WW News Service Digest #258
1) U.S. med students arrive in Cuba
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) Cuban foreign minister answers slander on 'human rights'
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) North Korea's view on reunification
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) Anti-NATO rally in Belgrade repudiates arrest of Milosevic
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) Colombia network set up to get U.S. out
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
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U.S. MED STUDENTS ARRIVE IN CUBA
By Nadia Marsh, M.D.
Havana
When the plane landed here at midnight on April 4 carrying
eight young people from the United States who are planning
to study medicine in Cuba, it was a historic moment.
The medical students already enrolled at the Latin American
School of Medical Sciences had been waiting anxiously for
them at the airport.
The students of the international medical school,
representing 23 countries in Latin America and Africa, were
lined up in their white coats. They extended handshakes and
warm embraces to their North American brothers and sisters,
who had come to Cuba to study medicine and the art of
doctoring with them.
This is the first time since the U.S. blockade against Cuba
that U.S. students will be offered scholarships and
matriculated into a Cuban university.
The next day, hundreds of students and professors packed the
medical school auditorium. For over three hours students
from diverse Latin American countries and Africa performed
indigenous musical pieces and dances from their respective
countries to celebrate the arrival of their U.S.
counterparts.
"This is only a modest beginning based on a revolutionary
and visionary idea of President Fidel Castro," the Rev.
Lucius Walker, director of Pastors for Peace, told the
gathering. Walker had coordinated the outreach and
acceptance process in the U.S. for the Cuban medical school.
"We are sure that [Cuba] will open your arms and receive us
like your own," he added.
PRESIDENT CASTRO'S OFFER
These eight students are able to get full medical training
in Cuba as a result of an offer made by President Fidel
Castro last Sept. 8 at Riverside Church in Harlem. Before a
crowd of thousands, he discussed Cuba's plans to offer free
scholarships to poor and disadvantaged students from the
United States.
President Castro emphasized that the U.S. students must meet
several criteria. They should have a strong academic record,
come from poor and minority backgrounds, and most
importantly, have a deep commitment to serving their
disadvantaged communities back home.
President Castro's offer reflects Cuba's long tradition of
international medical work.
Since Cuba sent its first internationalist brigade of 56
medical personnel to Algeria in May 1963, more than 57,000
doctors and nurses have been sent around the world to every
continent.
That total is higher than the number sent by the World
Health Organization.
More recently, 800 Cuban doctors have revamped a collapsed
medical system in Haiti. In 1998, 121 doctors arrived in
Honduras and began providing medical aid to an estimated 1.2
million patients.
The Cuban offer is made possible because Cuba's socialist
educational system, like its health system, is free and
available to all.
The U.S. students come from New York, Florida, Texas,
California, Minnesota and Illinois. They are from low-income
families. They are Latino, African American and Asian.
They are excited about implementing their Cuban medical
training in the U.S. when they graduate. "We've never had
much. I know my parents had to sacrifice to get us health
care. My lifelong dream has been to open a free clinic for
those who can't get health care," said Nadege Loiseau, a 25-
year-old student from Florida.
A daughter of Haitian immigrants, Loiseau plans to
specialize in obstetrics or pediatrics. One of eight
children who had to work while in college, she now has a
chance at a career that otherwise might have been
impossible. The cost of $200,000 for medical school in the
U.S. was a major obstacle to fulfilling her dream.
For these six women and two men, studying medicine in Cuba
was a dream come true.
"This is an opportunity to study medicine, become a great
doctor, and at the same learn about the Cuban medical
system" said Karima Mosi, 22, from San Diego. As a biology
major at the University of California at San Diego, Mosi
became inspired by Cuba's system of family medicine and
emphasis on good doctor-patient relationships.
The opportunity to live in a revolutionary country and learn
from students around the world was the most exciting part of
studying in Cuba, said one student.
POVERTY AND HEALTH CARE IN THE U.S.
Despite the $8-trillion gross national pro duct in the U.S.,
44.3 million people, or 16.3 percent of the population,
remain unin sured; 100,000 more are added to their ranks
each month. Those most likely to lack health insurance are
young adults in the 18-to-24-year-old age group, immigrants
and minority groups.
When it comes to health care, vast tracts of the U.S.
resemble the Third World. One in every five children is born
into poverty. For African American children, the official
poverty rate is as high as one in two.
It is one of the great ironies of history that, 40 years
into the U.S. blockade against Cuba, this small and
relatively poor country is embarking on training medical
students from the richest and most technologically advanced
country in the world.
