Vol. 73/No. 18      May 11, 2009

The book tells the story of three Cubans of Chinese descent—Armando Choy, Gustavo Chui, and Moisés Sío Wong. As young men they participated in Cuba's revolutionary war that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and opened the road to the first socialist revolution in the Americas. They later became generals in the revolutionary army and today shoulder major tasks in strengthening the revolution.

The Chicano student organization MEChA, the International Student Union, United People’s Coalition, College Activities Board, and the Global Education Design Team, a faculty group, sponsored the meeting.

Annie Nguyen welcomed participants to the meeting on behalf of the International Student Union. She introduced Bettie Luke of the Organization of Chinese Americans in Seattle. Luke said that the book is important because it tells another piece of the history of the Chinese Diaspora in the Americas. She also encouraged people to visit the Wing Luke Asian History Museum, the only Pan-Asian museum in the United States.

Carlos Sibaja, a vice president of MEChA, chaired the meeting. Sibaja said he is Mexican but his great-grandfather came to Mexico from Japan. The book struck a chord with him because of its description of Asian immigration that is not well known. He said he was inspired that the generals were student leaders who helped to change the world and that is what young people need to do today.  
 
'We're still learning our history'
Tina Young, director of Multicultural Initiatives, explained that as a young Chinese American growing up in New York City she was fascinated when her parents told her about a Chinese-Cuban-Jamaican relative. “We are still learning our history through this book,” Young said, quoting Choy, Chui, and Sío Wong on some of their experiences in growing up Chinese in capitalist Cuba. She said the book also shows how the questions of racism and sexism have been addressed systematically through the revolution.

Karen Strickland, who teaches social work, spoke about her two trips to Cuba as part of academic tours for health-care teachers and professionals.

“When you visit Cuba you get a clear consistent message of how they deliver social services there," she said. "Education and health care are free and even those who have disagreements with the government will never agree to give those things up.”

In 2008 Strickland also visited Venezuela and said she was impressed by the impact the 20,000 Cuban health-care professionals have had on the population there. She also related the example of how the Federation of Cuban Women objected to the use of images of women to promote tourism to the island and the offensive advertisements were done away with.

Charles Jeffreys, who teaches psychology, talked about how Cuba was part of the post-World War II international struggle against colonialism in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Reading in the book about the Cuban role in Angola in the 1970s and 1980s impressed him. The defeat of the South African government forces there helped pave the road to the independence of Namibia, the freeing of Nelson Mandela, and the downfall of the apartheid regime itself. “Cuba went in to help, not to dominate the places they were in,” he said.

Martín Koppel, who helped interview the generals in Cuba, explained that the book strikes a chord for many working people and youth today because we are at the beginning of a worldwide economic and social crisis, and Cuba's socialist revolution presents an example of the way forward for working people.

“In Cuba the workers and farmers are the motor force of the revolution,” he said. “Because of that they survived the economic crisis of the 1990s and came out politically stronger.” Koppel was referring to the period when Cuba's favorable trade status with the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe collapsed.

Koppel pointed to working-class resistance in the United States, including the upcoming May Day mobilizations for immigrant rights. He highlighted the example set by five Cuban revolutionaries locked up for more than 10 years in U.S. prisons who continue to fight for their freedom.

In the lively discussion period following the presentations, questions ranged from how Cuba handles drug use to how the health-care system is organized. Strickland said that unlike in this country, Cuban authorities penalize drug traffickers, not drug users, who are instead offered treatment.

Koppel explained that it took a socialist revolution to change the health-care system. “Health care in Cuba is a right, not a commodity like in the capitalist world,” he said.

One student disagreed that racism was a necessary part of the capitalist system. Koppel spoke about the history of the Black struggle in the United States and how the institutionalization of racial oppression was reinforced after the defeat of Radical Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War.
 
 
Related articles:
Atlanta socialists discuss Cuba today with students
‘Cuban Revolution is free of physical abuse or torture’  
 
 
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