i told my friend that, for $2 a day, i now have up to 5 million dollars of health insurance, and he said that'll be enough to buy a pair of crutches. i've seen sicko, and that's about the size of it.
lots of people have heard about cuba's amazing health care system, how they train doctors from all over the world, offering free education to natural healers who wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to study. i forget how many cuban doctors were ready, with medically equipped backpacks, to travel to new orleans after the big storm (which i refuse to call by a woman's name), but they were not allowed entry. george poo poo head and his shock doctrine buddies chose to let the people suffer and die. hugo chavez offered to send oil, and he was refused too.
on june 15th i'll begin this journey, through the excited states, through mexico, and off to cuba. i know there are lots of good people in america, i know they are not their government. i look forward to this act of civil disobedience .... it'll be the bravest thing i've ever done, defying this horrible blockade, bringing necessary medical and school supplies to my brothers and sisters in the land of cuba.
i'm not going there with unrealistic notions of a utopian society. i realize there are many good things about it, but it's still patriarchy. i want to see their prisons. when i tell my friends that they freak out but i remind them i'm not looking for guantanamo bay, where many innocent people are held without any opportunity for due process, i'm looking for cuba's jails. i hope they treat people better there than at abu graib or gitmo. i don't suppose it could get much worse.
i've also been advised to go to the aids village. apparently cubans don't have their heads in the sand, they realize the serious health crisis of hiv/aids, and they have a special place where people can get whatever treatment they need.
and i want to see their gardens. as the rest of the world runs out of oil, the poor people much sooner than the wealthy, it'll be reassuring to know that small community organic gardens can be so successful. of course if monsanto gets its way, there'll be no sharing of seeds. maybe in the future, people will smuggle seeds the way they now smuggle drugs.
american people aren't allowed to travel to cuba. the canadian authorities used to let them fly through our airports without stamping passports, but nowadays people are all about obedience to authority and they're marking passports and americans can get fined $10,000 just for going to cuba.
i have 5 million dollars of health insurance to protect me from the land of the free and the home of the brave, and taking on this draconian government policy is the most exciting thing i've ever done.
