[News] The Venceremos Brigade at 50
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Wed Sep 25 10:17:53 EDT 2019
https://mronline.org/2019/09/24/the-venceremos-brigade-at-50/
The Venceremos Brigade at 50
Diana Block - September 24, 2019
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VB50 banner
<https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/VB50-banner-2.jpg>
Challenging Empire, Uplifting Solidarity Since 1969
In January 1969, on the tenth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, a
group of radical American youth were inspired by Fidel’s call to help
with the harvest of 10 million tons of sugar cane. The call came at a
time when the Cuban economy was already being targeted by a strangling
economic embargo first imposed by the United States in 1960. The Cubans
welcomed the offer of support by these young people and later that year
the first Venceremos (“we shall overcome”) Brigade of 216 people left
for Cuba by way of Mexico. They helped Cubans cut cane for six weeks,
gaining “direct experience of a Third World Socialist revolution.”
(/Venceremos Brigade, /Levinson & Brightman, Simon & Schuster, 1971, p.
14.) At the same time /brigadistas /committed to confronting racism,
sexism, and individualism within the Brigade in order to strengthen the
possibilities for building unified political movement in the United States.
Since 1969, the Venceremos Brigade <https://vb4cuba.com/> has brought
more than 10,000 people from the U.S. to the island where they have
worked together with the Cuban people on agriculture, construction and
other material aid projects. To honor its fifty year history as the
longest-lived Cuban solidarity organization in the world, the 2019
Venceremos Brigade mobilized 155 people from across the U.S. to show
continued solidarity at a moment when the Trump administration is
severely escalating economic, political and social warfare against Cuba.
<https://theconversation.com/trump-declares-economic-war-on-cuba-115672>
60 former /brigadistas,/ including three from the first brigade,
participated alongside 95 people who had never been part of the Brigade
before. The youngest person was fifteen years old and the oldest was
eighty-six. As in the past, the Brigade was diverse in race, ethnicity,
gender identity, sexual orientation, occupation and political
affiliation and came from seventeen states across the U.S. It was
unified in its commitment to three fundamental goals: to end the US
blockade of Cuba and all US-imposed travel restrictions; to end the
illegal US military occupation of Guantánamo Bay; and to strengthen
movements for justice in the US through exchange and collaboration with
Cuba.
Brigadistas at Fidel's Grave
<https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brigadistas-at-Fidels-Grave.jpg>
Brigadistas at Fidel’s Grave
I had traveled to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade in 1977. At that time
many radical U.S. political organizations looked to Cuba, and other
global anti-colonial struggles, for inspiration and direction. Following
Cuba’s lead, international solidarity was recognized as a key organizing
principle. Over the past fifty years, solidarity practice in the U.S.
has gone through many dramatic ebbs and flows. The FBI tried for decades
to criminalize and demonize the Brigade
<https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0j60s45v> and yet the Brigade has
survived. For me and many former /brigadistas, /VB50 was a unique
opportunity to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of Cuba’s revolutionary
project and at the same time reaffirm the continuity of our own
anti-imperialist commitments.
VB50 was hosted by ICAP <http://www.icap.cu/>, the Cuban Institute of
Friendship with the Peoples and began with ten days at the beautiful
Julio Antonio International Camp
<http://www.nnoc.info/julio-antonio-mella-international-camp-over-40-years-supporting-friendship/>.
This was followed by an educational tour of the island, including
Guantánamo for those who stayed for three weeks (I was on the ten-day
contingent). As with all previous Brigades, we had a chance to
participate in collective labor alongside Cubans, which included
agricultural work and preparing food at the camp.
Victor Dreke
<https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Victor-Dreke.jpg>
Victor Dreke
The Brigade has also always stressed education about Cuba’s history and
current reality. Having been on the Brigade in 1977 when Cuban
solidarity with anti-colonial struggles in Africa was at its height, a
highlight of VB50 for me was a presentation by Victor Dreke
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/victor-dreke-cruz-cubas-history-man-still-talks-of-revolution-2269020.html>
who had been in the Congo with Che in 1965. A descendant of African
slaves, Dreke fought in the revolutionary struggle against Batista and
was also a captain in the military units that defeated the U.S. invasion
at Playa Giron (aka the Bay of Pigs) in 1962. In 1965 he went to the
Congo as second-in-command to Che at the request of leaders of the
Congolese national liberation movement after the CIA- backed
assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961. Dreke’s reflections provided a
bridge between this iconic history and Cuba’s current material and
medical solidarity projects throughout Africa, which he still leads at
82. Dreke is adamant about Cuba’s future. “Cuba will never go back to
capitalism
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/victor-dreke-cruz-cubas-history-man-still-talks-of-revolution-2269020.html>,”
he asserted firmly in an interview.
