Vol. 71/No. 16      April 23, 2007

The Chinese Centre at the Auckland University of Technology sponsored a public meeting March 14 featuring Martín Koppel, a Militant reporter who helped interview the three authors of the book. Hosted by Marlene Lu, head of the Chinese Centre, the event was cosponsored by Pathfinder Books and Bananaworks, a media company oriented to Chinese New Zealanders.

Many in the audience of 25, including several of Chinese ancestry, asked questions about the Cuban Revolution and the history of Chinese Cubans.

It sounds like the first Chinese in Cuba were treated like slaves, one questioner remarked, referring to how they were first brought as indentured laborers in the 19th century.

“Yes, and their response to those conditions led to a history of struggle, from the independence wars against Spanish colonial rule to the 1959 revolution and establishment of a workers and farmers government,” said Koppel.

“It’s a testament to a heritage that comes out of struggle,” Koppel replied to a question about why many Chinese Cubans today, while integrated into Cuban society, strive to maintain their culture. He added that the Cuban government is promoting that heritage through the restoration of Havana’s Chinatown and other cultural projects.

“Is Cuba introducing market reforms like China?” was another query. Koppel explained that, while Cuba is inevitably exposed to the effects of the world capitalist market, its revolutionary leadership—unlike the regime in Beijing—takes initiatives that promote solidarity among working people to counteract social inequalities.

Two Chinese-language newspapers covered the meeting in their March 17 issues. The lead article in the Chinese Herald, by journalist Portia Mao, was headlined “Chinese Generals and the Chinese in Cuba.” The New Zealand Mirror ran a full-page feature titled “The struggle of the Chinese in Cuba.” Triangle Television filmed the event and interviewed Koppel, broadcasting its report on its program “The Mirror.”

During the tour Koppel met with staff at the University of Auckland’s Centre for Latin American Studies and School of Asian Studies. The latter event was hosted by Manying Ip, a prominent author on the history of racism against Chinese in New Zealand. Koppel also spoke to a class of Asian Studies students at the university.

Koppel was accompanied on the speaking tour by Ben Joyce, a member of the Young Socialists from Albany, New York. The two addressed a March 15 Militant Labour Forum on “Cuba and the Coming American Revolution,” and Joyce spoke at a meeting at the University of Auckland on the campaign to free five Cuban revolutionaries framed up by Washington.

Earlier that day they visited a Maori land occupation at Whenuakite, where they received a traditional welcome. Leaders of the protest explained the history of the dispossession of Maori of their lands and the struggle to regain it. Koppel presented the Maori rights fighters with a copy of Our History Is Still Being Written.
 
 
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