BY ELIZABETH LARISCY
NEW YORK - One hundred and fifty people came together
here at the Westbeth Gallery July 28 to send off the New
York/New Jersey component of the U.S. delegation to the
Cuba Lives Festival. The delegation was organized by the
Cuba Information Project and other organizations active in
defense of Cuba.
Following a dinner, the evening culminated in a lively rally with a broad speakers platform chaired by Joya Lonsdale and Brock Satter, two of the young people who were leaving for Cuba in 36 hours. Leslie Cagan, director of the Cuba Information Project, described the encouraging response to the festival. Cagan explained how, inspired by the role young people were beginning to play, she herself decided to join the delegation.
"The festival will be a great experience to counter the lies," added Luis Miranda of Casa de las Americas. A huge banner demanding "End the economic blockade against Cuba" hanging behind the speakers' platform was painted at the Casa offices. It will be carried by the U.S. contingent at the front of a march at the end of the Cuba Lives festival.
Mary-Alice Waters, editor of New International magazine and The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara, said that at the heart of this trip is the history of Cuba's fight for independence and against U.S. domination. "Cuba teaches that revolution is possible," she said. This is as true today as it was in the early 1960s when the people of Cuba marched onto the stage of history to take their destiny in their own hands, Waters added.
Lorena Gabor, one of the young people going on the trip, was "glad to be part of the new generation of fighters" and thanked all who had helped support and fund the trip. Like many other young people, she explained, her interest in Cuba was first sparked because of the unrelenting hostility of the U.S. government toward the people of that country.
A number of the young people who will be part of the delegation participated in the event. They were introduced to a big round of applause during the meeting.
Steve Macauley, a 28-year-old photographer, said he wants to photograph what the U.S. government doesn't want him to see about Cuba. Mariposa Galler, who works in a bookstore, wants to see for herself what Cuba is like. Galler, 24, said she isn't interested in the media's bashing of the revolution or liberal romanticizing.
Christine Chaubet, a 21-year-old student from Paris who was at the meeting, first learned about the youth festival from a flyer on a wall at her campus. She helped organize 16 others who will be leaving from France to attend the event.
A number of campus newspapers as well as publications of various organizations, such as the National Lawyers Guild and the National Organization for Women, have asked the young people to write articles about their experiences in Cuba. Many of the youth pointed to this as an important part of making their participation in the festival a success.
Bob Guild, of the New Jersey Network on Cuba, explained to the audience that young people from the United States have a long history of going to Cuba to do volunteer work and express solidarity with the revolution. He noted that a group of 40 youth had just returned from a trip to Cuba organized by the Freedom to Travel Campaign. The U.S. government doesn't want young people to go, he said, because they know "the Union of Young Communists didn't invite you down to check out investment opportunities."
A representative of the Venceremos Brigade also spoke at the meeting. The Brigade is planning to have some 80 people in Cuba before the festival who will also be taking part in its final days.
José Cabezas from Hospital and Health Care Workers Local 1199, who is part of a committee working in solidarity with a hospital in Cuba, also spoke. He led the audience in chants and urged all to actively fight against the blockade.
Throughout the evening speakers pointed to the importance of building demonstrations called in October against the embargo of Cuba and other activities to counter Washington's hostile policy toward the Cuban revolution. The event raised some $1,000 to help cover the costs of the trip.