The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.20           May 20, 1996 
 
 
Youth Sign Up For Exchange To Cuba  

BY BROCK SATTER

NEW YORK - Fourteen people attended the third meeting of the New York U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange Committee on Tuesday, May 7, in the student government office at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). The committee includes students from BMCC and the City College of New York (CCNY), members of the Brooklyn-based Puerto Rican community center El Puente and the Young Socialists, and other interested youth from across the city.

The committee discussed the Cuban revolution and planned fund- raising and outreach activities for the month of May to sign up as many participants as possible for the U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange. Those participating in the exchange will be traveling to Cuba July 24-August 6, where they will get to meet a wide range of young people, workers, farmers, and others in Cuba. The delegation is being organized by the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), a national coalition of dozens of groups that oppose Washington's hostile policy toward Cuba.

On Wednesday, May 8, members of the New York committee distributed flyers for their planning meetings at a demonstration against cuts in financial aid programs and increased tuition in the City University of New York system. On Thursday, May 9, members of the committee spoke to student organizations at CCNY to build interest and support for their activities. They also projected outreach at many other political and cultural events during the month of May, including Rock Against Racism on May 18. The committee discussed attending the upcoming meeting of the NNOC that is planned for New York May 18-19. The activists are drafting a fund-raising letter to appeal to churches, community groups, and political organizations for donations and assistance in upcoming activities.

Three fund-raising events are planned for the month of May. Friday, May 17, will be a poetry night at the El Puente community center in Brooklyn to raise funds for the Exchange. Naomi, a member of El Puente, reported that she and another member of the group plan on going to the trip. She filled out her application during the planning meeting.

An evening of art, food, and music is being planned for the following week on May 25. David Medina, an artist who is planning to go on the Exchange, explained that many different artists he knows throughout the city will show their work for the night. Medina will be the disc jockey for the event. On June 1, the committee is planning a concert at a school auditorium in Harlem. Africa Baker, a 20-year-old BMCC student who is working as part of the committee, has lined up three hip-hop groups to perform for the event.

Young people are getting involved in building the Youth Exchange elsewhere around the country as well. The Los Angeles Coalition in Solidarity with Cuba had its first organizing meeting for the trip May 4. Eleven people attended, including three students from San Diego State University who heard about the Exchange during the February speaking tour of southern California by Jose Ponce, first secretary of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C.

Another student from the University of California-Riverside, who has been active in demonstrations protesting the beatings of two immigrant workers by Riverside cops, was informed about the meeting at a recent protest. He said his main reason for wanting to go to Cuba is to learn more about how Cubans are building socialism.

The participants decided to begin fund-raising for those who are unable to pay the full cost of the trip, and to build another planning meeting. Some fund-raising ideas were selling T-shirts, a raffle, and a party.

Dozens of students took applications for the Youth Exchange during an event at La Raza Cultural Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The speaker, Puerto Rican independence fighter Rafael Cancel Miranda, devoted much of his speech defending the Cuban revolution.

Adriana Sánchez, a leader of the Twin Cities Cuba Network who initiated the discussion on Cuba at the meeting, said that the group received a dozen applications for the two-week visit, "with lots more in people's hands."

Of the Minnesota applicants, the majority are Black or Latino. Nine of the 12 are students at the University of Minnesota.

"People write in that they want to go to Cuba to relate the revolution to their own struggles," Sánchez said, "as well as to learn about Cuba. If you face the facts, whatever your struggle is the common enemy is imperialism, capitalism. And then, it is impossible to deny that Cuba is the only country in the world standing up to that enemy, it is the only example of how to move forward. Everywhere we go to publicize the exchange, people want to connect with Cuba.

"Now, we have to really step up our organizing work," Sánchez said, referring to the June 1 deadline for submitting applications to the Cuba Information Project, which is coordinating the trip for the NNOC.

Laura Anderson in Los Angeles and Jon Hillson in Minneapolis contributed to this article.  
 
 
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