Throughout the world, public services have been under attack for the past twenty years. Forming a central plank of the capitalist globalisation agenda, ‘privatisation’ and ‘competition’ are the seemingly unchallenged dogma of modern capitalism. The levels of privatisation which have taken place worldwide are absolutely mindblowing. During the 1990s alone over $900billion worth of public assets were transferred into private hands. Globally this agenda is pushed by the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The basic theory by which these bodies operate is that all decisions should be made on the basis of profitability alone.

More on privatisation: Community Alliance-Sligo: Privatisation is being undertaken by stealth | IEF Challenges Threat of Privatisation | Housing activists meet to discuss redevelopment & privatisation of their homes |FFF vs PPP: Fight For the Flats or Public Private Partnerships? | All Eyes On Upcoming PPP Conference | Europe At A Crossroads? Heath and Education as Business Opportunites | A local community rejects Public Private Partnerships | People Before Profit Public Meeting expresses concerns on land value from Fatima | Living with state dereliction in St Michael's: local community rejects privatisation of their homes.

The beach at Maria La Gorda

Some thoughts on Cuba.

So it seems as if Cuba could be in for a rough ride over the next few months, if some of the speculation about Fidel Castro being already dead is to be believed. Even if the surprisingly robust leader is genuinely only in hospital for minor surgery - if any surgery for someone at the age of 80 can be described as 'minor' - the world has got a glimpse of what is going to happen (most notably in Miami) when nature eventually takes its course and Castro passes on.