COP15 Post | News from the UN Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009

By Helene Caprani, President of the Danish Cuban Association (www.cubavenner.dk)

The Cuban people are a tremendous inspiration. They are living proof that another – better – world is possible. Usually when Cuba is cited as an example to follow, it is because of the health and educational system which are among the best in the world according to WHO and UNESCO. Or it is because of decades of solidarity work in other developing countries, where the Cuban volunteers still outnumber the WHO. Or it is because of the strong Cuban stance against US domination.

But who would have thought that the Cubans, who in the 1980’s boasted the highest degree of mechanisation of agricultural production in Latin America, would come to be the avant-garde of sustainability and ecology?

Humankind’s exploitation of nature and indeed each other has sent the entire planet into crisis: economic crisis, energy crisis, food crisis, climate crisis. But one country has already experienced what it’s like being without economic means, energy and food overnight: Cuba, on the collapse of the Soviet Union, which in early 1989 represented more than 80 percent of Cuban international trade. The fact that Cuban socialism survived the so-called ‘special period’, a state of economic emergency that lasted until the year 2000, and today actually experiences annual growth rates well above 5 percent, shows us that it is indeed possible to survive even the deepest crises. But what is the Cuban secret?

The Cubans did not choose the ‘usual’ solution to crises, i.e. social cutbacks and increased competition. The key to Cuban success was the practical solidarity which permeates the revolution: when resources are few, you simply share to make sure that everyone receives according to need. When the Soviet oil stopped flowing, the Cuban state imported 1.2 million bicycles and built half a million more. Large trucks were built into busses – dubbed ‘camels’ because of the two humps above the wheels  and all state vehicles were obliged to pick up hitchhikers. Solar-heated rice boilers and energy-saving light bulbs were made and handed out free of charge. Not all problems were solved, but the living conditions of the Cuban people were made tolerable.

However, the worst part of the ‘special period’ was the lack of food, which was exacerbated by the Torricelli and Helms-Burton tightenings on the US blockade against the country. During the years 1990 to 1994, the Cuban people each lost 20 pounds in weight on average – perhaps the most cruel expression of the inhumanity of those who set the course in US policy towards Cuba. But the Cubans also fought the food crisis. Rationing was introduced to guarantee the necessary amount of basic foods at heavily subsidised prices. Since neither pesticides nor fertilizers were available, the state began its own production, which by necessity was organic – and which today is exported to several other Latin American countries. Today, 80 percent of Cuban agriculture is purely organic. Because there was no fuel for the tractors, the oxen and horses returned to the fields, and bi-products from the sugar industry was converted to electricity at local power stations. Because the lack of food was most severe in the cities, and because of the lack of fuel for transport from the countryside, small urban kitchen gardens sprang up.

Cuban statistics speak for themselves: today the country produces 80 percent of the amount of food that had to be imported in 1991. The progress in sustainable agriculture also plays an important role in the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) countries’ co-operation with eight other Latin American countries, where for example Cuban experts help to revive Venezuelan agriculture long neglected because of that country’s oil success. Even the classic problem of migration from countryside to city is basically solved in Cuba, simply by guaranteeing farmers a decent income.

However different the histories and current situations of our countries, let us allow ourselves to be inspired by the Cuban experience. To that extent, the Danish Cuban Association invites you to participate in five different activities as part of Klimaforum 09: Search the programme for our showing of the marvellous documentary The Power of Community, conferences on Cuba’s energy revolution, organic agriculture and the ALBA, and not least the gigantic popular meeting with all nine ALBA presidents as invited speakers in Valby Hallen on 17 December.

A better world is necessary – and the Cubans know how to create it.