[Marxism] Indispensable CubaNews list begins its fifth year

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(This is a message sent to the CubaNews list on
beginning its fifth year. Since I often post on
Cuba to several other lists, I wanted to share
this with you as well. I hope that you'll find
this reflection on the work as I found it hard
to synthesize into a single message.)
=================================================

CubaNews list begins its fifth year this week.
by Walter Lippmann, August 30, 2004

>From time to time it's helpful to take some time out from the regular
flow of news gathering and commentary to look in a broader way at the
work and service this list is providing.

CubaNews began four years ago when a group of internet activists who had
worked together in the struggle for Elian Gonzalez' put together an
on-going resource for news and information about
the island. The Elian struggle marked a great turning point in
the US-Cuban relationship. For the first time, the majority of the
people of the United States got to see some of the reality of the
behavior encouraged by the wealthy rightist minority of the Cuban exile
community. And for the first time in years, perhaps since the Bay of
pigs, the Cuban exile rightists were defeated in a key battle, and
justice prevailed with Elian.

Some of us knew one another from other struggle, some of us
had never, and have never actually met, but we've learned
to work together to share lots of useful information

Following the Elian Gonzelaz fight we decided that an ongoing
mechanism was needed to share information among ourselves,
and to share it with others who wanted to follow the progress of the
Cuban Revolution. We wanted to inform ourselves and anyone
interested about Cuban reality, on political, social, cultural
and many other levels.

Readership has grown steadily. When we began we had something like 125
or 150 subscribers. Now we've got over 600. The main items on this list
also are posted to a separate "best-of" list which goes to another 120
subscribers. Many of those are also posted to some other sites as well,
so we're getting the information out to lots of people. No money is
charged, and all we ask is that people take a careful look at the
material. Readers who wish to participate in this ongoing process are
welcome to contribute their thoughts and energies to the process as
well.

This list has posted over twenty-nine THOUSAND e-mails from, about or
related to Cuba in these past four years. This list draws from the
Cuban, US, international and left and alternative media to
provide readers with a wide selection of information on Cuba.

The list not only collects and shares information on the island's
politics and the political links between Cuba and other countries but
also provides information on cultural reflections, from music to
theater, the movies and so forth. Things that are taking place
on the island or in the Cuban diaspora are subjects of interest
for the readers of this list.

For myself, this has been my full time, and more than full-time work
from the first days. I try to find as much material which adds to our
understanding as possible. It's daunting task and one which can't ever
be completed. I'm glad that we have others also participating, and whose
work brings us materials which no one person could ever bring. I'd like
to acknowledge the work of Heikki Sipila who checks Radio Havana daily
and sends us notes in from there. New York Transfer News is a
comprehensive service on a full range of issues. They've been sharing
material which they glean from the Cuban and international media as
well, as has Dublin's Simon McGuinness. I'm grateful to each of them,
and others for their active role in producing CubaNews.

My formal title in the Yahoo system is "moderator", and I'm
more or less the editor in chief and am ultimately responsible for what
goes out to the lists. We need to know what's being said both by Cuba's
friends and its adversaries, and to see how Cuba fits in and relates to
the broader international struggles for social justice and national
self-determination. That's why you'll find so many different kinds of
articles from so many different perspectives. You decide what's most
useful to you and save or else disregard the rest.

Sometimes I find that I am so involved in the day-to-day work of finding
and sharing that it's necessary to take some time away, and to pull back
and try to look at the broader picture. Last week I took some time to
visit friends and family up in the Bay Area. I got to meet some other
readers of these lists, to see some new faces and places, and was able
to find several new books which you'll want to know about. It's amazing
go me how much literature is pouring out about Cuba these days and quite
a bit of it is valuable. Two new (to me) books are:

OPEN YOUR EYES AND SOAR: Cuban Women Writing Now, a collection of short
stories by Cuban women on the island telling about life and its
challenges and contradictions. Another one is
HAVANA: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis, revised edition, a
detailed look at the city's history, politics and development projects.
Readers who find books like these are encouraged to
send in reviews so we can all learn more and more over time.

Take a look at the very first messages which were posted to the list
when it began. You'll find familiar messages and posters in the earliest
messages which were sent out here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/messages/1

Cuba's close relationship with the United States, mostly one of
antagonism since the triumph of the Revolution's triumph in 1959, has
meant we've had to both cover events on the island as well as the
discussions and debates over Cuba which occur in the US as is the case
from time to time. For the most part, the US media has avoided saying
anything good about Cuba over the years since the Revolution's triumph.
Occasionally some nice story about music
gets through, but Cuba is normally ignored. When it's not ignored, Cuban
society is reviled or its problems are dwelled upon without end. Reading
about Cuba in the corporate media, for the most part, though not
entirely, has a dreary predictability, it's sad to say.