Nadia Marsh is a physician at Harlem Hospital and member of
the medical committee that accompanied the students to Cuba
on April 3-6.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANSWERS SLANDER ON "HUMAN RIGHTS"
By Gloria La Riva
The U.S. government is again attempting to use the UN
Commission on Human Rights as a club against the Cuban
Revolution. The 57th session of the UNCHR is currently
meeting in Geneva, and the U.S. is furiously trying to pass
an anti-Cuba resolution that comes to a vote April 18.
Applying tremendous pressure and intimidation on
participating countries, Washington has engineered a
reactionary resolution against Cuba, using scurrilous and
false charges of human rights violations.
The resolution is sponsored by the Czech Republic and
Poland, two countries that have played subservient roles to
U.S. interests since their socialist systems were dismantled
in the late 1980s.
For example, in January 2001, two Czech citizens--one a
right-wing minister in the government during the 1990s--were
arrested for meeting with Cuban counter-revolutionary
elements. They were acting directly for the U.S., being
funded by the CIA group Freedom House to meet with counter-
revolutionary individuals in Cuba and deliver large amounts
of money to them.
In last year's human rights commission, it was also the
Czech Republic that sponsored the anti-Cuba decree, which
narrowly passed 21-18.
As Cuba's foreign minister, Felipe Perez Roque, told the
commission in his March 27 address, the United States is
motivated by hatred for what Cuba represents--an
independent, socialist country that defends real human
rights in a world increasingly victimized by imperialism.
He exposed the bankrupt nature of the commission, which has
become a tool of the U.S. and other imperialist states.
"The Commission on Human Rights," said Perez Roque, "is
today more divided than ever and risks becoming irreversibly
discredited. On one side are we, representatives of the
Third World. We are hostages to the debt, we are owners only
of our misery; we are the millions of hungry people, the
poor, the illiterate, the children and mothers who die,
those whose suffering produces the opulence of our
exploiters.
"We are always, in this commission, the accused. On the
other side are the representatives of the developed and rich
countries, the creditors, the ones who consume almost
everything that is produced, those who squander, contaminate
and forget that they owe us the wealth.
"And they are also the ones who try to assume a role as
accusers and judges of our countries."
Seventy U.S. officials are presently in Geneva trying to
coerce other governments to condemn Cuba. Joining them are
right-wing U.S. Congress members like Lincoln Diaz-Balart
and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who held a press conference there
urging a vote against Cuba.
They have appeared on the scene because of indications that
the U.S. may lose the vote this time.
The Spanish government has engaged in a particularly
shameless exchange with Washington, promising that Spain
will vote against Cuba if the U.S. agrees not to punish
Spanish corporations that currently do business with Cuba.
In a Havana press conference, Perez Roque said that "seeing
[Spanish foreign] minister Josep Pique beg Mr. [Colin]
Powell not to apply Title 3 of Helms-Burton against Spanish
companies and promising to change Spain's vote to be against
Cuba in the Human Rights Commission, I feel real concern for
Spain."
There is considerable opposition to the U.S. campaign from a
number of Latin American activists, who are urging their
governments not to become tools against Cuba. The Sandinista
Front of Nicaragua denounced the Nicaraguan government for
including a Cuban right-wing terrorist, Luis Zúñiga Rey, in
its delegation.
A group of 53 students visiting Cuba from Argentina, where
there is a desperate economic crisis, told Cuban television
that, "Cuba is a beacon of hope for the vast majority of
Argentineans." For that reason, they said, the right-wing
Argentinian government would likely vote for the U.S.
resolution.
The term "human rights," like the words "democracy" and
"freedom," is used as a weapon against oppressed peoples and
progressive governments to further U.S. imperialist aims.
Such terms are devoid of any meaning unless they are placed
in the context of class relations.
WHAT ABOUT THE RIGHT TO EAT?
"Human rights" should include the right of the people to
employment, food, shelter, education and freedom from
exploitation--but these are not included in the U.S.
imperialist view of human rights.
As Perez Roque said at the commission hearings, "I reject
with profound scorn the accusation against Cuba, fabricated
by the United States and imposed through savage pressure in
the midst of this commission. I declare confidently, looking
straight at each one of you, that human rights violations do
not exist in Cuba. There is absolutely no justification for
singling out Cuba in this commission. It is only because of
the pathological refusal of the U.S. government to accept
Cuba as an independent country that no longer belongs to
them.
"After more than 40 years of genocidal blockade and economic
war, invasions, terrorist acts, subversive acts, sabotage,
assassination attempts against Cuban leaders, biological
warfare and many more aggressions, the Commission of Human
Rights is the most recent battlefield between the oppressive
intentions of the U.S. against Cuba and our desires for
independence, justice and development.
