Just some highlights from when the Cubans came to Star & Shadow Cinema last night – add your own guys, it’ll be like some collective memory thing, fossilised in the interweb till our glorious Taste the Difference dictatorial future shuts off the electric.

 

1)      Saying to an audience of British socialists how much the Cubans had appreciated Franco.

2)      Presenting Cuba as a good thing because, hey – it’s organic!

3)      Claiming that Amnesty International never condemns Israel or Guantanamo Bay, so that excuses having to answer any awkward questions about imprisoned journalists and prisoners of conscience

4)      The SP woman brilliantly undermining herself in front of what rapidly became a jovially hostile audience

5)      Going out for a tab with Mick and a random bloke with a dog on a string who turned out to be actually mad, and who insisted on showing us his ‘subversive art’ which I assume is a polite synonym for ‘shit drawings in crayon’.

6)      Watching the Cuban solidarity banner slowly fall off the wall over a period of 2 hours, and more specifically watching the half-hearted attempts of the student organisers to think about maybe taping it back up before shrugging and ignoring it.

ETA:
7) There are no drugs problems in Cuba - Cubans routinely gather washed up packages of cocaine and marijuana from the beaches and destroy them because that's how great life is in Cuba, no one feels the need to take psychoactive substances!

ETA Again:
Both good, John. Wasn't sure whether to mention the linguistic problems or the young lady's repeated pointless echoing whilst Jesus was trying to talk...

Not that it really needs making of course, but on point (3) as well:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/middle-east-and-north-africa/east-mediterranean/israeloccupied-territories
"Increased violence between Israelis and Palestinians resulted in a threefold increase in killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces. The number of Israelis killed by Palestinian armed groups diminished by half. More than 650 Palestinians, including some 120 children, and 27 Israelis were killed. Israeli forces carried out air and artillery bombardments in the Gaza Strip, and Israel continued to expand illegal settlements and to build a 700-km fence/wall on Palestinian land in the Occupied Territories.

Military blockades and increased restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of Palestinians and the confiscation by Israel of Palestinian customs duties caused a significant deterioration in living conditions for Palestinian inhabitants in the Occupied Territories, with poverty, food aid dependency, health problems and unemployment reaching crisis levels. Israeli soldiers and settlers committed serious human rights abuses, including unlawful killings, against Palestinians, mostly with impunity.

Thousands of Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces throughout the Occupied Territories on suspicion of security offences and hundreds were held in administrative detention. Israeli conscientious objectors continued to be imprisoned for refusing to serve in the army.

In a 34-day war against Hizbullah in Lebanon in July-August, Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes. Israeli bombardments killed nearly 1,200 people, and destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes and other civilian infrastructure. Israeli forces also littered south Lebanon with around a million unexploded cluster bombs which continued to kill and maim civilians after the conflict. "

And that's the preamble. It goes on

"In December the Supreme Court rejected a discriminatory law enacted the previous year that denies Palestinian victims compensation for abuses suffered at the hands of Israeli forces. However, impunity remained widespread for Israeli soldiers and settlers responsible for unlawful killings, ill-treatment and other abuses of human rights of Palestinians and attacks against their property. Investigations and prosecutions relating to such abuses were rare and usually only occurred when the abuses were exposed by human rights organizations and the media. By contrast, the Israeli authorities took a range of measures against Palestinians suspected of direct or indirect involvement in attacks against Israelis, including measures such as assassinations, physical abuse and collective punishment that violate international law."

Oh, and on the US:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/americas/north-america/usa
 Preamble begins:
"Thousands of detainees continued to be held in US custody without charge or trial in Iraq, Afghanistan and the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In June, the US Supreme Court struck down the military commissions established by President Bush and reversed the presidential decision not to apply Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions to detainees suspected of links with the Taleban or al-Qa'ida.

Congress passed the Military Commissions Act stripping the US federal courts of the jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus appeals from such detainees, providing for trials by military commission, and amending the US War Crimes Act. In September, President Bush confirmed the existence of a programme of secret detentions run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

There were reports of possible extrajudicial executions by US soldiers in Iraq, with a number of soldiers facing prosecution. There was a continued failure to hold senior government officials accountable for torture and other ill-treatment of "war on terror" detainees despite evidence that abuses had been systematic. There were reports of police brutality and ill-treatment in detention facilities in the USA. More than 70 people died after being struck by police tasers. Fifty-three people were executed in 14 states. "

Just for info, it took me less than 20 seconds to locate this info on the interweb...