Washington's desire to overthrow the Cuban Revolution, and thus to
return the island to the barbaric regimes of the past, are themes which
have dominated US political discussion form the beginning.
Both of the dominant candidates for the US presidency are fully
committed to the overthrow of the Revolution. They differ on the
tactics best calculated to carry this goal out.

For example, in Miami last week, George W. Bush told a group of Miami
rightists, in his words, "We will not rest until the Cuban
people enjoy the same freedom in Havana that they enjoy here."

John Kerry, the Democrat, sounds a similar note:
"I am committed to seeing the end to the Castro regime, which
I have long condemned for its flagrant human rights abuse and
political oppression. There is no excuse for the Castro regime
to hold down over 11 million talented and hardworking citizens
of the Americas, some of our closest neighbors. Let there be
no mistake about my view: I will support effective and peaceful
strategies that will hasten the end of the Castro regime as soon
as possible, and enable the Cuban people to take their rightful
place in the democratic community of the Americas.

Kerry, however, then adds, "But the policy of this Administration
punishes and isolates the Cuban people while leaving Castro and
his consorts unharmed, free to blame the United States for their
own failures." Read Kerry's full policy statement on Cuba here:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0605a.html

The US media and most people in the United States receive little or no
information on Cuban life beyond its problems (both real and imagined).
For two countries who are so closely interlinked, this is most
unfortunate. In Cuba they pay a great deal of very careful attention to
politics in the United States. Here's an interview done a few weeks ago
with Ricardo Alarcon, President of Cuba's National Assembly in which he
pays the closest kind of attention to the details of US politics. I'm
sure you'll
find his comments worth considering carefully:
http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/Speeches/Alarcon/2004/alarcon_220704.ht
m

The role of the Cuban exile rightists in US political life is something
quite few people in the United States really know
about. The stolen US presidential election of 2000, where the Democrat
Gore received half a million votes more than Bush,
and became President of the United States in a tainted Florida vote, had
national and ultimately international implications.

Particularly in light of the recent recall referendum held in Venezuela,
don't we wish we had such a procedure to recall a president in the
United States? Barring that, at least maybe we could have some of those
same international observers who helped validate the Venezuelan election
could, and certainly they SHOULD, go to a much closer place and go to
work quickly in Florida. This is another area where Ricardo Alarcon has
made some thoughtful proposals which need wide circulation:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/julio/vier30/32elec.html

While Bush was telling Cubans in Miami that he wants to bring
the Cuban people "the same freedom" as in the United States, a group of
three Cuban exiled terrorists, each one convicted of terrorist
activities including IN THE UNITED STATES ITSELF, were welcomed into the
United States by the US government:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9518280.htm

The four men who were "pardoned" by the Panamanian regime
have a heavy and well-documented record of violent terrorist activities.
Take a look at what the Washington Post reported:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36924-2004Aug26.html

Here are their records, listed by the Cuban foreign ministry:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P2E925A29

While these four terrorists have been released and three of them made
welcome by the United States government, just in time for a Bush
campaign event in Miami (and one even appeared on Miami TV in a featured
slot on Spanish-language TV there.) the five Cuban
men who came to the United States to monitor terrorist groups and
their activities, and who are known as the "Cuban Five", remain
locked in prison facing decades long terms. They are being held
in maximum security prisons though they were not convicted nor even
CHARGED, with a single violent act, or even of any intent
to commit a single violent act.

CubaNews follows the case of the Cuban five closely, and you can
obtain complete detailed information on their case here:
http://www.freethefive.org/ Please keep in mind that one of the most
persistent quotes we've heard from George W. Bush has been his famous
"Those who harbor a terrorist are as guilty as the
terrorist himself." But the warm welcome which was given these Cuban
exile terrorists surely means they're now being harbored in the United
States, doesn't it? What else could it mean???

Since Bush has pledged to bring to Cuba "the same" freedoms we have in
the United States, CubaNews from time to time points
out what some of those freedoms really are. While Cubans have their
problems, even a small, poor and blockaded country such as Cuba has been
able to provide cradle-to-the-grave medical care for its entire
population, because it's gotten rid of the crime, violence and
greed-based private profit social system.