"Some are asking us for a gesture to placate the United
States. The gesture that I offer, on behalf of my people, is
to raise my fist and shout loudly the words that for 40
years we Cubans have repeated against each one of their
crimes and aggressions against Cuba: Fatherland or death! We
shall overcome!"
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
NORTH KOREA'S VIEW ON REUNIFICATION
By Deirdre Griswold
Any student of history is taught that empires become adept
at the art of divide and rule. However, the professors are
strangely silent when this strategy is applied today by U.S.
imperialism.
No country suffers more painfully from Washington's divide-
and-rule strategy than Korea. This ancient nation, that can
trace back its roots thousands of years, has been sliced in
two for the last half century. No one can cross the
demilitarized zone between north and south. At least 37,000
U.S. soldiers have been stationed south of the dividing line
since the Korean War, enforcing the division of the country.
A year ago, Koreans in the north and south were weeping with
joy as it seemed that a process to end the division was
beginning. Family members who had not seen each other for 50
years were counting the days, hoping they would live long
enough for a reunion.
In June, the leaders of north and south, Kim Jong Il and Kim
Dae-Jung, met in Pyongyang, the capital of socialist North
Korea. The Western media, suffering from self-delusion about
the DPRK, seemed amazed at the cordial reception granted Kim
Dae-Jung by his northern hosts. It seemed that much progress
was made toward relaxing tensions between the two highly
militarized countries.
But much of that has now been set back. And there is no
doubt as to why. The U.S. government has reversed the
process, rudely lecturing the South Korean leader on his
recent visit to Washington and setting up a new Cold War
scenario for Asia.
Washington sends our youth thousands of miles across the
ocean to occupy South Korea. People here owe it to
themselves to know more about the north. That is not so
difficult as the news media make us think. The leaders of
the DPRK have set forth their views on reunification in
great detail.
The position of the North Korean leaders has been remarkably
consistent. Kim Il Sung, the legendary leader of the anti-
Japanese struggle, laid out three principles that remain the
basis of the DPRK's position today. They are independence,
peaceful reunification and great national unity. The DPRK
will never give up its independence, and has proved that
ever since the devastating war against it launched by the
U.S. in 1950.
President Kim Jong Il appealed to the leaders of the south
in a pamphlet written in 1997: "There is no reason why we
fellow countrymen should fight among ourselves on the
question of national reunification. The difference in
thoughts and systems existing in the north and the south is
not a ground for the use of armed forces. One cannot accept
any idea and system under coercion and the difference in
ideologies and systems between the north and the south
cannot be abolished by a coercive method. If the north and
the south fight against each other, our nation will suffer
the ravages of war and the imperialists will profit from
it."
If left alone, the Korean people can heal the wounds of war
and division. But this will only happen when a strong
movement of Koreans and people in the U.S. forces the
Pentagon to relax its grip over the south.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
ANTI-NATO RALLY IN BELGRADE:
THOUSANDS REPUDIATE ARREST OF MILOSEVIC
By John Catalinotto
Even in prison, Slobodan Milosevic remains at the center of
Yugoslav politics. On April 7, thousands of people filled
the plaza before the Serbian republic government building to
denounce "Fascists, NATO murderers" and demand they "Release
Slobodan."
Meanwhile a struggle became more public within the Serbian
government, known as DOS, between those forces around
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and those supporting
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. One issue in the
struggle is whether to extradite Milosevic to face a NATO-
dominated tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Yugoslav population may well be weary after 10 years of
wars provoked by the NATO powers, wars that tore their
nation apart, made a million refugees and impoverished
millions more. Nevertheless, the Socialist Party of Serbia
has refused to surrender to the NATO puppets now in charge
in Belgrade.
The SPS has been calling out its forces to demonstrate to
free its leader, Milosevic, and to attack the government as
NATO's lackeys. On April 5 they held a smaller action before
Belgrade's Central Prison. Then many thousands came out
April 7 in answer to the SPS call.
"Slobo come back, we want elections. Save Serbia!'' they
cried. According to a Reuters report April 7, the protesters
disrupted traffic and about 50 riot police formed a cordon
in front of the government building.
"Releasing Milosevic from custody so he can defend himself
as a free man is our basic demand, our basic message,''
former Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic told
reporters.
Some of the protesters held up placards with the slogan
"Arrest me, I am Slobodan'' printed on them.
SPS STATEMENT
An SPS proclamation read: "Citizens of Serbia realize that
the DOS regime brought false charges and staged the violent
assault on Milosevic's residence not in order to establish
the alleged guilt of Slobodan Milosevic.
