Vol. 73/No. 17      May 4, 2009

The meeting was organized by Latinos United Networking America (LUNA) and cosponsored by the Rutgers Program Board, Latinos Siempre Unidos, Organization of African Students, Hermanidad de Sigma Iota Alpha, La Unidad Latina, and Omega Phi Chi, a multicultural sorority.

Our History Is Still Being Written tells the stories of Armando Choy, Gustavo Chui, and Moisés Sío Wong, three generals of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba of Chinese ancestry. In the 1950s, as teenagers, each of them joined the revolutionary movement in Cuba to overthrow the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

The speakers were Laura Lomas, an English professor and director of Women’s Studies at Rutgers and author of Translating Empire: José Martí, Migrant Latino Subjects, and American Modernities; Mario Arrieta, a Rutgers student and leader of LUNA; and Martín Koppel, who took part in interviewing the Chinese-Cuban generals for the book, published by Pathfinder Press. Arrieta also chaired the program.

Lomas noted that this year is the 40th anniversary of the student takeovers at Rutgers and other colleges in New Jersey and New York that demanded, and in many cases won, Black, Latino, and Asian studies programs. “Many of these programs are now under attack,” she said. “Our history really is still being written, as we need to revisit these issues.” She noted that although 18 percent of the students at this university’s Newark campus are Latino and 24 percent are Asian, there is neither a Latino Studies nor an Asian Studies program.

Lomas read from an article José Martí, a leader of Cuba’s independence struggle in the 19th century and prominent Latin American writer, had written in 1882, just months before the U.S. government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. That act barred individuals from China and elsewhere in Asia from immigrating to the United States on the basis of race. It remained in effect until 1943.

“Racism hasn’t been eliminated from Cuba,” Lomas said, but the example of these three generals—Choy, Chui, and Sío Wong—shows the progress accomplished by the Cuban Revolution.  
 
‘Young people like us’
“These three generals were young people like us,” Arrieta said. He noted that the Cuban Revolution sets an example throughout Latin America. “They provide support in agriculture, education, and medical care to countries all over the world. I especially liked the point Moisés Sío Wong makes about the internationalist spirit of the Cuban Revolution.”

“The example of the Cuban Revolution is more urgent today because of the deepest crisis of the world capitalist system since the first part of the 20th century,” Koppel said. “It helps answer the question of whether working people have the capacity to change these conditions.”

“These three generals didn’t start out as socialists. They just weren’t going to accept the conditions under the U.S.-supported Batista dictatorship. And then when they overthrew the dictatorship in 1959, they didn’t stop,” stated Koppel. It was measures like the campaign to wipe out illiteracy, the agrarian reform, and other steps that drew the ire of Washington. In response, the Cuban toilers took over the factories and landholdings and defended the revolution arms in hand.  
 
Racial situation in Cuba today
“What is the racial situation like in Cuba today?” asked a professor during the discussion period.

“Racist oppression is integral to capitalism,” Koppel explained. “The Cuban Revolution and its leadership immediately took steps to eradicate it, including outlawing all discriminatory practices in public and private business. But they also recognize that while the revolution uprooted racism, eliminating its legacy takes much longer and requires conscious measures.”

“Ten U.S. administrations, every one since the 1959 revolution, have tried to overthrow the Cuban Revolution,” Koppel said in response to a question about whether U.S. president Barack Obama would ease relations with Cuba. This is because “the U.S. ruling class is afraid of the Cuban example that it is possible to stand up to the imperialist rulers—including right here in the United States—and win.”

A question posed by Arrieta provoked a lively discussion at the end of the program. “Is a revolution possible in the U.S.?” he asked the audience.

“Things aren’t bad enough,” one student responded. “People have to hit rock bottom first.”

Tom Baumann, a member of the Young Socialists, noted that all of history—including the Civil War and war for independence in the United States—is a history of revolutionary struggle.

The professor who had spoken earlier noted that in many ways the civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s was a revolution in how Blacks and others saw themselves.

Koppel said the labor and civil rights battles of the 1930s, and 1950s and ’60s, as well as the ongoing fight today led by immigrant workers for legalization, show the capacity of the U.S. working class—if they have the proper leadership—to take on the U.S. rulers and win.

After the program several dozen students took up LUNA president Natasha Carles-Novikov’s invitation to stay around to enjoy empanadas and talk with the speakers.
 
 
Related articles:
Students in Montreal discuss Cuban Revolution
Opposition to U.S. embargo of Cuba marks ‘Americas’ summit  
 
 
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