During our time in Cuba, we met with students, union leaders,
scientists, professors, community organizers and communist party
members. We heard about the outstanding achievements of the revolution
in education, health care, women’s rights and the environment –
accomplishments that have become so well known around the world that
they are almost taken for granted, though they have been won through
fierce dedication and exceptional innovation by the Cuban people.
The Federation of Cuban Women (FMC)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Cuban_Women> described its
advanced policies on reproductive health where abortion and
contraception are readily available and free to all, remarkable at a
moment when such services are being gutted within the United States.
They discussed their ambitious plan to update the Cuban Family Code
<https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Family-Code-Will-D> which was
first enacted in 1976 over the next two years which will include the
redefinition of marriage.
We toured Las Terrazas <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Terrazas>
which was started in 1971 as a reforestation project during which 6
million trees were planted. It is now a unique bio-reserve and home to a
community built on ecological sustainability. Significantly, Cuba’s
forested area has almost tripled since 1959, despite mass deforestation
in every other part of the world.
<https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/While-the-Amazon-Burns-Cuba-Increases-its-Forested-Area>
We also visited the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
<http://www.cigb.edu.cu/en/> where we learned about cutting edge
developments like Heberprot-P, an injectable medication used to treat
advanced foot ulcers in diabetic patients by accelerating the healing
process, a medicines which is unavailable, due to the blockade, to
Americans who could benefit from such treatment.
VB50 banner
<https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/VB50-banner-1.jpg>
All the Cuban representatives stressed that Cuba’s achievements have
been accomplished despite the U.S. embargo and never-ending attacks by
multiple U.S. administrations. As one member from the FMC stated, “We
never forget that we are eternally threatened by an empire. We will
defend our country to the very last, men and women alike.” Since our
visit in July the assaults have continued on multiple fronts. USAID has
recently initiated a program aimed at “financing actions and the search
for information to discredit and sabotage the international cooperation
provided by Cuba in the area of health in dozens of countries and for
the benefit of millions of people
<http://www.radiorebelde.cu/english/news/cuba-us-government-earmarks-millions-to-hinder-cuban-medical-cooperation-20190829/>.
“ This smear of Cuba’s voluntary medical aid program indicates the
lengths to which the U.S. will go to undermine Cuba’s humanitarian and
moral stature in the world. And on September 11^th , Twitter suspended
the accounts
<https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Twitter-Suspends-Accounts-of-Cubas-Largest-Media-Outlets-20190912-0004.html>
of all Cuba’s large media outlets and their journalists without warning
or explanation.
Johanna Tablada from Cuba’s Foreign Ministry described the current
political moment as one of the most reactionary in U.S. history where
every day new wild, unfounded accusations against Cuba are made and the
embargo is elaborated “as a set of the most extreme manipulative and
coercive rules on earth.” She pointed to the April implementation of
Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act,
<https://theconversation.com/trump-declares-economic-war-on-cuba-115672>
spearheaded by John Bolton. This provision allows Cuban Americans to sue
in U.S. courts
<https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/latin-america/article224646995.html>
any company around the world that benefits from property nationalized in
Cuba during the revolution. In June, the Trump administration further
restricted American travel to Cuba by prohibiting people-to-people
travel tours
<https://www.thenation.com/article/cuba-trump-travel-restrictions/> that
had been made possible under Obama. Tablada declared that the U.S. is
attacking Cuba’s sovereign right to build an alternative society. To
mobilize international solidarity against this counter-revolutionary
offensive, Cuba will be holding an Anti-imperialist Meeting of
Solidarity for Democracy and Against Neoliberalism in the beginning of
November with participants from around the world.
VB50 also heard presentations on the complicated issues of sexuality,
gender and race in Cuba. A representative from Cenesex
<https://www.facebook.com/cenesex/>, the National Center of Sexual
Education, described its founding in 1988 and its evolution as an agency
leading in education and advocacy for LGBT rights. For example, Cenesex
led the passage of the 2008 law which provides transgender
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender> persons with free sex
reassignment surgery
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_reassignment_surgery> and hormone
replacement therapy
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormone_replacement_therapy_(trans)> in
addition to granting them new legal identification documents with their
changed gender. According to Cenesex, there have been increasing efforts
on the part of the U.S. to manipulate LGBT issues
<https://portside.org/2019-02-25/cubas-evangelical-alliance-leads-crusade-against-gay-marriage>
within Cuban society as another tactic in its destabilization agenda.
