This is Communism and State Control

Three different women whose countries of origin have been infected by communism share the reality of their nations under authoritarian regimes—without freedoms and with the sole purpose of keeping their citizens in misery so they are unable to rise up against the communist dictators who rule over them.

"Today we're going to talk about what communism was like in Cuba, China, and Russia, or rather, the state-controlled economy of the USSR.

So, in Cuba, the economy is controlled by the state. Nowadays, having businesses is allowed, but taxes are so high, and you have to give a percentage to the state. At the end of the day, it's not really your business. It will always be a state-owned business.

Communism in China is the same. It's controlled by the state, and any private entity that wants to establish a business in the country—the state has to own 51% of it, even if the state didn’t invest any money. But still, it controls the outcome and the management of the business.

Yes, the government controls all businesses. I don't think people were allowed to have businesses. Everything belonged to the government. People had nothing. They owned nothing. They were political opposition.

In Cuba, political opposition was not tolerated. You can't speak against the government. You can't go out and protest. You're not supposed to. Some people have done it and ended up in jail.

What about China? There is no political opposition. None. If you decide to oppose the government… you mysteriously disappear.

Same thing happens in the United States. They can confiscate your phone, spy on you, and you can't say anything.

In Cuba, they also used to open your mail. When you got mail from the U.S., they would open it and steal it. Did you guys do that too? Same thing, same thing.

And surveillance? In Cuba, we have something called “ceder,” which is basically a person who's like a spy, a snitch who reports to the government if someone does something suspicious or anti-communist. That was the main thing.

The same happened in China, but now with technology, they have surveillance cameras with facial recognition all over the streets in China, especially in mainland China. I'm not sure about Hong Kong, but that's what we see."