Four local events in November:
October 26, 2009
Cuba’s Revolution at 50: What does it mean for us, the hemisphere and the world?
Mon., Nov. 2, 7pm
Assata Shakur, Cuba & Black America.
UWM Union Theatre, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.
Showing of film beautiful film “Eyes of the Rainbow” by independent Afro-Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando on Assata Shakur in the context of Cuba’s vibrant African culture, accompanied by Prof. Lisa Brock, editor & author on Cuba and the African diaspora, see www.afrocubaweb.com/brock.htm. Free, open to the public.
Sun., Nov. 8, 7pm
Dance with Cuba: A Benefit Concert of Latin American Music
at the Coffeehouse, 631 N. 19th St., Milwaukee.
Featuring troubadour Tony Baez, presenting “nueva cancion” songs of love and struggle from across Latin America; and Dr. Abe Caceres & Friends, composer and outstanding musician of Afro-Caribbean music, with Rhythms and Songs of Justice and Joy from around the world. $5 Donation, tickets now available as a fundraiser for the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba and the Milwaukee Medical Student in Cuba. For tickets or more info, see www.wicuba.org, (414) 273-1040, ext. 10, 633 W. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1410, Milwaukee, WI 53203.
Thurs. Nov 12, 7pm
Health and Human Rights in Cuba.
UWM Union, Room 345B,
A talk by Karen Wald, editor of Cuba Inside Out, focusing on Cuba’s struggles against sexism, machismo and homophobia in a nation that has made free and universal healthcare and education as top priorities. Ms. Wald lived in Cuba for nearly 20 years and raised her children there; she co-authored an extensive article on AIDS in Cuba for POZ magazine’s September 2009 issue, online at http://www.poz.com/articles/Cuba_HIV_Rate_2363_17096.shtml. Free, open to the public.
Ever since her first prolonged stay in Cuba (she wrote and translated
for the Tricontinental Magazine from January through September of 1969),
Karen Wald has been working to break the information blockade that
separates the people of that island from those of us who live to the
north. A lifelong social and political activist, Wald has written about
all the issues she herself has been involved in: education, health care,
environment, women and children, community organizing and
international solidarity. She speaks from the personal experience of not
only having visited the island many times as a journalist, writer and
teacher, but also from having lived and raised her children there during
nearly 2 decades.
Tues. Nov. 17, 7pm,
Dr. Delvis Fernandez Levy: Cuba Mia (My Cuba): A Personal Journey.
UWM Union, Room 191.
The President of a leading Cuban-American organization relates recent Cuban history and developments through his Jewish family history prior to the revolution, a re-encounter with family and culture after a 22 year absence, and current projects with Cuba’s association of the disabled despite the U.S. embargo. Free, open to the public (Dr. Fernandez Levy will also give a similar presentation with the film “Next Year in Havana” on Jewish life in Cuba, on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7pm, at Marquette University’s Alumni Memorial Union, room 407, 1442 W. Wisconsin Avenue.)
Orbitz Launches Campaign to End U.S. Travel Ban to Cuba
July 25, 2009
75,000 signatures gathered so far!
Sign the Petition here: www.opencuba.org
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Travel firm to Obama: open up Cuba
By Andrew Clark, http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/andrew-clark-on-america/2009/may/13/cuba-cuba
Who wants to go to Cuba? The US online travel company Orbitz does. The Chicago-based firm, which owns Britain’s eBookers, has begun a quirky lobbying campaign calling for a lift on America’s travel ban to the Caribbean island.
Orbitz has set up a website, www.OpenCuba.org, where visitors can petition the White House for an end to the 45-year prohibition on Americans visiting Cuba. Those who sign up will get a $100 voucher redeemable on a Cuban holiday when (or if) the ban is relaxed. Read the rest of this entry »
Luther Castillo, featured in the movie "Salud!" (free screening of this movie in Bayview July 23, see upcoming events for more info)
(CLICK LINK AT BOTTOM OF POST TO SEE THE LATEST UPDATE)
July 7, 2009—The life of Dr. Luther Castillo, indigenous Garifuna physician in Honduras, is in imminent danger. MEDICC has learned that the Honduran army has orders to capture Dr. Castillo, and if he resists, to shoot him. He was already included on a list of persons whose lives and personal integrity were declared “at risk” by a July 3rd communiqué from the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
We have been able to verify that Dr. Castillo’s cellphone communications have been cut. The last conversation with him took place at approximately 2:30pm today, in which he reported on continued demonstrations demanding the return of elected President Manuel Zelaya, despite security forces’ repression.
