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The Militant (logo)
Vol. 81/No. 8 February 27, 2017
Interest builds in joining May Day brigade to Cuba
BY OSBORNE HART
The first-ever U.S. contingent for the 12th May Day International
Brigade to Cuba is picking up interest and participation. Individuals
from Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle and other places are preparing to
take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn more about the Cuban
Revolution today.
The brigade, sponsored by the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the
Peoples (ICAP), will run from April 24 through May 8. Highlights include
marching with hundreds of thousands of Cubans celebrating the revolution
May 1 and joining in an International Meeting in Solidarity with Cuba
the next day. The cost is $512 plus air fare to Cuba.
Ian McShea, a 25-year-old construction worker from Philadelphia, said he
plans to go “to learn for myself so I can better defend the revolution.”
“I’ve been reading a couple of books about the Cuban Revolution,” McShea
told the Militant. These include Pathfinder’s new book Cuba and Angola:
The War for Freedom and Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.
“I first heard about the May Day trip at a meeting of the Cuba group
here,” said Samir Qaisar from Chicago, “and from attending Militant
Labor Forums.”
“I want to know more about how the Cubans won their national
liberation,” he said, “and how Fidel Castro led the revolution and built
the Cuban Communist Party. Right now I’m studying The First and Second
Declarations of Havana, and Che Guevara’s Socialism and Man in Cuba.”
The brigade starts with doing agricultural work for several mornings
alongside Cubans, discussing politics with other brigade members from
around the world, and touring Havana, Santa Clara, schools and medical
facilities.
After the May Day events in Havana, participants have two options. One
is to travel to the provinces of Cienfuegos and Villa Clara and learn
about the history of the revolution there.
The other, at an additional cost, is to attend the May 4-6 Fifth Seminar
for Peace and for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases in Guantánamo.
This town abuts the Guantánamo naval base, illegally occupied by the
U.S. Navy since 1903, and, since 2002, home of Washington’s notorious
military prison.
The May Day brigade is dedicated to Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
Castro, the central leader of the July 26th Movement, which overthrew
the U.S.-backed Fulgencio Batista government in the 1959 revolution,
died last November. Guevara was killed 50 years ago by the CIA and
Bolivian military while helping lead a guerrilla struggle against the
dictatorship there.
Since 1959, every Democratic and Republican administration in Washington
has worked to overthrow the Cuban Revolution. After the Barack Obama
administration re-established diplomatic relations with the island in
2015, Washington continued its crippling economic embargo and occupation
of Guantánamo.
The Chicago Cuba Coalition is organizing arrangements for U.S. brigade
participants. For more information, contact the coalition at (312)
952-2618 or email: ICanGoToCuba@xxxxxxxxx.
Related articles:
Havana book fair pays tribute to Fidel Castro’s leadership, example
Cuba’s internationalism was born with revolution
Castro: ‘Ours is a more just society and we believe in it’
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