4-03-09, 9:10 am

As absurd as it may appear, the strategy and experience of the Cuban 'Special Period' of the nineties of the past century could be useful to the West in terms of the crisis that is plaguing the world today.

An article published by the influential US television network CNN, has just put forth this idea, in light of the successful way in which Cuba has managed to overcome its crisis. The demise of the Soviet Union represented for the country and was further compounded, by the intensification of the 50-year economic blockade, and the hostility and threats of aggression by the US government – headed by George W. Bush.

Matt Ford, author of this piece of investigative journalism for CNN, commented, “Since the revolution in 1959, Cuba has been many things to many people, but the collapse of the Soviet Union meant few have seen the island state as a vision of the future. But this may be changing – at least in one aspect. '

Inasmuch as the problems of the developed nations grow, the communist republic is proving increasingly popular as an example of how to address these difficulties, for one simple reason: they have been through them.

The society was suddenly confronted with a dramatic reduction in oil supplies and the result was a fundamental reorganization of food production that led to the development of urban agriculture, which required less supplies than conventional agriculture.

'With the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba was in a position where no-one thought it would survive – they lost 80 percent of their trade overnight,” says Wendy Emmett of the UK-based Cuban Organic Solidarity Group (COSG). “As a result the priority given to food changed, and it was immediately seen as much more important.'

He adds that throughout Havana, vegetable gardens began to proliferate on a small scale which quickly spread to other cities and towns on the island, while smaller centers were created to store fruits and vegetables produced locally, with fuel savings implications because of the reduction in the need of transporting these goods from the countryside.

'In the countryside, oxen and horses replaced tractors. Manual labor replaced machines. A huge program of land re-distribution was instigated. Many of the vast collective farms beloved by communist planners started to look inefficient, and so were broken up into units more manageable without fleets of tractors,' states the article.

In describing some of the features of the strategy of the Special Period in Cuba, the writer recalls that in the most tense years, there were certainly people who complained a lot, but working together the school children never went without their milk. 'Throughout it all they didn't close any hospitals, they didn't close any schools; they kept going against the odds. In many ways they show us what is possible, what a community can achieve when they work together; the power of co-operation.'

“Of course a powerful authoritarian state and strong central planning made such huge changes easier to implement; a similar process of development might be very different, and possibly lees successful, in the West”, stated the CNN article.

He also states, 'But as an increasing number of people believe we will soon face a major social and economic crisis as oil supplies dwindle over coming decades, many believe we have a lot to learn from the Cuban experience.”

'The industrialized world can learn that its dependency on oil will eventually push it through similar experiences to that which Cuba had to face in the 1990's, and with similar outcomes,' says Julia Wright, author of 'Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity: Lessons from Cuba.'

'Cuba inspires groups overseas wanting to develop alternative, more sustainable farming and food systems, partly based on the myth that has built up around Cuba being organic,' says Wright.

According to the article by CNN, Cuba has come out of the most difficult moments of the “Special Period” but urban organic agriculture will continue to expand to the suburban areas.

Quoting Wright again, the article states, 'But whatever the years ahead bring, Wright believes the experience of the 'Special Period' has left its mark on Cuban society.”

It is somewhat ironic, in a sense, yet comforting to the Cubans that the sacrifices, which have been imposed by the superpower because of its vile purposes, at least serve as lessons for mankind.

--A CubaNews translation by Odilia Galván Rodríguez. Edited by Walter Lippmann.