Just weeks ago, Dr. Castillo was named director of International Cooperation in the Honduran Foreign Ministry. Since 1999, he has directed the Luaga Hatuadi Waduheñu Foundation (“For the Health of our People” in Garifuna), dedicated to bringing vital health services to isolated indigenous coastal communities.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Call the White House and the State Department, urging the US government demand:
· safety for Dr. Castillo, his colleagues, and all persons protesting the coup,
· an end to the repression, and
· the unconditional return of constitutional President Manuel Zelaya.
State Department: 202-647-4000 or 1-800-877-8339;
State Department’s Honduras Desk: 202-647-3482
White House: Comments: 202-456-1111, Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Read the rest of this entry »
Follow the 20th Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba ONLINE
June 30, 2009
FOLLOW THE CARAVAN ON ITS HISTORIC 20TH TRIP TO TAKE HUMANITARIAN AID TO CUBA!
Read the Caravan blog at: http://www.ifconews.org/Blog-20thCaravan
Cuba pushes its ‘medical diplomacy’
June 30, 2009
(Photo) Hundreds of eye patients are treated every day by Cuban medical staff
By Michael Voss
BBC News, Havana
The waiting room at Cuba’s largest eye hospital, Pando Ferrer, is packed with patients.
Many come from across Latin America and the Caribbean, with everything paid for by the Cuban government.
Basil Ward is from Barbados and is in Havana to have a cataract removed for free.
“I could have had the operation in Barbados but I would have had to wait a year, there’s a huge waiting list there,” he says.
Others do not even have that choice; health facilities are almost non-existent or unaffordable in many of the poorest parts of the region.
Read the rest of this entry »
Inept TV Marti has defenders, but no viewers
June 29, 2009
By Frank Cerabino, Palm Beach Post, 06/18/09
TV Marti launched on the afternoon of March 27, 1990. All went well for 23 minutes. Then Cuba started blocking the U.S. signal. And that’s been the story for the 19 years since. We’ve spent a half-billion
dollars broadcasting TV shows to nearly no one. That’s “a colossal waste of taxpayer money,” as U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., once pointed out. This week, the House Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee highlighted the continued absurdity of supporting the Cuba-directed broadcasts. The centerpiece of that hearing was a recent Government Accountability Office report pointing out that despite beaming TV Marti’s signal via the Internet, by two satellites and from an airplane that flies six days a week off the
Cuban coast, it remains a broadcast without an audience. $35 million broadcast to no one
Read the rest of this entry »
SOCIAL SCIENCE TEACHERS TO CUBA THIS SUMMER
May 27, 2009
As the US-Cuba political tides turn, now is an urgent time for U.S. educators, artists, and activists to learn about Cuba and put pressure on the Obama administration to lift the trade embargo and travel restrictions for all U.S. citizens. We here at the Center for Cuban Studies/Cuban Art Space believe in the power of cultural and educational exchanges in order to normalize the relations between the United States and Cuba (www.cubaupdate.org and www.cubanartspace.net).
The Center for Cuban Studies in New York will be providing program consultation on four professional research delegations to Cuba this summer organized by Marazul Charters, Inc. intended for full-time teachers in the social sciences (history, political science, sociology, economics, etc.)
(If there is enough interest, there will also be a program for full-time art educators to participate in an art research program from July 19th to July 30th–please inquire if interested).
The social science programs are intended to provide information on Cuba’s history and the social, political, economic, and cultural life of Cuba today in such a way as to advance the research concerns of teachers in the social sciences. There will be sufficient time in any given day for further individual research as well. The trip is open only to those who qualify to travel under the Treasury Department’s “general license” category, i.e. full-time professionals doing full-time research. To qualify, a participant must be teaching full-time in the social sciences. It will provide researchers with the opportunity to meet with historians, teachers, students, social workers, artists, medical professionals, farmers, ministry officials, and civic leaders.
