WWP conference draws activists from all over

By Jaimeson Champion and Brenda Ryan
New York

The Workers World Party national conference held here on Nov. 17-18 drew hundreds of people from all over the country, many of whom had never been to a party conference before. They were moved by the party’s linkage of the immigrant struggle to the economic crisis and rising racism and its commitment to the unity of the class struggle.

Namibia Donadio with LeiLani Dowell and Tyneisha Bowens of FIST.

“The over-riding theme of the conference is for people to unite,” said Sandra Hines, an African American from Detroit. “This is a people’s fight to unite against capitalism, imperialism and racism. As an activist I have to pass this message along, to bring people into the movement. It’s our job to enlighten other people.” The experiences of others at the conference “fired me up to be an activist,” she said.

Hines engaged in a fierce battle this year, running for Detroit’s public school board in the Fifth District against Joyce Hayes-Giles. Hayes-Giles is vice president of the school board and vice president of Detroit’s gas and light company, DTE Energy. As part of her grassroots campaign, Hines successfully fought to keep one of the neighborhood schools from closing. Of the 15,000 votes cast, Hines got more than 5,000 to some 6,000 votes for Hayes-Giles. She is now fighting for the right of students to take schoolbooks home to study.

Many young activists and students attended the conference, sharing their experiences in the struggle and discussing ways to build class solidarity for a socialist future.

FIST and Workers World Party National Conference, NYC, Nov 16-18

---

Youth and students cut artery to Capitol

By Peter Gilbert

Washington, D.C.

For more than six hours following the Troops Out Now Coalition’s march on Sept. 29 to cut off the funds for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, more than 100 youth and students from across the country blockaded Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues, the major roads leading to the Capitol building. They demanded an end to war funding and vowed that if the people’s resources continue to be used to wage imperialist war, the government will be prevented from operating.

Protesters occupy the intersection on Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues. WW photo: Liz Green

Youth from as far away as Oregon, Florida and Vermont, and representing chapters of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST), Campus Anti-War Network (CAN), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and others, together with TONC leaders, united in the streets around a common demand of “Troops Out Now!”

As the march approached its destination at the Capitol building, hundreds of youth ran forward to block Constitution Avenue, and as the main body of the march passed the action many more joined in. Despite the willingness of many of the youth to risk arrest in order to close access to the Capitol, D.C. police were apparently overwhelmed by the size and militancy of the action.

After holding Constitution for an hour, the youth moved one block to take over the busier intersection where Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues meet. All six lanes of Constitution were blockaded so successfully that youth felt free to dance, string up banners and signs from the traffic lights, and even order pizza.

Cuba Trip Report Back - Raleigh, Sat. Sept 8th, 11am-1pm

What: FIST Cuba Trip Reportback
When: Saturday September 8; 11am-1pm
Where: Community Church of Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina

Since the U.S. blockade on Cuba was imposed activists from the United States who support the Cuban people and the Cuban Revolution travel to Cuba openly,without permits to protest the U.S. travel ban against Cuba and the over 40 years of U.S.-imposed blockade of the island.

Recently members of F.I.S.T. (Fight Imperialism-Stand Together), a socialist youth organization based in Raleigh and many other US cities, traveled to Cuba in a delegation along with the Venceremos Brigade, Cuba Labor Exchange, and Pastors for Peace in defiance of the blockade and to witness socialist Cuba.

While in Cuba, the delegation met with youth leadership of the UJC, with Cuba’’s National Center for Sex Education(CENE SEX), Cuban Hip Hop artists, Meteorological Institute for Hurricane Preparedness, with a professor at the school on Marxism and Socialism,with U.S. graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine and with the director of the medical school. In addition they visited the memorial in Santa Clara for the Argentine-born hero of the Cuban Revolution, Che Guevara.

On Saturday, September 8, at Community Church of Christ from 11am to 1pm, three members of Raleigh F.I.S.T. will share their personal stories, thoughts and history of the U.S embargo on Cuba, and their first-hand accounts of life in a socialist country with a slideshow and video footage from the trip. We are inviting friends and the community to come hear about our trip and to ask questions about Cuba.

(The church is located at the corners of Wade and Dixie Ave at 814 Dixie Trail, Raleigh, NC 27607)

PART 3 - FIST, in Cuba, shows solidarity with revolution

By Abraham Mwaura and Dante Strobino

Members of FIST and Workers World Party traveled to Cuba from July 18 to 28 to defy the travel ban and to witness the gains of the socialist revolution. Following is Part 3 of reports from their experience. Visit workers.org to see the previous reports.

