> >from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >subject: Havana May 1 2000: Gloria la Riva speaks. >Subject: GOOD READING May 1st article by Gloria La Riva >Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 > >Sent: May 10, 2000 10:07 AM > Subject: May 1st article by Gloria La Riva > > May Day in Havana > A million march for Eli�n & socialism > By Gloria La Riva > Havana, Cuba > >Millions of people took to the streets here May 1 in one of the >largest celebrations of International Workers Day ever in Cuba. Over >one million Cubans participated in Havana alone, and millions more >turned out in every province of the country. Brazilian television >estimated the crowd in the Cuban capital at 1.5 million. > >In Cuba, where the working class is in power, May Day is not just >an official holiday. It is a spirited celebration to honor workers >around the world. The whole population takes part--workers, students, >retirees--in a giant march after a major talk by Pedro Ross Leal, >general secretary of the three-million-member Cuban Workers >Federation (CTC). > >This year's event was given special impetus by the Cuban people's >struggle with the U.S. government over little Eli�n Gonz�lez, whose >plight in Miami symbolized the cruelty of Washington's policy of >blockade and hostility to the socialist island nation. > >The demonstration began as a mass rally at Revolution Plaza to hear >Ross Leal, President Fidel Castro, a Cuban child and five foreign >guests. Then the people marched in a sea of Cuban flags, with >President Castro leading the way, to the U.S. Interests Section on >the waterfront for a demonstration aimed at the U.S. government. > > This year's May Day had two themes: Cuba's determined struggle to >free Eli�n Gonz�lez from the United States, and denunciation of the >U.S.-engineered vote against Cuba at the United Nations Commission on >Human Rights. > >In that commission, a resolution was narrowly passed in April >accusing Cuba of human-rights violations. However, there is >overwhelming sentiment around the world against the U.S. government's >manipulation of the commission to continue its ongoing aggression >against Cuba. > > 'Solidarity with all the exploited and marginalized' > >After the Cuban national anthem, Ross Leal officially opened the May >Day celebration with an inspiring address to the assembled workers. >"On this May Day let us raise ever higher our invincible banners of >struggle and solidarity with all the exploited and marginalized >peoples of the world. Cuba is and always will be firm in its >revolutionary ideas, together with all those who fight for justice >and who rebel against the intolerable unipolar world order. > >"Here we are, the Cuban Revolution. Here we are, the workers in power >... along with our indestructible ideas of independence, humanism >and socialism!" > >The foreign guest speakers denounced the Human Rights Commission >vote against Cuba, emphasizing that the U.S. government should be put >on trial as the real violator of human rights throughout the world. > > Hebe de Bonafini, founder of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, >blasted Argentina's vote against Cuba. She exposed the Argentinian >government for refusing to bring to justice the former fascist >military rulers of the 1970s who murdered over 30,000 students, >including her daughter. > >In a gruesome practice, the military leaders had kidnapped newborn >babies of young women activists, killed the women, and raised the >babies as their own. > >De Bonafini and the Grandmothers have carried out a heroic struggle >to find their kidnapped grandchildren as well as find justice for >their children's murders. She said, "In my country human rights are >violated every day, workers are beaten, people die of hunger, there >are assassinations ..What human rights is my government talking >about?" > >Gladys Marin, secretary general of the Chilean Communist Party, said >the Chilean people "are with Cuba and will never forget your >solidarity ... in defense of my people, the thousands of imprisoned >Chileans who were tortured, burned, exiled, disappeared, brutally >executed during the 17 years of dictatorship." > >Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina said, >"Here today we have to demand of the U.S. government and ask the >people of the U.S. to help Eli�n return immediately, with his >father." > >This reporter was invited to speak on behalf of the U.S. >National Committee to Return Eli�n Home to his Father in Cuba, and as >a union activist. "Why did Clinton delay so long in finally saying >that Eli�n should be with his father?" asked La Riva. "I think