"Rather, these actions were staged to fulfill the orders of
the regime's foreign masters. Charges have been brought
against Slobodan Milosevic in order to conceal the
responsibility of those who ordered the aggression against
and destruction of our country and the killing of its
citizens."
The new government charged Milosevic with "abuse of power"
and "corruption." The Serbian government is also trying to
charge him with having opponents assassinated. But the SPS
rightly recognizes these charges as simply attempts to blame
him for NATO's war crimes.
The proclamation emphasized that, "In the middle of
Belgrade, the DOS officials roll out the red carpet for
[former NATO head Javier] Solana, [British Foreign Minister
Robin] Cook and other war criminals. While they show off
their 'international support,' the separatists in
Montenegro, Vojvodina and Raska organize further attempts to
break up Yugoslavia and Serbia. In everyday life misery and
poverty rule."
SPLIT IN DOS COALITION?
The DOS coalition members ruling Belgrade fear that this
growing misery among Yugoslav workers and farmers, which has
already caused a wave of low-level strikes, will sooner or
later turn the population against them. They want to crush
the SPS as a potential opposition force before that day
arrives. But they have their own contradictions.
There are 18 parties in the DOS coalition. The speaker of
the Serbian parliament, Dragan Marsicanin, stated April 8
for the newspaper Vecernje Novosti that his Democratic Party
of Serbia--Kostunica's party--differs on several major
issues with Djindjic's Democratic Party. He said the
coalition's future had been "seriously brought into
question."
One difference is that Djindjic's party wanted to extradite
Milosevic to The Hague as soon as possible, while Kostunica
has at least verbally continued to criticize The Hague
Tribunal as biased against Serbs and has said he won't turn
Milosevic over.
The two anti-Milosevic leaders--and the rest of the parties
in the DOS coalition--are united only in their opposition to
the SPS and Milosevic. Though divided on many principled
issues, they maintain this alliance because it's the only
way they can hold onto power.
Djindjic, who has strong ties to Berlin and Washington, is
unpopular within Serbia, especially because he abandoned the
country during NATO's war. He could never have defeated
Milosevic in last September's election. But Djindjic,
besides his imperialist backers, also has a party apparatus
within Serbia and has appointed cronies to run the Serbian
police and other state institutions.
Kostunica had enough of a Serbian nationalist reputation
that a war-weary population was able to vote for him without
feeling like traitors. They had to suspect the truth,
though, that his election victory was financed by the U.S.,
Germany and other West European powers in a campaign run by
none other than Djindjic.
Unlike Djindjic, Kostunica has no party apparatus to support
him. There are indications that the imperialist powers--
especially Berlin and Washington--consider him an unreliable
puppet, but not a serious obstacle to their domination at
this time.
The imperialists, through The Hague Tribunal they created
and financed, are keeping pressure on Yugoslavia to turn
over Milosevic. They handed a warrant to the Belgrade court
April 6 demanding his extradition. Milosevic's fate will
continue to be the big political issue in the Balkans.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 19, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
CONFERENCE ON COLOMBIA: NETWORK SET UP TO GET U.S. OUT
By Gery Armsby
Chicago
Seventy-five organizers and solidarity activists met in
Chicago April 6-8 for the founding conference of the
Colombia Action Network.
Anti-war groups from Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, New
Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin were
represented, as were national organizations. They formed the
C.A.N. in solidarity with the Colombian people's struggle
for social justice and they pledged to mobilize and build
the fight against U.S. intervention, which has brought only
misery and death through the funding of state repression and
death-squad terror.
In particular, the conference participants united in their
support for the self-determination of the Colombian people
in resolving the decades-old armed conflict. They also
united in opposition to the phony war on drugs that has been
used as justification for aerial fumigation of crops,
demonization of the Marxist guerrilla movement in Colombia
as "narcotraffickers," and massive incarceration of mainly
Black and Latino youths in the U.S. prison system.
The network will help coordinate the work of activist groups
to raise public awareness about what is really going on in
Colombia.
To kick off this effort, the C.A.N. conference welcomed as a
key-note speaker Jose Fernando Ramirez, President of the Oil
Workers union in Colombia, who cut through many of the media
lies about the country and vividly described what life is
really like for the struggling workers and peasants.
"Strikes are illegal," he explained to the conference. "But
we strike anyway. They repress us with the stick and the
club. They malign us with slander. They bring charges
against us, saying we are insurgents. And we are insurgents--
insurgents of words, even though we are not armed. We are
honest workers who want to build the Colombia of our dreams.
If that makes us insurgents, then we are proud to be
insurgents."
