NOTE: This is an in-person event, and the LOCATION HAS CHANGED.
We'll be meeting at Earthbound Beer at 6 pm (Central time).
Join us as we hear back from Massachusetts-based activists Celina della Croce (a former St. Louis organizer/activist and coordinator of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research) and Héctor Figarella (a Venezuelan-American activist, leader, and paramedic) who are returning from three months in Venezuela and a brigade to Cuba with youth leaders from across the US about the reality on the ground in both countries and why it matters for organizers in the US. Celina and Héctor met with social and political movement leaders, neighborhood communes, doctors, anti-racism and LGBTQ+ activists, and more, on the reality on the ground and what Venezuelan and Cuban activists have done and are doing to build a project that puts people first.
How have the Venezuelan and Cuban people resisted unrelenting attacks at their sovereignty? Why is the US so headset on overthrowing their governments? What are the projects that have allowed both countries to be extremely effective in combatting homelessness, child mortality, illiteracy, and improving the wellbeing of their populations? Cuba and Venezuela are two of the largest thorns in side of U.S. imperialism. Though the revolutionary histories of these two countries vary greatly, U.S. policy towards the two are in near-lockstep. Coup attempts, disinformation campaigns, the promotion of insurrectionist violence, debilitating economic warfare are all cornerstones of U.S. policy towards these Latin American nations. Yet, while under constant siege and vicious attack by the capitalist world, they persist, and play a leading role in a surge of socialist movements throughout the region and the world.
Understanding the truth of these revolutions, in all of their contradictions, is the primary charge of anyone in the fight for justice in a global capitalist system. Having recently visited Venezuela and Cuba to serve as first-hand witnesses to the complex and uniquely revolutionary processes of building people power and governance, our panelists seek to dispel myths, provide historical context, shed a light on the madness of U.S. policy towards these sovereign nations, and talk about why, exactly, this matters for those of us organizing in the United States for a better world.
For decades, the United States has used unconventional forms of warfare in order to topple socialist governments and intervene countries’ abilities to set their own path – one that puts people before the profits of US corporations – without the inconvenience or bad image of having to send troops. The use of economic sanctions have increase by 933% over the last 20 years for precisely this reason: if the US government makes life so hard and so wretched for the population, maybe they’ll topple their own government. While the COVID death toll in the US creeps past 1 million, all while the country prevents most of the world from accessing vaccines because of property rights, Cuba has simultaneously produced 3 competitive vaccines and vaccinated 90% of its population as it sends medical brigades across the world. Venezuela has meanwhile long provided oil to support the economy and Cuba and elsewhere – including the United States – because of a deep conviction that no one deserves to go without basic necessities.
Join us to learn more and think together about how we can work with comrades beyond our borders to strengthen our movements in the US and abroad.
