Manic Street Preachers play Havana tonight

February 17, 2001 6:32 AM

Manic Street Preachers play Havana tonight - "It'll be like Wham! in China." Following in the footsteps of agit-prop songster Billy Joel, the Boys from Blackwood take Sony-branded anti-capitalism to the last place "that really fights against the Americanisation of the world."
posted by ceiriog (9 comments total)

If the Manic Street Preachers are playing Cuba, good luck to them, but as for the comment on American influence:

Wouldn't it be closer to the truth to say that Fidel Castro is the last world leader really resisting American capitalism? The average Cuban probably has nothing against making money and watching moronic television shows and so on, and remains relatively un-Americanized only because Castro keeps it that way. When Castro finally smokes that joke-store exploding cigar awaiting us all, much of his singleminded resistance will die with him, and then I suspect Cuba will buy America and America will buy Cuba.
posted by pracowity at 7:47 AM on February 17, 2001

The comment on Americanisation was from Nicky Wire, not me. Thanks for all the links though. Here's a few more, on agriculture, literacy and healthcare provision. You may be right about Fidel being the only thing stopping Cuba embracing the American dream, but they may have more to lose than those last few rags of radical chic.
posted by ceiriog at 9:09 AM on February 17, 2001

Well, there is the fact that people there actually get medical treatment and food and such when they need it. And violent crime is very low there as well. What's more you already can make money in Cuba. They have a sort of dual economy that serves Canada and the rest of the world (is the US the *only* country in the world with an embargo on Cuba now?). Anyway, Cuba is Socialist, not Communist. The one major bummer there is that it's not a democratic country. Your rights are limited. Of course, you really can say the same thing about the US on both points. The US is a democracy in theory only. In reality it's a corporate plutocracy where your rights disappear the moment you threaten any important financial interest. I'd probably be proud of America if, as the richest nation on earth, we didn't bomb the hell out of other countries for financial reasons, throw millions of people into a hopeless prison and judicial system... and if we even bothered to keep our poor from starving and going insane in the streets. With a tiny fraction of the resources, Cuba has us beat hands down on the last point at least. But honestly, when you get right down to it, there isn't a nation on Earth, Cuba included, that can stand up to even basic tests of "decency". We're still living in the dark ages. You're just fooling yourself if you figure one is "good" or the other "bad".
posted by muppetboy at 9:26 AM on February 17, 2001 [1 favorite]

Yeah, um...what muppetboy said.
posted by Optamystic at 10:39 AM on February 17, 2001

I'm just imagining the audience of Cuba -- home to some of the world's hottest, most soulful, most rhythmic music -- listening to this bunch of mopey Britpoppers.
posted by argybarg at 11:12 AM on February 17, 2001

The US is a democracy in theory only.
In reality it's a corporate plutocracy
where your rights disappear the moment you threaten
any important financial interest.

Isn't that the chorus to a Manics song?

Wait a minute... Richie, is that you?
posted by ceiriog at 12:15 PM on February 17, 2001

argybarg: calling the Manics "Britpop" suggests you haven't been listening too carefully. I can't remember an Oasis song that begins with the line "Libraries give us power".

Yeah, they took Columbia's money; but that's what socialists from the Welsh valleys do, in order to get themselves heard. And this seems less like political tokenism than some bands' past efforts.

And we miss you, Ritchie. (Strange: last night I dreamed that Madonna had "4REAL" stigmata. I shouldn't eat cheese sandwiches before bedtime.)
posted by holgate at 8:50 PM on February 17, 2001

This has little to do with this post but the United States isn't even really a democracy as much as it is a republic, as far as I know.
posted by crushed at 11:52 PM on February 17, 2001

Castro went to the gig. (Story's in Welsh, there's probably an English version somewhere if you're interested.)
posted by ceiriog at 2:37 AM on February 21, 2001