by David Doyle At the third UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Equilibrium Conference held last month in Havana, Cuba, prominent intellectuals from 41 countries gathered to discuss the dilemmas of humanity through the legacy of José Marti.
The event was dedicated to the Cuban and Latin American intellectual and revolutionary hero. Marti is deeply loved as the father figure who gave his life for Cuba and, like Shakespeare and Dickens, his literary output—journals, articles, poems and children’s literature—are considered world treasures throughout the Latin American world.
The conference was a very unique experience as great minds of Latin America as well as other countries provided insight into the nature of current world economic and environmental crises and the work that is being done to meet these challenges. A far-ranging agenda discussed issues such as Latin American integration, the fight against racist discrimination, the defence of harmony between human beings and nature and social justice and indigenous peoples. Discussion also included anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, two themes that are very much a part of Marti’s work.
Speaker after speaker recognized the environmental impact of modern capitalist production, the dangers of nuclear war and social crisis as a product of worsening inequalities due to the dominant economic model.
Introducing Canadian Métis leader Louis Riel into these conversations, comparing the careers of Riel and Marti, I was heartened as delegates commented on the similarities between the two men and their careers. Internationally, Riel was recognized as an honourable politician, a leader who gave of his life for his Métis people, as Marti had done in Cuba.
As a Canadian, what became increasingly evident is that there is definitely an increase in diversification of power in the world. For the first time in literally 500 years, Latin America has begun to break out from under foreign domination, moving toward Latin American integration. Most significantly, unlike North America, where Cuba is treated as a pariah state, Cuba is a well-respected member state of this rising economic block.
Canada needs to recognize this new reality. After 55 years of warm and cordial relations between Canada and Cuba, with over a million Canadians visiting Cuba each year, in 2012 Prime Minister Stephen Harper supported the American veto disallowing Cuba entrance into the Organization of American States (OAS). Canada was the only country to do so while all other member states supported Cuba’s entry into the hemispheric organization. This, along with the ever deteriorating relationship between Canadian international mining and resource extraction companies and indigenous peoples has done a great deal to tarnish Canada’s relationship with Latin America.
The final session was closed with former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reminding delegates to promote the renowned principle of Marti: “With all and for the good of all.” He called on all, and especially the youth, to continue to wage battles with an ecumenical spirit to bring about the world of peace and well-being to which human beings aspire.
David Doyle is a former senior manager in Yukon Education, first nations school principal and Brooks Secondary Special Education teacher. He is the author of From the Gallows, the lost testimony of Louis Riel and the forth-coming bilingual Spanish/English The Prophet and the Apostle of the New World, Louis Riel and Jose Marti.
