On Saturday, March 7, the Greek office of the international news agency Pressenza supported an important event organized in the municipality of Halandri under the title “Cuba is not alone!” Dozens of citizens and residents of Halandri donated medicine and food as a sign of solidarity with the Cuban people, who since the beginning of the year have been facing the worst sanctions they have endured since the US embargo was imposed 66 years ago. That same evening, in a packed hall at the municipality’s Youth Center, among other guests, Takis Politis, professor in the Department of Digital Systems at the University of Thessaly, communicated via video from Santa Clara, Cuba, where he is a visiting professor at the local university, and conveyed what he sees happening in Cuba under the strict oil embargo.
According to the professor, Cuba currently faces much more acute problems with electricity supply, transportation difficulties, and even problems with cooking in households. These problems contribute to the growth and cultivation of ingenuity and social cohesion, as social awareness is extremely developed and permeates the entire Cuban society, even those parts that are more critical of the Cuban government.
The principle of the collective over the individual is evident in this country. The Western world promotes individuality, while the people on the island promote collective consciousness and, consequently, collective action. Mr. Politis said that every day on the streets of Santa Clara, people use as means of transportation cart and horses, electric tricycles, or bicycle. Those who can get around make sure to help as many of their fellow citizens as possible who do not have this option.
The country’s universities have been implementing distance learning methods for the third week. The change in the education model does not mean that educational processes have stopped. In parallel with these, students who do not live in Santa Clara but in other areas, villages, and towns around it, are involved in organized models of support and community service in their places of residence. For example, they support the educational work of primary and secondary school teachers as schools continue their lessons as normal.
In addition, both employees as well as students and teachers from Santa Clara University were at the city’s hospital last week, substituting the cleaning staff who couldn’t get to work because public transportation wasn’t running.
“The image of university professors, including the university rector, cleaning the hospital in the city where they live with brooms in their hands is something that one would hardly encounter in the Western world. This situation, apart from highlighting a different ethos and a complete lack of arrogance on the part of Cuban academics, clearly shows the different context that certain concepts have here in Cuba compared to the Western world. For Cuba, providing community service is considered a self-evident social obligation, a task that all citizens perform wholeheartedly. In the Western world, community service is an alternative form of work assigned by the courts.”
On the subject of the energy crisis, the professor reported that many of those who had photovoltaic systems at their disposal have handed them over to the government so that it can manage them in the best possible way, prioritizing the energy needs of hospitals and other central locations that are sensitive and require an uninterrupted supply of electricity.
People have changed their food preparation methods and are mainly using charcoal. They set up barbecues in the street, and neighbors work together to prepare meals for themselves and those in need.
Mr. Politis included in the video he sent to the organizers a short excerpt from one of Fidel Castro’s last public speeches, when the iconic Cuban leader declared:
“Our country has never invested in aircraft carriers or bombs to attack other people’s cities. Our country does not possess nuclear weapons, nor chemical or biological weapons. Instead, we build an army of doctors with the aim of saving lives. We will never attempt preemptive, repressive, or other types of interventions in the darkest corners of the planet. Instead, we will send medical teams to these dark places to save lives.”
Cuba has demonstrated the consistency of Fidel Castro’s words by sending medical missions in 2014 to the Ebola crisis in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, as well as in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, with the first medical mission of doctors to Bergamo. The Trump administration is attempting to bring to its knees this wonderful Cuban society, which shows resilience, empathy, and selfless dedication.
Saturday’s event was organized by the Initiative for Solidarity with the Cuban People and the Cultural Association “José Martí” – Solidarity with Cuba, and was supported by many organizations.
