September 6, 1999
HAVANA — Nearly 600 youth from 66 countries gathered here August 15-18 to participate in the International Seminar of Youth and Students on Neoliberalism. The last day conference participants filled the National Theater for a closing session addressed by Fidel Castro.
He spent some time describing capitalism’s deep crisis and instability. Castro explained that the capitalist system has its own laws that the capitalists themselves can’t control — even less so in a “globalized world.”
Castro reiterated the challenges that workers and youth face. “This century got to know the working class and its struggles. It got to know the most extraordinary attempts — not always successful — of transforming human society and establishing the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, which the great majority of the planet’s inhabitants demand like oxygen.”
September 6, 1974
The weakest link in Portuguese colonial rule in Africa is set to snap Sept. 10 when Guinea-Bissau is to be granted independence in accordance with an agreement signed by the Portuguese government and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands.
Independence will end five centuries of direct Portuguese rule, the past 11 years being marked by bloody warfare. But a question is posed by Lisbon’s action: Is a chain only as strong as its weakest link? If so, how soon will it break in Angola and Mozambique? And what about the Cape Verde Islands?
The real wealth lies in the colonies of Mozambique, Angola, and the enclave of Cabinda, none of which Portugal wants to free. But while Lisbon is opting for “coalition” regimes in those colonies, the populations are becoming more and more aroused.
September 5, 1949
Some 500 organized vigilantes on Aug. 27 mobbed and smashed up an open-air concert near Peekskill, N.Y., at which Paul Robeson was scheduled to sing for the benefit of the Harlem Civil Rights Congress.
Fourteen automobiles were overturned and wrecked, while some were still occupied. Men were rushed and assaulted with clubs, rocks and fists. Women were manhandled and molested. The mobsters shouted the vilest anti-Negro and anti-Semitic threats and insults. Several fiery crosses were set up. The violence raged for almost three hours.
Over a dozen people were taken to the hospital. Not a single person was arrested or even taken into custody for questioning. The next day Assistant District Attorney Frederick E. Weeks Jr. said there was nothing he could do because no one had been arrested and there was no one for him to question.