WW News Service Digest #272
1) Cuban labor union congress stresses sovereignty struggle
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) May Day in Cuba
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) Astonished U.S. booted off UN committees
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 17, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
"NO TO THE FTAA!"
CUBAN LABOR UNION CONGRESS STRESSES SOVEREIGNTY STRUGGLE
By Gloria La Riva
Havana
The Cuban working class holds power and runs society for the
benefit of all. At the 18th Congress of the Central
Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC), held in Havana's
Convention Center the first week in May, this working class
democracy was put into practice.
The 1,675 delegates discussed defending the revolution's
ideas and values, improving economic efficiency and
production, and strengthening the union leadership at the
base level.
A recurring theme during the week was Cuba's economic and
political sovereignty. Cuba is not indebted to the
International Monetary Fund, which is asphyxiating the other
peoples of Latin America with its extortionate demands.
The Cuban leadership also proposed a continent-wide struggle
against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, emphasizing
this theme on May Day after the congress.
The mood at the congress was optimistic as Cuba's economy
continues to show sustained growth since the mid-1990s. The
country is now able to tackle more difficult problems such
as the unemployment that arose in the aftermath of the
Soviet Union's collapse. Last year's economy grew an
impressive 5.6 percent and major strides have been made in
energy production.
The CTC represents the Cuban workers through 19 national
unions. Over 97 percent of the country's workers are in
unions by voluntary affiliation.
This kind of universal participation is unheard of in
capitalist countries. But in Cuba's socialist system, union
membership is encouraged. The relationship between worker
and government is not antagonistic; the workers are the
backbone of the Cuban state.
The three-day congress culminated 17 months of workers'
assemblies at the base level, forums, delegate elections and
a thorough discussion of the unions' thesis and 23
resolutions taken up by the congress.
All 1,675 delegates were dressed in olive green uniforms or
militia blue on the first day of plenary sessions. They
joined together waving Cuban and red flags, chanting, "A
congress that moves forward, a blockade that is pushed
back," and "Cuba si, Yanqui no."
CTC General Secretary Pedro Ross Leal explained why the
delegates were wearing military-type uniforms. "A revolution
that is besieged and attacked by the principal military and
economic power in the world cannot, even for one instant,
neglect the defense of the country.
"It means that this people of workers, of students, also
must be a people of soldiers who are ready to defend--with
arms in hand--what their fathers and brothers won in the
battlefield through more than 150 years of struggle."
He placed this congress--like the 17th congress five years
earlier--in its historical context of the "special period"
of economic crisis after the Soviet Union disappeared.
"To save the country, the revolution and socialism, were the
ideas that inspired our last two congresses. The country is
much stronger than in 1996. The effects of the economic
crisis still remain, but our economy is following a stable
and long-term trend toward recuperation in spite of the
blockade.
"Now we can speak not only of recuperation but development,
we can speak of notable qualitative advances, of fundamental
changes in structure that help us envision the country's
future with confidence and security. These advances
correspond with the extraordinary gains that our country is
winning in the ideological, political, moral and cultural
terrain."
It was a very impressive event, in which workers gave their
opinions on economic and social issues and exchanged ideas
and solutions with government and Communist Party leaders.
Problems of housing and transport shortages, of high prices
in farmers' markets, and recovering the previous production
levels in sugar, were analyzed.
There was pride and satisfaction in the gains made over the
last five years. The whole people have made heroic efforts
to save the revolution from economic crisis and the U.S.
blockade's effects.
PAID MATERNITY LEAVE EXTENDED TO A FULL YEAR
Cuban President Fidel Castro participated in the Congress.
What head of state under capitalism would sit in on the
sessions of a workers' organization? Castro not only
listened but spoke at length, making proposals that were
strongly supported by the workers, especially when he called
for extending Cuba's six-month paid maternity leave to one
full year, to take effect immediately.
