I suppose, if you want to frame the working classes protecting and upholding socialism to be “terrorism,” then I think this is a good use of terrorism. I would say that using such a loaded term as “terrorism” is clearly a subjectivist argument and not a practical one, though, as the goal is to rhetorically tie it with senseless and unnecessary measures.

As for Cuban prisoners, no, they aren’t all imperialists. Many are landlords, many are former slavers, and many are workers that have genuinely committed violent crimes or otherwise attacked their fellow Cubans. As we all know, the embargo has been incredibly brutal, and crime rates are most closely linked to economic desparation, made even worse by the current oil blockade. The good news is that these prisons are actually very humane compared to capitalist prisons, and are focused on reform over punishment:

When we drove up to the facility, I kept looking for what I was used to here: high stone walls, lots of barbed wire, guard towers, guards with assault weapons. And I didn’t see any of that. We pulled up to a building that looked similar to a large elementary school, and when we entered the building, there was no metal detector, which was something else I wasn’t used to. And no one was checking my bag to look for weapons or contraband, and there was no sign-in book; none of the things that I was used to experiencing when I entered a prison in the United States.

And then our guide announced that we would have, say, maybe two or three hours at the facility, and we could take a tour with him but we were not restricted to staying on the guided tour. So I wandered off with a couple of other people from the Guild, and we just went around the prison and sat in people’s rooms on their bunk beds and talked with them and literally went wherever we wanted, and that was totally different from any experience that I have had in the United States. Even as the executive director of the Correctional Association now, with legislative authority to monitor prison conditions and go inside the facilities in New York, we don’t take unguided tours of any facility. It’s very scripted where we go, and we are always accompanied by prison staff for the entire visit.

The following year, I went to a women’s prison in Cuba, and they put on a cabaret. I remember sitting in this huge auditorium with hundreds of people, and there were prison staff, people from the community, and people who were incarcerated all on the stage performing together in costumes. Nobody was in a uniform except the superintendent of the facility.

So what got my brain racing was that those two experiences—the physical layout of the prisons, the fact nobody was in uniform, the intersection between the people from the community, the staff, and the people who are doing time—spoke to what I ultimately learned was a completely different view about people who have been convicted of crimes. You don’t have this demonization and stereotyping that we have here, where incarcerated people are so ostracized they’re like the untouchables.

The entire article this came from is fantastic at explaining the Cuban perspective on incarceration. Even if you would take an abolitionist stance, it’s certainly more progressive than the vast majority of prisons. This is the kind of human-centric policy a government run by and for the people, genuinely, can implement, and they are gradually improving all the time.

Regarding the bit where I tagged you, you don’t really need to respond. You certainly could have, if you wanted, or you could do so here. It was more to point out the dishonesty of MeanwhileOnGrad and the people who regularly stalk accounts and post there. I’m not really expecting a response from you regarding how I personally view the usage of the word tankie, nor are you obligated to give me one.