Rock around the Blockade is a British campaign in defence of socialist Cuba
We campaign actively:
against the US blockade of Cuba;
for the release of the Cuban Five falsely imprisoned in the US;
against the imperialist occupation and prison at Guantanamo Bay;
for a boycott of Bacardi, supporter of the Miami mafia
in solidarity with revolutionary movements throughout Latin America.
Cuba shows that there is an alternative to poverty, racism and war. We use this example to support working class struggles in Britain and to show that socialism is the only system that can provide for humanity. read more>>
On Monday 11 January 2010 the London Guantánamo Campaign held a demonstration outside the US Embassy in London to mark 8 years of the Guantánamo Bay torture camp. A vigil by protesters in orange jumpsuits and black hoods was followed by an hour of speeches demanding the closure of the camp and justice for all detainees.
Nicki Jameson spoke at the demonstration on behalf of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! She pointed out that the US presence at Guantánamo Bay is an illegal occupation of Cuban territory dating back to the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, which was signed under threat of military action.
Despite Barack Obama’s pledge to close the camp by 22 January 2010, this deadline will not be met. Just under 200 prisoners are still held there. Of these around 50 have been cleared but will not be released until the US can find countries to accept them. There may be sufficient evidence to try around 25 in the US, but much of this evidence was obtained using torture.
It is not clear why the US are still holding the approximately 120 remaining detainees. One of the speakers, journalist Andy Worthington, suggested that in Shaker Aamer's case it may well be that his release would be too embarrassing for the US government because of his extensive knowledge about what has happened at Guantánamo.
There are still 2 men with British connections held at Guantánamo Bay. Shaker Aamer is a British resident, with a British family living in Battersea, London. His 4 British children include a 7-year-old son he has never met. The London Guantanamo Campaign is also demanding the release of Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Belbacha, who was formerly living in Bournemouth, on humanitarian grounds.
Other speakers were Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London; Chloe Davies of Reprieve, a legal charity which fights for human rights for prisoners; Lindsey German of SWP/Stop the War campaign; Joy Hurcombe of Brighton Against Guantánamo and John Clossick of the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign.
For half a century US imperialism has gone to staggering lengths to destroy the Cuban Revolution and damage the example it sets for the oppressed people of the world. This aim is embedded in the US Constitution itself. The US blockade (1961), invasion (1961), the threat of nuclear war (1962) and attempts to isolate Cuba on the international stage, have failed to destroy the Revolution. The Obama administration is stepping up efforts to create an internal opposition among the Cuban people, ‘investing’ $55 million in 2009 alone in this endeavour. These attempts are failing miserably. Imperialist powers and their allies continue to underestimate the revolutionary strength of the Cuban people, demonstrated in December 2009 when just one neighbourhood in Havana took to the streets in response to a group of imperialist-paid mercenaries known as the Women in White.
The Women in White are the families of 75 counter-revolutionaries who were gaoled in April 2003 for being paid agents of the US government involved in sabotaging the Cuban Revolution. For years their monthly demonstrations have been ignored by the Cuban people, who realise they represent nothing more than a photo opportunity for the international bourgeois press. However, last month a crowd of Cubans responded, surrounding the women and banging on the car of a British diplomat who was present. Diplomats from the US and German embassies were also accompanying the Women in White, in violation of international diplomacy laws. The words of the Cuban people in the video demonstrate their refusal to tolerate the Women in White’s false claims to be fighting for freedom. They are losing their patience with the self-aggrandizement of a tiny group of mercenaries who would return Cuba to imperialist domination in exchange for a few material privileges.
In the video, one of the women in white admits receiving money from the allies of the US government, linked to terrorist organisations based in Miami. Among them is Santiago Alvarez who left Cuba soon after the Revolution and has since been involved in many terrorist actions killing Cuban people as a leader of the Miami Mafia. He was arrested in the US in 2005 when found in possession of numerous weapons, including fully automatic machine guns along with ammunition. Alvarez is a key ally of Luis Posada Carriles, a terrorist who has boasted his involvement in blowing up a Cuban civilian aeroplane, killing 73 people in 1976.
Throughout their history of financing right-wing terrorist groups to overthrow progressive governments and attack revolutionary movements, the US government has often acted covertly through non-governmental organisations. Also in December 2009, an employee of a CIA front organisation was detained for illegally distributing sophisticated satellite communication technology to mercenary groups in Havana and giving free mobile phones to citizens in an effort create inequalities and destabilise Cuban socialism.
Following these events, Raul Castro said to the Cuban National Assembly of People’s Power: “The United States won’t quit trying to destroy the revolution…They are giving new breath to open and undercover subversion against Cuba…The enemy is as active as ever.” Nonetheless, as the video shows, the Cuban revolutionaries are also active and they will defend their Revolution.
