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Partial History of July 26 Coalition and Some Highlights |
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The
July 26th Coalition in Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution takes its name from the July 26 Movement of Cuba, which lead the revolutionary upsurge that culminated in the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship on January 1, 1959.
Activities of the July 26th Coalition Some of our events were taped and are available at the sites below. There is a notation next to the event about who taped it. Radio Free Maine (RFM) More recently FreemanZ and his 492 Cafe have also recorded some of our eventsThe following is a list of local events we either cosponsored or publicized. If you signup for our email list you will find out about similar Boston area events in the future. Highlights of 2009 7/7 20th "Pastors for Peace" Caravan to Cuba6/17 Picket Line to Protest Supreme Court Decision on the Cuban 5 Highlights of 2008 Showed the film "Cuba, an African Odyssey" in Oct. at the Community ChurchContinued showings of the Film "Salud" 10/29 "MIT Amnesty International" 10/24 "Jaimaica Plain Forum" 4/14 Dudley Branch Library in Roxbury 6/17 19th "Pastors for Peace" Caravan to Cuba 6/06 Picket Line to Protest Court Decision on the Cuban 5 Highlights of 2007 We sponsored a number of showing of the Film "Salud"11/1 and 3/20 at Bunker Hill Community College 10/18 and 8/14 at "Encuentro 5" 7/26 at the Brookline Town Library 4/29 Cosponsored with the "MIT Western Hemisphere Project" Film and Discussion "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" 2/5/07 Coolidge Corner Cinema Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost most of its access to oil, fertilizers and pesticides. Learn how Cuba's response to this crisis has led it to the forefront of the movement for sustainable and organic agricultural practices. Did you know that 50% of the vegetables eaten in the city of Havana, Cuba are organically grown within the city limits? Where: Coolidge Corner Cinema, Brookline, MA Elizabeth Morrow is a graduate student of History at Tufts University and has written and spoken about US foreign policy towards Cuba. "Sajed Kamal" is Adjunct Professor, Sustainable International Development, Brandeis University Sponsored by Newton Cuba Soldarity Group. Highlights of 2006 Superpower Principles: US Terrorism Against Cuba, 10/06/06Noam Chomsky, Salim Lamrani and National Lawyers Guild President Michael Avery speak on the topic of the Cuba Five and assocated US state-sponsored terrorism against this tiny island nation which displays the unmitigated chutzpacity to defy the century old Monroe Doctrine of US domination of Latin America. Cosponsored with MIT Western Hemisphere Project Available from Radio Free Maine (not listed on the site but ask for it!) A Transcript of the Q and A section of the program is available on Z-Magazine Noam Chomsky Presents Panel on Terrorism and Film Showing on the Cuban 5 2/8/06 According to Professor Noam Chomsky in his 2000 book, Rogue States, Cuba and the United States have a unique status in international relations. There is no similar case of such a sustained assault by one power against another - in this case the greatest superpower against a poor, Third World country. Professor Chomsky will be presenting a showing of the documentary film: Mission Against Terror and chairing a panel discussion with Bernie Dwyer, Journalist and Filmmaker and Father Geoffrey Bottoms. The film follows the case of the five Cubans currently serving long sentences in U.S. jails for trying to prevent terrorist attacks on Cuba. It also depicts the long history of violence against innocent Cubans by right-wing groups based in Miami that are supported by the U.S. government. Cosponsored by the MIT Thistle. Mountain of Light, a film about Cuban doctors around the world 7/27/06 Among the achievements of the Cuban revolution none is known as far and wide as its healthcare system, not only domestically but internationally. Doctors and paramedics from Cuba, who serve in more than seventy countries, are for many in the Third World their only life-line. Directed by Guillermo Centeno and produced for Cuban television, Centeno’s riveting and poignant documentary presents the experiences of about a dozen Cuban medical personnel serving in Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Burkina Faso, Mali, Botswana and Namibia. Whatever the politics that viewers bring to this film they’re likely to be touched by the sheer humanity of the Cuban practitioners in some of the most remote regions of the world. Highlights of 2005 Transvestism, Transexuality and AIDS in Cuba 4/15/05The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Cuba Studies Program sponsored the following lecture and video screening "Cuban Medical International Cooperation" & "Transvestism, Transexuality and AIDS in Cuba" with Dr. Jorge Perez Avila Director of the Instituto de Medicina Tropical Pedro Kouri Hospital Jorge Perez-Avila is the Director of the IPK Hospital and the former Director of the Sanatorium of Santiago de Las Vegas for medical care