Conference for full normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations

Scan page 2

JOIN SOCIALIST ACTION! We support the struggles of those who are specially oppressed under capitalism— women, LGBT people, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are of workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, internationalists, and hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers anti-racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. of another than with their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek national boundaries, and to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have the sharing of experiences and political lessons. We maintain fraternal relations with the agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the In the process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have revolutionary workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit- to be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution. When we fight for specific reforms, we driven system is driving down living standards and threatens all life on this planet. do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent about with the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of a workers’ government, and the working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers fight for socialism. Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party egalitarian society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite you to join us in the struggle to make the world a better place!

SOCIALIST ACTION Closing news date: Feb. 28, 2017 Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Socialist Action, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. RATES: For one year (12 issues, 1st-class mail): U.S., Canada, Mexico — $20. All other countries — $30. Money orders and checks should be in U.S. dollars.

Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Clip and mail to: Socialist Action newspaper, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

Or subscribe on-line with a credit card at www.socialistaction.org.

2 SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 2017 A major conference on Cuba will take place March 25-26 at Fordham Law School in New York City. Below are major excerpts from the call for the conference, issued by the U.S.-Cuba Normalization Committee. W individuals to help organize an in­ e are inviting organizations and clusive, broad conference in New York City March 25-26, 2017 focused on U.S.Cuban relations. The National Confer­ ence will be held at the Fordham Law School and will bring together longtime Cuba solidarity activists, opponents of continuing U.S. sanctions against Cuba, as well as representatives from many organizations and cities.

We invite you to participate in plan­ ning and organizing the National Con­ ference, which will include highly edu­ cational and informative workshops, presentations, cultural performances, and films, with the political purpose of promoting an agreed action agenda for the real normalization of relations be­ tween the United States and Cuba, and to expand activity around these ends across the United States.

The Electoral College triumph of Don­ ald Trump, and the retention of a Re­ publican majority in the U.S. House and Senate, underscores, more than ever, the need for an independent movement to advocate and fight for the full nor­ malization of U.S.-Cuban relations.

During the election campaign Trump publicly pledged to reverse the modest Executive Orders easing ongoing U.S. anti-Cuba sanctions, implemented by President Obama. He has stopped short so far from supporting the termination effectiveness of mass action. based on the trade unions. designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor. Name City State Phone E-mail of the July 2015 restoration of U.S.-Cu­ ban diplomatic relations, a precondi­ tion for full normalization. … Following the Dec. 17, 2014, an­ nouncements by U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Cas­ tro, the United States and Cuba moved to the establishment of diplomatic rela­ tions. Despite President Obama using his executive powers, this relationship remains far from “normal.”

Fully ending ongoing U.S. sanctions against Cuba will require a formal act of Congress. The notorious HelmsBurton legislation, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, took that right and ability out of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government.

In one of its last acts before the Nov. 8 election, the Obama White House di­ rected the U.S. United Nations Mission to abstain in the annual vote in the UN Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder Subscribe now!

Address Zip General Assembly to condemn, now unanimously 192-0, “the economic, commercial, and financial embargo im­ posed by the United States of America against Cuba.” For over 20 years the vote has registered near unanimous political isolation for Washington in the “international community.”

Full normalization also requires re­ turning the U.S.-occupied Guantanamo Bay Naval base on Cuban territory to Cuban sovereignty. It also requires end­ ing U.S. overtly and covertly budgeted, subversive “regime change” programs. All of these ongoing policies represent the continuity of decades of Washing­ ton’s gross violations of Cuban sover­ eignty.

In addition, Cuba has a sovereign right to give political asylum and legal protections under clear procedures to individuals determined to be fleeing Fourth International.

• Boston: socialistactionboston@gmail. com • Buffalo, NY: [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot.com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE, KY: [email protected], (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:

[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 802-1482, [email protected] • New York City: (212) 781-5157 • Philadelphia: [email protected] (Left) The grave of Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba.

persecution and injustice. We sup­ port the repeal of the unequal and discriminatory Cuban Adjustment Act, which has been used as a politi­ cal club against Cuba by successive U.S. administrations and is the major obstacle to stabilizing and resolving immigration issues between Wash­ ington and Havana. … This national gathering, March 2526, will be an opportunity to bring activists together from across the United States to discuss and act on these questions back at their home base and local area.

The National Conference will have plenary sessions, dozens of work­ shops on Cuba and international themes, and proposals for action to demand full and real normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations. In addition to Conference sessions and workshops, we will also hold a major public event in a large space with prominent speakers, including from Cuba, cultural perform­ ers, and special video greetings.

This invitation to hold a conference registers a spirit of unity and a perspec­ tive to reach out broadly, across differ­ ent points of view, to all who are op­ posed to the continuation of hostile US policies toward Cuba, the fundamental obstacle to normalized relations be­ tween the two governments.

We look forward to you coming to New York City in the spring of 2017! We must organize to change U.S. anti-Cuba policy!

— U.S.-Cuba Normalization Committee For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, (510) 2689429, [email protected] Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND US • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 952-5385 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:

P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, Ca 94610 (510) 268-9429, sfsocialistaction@ gmail.com • WASHINGTON, DC:

National Office

----- pull-quotes -----

Socialist Action — $10 / six months — $20 / 12 months ­— $37 / two years — I want to join the Socialist Action Newspaper Supporters Club. I enclose an extra contribution of: — $100 — $200 — Other

[email protected], (202) 286-5493 Socialist Action Canada

526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ont. M6G 3R4, (416) 535-8779 http://socialistaction.ca/