Lewes Cinema - The Power of Community

Throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Cuba enjoyed the privilege of an abundant supply of subsidised oil from the Soviet Union, which allowed it to economically thrive as it would not otherwise have done. Then, in 1989, the Iron Curtain collapsed, the oil supply was cut, and the country was faced with a terrible economic crisis, which became known as ‘El Periodo Especial’ (The Special Period), a decade in which the country had to adapt to a completely different way of life. Oil didn’t just power the cars on the roads of Cuba. It was also converted into fertiliser and pesticides for the vast agricultural system that fed the country. It drove the tractors, and the electricity generators, and the public transport system. Oil was the lifeblood of the economy. And then it ran out. One might imagine this leading to a state of absolute chaos as citizens fought each other for the few precious resources that remained. But this didn’t happen. The Cubans adapted to their plight in a positive and systematic way, despite the United States' subsequent tightening of , its embargo on the island.

The Power of Community is a film which looks at how the Cubans adapted to the situation, using the country as a model for how the United States (and other Western countries) might react when faced with a similar situation. Which, it argues, with oil production peaking, and prices rising as the commodity becomes scarcer, is a very likely scenario. What the Cubans did, in a nutshell, was to completely change the way their agricultural system was run. The government encouraged newly formed private farms and co-operatives to grow a variety of crops on small plots of land using organic compost instead of industrial fertiliser. They also encouraged urban farming on the rooftops and in the gardens of city houses.