of people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, Dr. Perez has an appointment as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Havana where he has taught since 1982. A member of several scientific committees including his current work with the National Commission of AIDS and the IPK Scientific Council, Dr. Pérez has published more than 80 articles in both national and international journals, and has served as a member of the editorial board for the Revista Cubana de Medicina Tropical. In addition to participating in many national and international seminars, conferences, and workshops, including the International AIDS Conferences, Dr. Perez has been on the Advisory Board for the Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change in the Department of Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School since 1999. "The Kouri Institute is one of the finest infectious disease and parasitology programs in Latin America, and it's a shame that they've been isolated by the embargo," noted Dr. Paul Farmer A long gap in time that needs to be filled. Highlights of 2003 Organized a delegation that participated in the 3rd US - Cuba Youth ExechangeErrol Flynn whitenessing the Cuban Revolution rare movie 7/26/03 Film -- The Cuban Story Shot live during the revolution, with an introduction and remarks by none other than Errol Flynn, this 55 minute documentary contains unique and previously unseen archival footage of the Batista regime, its police brutality, resistance to it, scenes of Moncada after the massacre, Fidel, Che, and others, the triumphant entry of the Rebel Army into Havana, the revolutionary tribunals, an extraordinary scene of the million-person mobilization in support of the execution of the Batistiano killers (including the carrying out of the sentence against a prominent murderer), and solidarity demonstrations in Caracas in defense of Cuba's bringing the criminals to justice. The movie was never screened in the United States, as Washington began to demonize the then widely popular revolution. This unrivaled footage of the earliest days of the revolution provides a starting point for a rich discussion. Performance by the cast of PRESENTE! PRESENTE! is a theater-in-the-round performance that brings awareness to the reality of political prisoners and prisoners of war in the United States. The cast, former political prisoner Kazi Touré, Richard Cambridge, Myriam Ortiz, Malena, Gary Hicks, and Jamey Smythe, will be performing an excerpt from the show, featuring the Cuban Five. Community Church of Boston Highlights of 2002 Free the (Cuban)Miami 5, 2/21/02On June 8, a jury in a federal courtroom in Miami handed down guilty verdicts against five Cubans - René Gonzáles, Ramon Labaniño,Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and Gerado Hernánez - on 23 charges of "spying" for the government of Cuba. Their crime was monitoring right wing terrorist groups in the US like Alpha 66, Brothers to the Rescue, Omega 7 and others who have carried out bombings and other terrorist actions against the people of Cuba. The arrests and convictions of the five are an attack directed not only at Cuba but at democratic rights in the United States. FBI agents broke into their homes repeatedly over the three years prior to the arrests, violating the Fourth Amendment protection against arbitrary search and seizure. The prosecution's 'evidence' consisted of information the FBI claimed to have collected in these raids, and from short-wave radio transmissions governments asserted they intercepted between Havana and the defendants. No evidence of any military secrets being stolen from the United States and turned over to Cuba was ever presented. A discussion with Fernando Garcia Diplomat, Cuban Interest Section, Washington, DC Andres Gomez Co-Chair, Free the Five Committee, Miami and Coordinator, Antonio Maceo Brigade, Miami Teresa Gutierrez National Coordinator, International Peace for Cuba Appeal National Co-Coordinator, International Action Center Performance by The Cast of ¡PRESENTE! with Richard Cambridge Cambridge Family YMCA, — Central Square Co-sponsors International Action Center of Boston, Jamaica Plain, MA Community Church of Boston Cuba's Relations with Africa from 1959 to the Present 11/14/02 (A Rare change to here a historic Cuban leader.) Speakers: Victor Dreke Cruz Mr. Dreke is currently the vice president of the Cuba-Africa Friendship Association. During the last decade he has helped lead work in constructing housing, schools, roads, and other development projects in Africa. In 1965, Dreke served as second in command under Ernesto Che Guevara in the Congo. Cuban volunteers went to that country at the request of followers of Patrice Lumumba, the assassinated leader of the Congo's fight for independence. Dreke returned to Africa in 1966-1968 to head Cuba's military mission in Guinea-Bissauat the time fighting for its independence from Portugal. He fought alongside Amilcar Cabral there and also headed Cuba's mission in the Republic of Guinea. Dr. Ana Morales Varela. Dr. Morales is currently a professor at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba. She headed