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How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
by John Leslie /
August 2006 issue of Socialist Action
“The Power of Community: How Cuba
Survived Peak Oil. ” Video, 53
minutes.
This documentary, produced by the group Community
Solution, gives an exciting and interesting view into the lives of ordinary
Cubans.
The break-up of the USSR
and the loss of Soviet oil exports to Cuba
meant the near destruction of the Cuban economy; unemployment reached
record levels, power generation became unreliable and domestic food
production failed to meet the basic needs of the people.
Known as the Special Period in Time of Peace, this
crisis was characterized by an almost complete loss of petroleum-based
fuels (gas and diesel were about 10 percent of pre-crisis levels). Cuba
was forced to experiment with some limited market initiatives, to use
bicycles imported from China
for transportation, as well as to experiment with innovative mass transit.
Schools and universities were decentralized to save fuel. All of these
events and more are shown in the video.
Previously, Cuban agriculture had been dependent on
machinery and petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. Agricultural
production had been mostly production for export.
The film explores the response of the Cuban people and
government to the crisis. Many of the large state farms were broken up into
cooperatives, and some land was turned over to private production—though
the state maintained ownership of the land. The state helped provide
training in organic farming methods, and machinery was replaced as much as
possible with the use of oxen. The response of the Cuban government was
critical to the success of organic farming and urban gardens.
One major theme of this film is that we need to learn
from the example of the Cuban people when responding to the looming energy
crisis. The crisis faced by the Cubans is an example of what we can expect
when oil production peaks in just a few years.
Hubbert's peak, named after Dr. M. King Hubbert, a
geophysicist, is the theory that oil production will "peak" as
existing oil reserves become more difficult to extract from the ground.
Hubbert projected that world oil production would peak in about the year
2010.
Oil, like all natural resources, is finite. When the
halfway point is reached in the use of any resource, production is said to
have peaked. The discovery of new supplies can only shift the peak a few
years. Geological factors mean that the remaining oil supplies become more
difficult to extract.
One weakness of the film is the fact that it avoids
discussion of how Cuba
is different from both the U.S.
and the rest of Latin America. The
transition to organic agriculture and the preservation of the gains of the
revolution would not have been possible in a capitalist economy. The ideas
of cooperation, solidarity, and collective action—which are stressed over
and again in the video—are alien to capitalist society.
When peak oil hits the United
States, the Empire will strike out like a
drug addict looking for a fix. Right now, we see the results of energy wars
being fought by the U.S. Ultimately, the real reason for the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq, and the war
threats against Iran,
are the Empire's desire to control access to oil supplies. The transition
to a democratic and sustainable socialist economy offers the best hope for
humanity's survival.
“The Power of Community—How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” can
be purchased directly from the Community Solution at www.communitysolution.org/cuba.html.
I highly recommend watching this film with coworkers,
your community organization, or environmental groups. It's through
education and the mass activity of millions that our future can be
secured.
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