Revolution is spreading - notes from local Notts

Icon_article Published: February 28, 2011 10:54 by Milbury Kelforth |

Tagged as: repression
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The people's power revolutions that have been seen spreading through the Middle East are being copied in others parts of the world.  News from local Notts newcomer Hernan Rodregues on some weekend developments.

With news that Chinese activists in Beijing tried to organise a demo over the weekend mirroring those in the Middle East new local activist Hernan Rodregues gave a talk on Sunday evening to a small group about the growing protest movement in Cuba following the transition of power to Raul Castro.

Hernan has lived in the Notts area for less than six months after escaping from Cuba via a fishing boat and making his way to Miami USA.  Having family links in the UK he came here and has claimed asylum, he is lucky that he no longer has any family in Cuba so he can speak with no real fear of retribution.

First he gave some background on the dissident groups working underground in Cuba

 

Dissident groups

  • There are a number of opposition parties and groups that campaign for political change in Cuba. Though amendments to the Cuban Constitution of 1992 decriminalized the right to form political parties other than the Communist Party of Cuba, these parties are not permitted to engage in public political activities on the island.

Dissidents

During the "Black Spring" in 2003, the regime imprisoned 75 dissidents, including 29 journalists.

The Foreign Policy magazine named Yoani Sánchez one of the 10 Most Influential Intellectuals of Latin America, the only woman on the list. An article in El Nuevo Herald by Ivette Leyva Martinez, speaks to the role played by Yoani Sanchez and other young people, outside the Cuban opposition and dissidence movements, in working towards a free and democractic Cuba today:

"Amid the paralysis of the dissidence, bloggers, with Yoani Sanchez in the lead, rebel artists such as the writer Orlando Luis Pardo, and musicians such as Gorki Aguila are a promising sign of growing civic resistance to the Cuban dictatorship. And el castrismo, without doubt, has taken note. Will they succeed in sparking a popular movement, or at least consciousness of the need for democracy in Cuba? Who knows. The youngest sector of Cuban society is the one least committed to the dictatorship but at the same time the most apolitical, the one most permeated with political skepticism, escapism, and other similar 'isms.' It would seem, however, that after 50 years of dictatorship, public rejection of that regime is taking on more original and independent forms. Finally, a breeze of fresh, hopeful air."

On March 29, 2009, Yoani Sánchez, at Tania Bruguera's performance where a podium with an open mic was staged for people to have one minute of uncensored public speech, Sánchez was among people to publicly criticize censorship and said that "the time has come to jump over the wall of control". The government condemned the event.

Yoani Sánchez is under permanent surveillance by Cuba's police force, which camps outside her home

There are currently 75 political prisoners in Cuba but free dissidents routingly face arrest and harrasment from police and army units.

 

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Over the course of last weekend about 300 people came together in Havana and staged a demonstration calling for democracy, freedom for politcal prisoners and and end to the Castro family domination of key political positions.  The police were initialy quiet and let the demo take place however after an hour a para-military unit arrived and dispersed the demonstraters will buckshot fire and tear gas.

Six protestors are still missing after having been taken away with the soldiers.

 

Hernan request people contact the Cuban embassy in London to ensure these individuals are not forgotten and the Cuban government is aware that international focus is upon them

Comments

Notes to Mods

Comment Published: February 28, 2011 12:09 by Rock Against the Blockade

Notts Indymedia moderators please remove this post from the newswire. Cuba is in no need of a revolution. Raul Castro runs the country with the love and best wishes of the Cuban people, these counter revolutionary elements are CIA/Zionist funded attempts to overthrow the elected Cuban government to enable US companies to take control of Cuba again.EBLKKU

www.ratb.org.uk
northeast@rcgfrfi.plus.com

Interesting

Comment Published: February 28, 2011 12:31 by Jake

It will be interresting to see the reaction of parts of the UK Left to the growing uprising in Cuba. Why should a dictator like Castro be defended when a dictator while Mubarak is not ?

I'm for freedom for all peoples but then I'm old fashioned like that.

Please remove this article???

Comment Published: February 28, 2011 14:07 by WTF!!!

Who the hell are you to ask that? You should be embarassed to have asked that and the Notts Indymedia mods better not remove this article!

Personally I don't really have much opinion or knowledge of the situation in Cuba, so articles like this provide an interesting slant on the subject. Are you so incapable of presenting your view that you need to supress any opinions which don't match yours?

