User talk:Stephen Hallmark

Cuba Solidarity Campaign

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign is the British movement which backs Cuba’s sovereignty and its people’s right to self-determination.

The organisation is comprised of thousands of members across the UK – and is affiliated to by 23 national trade unions who together represent over 90 per cent of UK Trade Unionists, around 5 million people.

For 47 years Cuba, a small Caribbean nation of 11 million people, has suffered military aggression and economic hostility in the form of one of the longest brutal economic blockades in history.

The continued presence of a US Navy and Marine base at Guantánamo Bay, in Cuba, is another example of a clear contravention of Cuba’s sovereignty.

US aggression has increased despite 15 specific UN General Assembly resolutions. Most recently the UN General Assembly voted 183 to four to pass a resolution calling on the US to lift the blockade (1).

CSC also recognises that Cuba, in the face of hostility from the world’s sole superpower, has achieved standards of healthcare and education unparalleled among developing countries, and which rival those attained by many developed countries (2).

All Cubans are guaranteed the right to employment, social security, free health care and education up to and including university level.

Incredibly, the country is also at the forefront of international aid efforts. In 2006 alone there were more than 25,000 Cuban doctors working in 68 countries around the world – more than those fielded by the World Health Organisation and Medecins Sans Frontieres combined (3).

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign, which is based in London but has branches across the UK, has a number of key aims:

·	The organisation believes the people of Cuba, like any other nation, must be free to decide their own internal affairs without outside interference.

·	CSC defends Cuba's right to national sovereignty, independence and self-determination.

·	CSC calls for an end to the US trade blockade against Cuba and for the British Government to continue to oppose it.

·	CSC calls for the normalisation of all diplomatic, economic, cultural and scientific relations with Cuba by the US Government.

The organisation seeks to promote an understanding of Cuba, its people, their culture and its vibrant history. Patrons of CSC include playwright and Nobel prize-winner Harold Pinter, former MP and cabinet minister Tony Benn and poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

To achieve this, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign publishes a quarterly magazine and runs regular study tours, work brigades and trips to Cuba to strengthen ties between the UK and Cuba. The organisation also arranges cultural events such as performances and concerts.

CSC is a democratic organisation, which has an annual general meeting and an elected executive committee. To join the campaign, call 020 7263 6452 or click on the link: www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk.

History:

CSC traces its roots back to the British-Cuban Resource Centre, which provided books and information on Cuba, and was launched in the 1960s.

The collapse of the USSR in 1991, coupled with US legislation (4) aimed at destroying the Cuban economy, plunged Cuba into crisis.

The British-Cuban Resource Centre changed its name to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in 1992. This meant the organisation was better able to campaign against US policy and to show solidarity with Cubans in their fight for sovereignty.

References:

1) UN General Assembly, Nov 6, 2006. Voting against Cuba were the US, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands.

2) Infant mortality is 5.3 per 1,000, illiteracy affects just over three per cent.

3) Link to Cuba Si’s article ‘From Cuba With Love’.

4) Torricelli Act, (1992), which Congressman Robert Torricelli said would: “wreak havoc on the island”. It extends the blockade to countries outside the US, and prohibits any form of business transaction between US firms and Cuba, including through third countries. Any ship visiting Cuba is banned from US ports for 180 days. Helms-Burton Act (1996) promotes “regime change” and bans officials and executives of foreign companies that trade with Cuba entry to the US.

External Links:

www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk

www.granma.cu

www.granma.cu