In July this year, Rock around the Blockade brigadistas will spend two weeks in Cuba, taking with them funds raised in Britain for the Union of Young Communists (UJC) to buy a sound system for the UJC in the east of Cuba, for recreational and political work. It will be inaugurated in Caimanera, a town in the province of Guantanamo, near the border with the illegally US-occupied area of Guantanamo Bay – a place where Cuban socialism comes face to face with the fascism of the US detention and torture camp in Guantanamo Bay.
The brigade is a culmination of work by Rock around the Blockade to raise awareness of the gains made by the Revolution in Cuba, despite the illegal blockade led by the USA. Defending the Cuban Revolution is part and parcel of building a revolutionary movement in Britain, for Cuba shows that it is possible to prioritise people and the needs of a society as a whole over profit, as its most recent statistics show (see page 10).
Over four decades of building a socialist society, Cubans have, as Fidel Castro said at the closing of the UJC congress in December 2004, ‘known true independence and real freedom. We shall never resign ourselves to living without them. We shall continue to create, to struggle’. They have escaped from ‘plunder, humiliation and ignominy’ and are building a society fit for all to live in.
Show your support for the Revolution by taking part in the events and activities of Rock around the Blockade such as street stalls, meetings and club nights. E-mail us on [email protected] or call us on 020 7837 1688. For regular information from and about Cuba, join our egroup by emailing [email protected]. You can become a member of Rock around the Blockade to support our work and receive the newsletter by filling in the form below. We would be grateful for all donations towards the sound system for the UJC.
Events
Friday 18 February, 6pm to midnight (no admission after 11pm): A night of art, music and politics at Nambucca, 596 Holloway Road, London N7 (nearest tubes Archway and Holloway Road). 6-8pm: film and discussion – Inventos, Hip Hop Cubana; 8-pm-midnight: live music (jazz pianist, mbira player, guitarists), poetry, speeches, dancing and more. Free entry.
Saturday 19 February, 1-3pm, Camden Market, Camden, north London. Street stall against the US blockade of Cuba. Meet outside Camden Town tube.
Sunday 10 April: Sponsored bike ride to raise funds for Cuban youth. For details and a sponsorship form contact the campaign on the details above.
FRFI 183 February / March 2005
