Note to Readers
(Updated July 7) – Workers’ Forum presents the views and reports of workers on how to handle the pandemic and their struggles for the working conditions they require to make their contribution to the well-being of the population as a whole. They speak in their own name. To popularize these views and information, we are providing updated links to Workers’ Forum when it is published.
Filed under Canada, Working Class
– Canadian Network on Cuba –
A Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) campaign launched in January 2021 has raised, up to July 2021, over $120,000. A container of two million syringes has been sent to Cuba. In addition, support for other containers of medical supplies and equipment has been ongoing.
At this moment, Cuba is under tremendous pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. immoral, illegal economic blockade which was cruelly intensified in January 2020 when extraterritorial financial constraints resulting from Trump’s declaring Cuba to be a “state sponsor of terrorism” added weight to the U.S. knee on the neck of Cuba.
Biden’s failure to keep his campaign promise to roll back the Trump measures against Cuba means that the U.S. is not allowing Cuba to breathe, since its proposed exemptions for humanitarian and medical needs have never been honoured.
The United States government is shamefully taking advantage of this difficult situation to manipulate and create subversion against the Cuban government. Some Florida-based and even national politicians are calling for military intervention based on the unfounded claims of a Humanitarian Crisis. This is a Trojan horse — an attempt to destabilize Cuba, ignoring the intensification of the U.S. blockade as the major cause of the shortages.
Cuba needs help based on mutual solidarity and respect. It needs an end to the U.S. sanctions, as the United Nations has called for again and again.
The CNC continues its campaign to collect medical donations in solidarity with Cuba.
1) By Cheque payable to CNC and write on Memo line: medical supplies.
Mail to:
Canadian Network on Cuba
c/o Sharon Skup
56 Riverwood Terrace
Bolton, ON L7E 1S4
Or
2) By e-transfer to this email: donate@canadiannetworkoncuba.ca. Mention “medical supplies” in the message.
IMPORTANT: Also send a separate email with the exact spelling of your secret password/answer and your name so Sharon can then open your e-transfer. (Or you can phone Sharon at 905-951-8499 with that information)
The CNC is made up of 21 Cuba solidarity and friendship organizations across Canada.
Filed under Canada
July 26 marks one of the most important dates celebrated in Cuba, Moncada Day or the National Day of Rebellion. It was on July 26, 1953 that revolutionary youth led by Fidel Castro launched their courageous attack on the Batista dictatorship which led to the ultimate liberation of Cuba on January 1, 1959. To this day, this bold action symbolizes the revolutionary spirit and audacity of the Cuban people. The following three articles on its significance are provided by the editorial team of the The Marxist-Leninist (TML) and originally published on July 26, 2021.
In a July 14 press release the Migrant Rights Network reports that based on data provided by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, rejections of applications on the basis of Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds doubled from 35 per cent in 2019 to nearly 70 per cent in the first quarter of 2021. It also notes that “Humanitarian and Compassionate applications are the only opportunity for permanent residence — and therefore equal rights and safety — for undocumented migrants inside Canada.” Further, rejections increased “without any announced change in policy, at the same time as immigration levels in Canada saw a record downturn in 2020.”
Filed under Canada, Working Class
Over 200 people gathered at 11 am at Hector-Toe-Blake Park near Atwater Metro in Montreal on July 18 for a mass march kicking off a week of action to demand Status For All! The week of actions was organized by Solidarity Across Borders, the Migrant Rights Network and many other allies, including the Immigrant Workers Centre. The aim of the actions was to mobilize support for a comprehensive and ongoing regularization program for all migrants with precarious status.
Filed under Canada, Working Class
– LetCubaLive.com –
Urgent times call for urgent action. In just two days, over 400 prominent activists, intellectuals, scientists and artists came together to produce an Open Letter to President Biden which was published as a full page ad in the New York Times on July 23. This is just the beginning.
Dear President Joe Biden,
It is time to take a new path forward in U.S.-Cuban relations. We, the undersigned, are making this urgent, public appeal to you to reject the cruel policies put into place by the Trump White House that have created so much suffering among the Cuban people.
Filed under Americas, Caribbean, United States
– Granma –
In a public appearance on national television, the member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, spoke of the most recent statements of the U.S. government presided over by Joe Biden.
Hours earlier, the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s twitter account announced that more than 400 former heads of state, politicians, intellectuals, scientists, clergymen, artists, musicians, leaders and activists from all over the world have signed an open letter asking Biden to immediately lift the sanctions against Cuba.
Filed under Americas, Caribbean, United States
By Louis Lang
The continued attempts of the Trudeau government to erect an anti-communist monument in Ottawa have been opposed by Canadians right from the start. It has been one deception after another as the organization, Tribute to Liberty, failed to raise the funds to cover the cost of the monument which was projected at first to be $1.5 million.