The congress decided to make computers available to the
farthest reaches of the country in primary level education,
so all students can learn the technology. It also resolved
to lower unemployment from the current 5.2 percent to 4.1
percent by year's end.
Invited guest Wilson Borjas, executive secretary of the
Colombian union movement CUT, walked on crutches to the
podium.
Borjas was the victim of an assassination attempt by
paramilitary death squads on Dec. 15, 2000. Over 300 rounds
were fired into his car; five bullets hit him. Borjas said,
"Many countries offered to take me out of Colombia for my
safety, but only one country said they would give me the
health care I needed, and that was Cuba."
ELECTION TO NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF CTC
A roundup of candidates for election to the National
Committee, the leading body of the CTC, showed that they
averaged 14.7 years of union experience. Some 55 percent had
a higher education, 38.4 percent were Black or mestizo, and
38 percent were younger than 40. At the closing session,
Pedro Ross Leal was re-elected general secretary and
Francisco Duran Harvey was elected vice general secretary.
President Castro gave the closing speech at the congress. He
began by reading international press stories that described
workers and youths demonstrating against layoffs and poverty
from El Salvador to Chile to London. It was chilling to hear
the figures of unemployment--14 percent in Uruguay--and the
thousands of police who were prepared to brutally repress
the protests.
The Cuban leader read from wire stories about May Day in
Berlin, where "radical left" forces were banned from
protesting yet 9,000 police were deployed to protect 1,500
neo-fascists. He said, "It is clear why Cuban workers are
able to come together and march. You are not radicals, nor
leftist extremists, you are extreme revolutionaries."
After covering a number of themes, Castro spoke about the
contributions of Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, V.I. Lenin and
Jose Marti to Cuban socialist thought. He said of Marx, "He
spoke of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and I
understand perfectly what he wanted to express with that
term. He knew perfectly well that the bourgeoisie would not
hand over philanthropically their power. He knew that to
expropriate that class, one had to take the power.
"He showed us so much, as did Lenin in his book, 'State and
Revolution.'
"Jose Marti put himself on the side of the poor. He was the
first to qualify the U.S. as imperialist. He defined it in
his last letter, saying everything he had done up to this
point was to prevent the U.S. from extending to the rest of
Latin America.... Our ideology is thus strengthened by
Marti, and the new ideas of the Marxists, Marx, Engels and
Lenin."
The Congress ended with a May Day march of over 600,000 and
a solid determination by Cuba's workers to defend socialism
and their revolution.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 17, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
MAY DAY IN CUBA:
PROUD TO BE WORKERS & INTERNATIONALISTS
By Teresa Gutierrez
Havana, Cuba
The ratification of the Free Trade Area of the Americas as
part of U.S. imperialist expansion is ushering in a revival
of revolutionary struggle around the world and in the U.S.
This revival can be clearly seen in socialist Cuba.
On May 1 Cuban President Fidel Castro led the first mass
protest in Latin America and the Caribbean against the FTAA.
Heading a demonstration of over 600,000 Cubans and some
foreign representatives, the people of Cuba sent to
Washington and leaders under its thumb a resounding message
of defiance.
The main message was that Cuba would never surrender.
Another was a call to the Latin American and Caribbean
masses to counter the FTAA with a program developed by
President Castro and best summarized by the slogan:
Annexation, no! Plebiscite, yes!
The May Day demonstration marched for two miles along the
Malecon--Havana's beautiful seaside drive--and ended at the
U.S. Interests Section. There, Cubans and their guests
chanted for hours and raised their fists proudly in the air
as staff of the Interests Section looked on.
A North American visitor who was among the Cubans led a
prolonged chant of "Cuba si, Yankee no!" Several Cubans then
presented their flags to him in a moment he said he would
never forget.
Every sector of Cuban society march ed. Teachers, students,
members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, hotel workers,
sugar cane cutters--all had made their way to the Plaza of
the Revolution where the march gathered.
