. I am aware that the majority of those benefited from these services knew nothing about Cuba or even where it is located on the map. That has changed.
The mark the Cubans are leaving among the Pakistanis will be lasting," Ali said. The Pakistani writer went on to express his support to the revolutionary processes taking place in Latin America led by Cuba and Venezuela.
Ali is among the world's leading intellectuals sharply critical of US hegemony and in favor of alternatives to reverse this reality.
The author was born in 1943 in Lahore, then British- controlled India, and exiled from Pakistan for his vocal opposition to the country's military dictatorship during the 1960s.
Since then, he has made his home in Britain, studying at Oxford University where he became active in the movement against the US war in Vietnam. He is the author of more than a dozen books on politics, history and culture, a regular broadcaster on the BBC, a contributor to the Guardian and a member of the editorial board of the prestigious British publication New Left Review.
http://www.cadenagramonte.cubaweb.cu/english/news/november_05/291105_03.asp
