(no subject)

[geekchick]

My alumni association is sponsoring a trip to Cuba led by a professor who has written several books on Cuba's cultural history. I am dancing around with excitement, even though I know in my heart of hearts that I won't be able to afford it. =/ I've sent off for the information anyway, hoping that I'll be pleasantly surprised. For the first time in recent memory, I'm happy I didn't delete their spam. =) Wannagowannagowannagowannago. *jumps up and down*

I'm still not donating to the annual fund though. I haven't yet finished paying off the $80k, you don't get any more until I've had a good long time without loan payments due.

In other exciting travel news: Boston in November (8-10). What a good idea for a tropical vacation, followed only by Edmonton in February. ;) I am officially going to APC9, and will probably have some small amount of time free over the course of the weekend if anyone wants to meet up for lunch/dinner/general hanging out. I'm not sure yet if I'm driving or flying or taking the train; I'm tempted to do a train trip since it's 8 hours of being able to do other things while travelling. It's also by far the least flexible of the three options. Things to ponder...

Comments

[wolfy.livejournal.com]

Well you know what you have to do.


and I know you are dreading ever second of it.

If it's any consolation ...

[telnar.livejournal.com]

If it's any consolation, if you can't go, it will reduce the amount of hard currency that one of the world few remaining communist dictators gets. I know, that doesn't do your vacation plans much good, though.

Re: If it's any consolation ...

[geekchick]

*shrug* They got a license from the appropriate Departments to go, so obviously it's not like the gummint fears that this study/tour group is going to singlehandedly prop up an evil Communist regime with our American dollars. I'm sensing we might just disagree on whether or not the travel ban is stupid, eh?

Re: If it's any consolation ...

[telnar.livejournal.com]

It's not a question of government policy for me.

There was a time when Cuba posed a real threat to the US. Nowadays, we don't have to worry about Soviet missiles or troops being based there (or anywhere else in the world, for that matter), so the travel boycott isn't as big a deal as government policy. On the other hand, the moral question of whether I would want to support a government which oppresses its people to that degree remains.

There are certain governments in the world which I would never want to assist because of the way they treat their own people. Cuba is on that list. Some of those governments are less ideological than Castro's (Mugabe's Zimbabwe comes to mind). I'm not saying that I would rule out visiting if I were doing something that I thought would hurt the government in the long run (like helping out a human rights organization or providing an independent press account). I just wouldn't want to be a tourist there since the Cuban government is short on hard currency (and because of the way the economy is organized, almost all hard currency spent by tourists will go to the government).

Re: If it's any consolation ...

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

You know, the presence of Americans in some places can be good.

I'd not want to try this in Zimbabwe (where you might vanish in a quick whirl of machetes), but an American tourist in Cuba can cause lots of embarassment for the government.

I'll note that, despite all the things we do to undermine the regime (and, as far as I'm concerned, undermining it is a good idea) Castro has been in power for all that time, and shows no sign of going out of it.

Sanctions are what people go to when they're unwilling to do anything, but want to look like they're doing something. They rarely harm dictators, since dictators can pass the costs of the sanctions to the populace, while enriching themselves and their cronies. This has been true ever since people first tried using sanctions against a noxious dictator back in the 1930s, when League of Nations sanctions totally failed to make Mussolini retreat from Ethiopia.

gc, you can rest easy. Whether you go to Cuba or not, Fidel Castro will stil be in power there until he dies. (At which point his brother Raul will take over, until he dies. Then you might see some changes.)

Both Sanctions and Visitors are of Situational Help

[telnar.livejournal.com]

Sanctions have a far from perfect track record, but they can work if a government needs a particular resource and has no way to acquire it domestically. One example of effective sanctions was the US decision to embargo oil shipments to Japan in early 1941. Japan needed far more oil than it could produce to supply its war effort, and therefore had little choice but to either negotiate or conquer supplies of oil. Of course, we all know that they chose the latter, but it was a choice they would not have been forced to make absent the sanctions. One reason why Mussolini was not similarly effected by League of Nations sanctions was that they did not include oil.

The situation in Cuba is different. Sanctions are being imposed by only one large state. The Europeans want nothing to do with this US policy, for example. That alone prevents the sanctions from being decisive. However, with Soviet support gone, Cuba is fairly short on the sorts of foreign goods which require hard currency to purchase. Tourism assists Castro's ability to deliver these types of goods and is likely to reduce domestic opposition to the regime.

Dictatorship is not eternal. I doubt that many who looked at the Soviet Union in 1985 would have foreseen its collapse. Just because we can't visualize how Castro will fall doesn't necessarily mean that he won't.

I don't disagree that Americans are capable of causing great embarrassment to a government like Cuba's. In fact, I'd be happy to see some of the money I donate to Amnesty international used there. Where I disagree is with your implication that tourists routinely do the same. I would expect most tourists to have little contact with locals. They largely will not speak Spanish, will stay in hotels which Cuban citizens are not even allowed to use, and will spend most of their time in activities very distant from the day to day life of Cuba.

Re: Both Sanctions and Visitors are of Situational Help

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

We should continue this discussion via email.

Re: Both Sanctions and Visitors are of Situational Help

[geekchick]

Probably less hassle to conduct via email, but FWIW I was finding it rather interesting. =)

Re: Both Sanctions and Visitors are of Situational Help

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well, I was worried that you'd not want your journal comments section turned int ogrounds for debate by two other people.

Re: Both Sanctions and Visitors are of Situational Help

[geekchick]

Heh. Nope, doesn't bother me at all so long as the level of discourse doesn't fall to the "d00d, you suck!" "no d00d, YOU suck!" level, which I have a very hard time imagining happening.

Re: If it's any consolation ...

[geekchick]

I hope you haven't been left with the impression that I'm a big fan of Castro, because I'm not. Frankly, my interest in going to Cuba has less than nothing to do with politics and economic sanctions and has pretty much everything to do with being able to see places like La Habana Vieja and the other World Heritage sites. Not to mention that the guy leading the trip is knowledgeable about the region's cultural history, which is something I find interesting. I don't think you and I are thinking about the issue in similar terms (i.e., I'm not considering it in terms of a moral issue, although it's something I suppose I'll think about now...I think we may still arrive at different conclusions though)