READING CUBAN LITERATURE A CRIMINAL OFFENSE IN JAMAICA
[The following article is taken from the October 30 Right to Work, a weekly bulletin issued by the Unemployed Workers! Counc in Kingston, Jamaica, ] :
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‘On Monday, October 26, the Daily Gleaner published that sixteen Cuban publications are added to the list of prohibited literature; citizens found reading. or having any of these publications: in their possession will be faced with a penalty of £50 fine or six months imprisonment ; and for importing, ctetributing or republishing, a fine of £100 or one-year imprisonment.
Over the years the JLP=-PNP [Jamaica Labour party and People's National party]. administration have acted as willing servants of British and United States. imperialism, suppressing the right of the Jamaican people to read of the politics and history of struggle of the liberated peoples and of the current liberation struggle waged. by oppressed peoples the world over.
They know that if our people, partioularly our. youth, are taught of the revolutionary struggle and of the courage of the: vice torious peoples, we too will be courageous and wage revolutionary struggle against their treacherous rule and for our’ own liberation from imperialist enslavement. That is why they have placed a ban on such literature and are flooding the country with comic books . and other obscene magazines and films which depict crime and sex. and the degenerate culture of the imperialist. nations to corrupt our people and divert them from the path of struggle.
The recent ban imposed upon Cuban publications is obviously directed by United States imperialism in keeping with its policy of bullying small and weaker nations to sever ties with the Cuban people in the vain hope of isolating the Cuban Revolution. oo No. appeal will therefore halt the reactionary JLP-PNP admin~ istration in their service to imperialism; they will continue in their suppression of the freedom and rights of the Jamaican people until’ they are crushed by the people.
The Jamaican people must therefore wage resolute struggle in defence of their freedom and rights. We must demand our right to read of the struggle and history of our brothers ‘throughout the world, for our struggle is against one enemy -- imperialism -- headed by United States imperialism, and together we will win, The Cuban Revolution is a component of the world liberation struggle; the Jamaican peoplé must therefore struggle in its defence, heightening our own’: struggle against imperialism and the treacherous JLP=PNP clique.
THE COST OF THE ARMS RACE
[The following extract is from an article the | Cold War and World Poverty" by Bertrand Russell in the November issue of Africa and the World. | -
Be -'." -At present, the world expenditure on arms is 140,000 million dollars’ annually. This means an 6xpenditure of 400 million dollars daily and 16 million dollars each hour. . These figures, however, do not include a variety of hidden costs, the consequences of which are as grave as the acknowledged expenditure.
The. misallocation of resources, the exhauation of energy supplies, the utilisation of essential labour, material and plant, all of which are unavailable for constructive use because of arms pro~ “duction -— create evils in excess of the vast sums squandered,:.
For each million dollars wasted, the problems which are un-— attended. multiply and make more costly § and more difficult their future solution,
THE CURRENT ARMS EXPENDITURE EXCEEDS THE ENTIRE NATIONAL INCOME OF ALL. UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES. -IT EXCEEDS THE WORLD'S . ANNUAL EXPORTS OF ALL COMMODITIES, . IT EXCEEDS THE NATIONAL INCOME | OF AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERIGA. OVER 60 MILLION PEOPLE ARE EMPLOYED IN ARMS INDUSTRIES.
When one examines the origins of this terrible arms outlay, it becomes clear that the most developed countries are not only those which can most afford tio waste resources, but are the countries which do so in disproportionate ways.
Seven countries account for 85 per cent of all arms expenditure: Canada, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and the USSR. on. = = ;
All the underdeveloped countries together -- the vast majority of mankind -- account for one-tenth of Western arms expenditure,
' The United States budget of 50,000 million dollars for arms represents 55 per cent of the world total.
Military expenditure, ‘moreover, tends to use the particular . kinds of resources most valuable for productive investment. The . fuel, light and-heat sources ‘Squandered could transform the. non=. | industrial countries. ns
It will illustrate the argument if I give some comparative costs,
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One British aircraft carrier costs £65 million. 40 million would make drinking water available to everyone in Egypt. The same amount would provide 900 rural health clinics.
One Atlas missile costs 50 million dollars. This amount represents the total investment for nitrogen fertiliser plant with cepacity of 50,000 to 70,000 tons per annum.
it should be remembered that the inordinate amounts expended on arms would, if available for investment, be worth. many factors -more,.
If the £1,400 million spent py BeLtadn on arms were to be invested, it would be worth at least ten times that amount.
Translating these comparative costs into British terms, one -Polaris missile equals four universities, one V-bomber equals seven secondary schools, one TSR2 equals five modern hospitals and: one missile destroyer equals 100,000 tractors...
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