Soy Cuba is a unique movie telling the story of the Cuban Revolution. It begins by portraying the large, tourist city of Havana. Initially, it appears to be a thriving city with few problems. The issues of poverty and neocolonialism begin to prevail as the first part of the movie comes to an end with the tourist walking through the destitute parts of the city. Fidel Castro and his new government attempted to fix the economic situation with the distribution of land, goods and income, but the U.S. embargo and other post World War II issues hindered these efforts.
Susan Eckstein discusses many of these issues in her article, "The Impact of the Cuban Revolution: A Comparative Perspective." One of the problems Eckstein brings is up is how Castro attempted to industrialize the economy domestically. However, by the mid 20th century this was practically impossible to accomplish. Cuba needed capital to produce goods for export. Chasteen reports in chapter eight of "Born in Blood and Fire," that the U.S. focused most of its efforts after World War II on helping to reconstruct Europe. Much of Latin America felt betrayed by this after they helped supply many goods to the world market during the war. Chasteen states that only two percent of U.S. foreign aid was given to Latin American countries between 1946 and 1959 as the U.S. focused its efforts on the Marshall Plan. Eckstein writes that Cuba was even farther burdened by its relationship with the Soviet Union after World War II. As the U.S. attempted to squash the communist revolution in Cuba, the Soviet Union swooped in attempting to undermine its enemy. They supplied large amounts of aid to Cuba, but demanded in return that Cuba buy their inferior, cheaper goods. The Soviet Union took advantage of Cuba while the U.S. enforced a trade embargo that kept the country from growing at a faster rate under Castro.
As Americans, we tend to see communism as a threat to our individual liberties. It more than likely is, but as Chasteen writes in chapter 8, Marxism appealed to many Latin American countries because they feared the U.S. would only begin efforts of neocolonialism. This is somewhat of an understandable thought to consider, seeing as most Latin American countries had only recently gained independence from foreign powers. Eckstein writes that even though the Castro regime was not able to perfectly achieve its initial aspirations due to outside influences and factors it was unable to control, it was successful in creating schools, providing healthcare, and keeping the overall gap between rich and poor closer than most of its neighboring countries.
The important lesson from the readings and the movie is that a country must consider how it will deal with factors from outside influences when attempting to industrialize the country. As the hegemonic state, the U.S. was going to be able to effect the Cuban economy in one way or another. It is likely the new regime in Cuba did not consider these effects when it began to rule. Much of its future was dependent on the survival and strength of the Soviet Union. Even though the Soviet Union was competing with the U.S. as the world superpower, it continued to have its own economic problems until it was finally defeated not long after Eckstein wrote her article. After watching Soy Cuba, it is interesting to ponder what kind of state Cuba, and the rest of Latin America, would have been if Castro had not been able to successfully come to power.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Gabriela
Gabriela contains several underlying themes that are not easily picked up without further investigation of the time period in Latin America. The western world was on the verge of tremendous progress economically, politically, and culturally. The rest of the world was forced to follow or be left behind. The economic and political changes appeared easier to implement as their impacts were easier to recognize. The overall treatment of certain people within the society was not as easy to change. Traditional customs that held certain groups back, such as women, can be seen through Gabriela.
As Chasteen notes in chapter five of, "Born in Blood and Fire," reforms were focused on groups such as slaves but women were constantly left out of these reforms. Chasteen illustrates how most of the emphasis on reform in Brazil was placed on ending slavery. By the mid 19th century, the Brazilian elites fought over these reforms. Eventually the liberal minded elites won out on this issue of slavery, but as the film Gabriela points out things only appeared to get worse for women. Susan Beese explains how the "Law of Cain" affected tons of women during this time in Brazil. As in Gabriela, a husband was allowed to murder their spouse and someone they were having an affair with. Even though laws had begun to change , society continued to turn a blind eye to these acts of passion. Beese uses a report in the magazine, "Revista Feminina," to show just how out of control these crimes had become. It reported that a woman was murdered by a man every half hour in 1924 Brazil. This is a shocking revelation at just how backward the views against women were a this time. However, this is not completely surprising when one considers that even the United States Congress did not pass the 19th amendment which allowed women the right to vote until 1919. The focus of reform for women's rights is something that is relatively new in our world, with the largest impacts occurring just over the last century.
The voice from the women of Brazil did not come much later. Beese writes on page 654 that earliest voices for reform came from middle class women in women's magazines. This is not surprising either, as lower class women were in no position to voice their concerns and most upper class women would not have voiced views that would have affected their husbands. What is surprising is who Beese contributes for allowing the reform movement to gain considerable ground. She explains that four men and several other members of the legal community led this cause. By the 1940's, the fight against crimes of passion appear to have disappeared as most these crimes ended.
Beese also goes on to explain on page 656 that the estimate by "Revista Feminina" of a 2400% increase in the number of crimes of passions over a 6 short six year period was likely an over exaggeration. Even so, one can not underestimate just how problematic these crimes were. It is unfortunate that reforms for women took so long throughout the world. Even in the developed western world, women were the last class of people to have reforms advanced for their causes. Gabriela showed just how even more problematic these problems were for women in the less economically developed areas of Latin America.
As Chasteen notes in chapter five of, "Born in Blood and Fire," reforms were focused on groups such as slaves but women were constantly left out of these reforms. Chasteen illustrates how most of the emphasis on reform in Brazil was placed on ending slavery. By the mid 19th century, the Brazilian elites fought over these reforms. Eventually the liberal minded elites won out on this issue of slavery, but as the film Gabriela points out things only appeared to get worse for women. Susan Beese explains how the "Law of Cain" affected tons of women during this time in Brazil. As in Gabriela, a husband was allowed to murder their spouse and someone they were having an affair with. Even though laws had begun to change , society continued to turn a blind eye to these acts of passion. Beese uses a report in the magazine, "Revista Feminina," to show just how out of control these crimes had become. It reported that a woman was murdered by a man every half hour in 1924 Brazil. This is a shocking revelation at just how backward the views against women were a this time. However, this is not completely surprising when one considers that even the United States Congress did not pass the 19th amendment which allowed women the right to vote until 1919. The focus of reform for women's rights is something that is relatively new in our world, with the largest impacts occurring just over the last century.
The voice from the women of Brazil did not come much later. Beese writes on page 654 that earliest voices for reform came from middle class women in women's magazines. This is not surprising either, as lower class women were in no position to voice their concerns and most upper class women would not have voiced views that would have affected their husbands. What is surprising is who Beese contributes for allowing the reform movement to gain considerable ground. She explains that four men and several other members of the legal community led this cause. By the 1940's, the fight against crimes of passion appear to have disappeared as most these crimes ended.
Beese also goes on to explain on page 656 that the estimate by "Revista Feminina" of a 2400% increase in the number of crimes of passions over a 6 short six year period was likely an over exaggeration. Even so, one can not underestimate just how problematic these crimes were. It is unfortunate that reforms for women took so long throughout the world. Even in the developed western world, women were the last class of people to have reforms advanced for their causes. Gabriela showed just how even more problematic these problems were for women in the less economically developed areas of Latin America.
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