Transporting over half a million people to one location at
one time is quite a feat. Workers made the sacrifice of
getting up at the crack of dawn to meet at their work site
or at their local Committee in Defense of the Revolution.
The demonstration could have reached one million but for the
shortages resulting from the criminal U.S. blockade and the
fact that many workers had to keep production and services
going.
All along the march, loudspeakers were set up so everyone
could hear the speeches given at the beginning of the rally.
Water was provided throughout the route and medical workers
were easily accessible. Spontaneous dancing and chanting
broke out constantly. Cubans saluted and thanked the North
Americans on the march.
The rally confirmed the revolutionary fervor that has been
sweeping socialist Cuba, especially since the attempt by
right-wing Cubans in the U.S. to kidnap young Elián
Gonzalez. The people have never been more united or
politically clear. The last year has seen an upsurge of
political activity as well as profound preparation on every
major national and world topic.
The theme woven throughout May Day was the struggle against
the FTAA. In a rally that preceded the march, President
Castro spoke to the Cuban people and the foreign
representatives for almost an hour.
Several guests, including representatives from Argentina,
Canada and Uruguay, joined the president.
The air tingled with emotion as 7-year-old Kenia Otaño
confidently addressed the participants. "I have come from
Ciénaga de Zapata," she said, "and the great emotion I feel
does not fit in my little heart. A few days ago ... I
expressed my satisfaction of being a liberated child who
could count on basic human rights: health care, education
and culture.
"Today in this beautiful plaza I reaffirm my great joy at
being a pioneer of my times."
Ciénaga de Zapata had been one of the poorest areas of Cuba
before the revolution--comparable to rural Mississippi. The
personal development of this child spoke volumes about
conditions for youths in socialist Cuba compared with
capitalist societies.
AN ALARM BELL FOR LATIN AMERICA
As the march prepared to step off, President Castro
predicted that "the so-called Free Trade Area of the
Americas, under the terms, the timetable, the strategy,
objectives and procedures imposed by the United States, will
inexorably lead to Latin America's annexation to the United
States.
"This kind of association," he continued, "imposes such
inequality that it is tantamount to nothing less than the
total absorption of the economies of the Latin American and
Caribbean countries by that of the United States.
"All of the banks, insurance companies, telecommunications,
shipping services and airlines will be U.S.-owned. All
business will pass into the hands of U.S. companies, from
the big retail store chains to pizza outlets and McDonald's.
"The minute [this] happens, it will no longer be possible to
speak of independence, and annexation will begin to be a
reality. And this is absolutely not an overstatement.
"The worst, saddest, most shameless and hypocritical thing
of all is that they intend to take this monstrous step
without consulting their peoples.
"We must prevent annexation, and resolutely demand, from
this moment forward, that no government be allowed to sell
out a nation behind its people's back. There can be no
annexation without a plebiscite.
"Today, we will stage the first protest. Within a few
minutes, we will set out with hundreds of thousands of
Cubans on a Latin American protest march on the United
States Interests Section, shouting this slogan: Annexation
no, plebiscite yes! Let it ring out loud and clear, and be
heard all the way up in Washington!"
And it was.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 17, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
"SOMETHING'S HAPPENING OUT THERE":
ASTONISHED U.S. BOOTED OFF UN COMMITTEES
By John Catalinotto
The would-be rulers of the world suffered two humiliating
setbacks in United Nations votes in early May. They were
paybacks for the extreme arrogance the Bush administration
has shown towards allies and enemies alike.
The first rebuff was when the U.S. was voted off the Human
Rights Commission. Washington had used this commission as a
means of punishing those countries that dared to challenge
its policies.
This year it had particularly targeted China and Cuba. It
failed to win a condemnation against China but narrowly
succeeded in getting a resolution passed against Cuba after
twisting enough arms.
The U.S. also lost its seat on the International Narcotics
Control Board. Washington had viewed this agency as a way to
bring pressure against countries that fail to toe its line,
coordinating this with the "war on drugs" that is really
just a cover for U.S. intervention in Latin America.
