Vol. 77/No. 2      January 21, 2013

BY NATASHA TERLEXIS
KATERINI, Greece—Some 120 people packed the newly built meeting hall at the Mati bookstore here Dec. 15 for the presentation of two books on the Cuban Revolution—Socialism and Man in Cuba and The Five Cuban Fighters in U.S. Jails—published by the Athens-based publishing house Diethnes Vima. Mati, the main bookstore in this town located in the mainly agricultural area of Greek Macedonia, sponsored the event.

The featured speaker, Cuban Ambassador Osvaldo Jesús Cobacho Martínez, reviewed Cuba’s historical record of revolution and resistance. “With the revolutionary triumph of January 1959, Cuba achieves true independence and for the first time becomes master of its fate and of its natural resources,” he said. “In Cuba we continue to resist and we continue to defend our revolution.”

Theodoros Misailidis spoke on behalf of Diethnes Vima and presented the book Socialism and Man in Cuba by revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara. Misailidis tied the political contributions of Guevara to the world capitalist crisis, which has deeply affected working people throughout Greece.

“Che debunks the idea that socialism is a good idea but ‘human nature’ makes a society based on solidarity impracticable,” Misailidis said. “Human beings are capable of transforming society and themselves along with it.” The Cuban experience shows that workers and farmers can overthrow the oppressive capitalist system and build a society in the interests of the oppressed majority, a socialist society, he explained. “Through it we also understand better what we, as working people in the capitalist world, are capable of.”

Kostas Sanidas of the José Martí Cultural Association in Athens presented The Five Cuban Fighters in U.S. Jails. The title was produced in collaboration with the association and reprints extensively from the English-language Pathfinder book The Cuban Five: Who They Are, Why They Were Framed, Why They Should be Free.

“The Cuban Five are worthy sons of Cuba, steeped in Che’s internationalist spirit,” Sanidas said. “The resistance of the five is part of the resistance of the people of Cuba to more than 50 years of unrelenting hostility by Washington. We hope the book will help win more people to the international fight for their release.”

The audience included a number of local school teachers and several students. A broad spectrum of political viewpoints was represented, including several members of the Communist Party of Greece and a delegation of the local Syriza youth organization.

The two local dailies Olympio Vima and I Imerisia ran articles on the meeting. Approximately 40 books were sold at the event, including nine copies of Socialism and Man in Cuba and 16 copies of The Five Cuban Fighters in U.S. Jails.
 
 
Related articles:
NY meeting: ‘Release Oscar López and Cuban 5!’
Who are the Cuban Five
 
 
 
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