Vol. 72/No. 48      December 8, 2008

Dillard chaired a November 19 meeting at the University of Minnesota that discussed the book Our History Is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution. The book, published by Pathfinder Press, tells the stories of Armando Choy, Gustavo Chui, and Moisés Sío Wong, three young Cubans of Chinese ancestry who became combatants in the revolutionary war to overthrow the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship in the 1950s. All three rose to the rank of general in the Revolutionary Armed Forces and continue to play leading roles in Cuba’s socialist revolution today.

The 125 people who attended the event, mostly students, heard Dillard; Jaleesa Joy, secretary of the Black Student Union; Kristen Talbert, secretary of the American Indian Student Cultural Center; political science professor August Nimtz; and Martín Koppel, one of the interviewers of the three generals for the book.

The sponsors of the meeting included the African American & African Studies department, Political Science department, African Student Association, American Indian Cultural Center, La Raza Student Cultural Center, and China Center, as well as the Minnesota Cuba Committee and Twin Cities Pathfinder Books.

Unlike the United States, Joy told the audience, in Cuba “education means being in control of your destiny … and that education is for life—that you will always be a student.”

Talbert said she learned from the book how the Chinese who came to Cuba as indentured labor “fought alongside other Cubans in the independence war against Spain, and became viewed as equals.”

Koppel outlined what Cuban workers and farmers have accomplished through their socialist revolution, from guaranteeing that no farmer will be evicted from the land they till and integrating women massively into the workforce and the leadership of society, to offering internationalist solidarity to people around the world.

He said the example of the Cuban Revolution is “needed in the world today, as working people face a crisis of production and employment that is only just beginning.” The devastation this will mean for millions “poses the need for workers and farmers in the United States to take state power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers and to run society in the interests of the vast majority, not for profit for a few.”

Nimtz explained how Cuba’s revolutionary leadership has combated racism. “The principle means was the revolution itself,” he said, overthrowing the profit system that relies on racism. The revolution also took concrete steps such as “banning discrimination in hiring and public facilities.”

During the discussion period, a student wanted to know how the world economic crisis will affect Cuba. Another pointed to the increasing use of the capitalist market system in China and asked how that related to Cuba.

Koppel noted that Cuba, like other nations oppressed by imperialism, is impacted by the world capitalist crisis. He pointed out that semicolonial countries are hit by the falling prices for the raw materials they export. In China, the reliance on capitalist methods makes the country more vulnerable to the effects of this crisis.

What is different in Cuba, he said, “is that they have the most powerful weapon, a workers and farmers government, that defends the interests of working people—both at home and abroad.” When confronted with crises, “the response of Cuba’s revolutionary leadership has consistently been to turn to working people to organize to resolve the problems they face.”

A number of students stayed for a reception after the meeting. Fidel Abbeh, originally from Togo, spoke about conditions facing working people in West Africa with Koppel, who was recently part of a fact-finding trip to Equatorial Guinea. Abbeh insisted that malaria, which is endemic in much of Africa, “should be history” but that the capitalist corporations had no interest in eradicating the disease because they see no profits in doing so.

Twelve Chinese students attended the meeting. When leaving at the end of the program, one remarked that she was pleasantly surprised by the fact that students in the United States were discussing socialism openly and in a favorable light.
 
 
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