The imperialist architects of U.S. foreign policy have grown
so used to taking the UN for granted as a handy tool for
aggression and intervention that they were stunned when the
two secret votes in the 54-member UN Economic and Social
Council went against them.
Four Western countries, including the U.S., had been running
for three slots on the Human Rights Commission. France won
52 of a possible 54 votes, Austria 41, Sweden 32 and the
U.S. trailed with 29. The secret ballot had allowed
countries that usually fear Washington's retribution to vote
against it.
In a similar vote, U.S. representative Herbert Okun was
removed from the International Narcotics Control Board after
two terms. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said
the two losses indicate that "there's something happening
out there." He added, "I think it's fair to speculate there
may be issues related to how we handled ourselves, to how we
position.'' Columnist Maureen Dowd was blunter. "EVERYBODY
in the world HATES us," she wrote in the New York Times on
May 6. "Even the Swedes can't stand us, for Pete's sake."
Why a revolt now? The major capitalist media list, for
starters, the Bush administration's rejection of the 1997
Kyoto treaty on global warming and its unilateral rejection
of the 1972 anti-ballistics missile treaty. There has also
been the Clinton administration's rejection of a treaty to
ban land mines, its refusal to support an international
court, and the Senate's refusal to approve the nuclear test-
ban treaty. And there was the attempt to sue South Africa to
keep it from acquiring affordable drugs to treat AIDS.
There are so many other issues: U.S. hypocrisy on human
rights when this country is the largest prison house in the
world with 2 million inmates. Its arrogant preaching to the
world even as its cops shoot down unarmed Black people like
Patrick Dorismond, Amadou Diallo and Timothy Thomas and its
courts fail to prosecute the killers in blue. And its self-
righteousness on fighting drugs when the huge U.S. market
for the stuff is what drives the production of coca, poppies
and synthetic intoxicants around the world.
Many countries are also sick of Washington's attacks on
socialist Cuba, which unlike the rich, capitalist U.S.
guarantees free medical care and education for all its
children and has been generous to others with its limited
resources, providing doctors and nurses to Africa, Central
America and the Caribbean.
Perhaps the weakening of the U.S. capitalist economy, the
end of that raging bull market that seemed to drag everyone
behind it, also made it easier to just say no.
Washington has always had a two-pronged approach to the UN.
On the one hand, over the past 56 years the U.S. ruling
class has used the UN as a cover for its military
interventions--in Korea in 1950, the Congo in 1960, against
Iraq in 1990-1991 plus another decade of murderous
sanctions, and in Somalia in 1992-1993. The Clinton
administration even had the UN oversee the occupation of
Kosovo after first relying solely on the NATO military
alliance to carry out its war against Yugoslavia.
In a similar way, Washington has used bodies like the Human
Rights Commission to condemn Cuba and, depending on the year
and the needs of U.S. diplomacy, to attack Iraq, Libya,
Sudan, China and others.
At the same time the U.S. has used its vote and influence
again and again to keep Israel from being condemned for its
brutal human rights abuses in occupied Palestinian
territories.
But the U.S.--under both Republicans and Democrats--has also
withheld support from the UN. It has specifically held back
billions of dollars in dues as a form of pressure.
A grouping of reactionary U.S. politicians, led by Sen.
Jesse Helms, has made a career of demagogically attacking
the UN whenever it fails to be a completely subservient tool
of narrow U.S. interests. Helms and others can be expected
to use these latest votes as grist for a campaign to
withhold some $580 million that Congress was about to
authorize for UN dues.
Once Bush's foreign policy team finish licking their wounds,
they'll undoubtedly come back with a strategy to bring the
rebel nations to heel. But Boucher was right. Something is
happening out there. The votes in the UN are just a pale
reflection of the seething anger growing around the world at
these lords of the universe who would privatize every drop
of water, every inch of soil, while trampling down whole
nations to get it.
