https://themilitant.com/2019/04/20/cuban-revolution-put-workers-in-the-best-position-to-take-on-racism/
Cuban Revolution ???put workers in the best position to take on racism???
By Naomi Craine
Vol. 83/No. 17
April 29, 2019
CHICAGO ??? The advances made by the Cuban Revolution in combating racial
discrimination inherited from a legacy of slavery, colonialism and
capitalism there; and the continuing challenges to meet and overcome
remaining racial prejudice and inequality were discussed and debated at
a meeting organized by the Chicago Cuba Coalition here April 7.
About 35 people came to hear Gisela Arandia and Tom??s Fern??ndez Robaina.
Arandia is the head of the Cuban chapter of ARAC, an organization of
Afro-descendants of Latin America and the Caribbean. Fern??ndez is a
researcher at the Jos?? Mart?? National Library and professor at the
University of Havana. Both belong to the Union of Artists and Writers of
Cuba (UNEAC). The event was held at the hall of Service Employees
International Union Healthcare Illinois.
???Racial ideas and divisions are not natural,??? Arandia said in her
opening remarks. ???You can???t talk about race discrimination without
discussing colonialism, and especially Africa, where people were forced
into slavery in the most brutal conditions. When we analyze the roots of
racial discrimination, colonialism and capitalism shaped it in Cuba.???
African slaves and their descendants were an integral part of the Cuban
workers and peasants wars for independence from Spain, which unfolded
between 1868 and 1898. ???When the mamb?? army was on the point of winning
independence, the United States showed up to ???help,?????? Arandia said with
sarcasm. ???The regime they imposed was prejudicial, especially towards
the 60% of the soldiers and officers of the independence war who were
Afro-descendants.??? Racist laws, traditions from the U.S. Jim Crow system
and capitalist superexploitation of Afro-Cubans were translated onto
Cuban soil.
By 1959, when Cuban workers and farmers led by Fidel Castro and the July
26 Movement succeeded in overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictatorship of
Fulgencio Batista, ???there were segregated parks, beaches, everything,???
said Fern??ndez.
One of the first steps of the revolutionary government was to outlaw
racial discrimination. Mobilizations such as the 1961 literacy campaign,
in which 100,000 young people taught others to read and write across the
country, especially benefited those who were most oppressed, including
blacks and women.
???You started to have blacks working in places like banks, where they had
been excluded before,??? said Fern??ndez. ???But prejudice doesn???t just go
away.??? When he and others started to talk about the challenges that
remain, ???some people said that???s counterrevolutionary. But no, you have
to be honest. We need to use the revolution in order to better our society.???
In response to a question about the police in Cuba, Fern??ndez said,
???Cuban society is very complex. Often police will ask only black people
for their ID. I applaud the rappers. They began singing about this,
making people more conscious of their rights as Cuban citizens.???
One Afro-Cuban man in the audience rose to challenge the speakers???
support for the revolution. ???Cuba is a multiracial country, but all the
decisions are made by white Cubans,??? he said. ???That???s the main reason I
came here many years ago. The situation of black Cubans is almost the
same as in slavery.???
???There???s no way you can say things aren???t different than before. That???s
nonsense,??? Arandia responded. ???For example, there???s large numbers of
black women in science ??? developing vaccines, working as doctors. That
doesn???t exist anywhere else in the world.???
The Cuban Revolution put the fight for Afro-Cuban rights on its agenda
from the start and made solidarity with Africa ??? from aid to
revolutionary battles from Algeria to Angola and apartheid South Africa
to medical volunteers across the continent ??? a cornerstone of its
internationalist work.
???African blood flows freely through our veins,??? Fidel Castro told a
rally of more than a million in Havana in 1975. ???Many of our ancestors
came as slaves from Africa to this land. As slaves they struggled a
great deal. They fought as members of the Liberating Army of Cuba. We???re
brothers and sisters of the people of Africa and we???re ready to fight on
their behalf!???
???In Cuba, there are efforts to confront this???
???It???s true there have been errors, many blacks live in poorer
conditions, and the revolution should do more. But tell me in what
country in the world is there no racism???? Arandia said. ???Colonialism was
good at creating divisions. Why else did the Spanish create the concept
of ???mulattos??????? ??? dividing people based on gradations of skin color.
???If it???s just a problem with socialism, how come this is not resolved in
the United States? In Cuba there???s an effort politically, socially and
economically to confront this.???
Arandia and Fern??ndez also took part in an informal discussion at the
Kusanya Cafe in the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago. There Arandia
spoke with pride about the internationalist missions Cubans have carried
out in Africa ??? from the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who dealt a
decisive blow to the racist South African army in Angola in 1975-88, to
the doctors and nurses ???who volunteered to go when Ebola was a threat,
not knowing if they would contract the disease themselves.???
She pointed out how Fidel had stressed, ???We have a debt to Africa.???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???New England Stop & Shop workers strike against cuts
???Legislators in Texas push to make every abortion illegal
???Protesters in Sudan say: ???The regime must fall!???
???SWP campaign builds May 1 actions, demands amnesty for all immigrants
???Fight against ban on Washington prisoners getting used books wins
???Cuban Revolution ???put workers in the best position to take on racism???
Feature Articles ???Today???s fighters can learn from Algeria???s 1962-65
revolution
Also In This Issue ???Quebec protests hit gov???t ban on wearing religious
symbols on job
??????Why do workers face so many problems today????
???Quebec taxi, Uber drivers need union to fight boss, gov???t attacks
???66-year South Korean ban on abortion ruled unconstitutional
???Defend a woman???s right to abortion!
???Campaign to expand reach of ???Militant,??? books, fund (week one)
On the Picket Line ???Toronto teachers, students protest education cuts
???Autoworkers in Russia start ???work to rule??? against layoffs
Books of the Month ???New battalions of working-class fighters in
formation in China
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxx
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Christopher Hitchens
??? What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without
evidence. ???
??? Christopher Hitchens,
