The next Rock around the Blockade brigade will be going to Cuba next spring. We need to raise £3,000 to take a sound system for the Union of Young Communists to use in their political and recreational work. With the revolutionary commitment of the Cuban people reinvigorated through the Battle of Ideas and revolutionary and anti-imperialist movements on the ascendant in Venezuela and Bolivia, with Cuba playing a significant role, this is an exciting time to get involved in our work in solidarity with socialist Cuba.
Over the last months we have been active throughout the country raising awareness about Cuba and raising funds for the sound system. In Manchester and London we have held street stalls demanding the closing down of the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay, in illegally-occupied Cuba.
Activists in the north east campaigned in solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela at Newcastle Green Festival in June and at Durham Miners Gala in July, where an RATB member spoke. On 15 July a Rebel Music gig was held in Durham, with the ‘revolutionary punk’ of bands Community of Learners and Cheap Antiques raising money for the RATB brigade. In Nottingham in June a successful Bacardi Bar Bust saw activists dressed as bats visiting the bars of Nottingham to ask drinkers to boycott Bacardi, a key link in the chain of terror emanating from the US against Cuba.
Cuban 5
Week of Action
Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez, heroes of the Cuban Revolution, in prison in the US for defending Cuba against sabotage and terrorism, have been incarcerated for eight years, despite having their convictions overturned by the US Court of Appeals in Atlanta last August.
In September there will an International Week of Action calling for their release. RATB will be active up and down the country with meetings, discussions, film showings and demonstrations to help raise the profile of these freedom fighters. Get involved!
FRFI 192 August / September 2006
