> > WW News Service Digest #83 > > 1) Native Delegation to Cuba Speaks OUt > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 2) Clinton, Elian & Fidel > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the May 4, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >SAN FRANCISCO: NATIVE DELEGATION TO CUBA SPEAKS OUT > >By Brenda Sandburg >San Francisco > >Native activists from the United States who traveled to >Cuba in February spoke at a meeting here April 21. The >event, which drew more than 150 people, was held just hours >before Elian Gonzalez was taken from the home of distant >Miami relatives and reunited with his father Juan Miguel >Gonzalez. > >Dennis Banks, a founder of the American Indian Movement, >described the Native delegation's February meeting with >Juan Miguel Gonzalez in Cuba. At that time, Gonzalez told >his son during a telephone conversation that the Native >visitors had brought him a feather. Banks said Elian >replied: "Dad, will they be there when I come home? Ask >them to stay there until I come home." > >Sierra Thai-Binh, a 17-year old from the United States who >grew up in Cuba, told the audience what it was like to be a >child in the socialist country. "They have an entire >society that lives and breathes and dreams for them." She >noted that in the sixth grade she was a delegate to a >student conference at which youths reported to President >Fidel Castro about what they wanted changed in their >schools. > >Nancy Charaga of the San Francisco Zapatista Committee >characterized the right wing in Miami as "the Latin America >right or the neo-conquistadores in bed with Yankee >imperialism." > >She noted that the Cuban-American right wing supported the >Argentinean military that was responsible for killing about >30,000 people--including many women whose babies were >kidnapped and put up for adoption. > >In discussing the struggle to free Elian, Richard Becker >of the International Action Center said the right wing is >responsible for the situation. "But they could not have >done this without support from powerful sections of the >ruling circles of the United States. That's made clear by >the ruling of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals" >prohibiting Elian from leaving the country, Becker >explained. > >The event was co-chaired by Alicia Jrapko and Gloria La >Riva of the National Committee to Return Elian Home. Other >speakers included Dr. Richard Quint and Native activists >Fred Short and Gilbert Blacksmith. Renowned Native singer >and actor Floyd "Red Crow"Westerman sang. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 23:51:15 -0400 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Clinton, Elian & Fidel >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the May 4, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >EDITORIAL: CLINTON, ELIAN & FIDEL > >Millions of people all over the world were understandably >gratified to see Elian Gonzalez back with his father. All >sympathies went out to Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who had to >endure five months of extreme emotional duress watching his >son being held hostage by a vile clique of Cuban counter- >revolutionaries, and to Elian, who was subjected to crude >and ruthless exploitation while the Clinton administration >repeatedly backtracked and vacillated before the right >wing. > >This gratification must be tempered by the fact that Juan >Miguel and Elian are still on U.S. soil and are still held >subject to U.S. courts. The struggle is far from over. >Given the spineless double dealing of the Clinton >administration, the situation is still highly dangerous. > >Indeed, it was the protracted vacillation by Bill Clinton >and Janet Reno that allowed the right wing to rally its >forces, making the SWAT team raid the only recourse >available for Washington. Now the capitalist media is >swirling with controversy over the raid and either blaming >or praising Reno and/or Clinton for the use of force. > >This masks the real essence of what took place in Miami. >It was only the latest and most dramatic episode in a >venomous struggle between two hostile currents in the >ruling class who differ over how best to deal with the >Cuban Revolution in the present period. The strength and >heroic endurance of the Cuban Revolution has caused this >internal crisis within the ruling class. > >Days after Elian was rescued at sea, the Clinton >administration and Immigration quietly tried to placate the >counter-revolutionary Cubans in Miami by turning the boy >over to the custody of Lazaro Gonzalez and therefore to the >Cuban American National Foundation. But they did so at the >very moment that Clinton was also trying to steer a course >of "relaxation"-meaning an increase in travel, >communications, monetary donations and cultural exchanges- >with Cuba. This was in the hope of quietly eating away at >the revolution from the inside and of getting business for >U.S. corporations. > >To the horror and dismay of Clinton and many forces in the >bourgeoisie, the Cuban leadership decided to fight all the >way on the issue, rallying the masses against this >kidnapping and against U.S. imperialism. This was hardly a >climate in which to pursue "relaxation." But it was too late. Elian >was already turned over to the counter-revolutionaries. >Clinton's agonizing dilemma was how to get him back. > >Soon he was caught between the militancy of the Cuban >revolution and the intransigence of the right-wing Cubans >and their backers in the ruling class. To make matters >worse for Clinton, the crisis came in the midst of the >election struggle over the spoils of the White House. All >the anti-Clinton and pro-impeachment forces were just >waiting to spring into action again. Elian's distant Miami >relatives had planted a photographer in their home, lying >in wait for the federal break-in. The now-famous photo of >the federal agent from that break-in was their great prize. > >And Clinton had especially high stakes in this struggle, >for he faces possible prosecution after he leaves office >and needs the protection of a Gore administration. > >He tried to push the whole thing off to Reno, and then >even further away, making the courts responsible for the >outcome. Meanwhile, the mainstream capitalist media began >to see the paramount importance of the "relationship >between a father and a child." Only the right wing >trumpeted the cause of the mother who allegedly brought him >to "freedom." But all the propaganda in the world could not >shake Elian loose from his Miami captors. > >Soon, the inaction of the White House and the Justice >Department became a matter of national and international >humiliation and Clinton had to finally move against the >right. Of course, if this incident had happened five or six >years ago, when Cuba was suffering the devastating initial >effects of the collapse of the USSR and Washington had the >highest hopes of Cuba collapsing, none of the ruling class >press would have written about the rights of the father. >They would have trumpeted the "flight to freedom." But this >is a different day. > >The frustration of the ruling class was blurted out by >columnist Thomas Friedman in the New York Times on April >25. Said this blunt mouthpiece of the ruling class: "The >way to hasten the end of the [Cuban] regime is not with >embargoes and kidnappings. We have sanctioned Cuba for 40 >years and so far [Fidel Castro] has outlived nine U.S. >presidents. Normally such a policy would be adjusted." > >It is the inevitably flawed thinking of the ruling class >that the existence of Fidel Castro is the only thing that >stands in their way. Once he is gone, they think, they will >be able to subvert the revolution. But their blockade has >been a failure, even in the most difficult of times. The >lesson of this is one they can't accept: that the >leadership of Fidel Castro and his comrades is great not >merely because of their own qualities, but because they >have instilled the Cuban masses with revolutionary class >consciousness and a spirit of resistance to imperialism. >The next generation of revolutionary leadership is already >taking shape. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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