he >hoped you would tire after a few protests and retire to your jobs, >your homes, your schools. Compa�eros, I want to ask you, are you >tired of this battle?" > > The crowd gave a resounding "No!" > >La Riva said that the struggle for Eli�n and 41 years of the >revolution have been possible because of the "courage, wisdom and >leadership of the most loved and respected man in the world, >compa�ero Fidel. The true and main violator of human rights is U.S. >imperialism." > >She also spoke of the fight to save Mumia Abu-Jamal from the >death penalty, saying, "We must not let them kill this revolutionary >fighter." > >Argentinian activist Claudia Cambia spoke of the hypocrisy of the >Argentinian government voting against Cuba and then, on the same day, >furiously beating workers protesting Argentina's anti-worker >policies. > >A 10-year-old student and member of the Pioneers youth organization, >Lilian Tap an es, talked about each Cuban extending support to Eli�n >as a thread that U.S. imperialism tries to cut. But, she said, 11 >million strings together are too powerful to defeat. > > Castro's speech hits imperialism hard > >President Fidel Castro joked, "I wore my tennis shoes today" for the >march to the U.S. Interests Section. His 40-minute speech hit U.S. >officials hard for delaying justice to Eli�n and Juan Miguel Gonz�lez >every step of the way. "Nobody in our country ignores the potential >dangers lying on the twisted path taken by the U.S. authorities-under >pressure from the [Cuban American National Foundation]-to resolve >what would have been a simple immigration case had it not involved a >Cuban child." > >Referring to the unceasing maneuvers of U.S. officials, Castro >continued, "They are trying to keep him there indefinitely in the >hope of enticing him away. They are all working in unison in pursuit >of the same goal: to ensure that the boy never returns to Cuba, and >thus deal a moral blow to the proud and heroic people that produced >Juan Miguel and Eli�n." > >His speech was a heroic affirmation of the Cuban people's refusal to >bow to U.S. aggression. "Nothing will be easy with regard to Cuba in >the future. Forty years of resisting all sorts of aggressions and >injustices, and the war of ideas we have been waging ceaselessly >throughout five long months, have made us much stronger." > >Castro concluded, "The peoples of an ungovernable world, who suffer >poverty and indigence and are exploited and plundered at an ever- >growing rate, will be our best comrades-in-arms. We certainly lack >the financial resources to cooperate with them. Instead, we have an >extraordinary and selfless human capital which the wealthy countries >do not have and never will possess." > >That strength was evident in the march. Every neighborhood was >organized, every union out in force. Each marcher received a Cuban >flag, postcard pictures of Eli�n and Juan Miguel, and a special >certificate of participation to remember this historic occasion. > > Half of Havana marches past U.S. Interests Section > >Havana's population is a little more than two million. Half the >city's people were in one vibrant, spirited mass marching down the >broad avenue to the U.S. Interests Section. And not only marching, >but chanting, "Long live the revolution! Long live the Communist >Party of Cuba! Free Eli�n!" > >Thousands and thousands more people lined the march route to greet >them. As soon as they spotted their "Comandante" in the front of the >march, they would shout, "Viva Fidel!" > >At the rally in front of the U.S. Interests Section, youth leaders >gave fiery speeches on their resolve to withstand U.S. hostilities. >An impressive permanent rally site has recently been built just yards >from the U.S. offices, where some 50 mass rallies have been held >since Eli�n's plight began. > >Hassan P�rez, president of the Cuban University Students Federation, >said, "We have invaded the U.S. offices with our morals, our >principles and our ideas." > >No matter how much cynicism is packed into U.S. bourgeois reporting >about Cuba's "official" or "state-sponsored" rallies and marches, the >simple truth is that no people anywhere in the world could be >directed or forced to show support for a revolution the way the Cuban >people love theirs. > >The Cuban revolutionary process, which in 1959 placed all the >society's power in the hands of those who produce the wealth, is one >which U.S. imperialism will never fathom nor be able to defeat. > > - 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 contactWorkers 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)" JC > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