Long live the Cuban revolution! Imperialism OUT of Latin America!
The London meeting of the Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! Speaking Tour event organised by the Revolutionary Communist Group took place on Saturday 18 October 2009 at Bolivar Hall, London. The day school consisted of two discussions: one on Socialist Cuba and ALBA; the other on the capitalist crisis and imperialism. read more>>
On Saturday 12 September 2009, to mark the 11th anniversary of the incarceration of the Cuban 5, over 60 people protested in a busy shopping street in the Angel, near central London , to demand the release of the Cuban 5, as part of an international day of action.
The event was called by Rock around the Blockade (RATB), a campaign in solidarity with socialist Cuba and against the US blockade, to demand the immediate release of the five Cuban heroes. Under the title Break the Chains: Free the Cuban 5, Free all Political Prisoners of Imperialism, the rally highlighted the use as a torture camp of Guantanamo Bay , in illegally occupied Cuba , to hold prisoners of the imperialist ‘war on terror’. Speakers also exposed the situation of refugees and asylum seekers in Britain , thousands of whom are daily detained and deported under Britain ’s racist immigrations laws. Detainees include nearly 500 children currently incarcerated. read more>>
On Saturday 12th September members of Rock around the Blockade in Newcastle held a demonstration as part of the international call for solidarity with the Cuban 5 to demand their freedom.
The demonstration was at Grey’s Monument in Newcastle city centre where we had placards and banners of the five Cuban heroes calling for their immediate release, an information stall and speeches about the case of the Cuban 5, about rendition flights Britain has been involved in and the ‘war on terror’ which is used by imperialist countries like Britain and the US when they want to terrorise Muslim communities to justify their actions in the Middle East and to attack progressive governments like that of Cuba, all the while self-confessed terrorist Louis Pasada Carriles walks free on US soil. There was also a speech about ALBA and the coup in Honduras and how the gains and example of the Cuban revolution are acting as a beacon of inspiration to the working class internationally and sparking off socialist movements in Latin America. read more >>
Cuba Solidarity Campaign: the dead hand of sectarianism
On 6 December 2008, two activists from London Rock around the Blockade (RATB) were thrown out of a conference on Latin America organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC). Their crime? Handing out fliers advertising an RATB rally in London 17 January 2009 organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. RATB had requested a stall at the Latin America conference but CSC Director Rob Miller had personally refused. When he and fellow CSC Executive Committee member Natasha Hickman saw the RATB comrades publicising our event, they insisted that they leave immediately, threatened to call the police and summoned security officers to enforce their decision. read more>>
Helen Yaffe, Palgrave Macmillan, 20 February 2009.
Based on new archival research and interviews with his contemporaries and colleagues, this book records Guevara's contribution to industrial organisation, economic management and socialist political economy debates as a member of the Cuban government. It rescues the history of his work as President of the National Bank, head of the Department of Industrialisation and Minister of Industries from 1959-1965.
Guevara created the Budgetary Finance System, an economic management system unique to socialism and based on the productive and managerial techniques of US corporations. It was also consistent with his Marxist analysis and included policies to promote education and training, establish administrative controls, forge workers' participation in management, found science and technology institutes and raise consciousness whilst institutionalising psychology as a management tool. In addition, the book shows how Guevara was able to predict that capitalism would return to the Soviet Union
Available at the reduced price of £15 from our stalls or send a cheque to
Larkin Publications,
BCM Box 5909,
London
WC1N 3XX
for £17, including p&p.
Viva Cuba! is the newsletter of Rock around the blockade, with news and analysis about socialist Cuba, struggles in Latin America and reports of RATB campaign activity in Britain. It comes out every two months and you can subscribe by joining RATB!
In June 2001, a Miami jury found five Cubans guilty on charges ranging from spying to conspiracy to commit murder and endangering the security of the United States...
RATB campaign against the genocidal blockade of Cuba. Recently, British banks have joined the blockade by refusing to allow commercial companies in Britain to transfer funds to Cuba.
The now infamous US prison complex at Guantanamo bay has held more than 750 people since it was opened as part of the so-called war on terror in 2002...
Rock around the Blockade launched a Boycott Bacardi Campaign on 13 August 1999 to highlight the organised attempts by the Bacardi company to undermine the Cuban Revolution...
On Monday 11 January 2010 the London Guantánamo Campaign held a demonstration outside the US Embassy in London to mark 8 years of the Guantánamo Bay torture camp. A vigil by protesters in orange jumpsuits and black hoods was followed by an hour of speeches demanding the closure of the camp and justice for all detainees.
Che Guevara
