“The noble and extraordinary idea of solidarity and internationalism does not exist in the rich, developed, capitalist world. Such ideas can only arise from the heart of a society that struggles for brotherhood among peoples and nations, one that struggles for justice in the world. This has been our conduct so far, and it will continue to be in the future, because we trust our people.”
Quotes
“Once and for all, they crushed the absurd idea that the suffering endured, and the blood and tears spilled throughout almost a hundred years of struggle for independence and justice against Spanish colonialism and its slavery-based model of exploitation, and later against imperialist domination and the corrupt and bloody governments imposed on Cuba by the United States, were to serve for the rebuilding of a neocolonialist, capitalist and bourgeois society.We did it at the exact and precise moment in history, not a minute before and not a minute later, and we were daring enough to attempt it”.
Speech delivered by Fidel Castro, on the 40th Anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution
"I believe in the mobilization and the struggle of the peoples! I believe in the idea of justice! I believe in truth! I believe in man!".
“We do not go around flattering any government, or asking for forgiveness or favors. We neither harbor in our hearts a single atom of fear. The history of our Revolution has proven its capacity to stand up to challenges, its capacity to fight and its capacity to resist whatever it has to; that is what has turned us into an invincible people. These are our principles. Our Revolution is based on ideas and persuasion, and not on the use of force”.
“We managed to continue forward, when a whole sector of the progressive world born of the profound social revolution that took place at the beginning of last century, in spite of its epic achievements, collapsed before its old capitalist adversary. It was unable to overcome its own errors and successfully confront the anachronistic ideology and dirty tricks of the oppressive and exploitative system that it had set to overcome in order to change the world.”
“We live by our ideals, our principles, and our ethics. That has been our life, and that is the life ”.
“From a political point of view, we are living in an era when there are and there will be weapons much more powerful that any produced through technology, namely: the weapons of morality, reason and ideas; with them no country is weak but without them no nation is powerful”.
"In Cuba we have never cultivated hatred against the American people or blamed them for the aggressions perpetrated by the governments of that country. That would have run contrary to our political doctrines and our internationalist conscience, both well-proven throughout many years, and increasingly rooted in our ideas."
"In the face of the sophisticated and destructive weapons with which they seek to intimidate and subject us to an unjust , irrational and unsustainable social and economic world order: Sow ideas! Sow ideas! And sow ideas! Build awareness! Build awareness! And build awareness!"
“For the first time the human species is running a real risk of extinction due to the insane behavior of the very same human beings, who are thus becoming the victims of such "civilization". However, no one will fight for us, that is, for the overwhelming majority, only we will do it.Only we can save humanity ourselves with the support of millions of manual and intellectual workers from the developed nations who are conscious of the catastrophes befalling their peoples. Only we can do it by sowing ideas, building awareness and mobilizing the world public opinion and the American public opinion.”
“The National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists and the Saíz Brothers Association will keep in close contact with these young cultural workers through the booming movement, which will come into being as thousands of art instructors join every year.”.
“We must ensure that the teachers working in our classrooms today stay working there, we must add to their reserves, jealously guard the young human resources we have trained over the last few years, paying special attention to their professionalism and up-grading. We must continue to analyze the inescapable changes that our technical professional and senior high school education must undergo; we must improve the way higher education is made accessible to all and we must make sure that all of the country’s universities move forward from this idea towards the academic and revolutionary excellence that the country demands from its university students and professors”.