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Vol. 78/No. 45      December 15, 2014

 
Cuban Five campaign draws
interest at Montreal book fair
 
BY ANNETTE KOURI
AND JOHN STEELE
MONTREAL — Pathfinder’s new French-language book Je mourrai comme j’ai vécu (I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived), 15 prison paintings by Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five, was the best-selling title at the Pathfinder booth at the Salon de livre de Montreal Nov. 19-24. The annual event, one of the largest French-language book fairs in the world, was attended by more than 100,000 people.

Twelve participants purchased the book, which brings to life the 17 months the five Cuban revolutionaries spent in the hole in the Federal Detention Center in Miami after they were framed up and jailed by the U.S. government more than 16 years ago — and the creativity and humor with which they and others resist. Millions of working people around the world who have been in prison or know people who have will identify with their struggle.

The book includes explanations of the paintings by Guerrero and the other two of the Five who are still imprisoned, Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañino.

Visitors to the booth bought 13 subscriptions to the Militant, several taking advantage of the half-price book specials offered with a subscription. Fifty-two books by Pathfinder on revolutionary working-class politics were sold.

Some 700 people picked up the 2015 brochure that highlights the three French-language books on the Cuban Five published by Pathfinder, including the soon to be released Voix Depuis la Prison: Les Cinq Cubains (Voices From Prison: The Cuban Five). The new book will be available at the Haiti International Book Fair in Port-au-Prince Dec. 11-14.

The ousting of dictator Blaise Compaoré by popular demonstrations in Burkina Faso in West Africa Oct. 31 spurred interest in books by Thomas Sankara, the assassinated leader of the 1983-87 revolution there. Seven books by Sankara were sold, including four copies of Thomas Sankara Parle (Thomas Sankara Speaks), which contains 30 of his speeches.

“It’s important to learn more about the events and people in history who have contributed to the development of the society we know today,” said Jonathan Gervais, a young warehouse worker who purchased seven books including five on the Cuban revolution. “We have to understand the world we’re living in, in order to build a better one.”
 
 
Related articles:
Cuba’s fight against Ebola is a ‘source of inspiration’
‘Proof that better world is possible’ say Cuban Five
Who are the Cuban Five?
 
 
 
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