Vol. 71/No. 14 April 9, 2007
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Event is held at Chicago campus to discuss struggles by Asians in the Americas |
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Militant/Jorge Lertora
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CHICAGO—Sixty people, mostly students, heard a panel of speakers March 22 at the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) on the “History and Contemporary Reality of Asian Communities in Latin America.” Martín Koppel (above, second from left) spoke about Our History Is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution, published by Pathfinder. The uprooting of racist discrimination and exploitation in Cuba today, said Koppel, one of the book’s interviewers, “is the result of Cuba’s socialist revolution.” Nobuko Adachi (above, right), a professor at Illinois State University and editor of Japanese Diasporas: Unsung Pasts, Conflicting Presents, and Uncertain Futures, spoke about the substantial Japanese immigration to Brazil, from the brutal conditions Japanese workers faced on coffee plantations in the early 1900s to the ongoing struggles against discrimination.
Julie Kim (above, second from right), a Korean-born professor at Diego Portales University in Santiago, Chile, spoke about Korean immigration to the Americas. She highlighted how thousands migrated from Korea to escape poverty in the late 1800s, and then because of imperialist Japan’s occupation of the country in the 20th century. UIC professor Bruce Calder (above, left), who moderated, gave an overview of Asians in Latin America. He recommended Our History Is Still Being Written, and noted that Cuba’s selfless defense of Angola against the South African apartheid regime was important to learn about. The event’s sponsors were the UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center, History Department, Latino Cultural Center, and Latin American and Latino Studies Program. —ERNEST MAILHOT Related articles: Montreal event promotes book on Chinese Cubans in Cuban Revolution Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home |