Cuba defends all expressions of sexuality

FIST was invited to the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) on July 24 for a presentation and discussion about the methods undertaken in Cuba to defend the rights of and provide resources to lesbian, gay, bi, and transgender Cubans. CENESEX has been greatly aided in this process by the Cuban Women’s Federation, which has been reaching out to people’s sensitivity as human beings.

CENESEX presented information about their successful efforts to educate Cubans in all walks of life to be sensitive and open to all expressions of sexuality. Unlike the vast majority of political structures in the U.S., this education also targets the police and institutions as well as the population as a whole. Anti-gay and anti-trans violence on the island is now virtually non-existent.

Flags honoring Cuban martyrs at the Anti-Imperialist Tribunal near the Malecón in Havana. WW photo: LeiLani Dowell

In universalizing their free medical treatment, Cuba provides free transitional surgery and hormones for transgender Cubans. Their efforts towards health care services have been so successful that the rate of HIV infection on the island is nearly 60 times less than in other Caribbean nations!

The FIST delegation presented CENESEX with a framed “Rainbow Solidarity to Free the Cuban 5” poster describing the recent efforts to build the international campaign of solidarity for Cuba inside the LGBTQ movement. Leslie Feinberg, co-chair of the LGBT caucus of the National Writers Union/UAW, author of groundbreaking books “Stone Butch Blues and Transgender Warriors,” and participant in the delegation, presented one of her books to transgender staff members at CENESEX. The gifts were received with warm thanks.

FIST youth visit Cuba, challenge travel ban

By Abraham Mwaura and Dante Strobino

Twelve members of the youth group Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) from San Diego, Raleigh, West Virginia, Denver, Boston, Rutgers University and New York City—together with five members of Workers World Party—traveled to Cuba from July 18-28 to defy the travel ban and to witness the gains of the socialist revolution.

| View Show | Create Your Own

In Cuba, the FIST delegation observed how a planned economy and centralized government following the path of socialist revolution have provided the necessary material conditions to carry out the process of the withering away of racism, sexism, homophobia and all forms of oppression, and for the building of a new human being.

FIST witnesses Socialist Cuba and Defies Blockade

Youths, workers challenge U.S. travel ban
By Larry Hales, Buffalo, N.Y.

Activists from the United States who support the Cuban people and the Cuban Revolution marched across the Peace
Bridge from Fort Erie, Ont., to Buffalo, N.Y. on July 28 to protest the U.S. travel ban against Cuba and the over 40 years of U.S.-imposed blockade of the island.

The action was led by the Venceremos Brigade, a group that has been traveling to Cuba since 1969, openly challenging the U.S. blockade and travel restrictions imposed on the country. Members of the U.S. Cuba Labor Exchange and the youth group FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together) were also among the nearly 80 people who defied the travel ban.

10,000 organizers bring worldwide struggles to Social Forum

By John Catalinotto
Atlanta

Some 10,000 grassroots organizers, anti-racist fighters, farm workers, domestic workers, anti-war veterans, former prisoners and their families, spokespeople for lesbian/gay/bi/trans rights, women’s rights and environmental organizations, and activists in virtually every progressive struggle underway in the U.S. today came together in Atlanta from June 27 to July 1 for the U.S. Social Forum.

Thousands march at June 27 opening ceremony for the United States Social Forum in Atlanta. WW photos: Imani Henry, John Catalinotto, and Monica Moorehead

They came from 1,000 organizations and held more than 1,000 workshops, meetings and plenary sessions, one major march and other demonstrations in five days under the broiling sun of central Georgia—and one torrential rainfall. They came from all 50 states, and 400 international guests came from 70 countries, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are undoubtedly different evaluations of how successfully the USSF organizers and its different departments were able to address the needs and rights of all oppressed groups present. Still, there were some remarkable features. These include the composition of the forum and its strong spirit of grass-roots struggle and solidarity. Forum participants were multinational, with more than half being people of color. They were almost all personally engaged in struggle and they were looking to give and get support.

There were people of all ages, including many youths under 30. The workshops included but also stretched beyond the movement veterans who cut their teeth in the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements, the anti-Vietnam War movement and the other struggles that took place in that relatively progressive period of the late 1960s and early 1970s. A workshop organized by the youth organization FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together—on the contributions of Che Guevara reflected this youth upsurge in the struggle.

Vilma Espín: 1930-2007

Comrade Vilma Espín Guillois, a leader in the Cuban Revolution and a major fighter for women’s liberation, died Monday in Havana. Comrade Espín was married to acting Cuban president Raúl Castro for over 48 years and was the mother of four children, including Mariela Castro Espín, the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education.