FIDEL WARNED US! CONSUMERISM WILL DESTROY THE PLANET

Fidel Castro died on this day in 2016.

People remember him for many things, but one thing is undeniable. He was the man who led the struggle that brought down the US-backed Batista dictatorship, a regime that turned Cuba into a holiday playground for Miami elites. At the same time, Black Cubans lived under something close to apartheid. And he didn't stop there. Castro also played a significant role in the liberation of southern Africa by sending tens of thousands of Cuban soldiers to Angola, around 36,000 at the height, helping to break the military power of the South African apartheid regime and pushing it towards collapse.

But Castro wasn't just a military leader. He was a thinker who constantly questioned the world we live in and the myths that hold it together. More than 30 years ago, he asked a simple question that still hits hard today. What would happen if everyone in Africa, Latin America, and China owned a car? He wasn't scared of development. He was afraid of what unchecked capitalism and endless consumerism were doing to the planet and humanity's future.

In this clip, he breaks down how the global system is built on extraction and consumption with zero concern for the Earth's limits. His point was simple. Consumerism is destroying the planet. And today, with more than 1.4 billion cars on the road, choking cities, polluting the air, and draining the resources future generations will need to survive, his warning feels more relevant than ever.

Castro never denied the Global South its right to develop. What he exposed was a model that convinces us that life is about owning more than we need, even if that mindset burns the planet to the ground.
Fidel Castro died on this day in 2016.

People remember him for many things, but one thing is undeniable. He was the man who led the struggle that brought down the US-backed Batista dictatorship, a regime that turned Cuba into a holiday playground for Miami elites. At the same time, Black Cubans lived under something close to apartheid. And he didn't stop there. Castro also played a significant role in the liberation of southern Africa by sending tens of thousands of Cuban soldiers to Angola, around 36,000 at the height, helping to break the military power of the South African apartheid regime and pushing it towards collapse.

But Castro wasn't just a military leader. He was a thinker who constantly questioned the world we live in and the myths that hold it together. More than 30 years ago, he asked a simple question that still hits hard today. What would happen if everyone in Africa, Latin America, and China owned a car? He wasn't scared of development. He was afraid of what unchecked capitalism and endless consumerism were doing to the planet and humanity's future.

In this clip, he breaks down how the global system is built on extraction and consumption with zero concern for the Earth's limits. His point was simple. Consumerism is destroying the planet. And today, with more than 1.4 billion cars on the road, choking cities, polluting the air, and draining the resources future generations will need to survive, his warning feels more relevant than ever.

Castro never denied the Global South its right to develop. What he exposed was a model that convinces us that life is about owning more than we need, even if that mindset burns the planet to the ground.