By Chimezie Godfrey
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has urged Africans to draw lessons from Cuba that has displayed internationalism more than any country on earth.
He made the declaration in his speech during the 6th African continental conference held inAbuja.
“Cubans have displayed internationalism more than any country on the earth.
“While the imperialist nations go around killing people in their thousands, Cuba goes around saving lives by sending medical doctors to those places.
“Representatives of African governments gathered here, it is not enough to gather here to praise Cuba, to thank Cuba, we must learn, we draw lessons from Cuba, lessons of dignity, self-reliance, self-determination and lessons to run Africa in the interest of African people.
“That is the greatest lesson, this small country of 11.3 million people has shown the entire world. That it is not how many you are that matters, that is not oil or your gas or gold that matters.
“Cuba has only sugarcane and
tobacco yet that is one of the greatest countries on earth. We have praised
Cuba for assisting Africa, we must now go beyond that,” he said.
Falana pointed out that the greatest killer of the African people next to poverty is malaria adding that while the West insists Africans must buy mosquito nets, that Africans must now decide to call Cuba to come to Africa to eliminate malaria.
“Since 1957 since Cuba abolished malaria nobody has cried of malaria in that tropical country like our own.
“Infact, if you travel to Cuba and you are found to have malaria in the Air-Port, you will be quarantined and treated like ebola.
“Every ward in Cuba has a clinic and a doctor ..,they go to houses, who is sick in this house today.
“While we go to some countries to die because our own health facilities have collapsed. Cuba is ahead of the rest in many areas of medicine including Cancer,” he said.
The Human rights lawyer recalled that when there was ebola crisis in West Africa, the Western countries in their airports humiliated and subjected Africans to terrible insult, but Cuba sent a plane of about four hundred doctors and other medical personnel to attack ebola and Cuba defeated ebola.
He insisted that Cuba no matter what anybody may say is the best expression of international solidarity.
He called on South Africans to learn humanity from Cuba.
He also said that the NLC and the South African Communist party must not leave the Catholic bishops, the Buthelesis, the Malemas to be tackling xenophobia alone adding that it is the only way to demonstrate that Africans are learning humanity from Cuba.
He further said that the ANC and the South African Communist party must speak against and equally condemn afrophobia and xenophobia.
Falana stressed that the movement must resolve beyond the messages of solidarity to defeat the forces of blockade of Cuba.