I know there's been a lot of US interference in Cuba's affairs, but that's no reason to cry foul and demand the suppression of information that could be relevant, or are you so thick that you don't understand that some Cubans might not hero worship Castro like you do?

Everybody has the right to disent and have their views heard, even you, but nobody has the right to supress views that don't match theirs because they don't fit their world view! The article didn't contain any abuse, racism or anything else which is contrary to the Indymedia publishing guidelines, so what right do you have to demand it be removed?

I think the author of this article is owed an apology, and those of us reading it are owed an explanation of Rock Around The Blockade's side of events, (if you do actually represent them), without the unreasonable and unjustified hysterics!

Finally, for the record, I think that all dictators should be overthrown and I'm not so naive as to believe that my enemy's enemy is my friend, and I also don't work for the CIA, Zionist state, MI6 or any other shadowy organisation. I just believe in, and value, free speech...sadly it seems that you don't!

Nice one Notts IMC

Comment Published: February 28, 2011 17:25 by IKy

Big up to Notts IMC mods for keeping this important story on the newswire. Support for Cuba from some parts of the UK left is something I have never understood. Gadaffi called his country "Socialist" as well and that wasn't either. By the way an interesting post to the main Indy UK site
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/02/474902.html?c=all
which details an attack on a protest march in Havana was hidden as were the comments to it, go figure ?

Nice one IKy

Comment Published: February 28, 2011 22:54 by WTF!!!

Thanks for pointing that out, in fact I didn't realise that the 'Cuba issue' was such a big black hole before reading this story!

I checked the moderation lists and apparently the entire article was hidden because it was "inaccurate". http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-moderation/2011-February/0228-go.html

Unfortunately I don't know whether it was innaccurate or not, but then as the justification is one word long then maybe one could suggest that it might be a subjective judgement on the part of the Moderator?

It seems that the hidden comments also appear to have contained facts, at least one of which I've been able to verify with very little effort. It is true that "Cuba was ranked near the bottom of the Press Freedom Index in 2008"...and now that I've investigated a bit further I see that there is at least some truth in the published story, so now I'm REALLY thinking WTF is going on!!!

Normally I would never congratulate an Indymedia platform for not censoring civilised debate but it appears that something has gone VERY wrong on the UK site, so maybe congratulations are in order to the Notts Mods for at least doing what would normally be expected of them!

However, what I still don't understand is why someone, (or a group even), would risk damaging their reputation by acting in that manner, especially when it's so transparent that even a ludite like myself can so easily go and investigate it...or more to the point, what forms of redress are available in the face of such cynicism?

I feel quite disillusioned....

the frifri stalinist rat doesnt care about Cuba

Comment Published: March 01, 2011 03:34 by Jim

& is a stalinist who supported USSR through thick& thin, even when they abandoned Che.
All Hernan is asking for is basic reforms& more democracy, what has Castro got to fear??

IMC UK & Cuba

Comment Published: March 01, 2011 08:53 by Mike

Regretfully the UK site is a black hole as far as Cuba is concerned. Any post which is critical of the Castro family junta is hidden because a couple of the UK mods are very pro Cuba. About three years ago there was a vibrant and lively series of protests outside the Cuban embassy in London on Friday evenings where groups of Cuban exiles and supporters were calling for democratic change. Reports of these protests were always hidden by the UK mods, frequently with no reason or even notification to the Moderation lists. I have emailed the lists to ask why the Ladies In White story was hidden but emails are pre-moderated before they reach the public area so it's likely they will simply not let it through.

On a positive note it's good to see the ordinary people of Cuba joining Egypt, Tunisia and Libya in overthrowing their dictators, they deserve our solidarity, support and some coverage on alternative media. I mean even the BBC covered the protest in Havana for heavans sake !

Cuba rising

Comment Published: March 01, 2011 10:35 by Viva Cuba !

Cuban opposition is slowly, very slowly coming together after years of internal splits. There are now two main groups.

US funded - this funding means mostly Cuban ex pats living in Miami funding their relations and friends. Usually claimed as CIA money, in fact the CIA has not given a damm about Cuba since at least 2005. They are seeking the complete overthrow of the Communist system and its replacement with a Western style democracy.

Internal money - these are people who adopt a slow reform of the current system approach. They favour a transition to a market economy and a progressive move to democracy.

In the past the two groups were opposed to each others views so the Communist part was able to adopt a 'divide and rule' tactic with the occasional claim of CIA or Zionist funding to discredit the groups. The rise and rise of the 'Women in White' movement has been one that Castro has been unable to control or slow, it is they who are likely to be at the forefront of the coming change in Cuba.

