Alan Woods, British thinker who presented his book Reason In Revolt, expresses his opinions.
Capitalism has failed to develop productive forces as it did in the past; this is the basic cause of all the convulsions we have seen around the world, said Alan Woods, a British Marxist intellectual.
Also, as a sharp analyst of this convulsive context, Woods is an active militant in defense of revolutionary and left-wing causes.
This is his first visit to the island to take part in the XV International Book Fair in Havana.
His book Reason In Revolt was launched at the event and it is a book that has been translated into 10 languages. Released by the Editorial Ciencias Sociales, he deals with the relationship between dialectical materialism and modern science.
For him it is a great satisfaction to settle an old account which, due to reasons of work, he had been unable to learn, first hand: Cuban reality.
He recalls the triumph in January of 1959 as if it was yesterday and recognizes in the Revolution "a fountain of hope for millions of the oppressed and exploited in the world."
Regarding the validity of Marxist philosophy, he noted that these ideas are even more relevant today than when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto which, he believes, is the most current book around.
"When I was preparing to write Reason In Revolt, I made a careful study of the main ideas of modern science and was amazed to find those ideas in Engels in his Dialectics of Nature which now correspond exactly to the most modern theories," the writer explained.
Support of the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela is another of Alan Woods' obsessions. During several visits to that nation he had talks with President Hugo Chavez who has recognized and recommended the work of the British writer.
As organizer of the international Hands off Venezuela campaign, he contributed to mobilizing thousands around the world in support of this transforming process.
I think that support of the Cuban and Venezuelan revolution is a basic duty of the workers and leftwing movements on a worldwide scale, he pointed out.
He added that, although Latin America has gone farther than any other part of the world, "conditions are ripe for a general counteroffensive against world imperialism."
The war in Iraq, he stated, is clear proof of the limits of dominance by the most powerful imperialism that has ever existed in written history.
"The demonstrations against the war demonstrated the enormous potential of the masses. In my own country, millions of people flooded the streets of London against the shameful policy of Tony Blair, the puppet of George W. Bush," he indicated.
"Now the United States has a growing opposition to its criminal occupation of Iraq," he concluded.
A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
See also:
- Major Latin American news agencies take up Alan Woods’ speech in Havana (February 9, 2006)
- Keen interest and enthusiasm at launch of Reason in Revolt at Havana Book Fair (February 9, 2006)
- Alan Woods to launch Cuban edition of Reason in Revolt in Havana (February 6, 2006)
- "El Militante" and Celia at the Havana Book Fair (Febrary 17, 2005)
- Trotsky at the Havana Book Fair (February 15, 2005)
- Presentation of Reason in Revolt at the Havana Book Fair (February 7, 2005)
- Reason in Revolt presented at Havana Book Fair (February 3, 2005)