BY MICHEL PRAIRIE
MONTREAL - Ten people attended a meeting here sponsored
by the Carrefour culturel de l'amitié Québec-Cuba [Quebec-
Cuba Culture and Friendship Association] June 8 to discuss
plans for building the August 1-7 Cuba Lives International
Youth Festival in Havana and other provinces. The festival
is being organized by the Union of Young Communists and
other youth organizations in Cuba.
As of June 10, eight youth, workers, and political activists from the Montreal area are planning to participate in the festival. An activist in the Cuban Youth Tour Organizing Committee, Maria-Isabel Leblanc, has advanced her departure date for a one-year academic session at the University of Havana in order to be part of the festival. "I wouldn't have missed this opportunity," she said.
Some of the activists have helped set up information tables about the festival and the fall tour of two Cuban youth in Canada at various events, including a 20,000-strong demonstration June 4 against poverty that took place in Quebec City, and a June 1 conference of 150 in Montreal on "Cuba: Challenges and Hopes," addressed by Cuban sociologist Aurelio Alonzo.
Participants at the June 8 organizing meeting decided to organize a raffle, two car washes, and a barbecue in order to help raise funds for the festival participants.
Three people, including a young steelworker, are planning to go to the festival from the Toronto area. The event is being publicized and built there by the Cuban Youth Tour Organizing Committee. The committee has produced a leaflet and is setting up information tables at various political and community events.
With the goal of publicizing the festival, the tour committee is organizing a video showing of a speech given by Cuban president Fidel Castro at the closing of an international conference in solidarity with Cuba held in Havana last November. The showing will be held at 2:00 p.m., June 18, Christopher House, 248 Ossington (at Dundas). In Toronto one can get information on the "Cuba Lives" festival at (416) 436-8901 or 538-8673.
In the Vancouver area, the Canada-Cuba Friendship Association and the Vancouver Cuban Youth Tour Committee are jointly building the international festival. Three people, including two students, are planning to go. Information can be obtained at (604) 294-5279 or 940-0420.
Those staying in Cuba the week following the festival will have the opportunity to participate in a series of related events, including a five-day voluntary work brigade on a farm along with other festival participants and young Cubans. This work brigade will join the effort by Cuban youth and working people to increase the country's food production.
The cost for the festival itself is CAN $699. This includes a round-trip flight, housing, a food plan, and ground transportation. The cost of the post-festival week of activities ranges from CAN $135 to $265.
Michel Prairie is a member of the executive committee of the Carrefour culturel de l'amitié Québec-Cuba.