Last week all the major US media reported that those lacking health care
in this model country have risen to all-time
record heights. As of this year, 45 MILLION people in the US are without
health insurance while 100% of the entire Cuban population is covered,
from the cradle to the grave. And so if what the US has is what
Washington wants to impose on the Cuban people, reports like these,
which are covered in the Cuban media regularly, can help disabuse Cubans
of whatever illusions some of them have about life in the United States.

We've sent out materials comparing the educational options
open to Cubans with those in the United States. Whenever I
go to a movie here and pay up to nine or ten DOLLARS a seat,
I keep in mind that movies in Cuba cost but two Cuban pesos
to get in. Arts in general are available to Cubans for what people in
the United States would consider a pittance. While housing is difficult
in Cuba and moving is very difficult, there are no homeless people and
no one is starving though food is expensive and not always available. We
like to look at these differences and try to understand them as we watch
the United States trying to impose the "American way of life" on the
people of Cuba.

As I said, Cubans have many challenges, difficulties and problems, but
they also have open public governmental dis- cussions of racism, women's
empowerment and homophobia. The lists here are endless, but you get the
general idea.

Another story which does get reported, but not as prominently as it
should, is the expanding business links between the US and Cuba. It
constantly amazes me when I tell people that
the United States has become a leading supplier of food and other
agricultural commodities to Cuba. Cuba is indeed the best customer US
businesses have, since under US policies, Cuba, unlike other countries,
cannot use conventional
financing, but must pay for everything in cash. And while
this is a cumbersome and expensive process, a growing
section of the US business community is seeing opportunity
in Cuba.

Earlier this summer a San Diego biotechnology company
signed an amazing $35 MILLION DOLLAR contract to work on
a cancer cure with a Cuban biotech firm. And while the US prevents Cuba
from receiving these payments directly in the form of money, Cuba can
use these funds to pay for its food purchases from the United States. If
only Cuba could freely sell its goods and services in the United States,
and if only restrictions on travel to Cuba were lifted, US companies
could do a lot more business. These are fascinating stories as they
develop and we will be continuing to follow up on them as much as we
can.

Though we cannot predict the future in more than general
ways, we can, I think, draw hope and optimism from the
growth of a culture of resistance, both in the United
States and beyond. The exposure of the tortures which Washington and its
allies in Iraq have carried out have helped the public learn what
Washington's methods and goal are. They're not new, but to millions of
people, learning about them is new. The incredible success of such
anti-war phenomena as Michael Moore's wonderful FAHRENHEIT 9/11
demonstrates that there is a public out there anxious to learn and
rightfully distrustful of the dominant corporate media. This is why our
work getting out genuine news about Cuba is both timely and practical,
though it may not always seem that way from day to day.
=======================================================

TRANSLATION PROJECT
Another special feature of this list is our goal of providing
translations of news and analysis from the Cuban media which wouldn't
otherwise be made available to the English-speaking public. To this end
we've found lots of materials one a wide range of subjects, from movies
to sexuality, from the history of the world socialist movement through
tattooing and they've been made available, largely through the work of
people who have these abilities and can help us. If your Spanish is up
to this task and you'd like to help, we could definitely use more
assistance in this area. We've got plenty of materials ready and needing
translation, so please volunteer!
======================================================

A DIRECT REQUEST FOR PEOPLE READING THIS MESSAGE
CubaNews comes to you free of charge and is powered by the commitment of
its readers and active participants. Well, this isn't completely true.
We all pay in that Yahoo which provides this service to us, makes money
through the sales of the advertising we see embedded in the mail. But we
do not have to pay our own money directly out of pocket.

Please take the time now, to write in a note to CubaNews telling us how
the information you get from this list helps you follow and improve your
understanding of Cuban life, how it helps further the defense of Cuba's
right to self- determination, and any suggestions you might have to make
the list serve these purposes better. I'd like to see them and other
readers would as well. Pease send your comments
directly to me at walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and know your
comments will be both listened to and appreciated. I will
share some of the most interesting of these. And tell us a
bit about yourselves and your interest in Cuba, if you wish.

CubaNews is a completely free service. It depends on the
active participation of posters and readers. Please pass
this message on to anyone you know who would be interested
in Cuba and US-Cuban relations. Public interest in Cuba
is growing, and the atmosphere in the United States and elsewhere is
more open now. Hundreds of thousand came out to protest against the Bush
administration and the war in Iraq over the weekend. We know there's an
audience out
there who needs to know more about Cuba. That's what this
list is all about.

Thanks very much for your time and interest reading this lengthy
message, and for your interest in Cuba.


Walter Lippmann, Moderator, CubaNews
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/


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