REMOVE THIS POST

Comment Published: March 01, 2011 12:35 by Disinformation Watch

This post is clearly disinformation, who is this so called 'dissident' anybody else in the Notts region ever met him ?

Those of us who have been to Cuba and met the people know the truth. Beautiful hotels, happy welcoming people, sandy white unspolied beaches and a content population. Raul Castro is in power because the people voted him into power, if they did not want him to be their president they would have voted him out.

These so called 'dissidents' pop up every so often whenever the USA needs to detract attention from its failing Capitalist system, the riots in its streets, the drug use of its children, the racism in its institutions. He is almost certainly a paid CIA plant, they nearly awalys are.

Cuba shows that there is an alternative to poverty, racism and war. We use this example to support working class struggles in Britain and to show that socialism is the only system that can provide for humanity.

Rock around the Blockade
www.ratb.org.uk/

Ladies in White Information

Comment Published: March 01, 2011 12:42 by Supporter

Indy readers interested to know more about the Ladies ikn White and their fight should take a look at

http://www.damasdeblanco.org/

The site is in Spanish but a good translation website gives a reasonable overview. In addition we are attempting to get a speaker from the Cuban resistence movement to give a lecture and film show in the Notts area sometime in May, probabaly at the Sumac centre. Keep an eye on their diary page for updates.

Sumac centre - A statement

Comment Published: March 01, 2011 15:24 by www.veggies.org.uk/sumac/

The Sumac Centre provides resources and a meeting place for local groups and individuals campaigning for human and animal rights, the environment, peace and co-operation world-wide. A speaker who wished to present concerning the situation in Cuba would be welcome.

No individual or group has the right of veto over who speaks at the Sumac centre.

Why does RATB seem to think they have the power to supress information?

Comment Published: March 02, 2011 11:04 by WTF!!!

I don't understand the increasingly desperate demands by Rock Around The Blockade, (or someone posing as them), to remove this post...in fact, these attempts to suppress debate are an f'ing disgrace!

You may able to suppress things you don't agree with on the Indymedia UK site, but at least for now it seems like the Notts Indymedia dont buy into your special brand of far left fascism!!!

The far right have a similar obsession with "Zionist" and/or "State" conspiracies and they also work hard to suppress any information which might contradict their cosy view of the world, (especially when it's factually based). The far left may believe that Cuba is a bed of roses, but I'm sure people anyone who supports Gadaffi could visit Libya and get the same impression.

Dictatorships are dictatorships no matter what they're political alignment. To pretend otherwise is naive in the extreme, unless you're also one of the junta that support North Korea's right to oppress their people too???

Working on the logic that my enemy's enemy is my friend, we should all align ourselves with the Racial Volunteer Force to oppose the EDL. We both oppose the EDL as a violent street army, (for different reasons), but if the RVF were to win out then they'd pose much less of a threat to society than the EDL, (considering there's 10 of them on a good day), so following RATB's logic everyone should rally behind the RVF in their efforts to resist the all powerful EDL!!!

Seriously, come on everyone, you know it makes sense...

In reply to 'WTF'

Comment Published: March 02, 2011 17:54 by Notts lass

Why does RATB seem to think they have the power to supress information?

They don't they just have a desire to do it. The RATB is part of the Communist Party of GB (I forget which version) and Cuba is their last remaining country to support. In the same way that the GB Communist Party has in the past supported:

The Soviet Union
North Korea
East Germany
and many other losers who repressed their populations they are supporting Cuba now.

Castro and his entourage will go the way of all the other dictators who thought they were above the people and the RATB will be consigned to the dustbin of history alongside them

Why this meeting never happened

Comment Published: October 07, 2011 14:46 by ftp

This meeting was only ever reported on Indymedia.

It is interesting that the report claims:

"First he gave some background on the dissident groups working underground in Cuba"

and then quotes verbatim wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_dissident_movement#Dissident_groups

So, all we have to believe is that this meeting only ever got reported on Notts Indymedia, and that Hernan sat there quoting wikipedia while Milbury Kelforth wrote it down verbatim.

The comments on this article also suggest trolling. Note that there is mention of where the meeting was, nor of whom organised it. Not even a photo of the star of the event. Neither was the meeting advertised on Notts Indymedia, nor anywhere else, which might lead one to wonder how people got to the meeting.