the Cuban medical mission in Guinea-Bissau in 1985 and was an adviser to the Ministry of Public Health in that country forom 1985 to 1987. During that time she had responsibility for founding the first medical school in Guinea-Bissau, which was donated by Cuba. Morales returned to the Republic of Guinea and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau in 1995-1997 directing medical facilities in both countries. Morales received a degree as a medical specialist in Health Organization and Administration from the Institute for the Development of Health in 1983. UMASS BOSTON Sponsors: Africana Studies Dept., Coll. of Public and Community Services (CPCS), Students Arts and Events Council, Black Student Center, Casa Latina, Feminist Majority BROWN UNIVERSITY Joukowsky Forum, 1st Floor, Watson Institute 2/15/02 Sponsors: Africana Studies Department, Center for Latin American Studies, Wayland Collegium for Liberal Learning Highlights of 2001 Cuban Union Leaders Speak about daily life in Cuba & Cuba�s role in fighting the Free Trade Area of the AmericasJuly 21 at Boston Iron Workers Union Hall The program included Cuban Union Leaders of the CTC: CENTRAL de TRABAJADORES de CUBA Leonel Gonz�lez Gonz�lez Director of International Relations of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC) Manuel Montero Bistilleiro Chief of the American Interests Bureau of the CTC Diana Maria Garc�a Mart�nez General Secretary, Public Administrative Workers Union Edison Earl Brown L�zaro Pena Trade Union School Sponsored by (partial list): U.S. / Cuba Labor Exchange; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, MA Chapter; July 26 Coalition, National Lawyers Guild, MA Chapter; Labor Extension Program, U Mass. Lowell; Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights; Latinas and Latinos for Social Change; Mass. Jobs with Justice; Boston Global Action Network; Coalition of Black Trade Unionist, MA Chapter, Womens Institute for Leadership Developement; Bank Busters; North Shore Labor Council; Umass Boston Labor Resourse Center; Bill Fine, Mobilization Committee Rep. NALC-34*; Jeff Klein, Pres. NAGE-RI 168*; Eddie Childs, Chief Steward HERE Local 26*; Jos� Soler, Director UMass Labor Education Center*; Steven Lewis, COPE Chair SEIU 509*; Bert Barao, Pres. UNITE 177*; Jerry Fishbien, UNITE Regional New England Joint Board*; Jeannette Huezo, Organizer SEIU 254*; Rand Wilson, SEIU* Organized to send a number of local participants to The 2nd U.S. - CUBA Youth Exchange and organized a report back.
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Highlights of 2000 Black Farmers Report Back From Cuba with Willie Head, Jr. Member of Georgia Vegetable Producers Cooperative Vice-President, Peoples Tribunal of Valdosta, GAApril 20 Roxbury Community College In February a group of family farmers visited Cuba to learn about its agricultural policies. Prominent among them were several Black farmers from Georgia who were part of a historic lawsuit against the U. S. Department of Agriculture for its racially discriminatory lending practices. The suit was won and now the farmers are fighting to collect their settlements. All the farmers who went on the fact-finding trip are struggling to hold onto their land. They face falling prices for agricultural commodities and monopoly prices for inputs, including gas. Several are farm activists. In Cuba, where they were hosted by the National Association of Small Farmers of Cuba (ANAP), the farmers learned that land there is available to anyone who wants to work it, that credit is cheap, and that there are no farm foreclosures. One of the farmers from Georgia will come to New England in mid-April and will speak in Boston and other cities about the trip, his experiences as a farmer and the ongoing fight against the USDA. RICHARD LEVINS CUBA: The Ecological Path to Development 11/15/00 Professor Levins has focused his work on theoretical, agricultural and public health ecology, and philosophy of science. He has helped to form modern agro-ecology, and is applying ecological and evolutionary perspectives to epidemiology, especially the study of new and resurgent infectious diseases and environmental change. For over 35 years he has been a participant/observer in the development of Cuban ecology, agriculture and mathematical biology, and recently, infectious diseases. John Rock Professor of Population Science and Director of the Human Ecology Program, Harvard School of Public Health Sponsored by Tufts University,Somerville, MA, recorded by Martin Voelker Available from Radio Free Maine Highlights of 1999 100 years of Imperialism - 1898-1998 with guest speakers Rafael Cancel Miranda, former Puerto Rican political prisoner and representatives from Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic at Roxbury Community College Celebrating the Role of Blacks in Politics and Culture in Cuba with special guest speaker Felix Wilson, First Secretary Cuban Interests Section, and others including a participant in the Cuban Literacy Campaign in the early '60s, presented at the Blacksmith House, Cambridge, March 1999 Supported Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, Inc. (IFCO) and "Pastors for Peace" Medical Aid to Cuba 9th Friendshipment. Joined with the Pastors as an intervener in their legal case against the US Government. Pastors opposes the US blockade of Cuba. July 26 Annual Celebration: Cuba's Internationalism with Josefina Vidal, Cuban Interests Section along with speakers representing the Haitian Consul, South Africa and Iraq at the Cambridge YWCA, July 1999 "Infomed" computers over the border and now Medical Aid Shipment to Cuba on October 30, 1999 at the US/Canada border in Highgate, Vermont Student Faculty Cuban Medical Doctor Tour, October 25 - November 7, 1999. Dr. Alfredo Portero, director of the International Medical Cooperation Unit in the Ministry of Public Health in Cuba, addressed more than 600 people on seven campuses and spoke before seven community organizations and health agencies. He described Cuba's medical care system and its international medical brigades. "Cuba maintains one medical care system. It is accessible to all Cubans regardless of sex, religion, or political belief and it is free of charge, whether you need an aspirin or open heart surgery." The main Boston Event included Dr. Paul Farmer. Members of Singing with the Enemy performed Embargo at Club Passim in Harvard Square on November 3, 1999. Their benefit performance raised funds for the US/ Cuba 2000 Conference in Seattle, December 4-6, 1999 Sponsored hosted travel to the 14th "World Youth Festival", Cuba, 1997Highlights of 1998 Presentations by Johanna Tablada & Eugenio Martinez both are Sectaries of the Cuba Interests SectionCelebrate the Cuban Revolution and raise funds for - the "Pastors for Peace" 1998 "Caravan for the Elders & Children of Cuba" - to encourage participation in the "Building a New Future; A US-Cuba Conference" in Havana DJ/Caribbean Music Saturday, July 18 Community Church of Boston Highlights of 1997 The Eyes of the Rainbow: Assata Shakur and Oya in CubaBoston Premier with a presentation by Gloria Rolando, direct from Havana, Cuba An English language documentary: 47 min, color Gloria Rolando, Director Roxbury Community College, Main Auditorium Friday, September 26 Deals with the life of Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Army leader who escaped from prison and was given political asylum in Cuba, where she has lived for close to 20 years. This film is also about her AfroCuban context, including the Yoruba Orisha Oya, goddess of the ancestors, of war, of the cemetery. A queen in her own right, Oya was fully the equal of the male orishas. Gloria Rolando premiered Eyes of the Rainbow in the US at the 5th World Congress of Orisha Tradition, held this year in San Francisco. The film was requested 4 times and the audience was moved to tears. Organized a delegation to the 14TH WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH AND STUDENTS - CUBA '97 Presentations & Party Video and presentation on the Velerution/"Bicyclization of Cuba" Museum of Fine Arts Apr. 26 Fighting Injustice with Peace Rev. Lucius Walker from "Pastors for Peace" This years US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, which is dedicated to the children of Cuba and comes at a time of increased world-wide outrage at the far-reaching effects of the US embargo, will be organized with extensive participation from Canadian and European organizations. "In its pathological obsession to destroy Cuba, the US is violating the sovereignty of other nations in the world by trying to force them to support a US policy of economic warfare against Cuba," said Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO executive director and founder of "Pastors for Peace". "Just as the international community is outraged at this attempt to compromise their political and financial autonomy, hundreds of thousands of US citizens reject the government's immoral, shameful blockade of Cuba. We plan to keep challenging the blockade until it is lifted." En route to San Diego and Buffalo, the "Caravan for the Children of Cuba" will hold public educational events at campuses, churches and community organizations throughout the US and Canada. Thousands of volunteers are involved at the local level in organizing material aid shipments and fundraising events in support of this project. Thurs. April 17, Harvard Divinity School, Andover Hall, Sperry Room Highlights of 1996 Program on the Cuban Revolution Friday, July 26at Phoenix Coffeehouse 675 Massachusetts Avenue Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera, the First Secretary of the Cuban Interests Section, will be in the Boston area on Friday and Saturday July 26th and 27th. He has had extensive experience dealing with Cuban US (North American) relations. He offers an interesting perspective on the issues of the past few months including the Helms-Burton Act, the International Aviation Commission's report on the downing of the planes in February. Workers & Unions in Cuba Today! A Report Back by three observers to the Congress of the Cuban Workers Federation. This conference was the culmination of a year long process where by Cuban workers debated and decided their participation in the economic changes affecting their lives.