The final stipulation for legally traveling to Cuba is that you intend to disseminate the products of your research in some public way when you return to the U.S. This can be achieved through the classroom, and/or by writing and publishing articles in professional publications, exhibiting your work/research at public venues, and/or by participating in public forums (Center for Cuban Studies or your school for instance), or a number of other ways. Marazul Charters is the licensed travel provider and organizer of these delegations to Cuba. For more info about Marazul and legalities of travel to Cuba check out www.marazulcharters.com or contact Bob Guild at Marazul at bguild@marazul.com.
The 2009 dates of travel to Cuba for full-time teachers in the social sciences are as follows:
First trip: Friday July 3rd—Sunday July 12th
Second trip: Sunday July 19th—Thursday July 30th
Third trip: Friday August 7th—Sunday August 16th
Fourth trip: Thursday August 20—Saturday August 29th
The approximate cost of each trip is $2200 which will vary depending on the dates of the trip (slightly more cost for the second trip) and number of participants traveling (15-20 per group). The costs include air travel from Miami, visa, land arrangements, breakfast daily and several other meals, scheduled program, bi-lingual guide, transportation, and tax-deductible contribution to the Center for Cuban Studies. (Please note the costs do not include travel arrangements from your hometown to Miami and there are no grants/scholarships available that we are aware of).
Please take a look at the photographs from the April 10-17th educator research programs for the 40 educators who participated. It was an incredible experience for all of us: Click here for photos
If you want to travel on one of the educator trips please
1) Email (traveltocubanow@gmail.com) your resume depicting current teaching experience (word doc attachment labeled w/your full name).
2) The summer dates you want to travel to Cuba.
3) Forward this email to as many people as you know!
2010 International Women’s Day Cuba Tour
May 4, 2009
Cuba Education Tours is thrilled to announce the Official 2010 International Women’s Day Cuba Tour.
The program is designed by Cubans for women and their partners who want to learn about Cuban achievements in gender equality, and witness island life and culture first hand.
The tour takes place on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) and the 51st year of the Cuban Revolution.
We are extremely thankful for the support of the FMC in making this historic program possible. A stellar lineup of female island scholars, activists, organizers and cultural workers look forward to greeting and meeting this delegation from March 6 to 13, 2010.
Indeed Cuban women have much reason for rejoice on March 8th: Free health care and education, equal pay for equal work, unfettered reproductive choice, low-cost childcare, one year paid maternity leave, six months leave of absence for child emergencies, fifth position globally for female participation in government, half of the workforce and a majority of professional and technical jobs, no-hassle divorce, constitutionally guaranteed equal rights at all levels, and most importantly, a government and people pledged to full dignity, recognition and respect. All this in just 50 years!
A first objective of the tour is candid discourse with island women from all walks of life. Tour members will learn of Cuban achievements in gender equity, share ideas, network and establish enduring friendships with islanders, as well as with their tour mates from around the world.
In recognition of IWD, participants will enjoy special activities hosted by the FMC, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, CENESEX (National Center for Sexual Education), and many other community-based organizations run and led by women.
Naturally the program also includes visits to museums and architectural sites, stunning cultural events, United Nations historical and biosphere reserves, urban organic gardens, cave and farm explorations, encounters with artists, dance, music, and much more.
Tour members will relish the island’s best food, amenities and entertainment in the five-star comfort of the Hotel Habana Libre, and at the mountaintop Resort Los Jazmines — just as they should during a weeklong commemoration of women’s triumphs.
The website is replete with facts, biographies, and up-to-date information on the accomplishments of Cuban women. It is in fact one of the most integrated and extensive sites on the web on the subject.
Even if you’re not in a position to join us we invite you to check out this special website and we appeal to you to share it with your friends. In doing so you’ll help educate North Americans about Cuban women. Here’s the link: http://FriendshipTours.ca