This year’s annual Conga march against homophobia was canceled by the
agency due to fears that it could be used to exacerbate tensions. Many
in the LGBT community disagreed with the decision to cancel and
organized an alternative march.
The presentation on race in Cuba included a showing of the film Raza
<http://www.afrikanet.info/menu/diaspora/amerika/datum/2009/02/08/raza-first-film-on-racism-in-cuba/?type=98&cHash=8ca8cff996>//made
in 2008, which exposed the persistence of racism in Cuban society. The
film catalyzed the establishment of the Aponte Commission
<http://www.afrocubaweb.com/comision-aponte-uneac.html> which now serves
as an oversight body to promote the elimination of racism inside Cuba.
After the film, a panel of Afro-Cuban university scholars and artists
made it clear that there is ongoing struggle and debate about race.
However, panel members insisted that people from the U.S. needed to
appreciate the many advances that have been made against racism in Cuba
since 1959 and understand that race in Cuba has a different dynamic than
in the U.S.
Since 1969, the Venceremos Brigade has also been committed to tackling
“competitiveness, racism and male chauvinism” within the Brigade
(/Venceremos Brigade,/ p. 16). This has always been one of its most
challenging tasks, due to the profound contradictions of U.S. society
which are replicated within the left movement and inside the Brigade.
The VB50 leadership was majority people of color and queer. Principles
of transformative justice and accountability
<https://batjc.wordpress.com/category/accountability/> were prioritized
as key methods for dealing with white and male supremacy and U.S.
chauvinism. Organizers repeatedly urged /brigadistas/ to ask questions
in the spirit of genuine curiosity rather than bringing preconceived
U.S. ideas of how things should be done. They also encouraged us to see
the Cuban revolution as a process which is imperfect but has made
enormous progress since 1959 and continues in the face of monumental
obstacles. These perspectives didn’t eliminate contradictions but they
helped /brigadistas /to address them when they arose.
Fernando González Llort, President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship
with the Peoples (ICAP), speaks at the 50th Anniversary of the creation
of the Venceremos Brigade
<https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Fernando-Gonzalez-at-Brigade-Celebration.jpg>
Fernando González Llort, President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship
with the Peoples (ICAP), speaks at the 50th Anniversary of the creation
of the Venceremos Brigade, held at the headquarters of ICAP, in Havana,
Cuba, on July 30, 2019. ACN PHOTO / Omara GARCÍA MEDEROS.
On July 30^th Fernando González Llort, President of ICAP greeted the
Brigade in ICAP’s garden courtyard during the official ceremony marking
the 50^th Anniversary. Fernando had been one of the Cuban 5,
<https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/Obama_Administration_Free_the_Cuban_5/>
imprisoned for almost 16 years in U.S. prisons on false espionage
charges, sharing a cell for four years with Puerto Rican independentista
Oscar Lopez Rivera
<https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Oscar-Lopez-Expresses-Much-Love-to-the-Cuban-People-on-1st-Visit-to-Island-20171113-0014.html>.
It was particularly moving for those of us who had been part of the
successful campaign to Free the Five
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/03/obama-give-me-five/> to meet
Fernando in the context of the Brigade’s anniversary. Fernando thanked
the Brigade emphatically for its ongoing solidarity and stated that the
Brigade has demonstrated that, “Cuba is not and will never be alone.”
Leslie Cagan, who was part of the first Venceremos Brigade said that the
Brigade “has taught us all that solidarity is much more than a beautiful
word and that it must be taken on as a commitment to life, both
individually and collectively, and live it, and practice it, every day.”
<http://en.escambray.cu/2019/venceremos-brigade-celebrates-50th-birthday-in-cuba/>
Two of the young leaders of VB50, Rachael Ibrahimi and Malcolm Sacks,
stated unequivocally, “We have challenged our government and its unfair
ban on traveling to Cuba and here we are, as the Brigade has been, year
after year, to defend and also to help build this Revolution, convinced
that a better world is not only possible, but essential.”
<http://en.escambray.cu/2019/venceremos-brigade-celebrates-50th-birthday-in-cuba/>
As the U.S. ramps up its global efforts to protect genocidal racial
capitalism, it is a crucial time for a new generation to study and learn
from Cuba’s 60-year effort to build an alternative socio-economic
system. That system may be imperfect, but arguably it has advanced
further than any other socialist project to date. Building collective
solidarity with Cuba in defiance of empire has been the mission of the
Venceremos Brigade for fifty years. It needs to be to be a priority for
all of us who are determined to fight for a better world. ¡Cuba Sí
,Bloqueo No!
<http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2018-10-31/cuba-si-bloqueo-no-31-10-2018-22-10-17>
--
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863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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