A National Capital Commission spokesperson recently stated that the cost of the monument is now $7.5 million. Six million dollars is coming from public funds after Chrystia Freeland included an additional $4 million in this spring’s budget to complete the monument.
Filed under Uncategorized
– Canadian Network on Cuba –
I am writing to you on behalf of the Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC), which represents Canada-Cuba friendship and solidarity organizations from Vancouver to Halifax, with a membership of more than 50,000. Two of the CNC’s principal objectives are bringing an end to U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba and ensuring that Canada’s relations with Cuba are based on equality and respect for the island nation’s independence, sovereignty, and the right of self-determination.
We, in the CNC, are concerned about the extreme and humiliating pressure that the government of the United States is exerting on third countries to support a Joint Statement – it has written – unjustly condemning Cuba.
Filed under Americas, Canada, Caribbean, United States
“Every Haitian man and woman, and Haitians collectively, must be able to find a common goal, which is to restore Haiti to its greatness as the first country that gained its independence, initiated the war against slavery and drove out the colonizers.” Interview with Frantz André, Solidarité Québec-Haïti, by The Marxist-Leninist
This interview was conducted during the week following the assassination on July 7 of Haiti’s President, Jovenel Moïse. Since then, on July 20, Ariel Henry was sworn in as Haiti’s Prime Minister. Henry had been a cabinet minister in previous governments, including that of President Michel Martelly in 2015 and 2016. His appointment follows an agreement with acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph who resigned on July 19 to make way for Henry to assume the position.
The Marxist-Leninist: Frantz, can you give us your assessment of the situation that the Haitian people and Haiti are facing following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7? Please first explain the context in which this assassination took place.
All Out to Support Revolutionary Cuba
On Sunday, July 11, 2021, incidents took place in some parts of Cuba.
It was not a “social outburst,” but demonstrations on a limited scale in which people with legitimate concerns participated. However, provocative and criminal elements took advantage of the situation to commit in some places acts of vandalism and violence against entities, headquarters of organizations and shopping centers, attacking workers, officials, law enforcement officers and police cars. Unfortunately, one person died in one of these incidents.
Sinn Féin National Chairperson Declan Kearney has reiterated solidarity with the Cuban people and continued support for the Cuban Revolution.
Filed under Americas
Black Lives Matter condemns the U.S. federal government’s inhumane treatment of Cubans, and urges it to immediately lift the economic embargo. This cruel and inhumane policy, instituted with the explicit intention of destabilizing the country and undermining Cubans’ right to choose their own government, is at the heart of Cuba’s current crisis. Since 1962, the United States has forced pain and suffering on the people of Cuba by cutting off food, medicine and supplies, costing the tiny island nation an estimated $130 billion.
Filed under Americas, United States
… with their tails between their legs. All the talk about sending troops abroad in the name of high ideals. Americans pull the plug and not an eye is batted by Canadian political leaders. It was all empty phrases – lives squandered, billions spent, a country left in ruins.
By Scott Taylor*
(July 12) – Over the past few weeks the news out of Afghanistan has not been very re-assuring. In keeping with U.S. President Joe Biden’s election campaign promise to end the war in Afghanistan, American troop withdrawals have begun in earnest.
Filed under Canada, Canadian Forces, Uncategorized
Joint Statement and Call to Action by Haitian Activist Organizations, July 2021
In response to the crisis in Haiti, which has deepened in the wake of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, we, the undersigned individuals and organizations, express our condolences and sympathy to all of the Haitian families that have lost a loved one to the ongoing violence. We further recognize that activists and human rights defenders in Haiti are currently facing grave danger as they continue to work for a better future for all Haitians.
July 18, 2021
Germany’s contribution to the colonisation of Palestine over the years has been ideological, financial, physical and military | JOSEPH MASSAD*
(July 16) – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Israel two weeks ago and met Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whose American parents came from San Francisco to colonise Palestine in July 1967. Bennett has boasted: “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life and there’s no problem with that.”
Filed under Europe, History, Palestine, West Asia (Middle East)
The Cuban people gathered on the Havana Malecón and other parts of the country to defend their Revolution #CubaViva #NoMasBloqueoACuba #EliminaElBloqueo #CubaSoberana #EndTheBlockade #SOSCuba
More than 100,000 people gathered early this Saturday morning at 7 a.m. in La Piragua, on the Havana Malecón, in defence of the Revolution and socialism. Army General Raúl Castro Ruz joined the President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel and Gerardo Hernandez, President of the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution at the mass rally.
The Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) issued a press release on July 14 on its petition to the Canadian parliament to defend Cuba’s right to be and oppose the US destabilization of the island republic. Formed in 2002, the CNC and its chapters coast-to-coast works for the strengthening of friendship and solidarity between the peoples of Canada and Cuba Here is the full text:
All out to support Revolutionary Cuba!
Granma
The member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, accused the U.S. government of being directly involved and of having serious responsibility in the incidents that occurred in our country on July 11th.
Filed under Americas, Media, Journalism & Disinformation
(July 14) – The Penelakut Tribe is one of six tribes of the Penelakut First Nation whose traditional territories include parts of southern Vancouver Island and of some of the southern Gulf islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. On July 8 Penelakut Tribe Chief Joan Brown, Council and Elders issued an invitation to join in their work to raise awareness of the Kuper Island Industrial School and to inform people of the confirmation of more than 160 undocumented and unmarked graves near the site.
Filed under Canada, History, Indigenous Peoples
Amidst the stepped up counterrevolution being fomented against the Cuban people by the U.S., the President of Mexico Andres Manuel López Obrador has pointed out that the U.S., which claims high ideals for these activities in the name of assisting the Cuban people, should start with putting an end to the economic blockade against Cuba.
Filed under Americas
For 60 years the example of the Cuban Revolution has bothered the United States, stated First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, yesterday, during a special message from the Palace of the Revolution explaining to the people the most recent provocation orchestrated by small groups of counterrevolutionaries.
Filed under Americas
The Canadian Network On Cuba was founded on September 6, 2002 and has chapters coast-to-coast. It states “We are committed to the strengthening of friendship and solidarity between the peoples of Canada and Cuba.”
Isaac Saney, Spokesperson, Canadian Network On Cuba, July 12, 2021
The Canadian Network On Cuba condemns the manipulation of the July 11 events in Cuba by reactionary politicians and the monopoly media in order to create a climate of disinformation and confusion that will be used to justify so-called humanitarian intervention in the heroic island nation.
States its opposition to US provocation, foreign interference and attacks on Cub’s sovereignty
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), known for its consistent and principled stands on international issues, has issued a statement on the current events in Cuba and the attempts to spread social chaos and incite counter-revolution on the island republic. These events, orchestrated by the monopoly media, occur when, on June 23, for the 29th consecutive time, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly rejected the U.S. economic war against Cuba by a vote of 184 to 2. It highlights that instead of acting to end the US brutal blockade now, “The Government of Canada is appeasing these counterrevolutionary actions and must be called on to cease and desist.” As an example of its hostility to Canadian-Cuban friendship, recall that in March 2020 deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland blocked an agreement between the Southern Manitoba Chiefs and Cuba for medical assistance to combat the Covid pandemic and instead deployed the military.
For the information of readers, we are printing the full text of its statement:
Filed under Americas, Canada, United States
By TONY SEED*
(July 13, updated July 16, 23, 27) – On July 12, 2021 the London Guardian newspaper published a sensational decontextualized article on riots in Cuba. It claimed that “thousands took to the streets in cities throughout the island, demonstrating against food shortages, high prices and communist rule.”
Filed under Americas, Media, Journalism & Disinformation
For more than 75 years, Canada and Quebec have had excellent relations with Cuba. Similarly, since 1992, Canada has been adding its voice to those of the international community to reject U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba. This almost unanimous condemnation was renewed on 24 June when all UN member countries – except the US and Israel – voted once again to end the sanctions.
On Sunday June 13, 2021, the state funeral of former Waffen SS Galizia Division veteran Orest Vaskul, 94, took place at the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, St. Michael Golden-Domed Monastery, in Kiev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was represented by soldiers from his personal regiment, who paid the last respects to the one who served alongside Nazi Germany. Defence Minister and former military attaché in Washington, Lieutenant General Andriy Taran, was also represented. The coffin of the former SS was covered with the Ukrainian national flag.
Filed under Europe
By Agneta Norberg*
Warplanes F-16, from the US’s 480 Fighter Squadron, took off from Luleå/Kallax airfield on June 7th 2021 at 9 o´clock. This was the start for war training and coordination with the Swedish warplane, JAS 39 Gripen.
The target is Russia. The war exercise, Arctic Challenge Exercise (ACE) continued until June 18th. The US F-16, warplanes were deployed at Luleå Kallax for three weeks to make recognizing tours in the entire Northern area.
Filed under Arctic
1981 (30 June): Forty years ago, 23,000 postal workers in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) launched a 42-day strike for paid maternity leave and other just demands. They had already held wildcat strikes in 1965 against sexual harassment and for better pay. In fact, the wildcats of ’65 were the main reason why the Canadian government institutionalized collective bargaining for public servants in 1967.
Filed under Canada, Working Class