The observers include
SEIU Local 285, Highlights of 1995 Cuba Since Soviet Collapse: Economic Measures, The New Agriculture & The Environment 4/26/95MIGUEL NUNEZ Cuban Diplomat DICK LEVINS Marxist Ecologist MARY ALICE WATERS Author Roxbury Community College, Boston Available from Radio Free Maine Cubans In the United States 4/19/95 Andres Gomez National Network on Cuba Roxbury Community College, Boston, MA Available from Radio Free Maine The RECTIFICATION CAMPAIGN of the 1980's APRIL 5 Launched in the mid 1980's, the Rectification Campaign represented Cuba's effort to overcome growing problems of bureaucratism, corruption, and of economic and political stagnation by reviving and deepening popular involvement in the Revolution and its political processes. What was the content of this campaign? What were its accomplishments and successes? How was it impacted by the economic crisis of the past four years. Carlos A. Batista-Odio, Co-director of the Center of US Studies of the University of Havana, (CESEU). Don Gurewitz, longtime Cuba solidarity activist, visitor photographer and frequent lecturer on Cuba. CULTURE, MUSIC and RELIGION IN CUBA March 29: 6 pm. CUBAN CULTURE & THE REVOLUTION Jill Nitchinsky, Professor, Tufts University 7 pm. AFRO-CUBAN MUSIC Merida Castillo, Singer Folklorist 8:30. AFRO-CUBAN RELIGIONS David Olsen, "Pastors for Peace" EXHIBIT OF CUBAN ART March 29 to April 5 Mounted by Francisco Mendez-Diez, Cuban artist. Reception. 4:30 - 6 pm, March 29, Cafeteria, Student Center 2nd Fl PHOTOGRAPHS FROM LA HABANA CUBA 1995 Exhibit of Photographs by David Garten of Waitsfield Vt. INSIDE CUBA TODAY: A Young Cuban Talks About Her Country APRIL 12 Kenia Serrano-Puig, a Cuban youth activist from the Cuban Center of Studies for youth. The Center does research and provides information on the situation facing Cuban youth, particularly with respect to employment, education and culture. She was high-school leader starting at age 13 and was elected president of the University Student Federation at the University of Las Tunas. She helped organize voluntary student mobilizations doing work in agriculture and other tasks. Kenia is interested in scientific research & innovations. She is currently studying English and is the secretary of international relations of the University Student Federation (FEU). She is also a member of the Union of Young Communists (UJC). Highlights of 1994 The Cuba of Today Through the Eyes of a Revolutionary Christian Youth Organizer Ariel Moriyon Rojas of the "Martin Luther King Jr. Center" in Havana, Cuba Community Church of Boston Nov. 3rd Co-sponsors: American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Community Church of Boston and the Caribbean Focus at Roxbury Community College A Picket Line to Demand: Stop US Threats Against Cuba NO Blockade, End the Embargo, Normalize Relations Honor the Immigration Agreements with Cuba Aug 26, 4:30-6:30 PM Park Street Station Cuba Now An Evening with the Chief of the Cuban Interests Section Alfonso Fraga Sat. March 26, at the Episcopal Divinity School Co-sponsored with Anglicanism, Globalism & Ecumenism New Cuban documentary "Gay Cuba". Through interviews with gay and lesbian Cubans the video explores the conditions they face and the transformation of consciousness developing in Cuba today. Jamaica Plain Firehouse Arts Center, 659 Center Street, Tuesday June
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