Help us raise £22,000 for the 2023 solidarity brigade to Cuba
Rock Around the Blockade is raising money to send a solidarity brigade to socialist Cuba. This is an incredibly important time for solidarity as Cuba faces immense challenges, compounded by a severe tightening of the US blockade and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation is comparable to the Special Period, with difficulty importing basic necessities such as fuel, food, and medicine. The Trump administration enacted 243 new suffocating measures to reinforce the blockade against Cuba, and Biden has left them entirely intact.
Last year marked the 60th anniversary of the US blockade on Cuba. For over 60 years the Cuban people have faced the political and economic might of the most powerful nation on the planet. The blockade represents the most comprehensive and longest running set of sanctions in modern history.
Despite all of this, the Cuban people have been able to build a society that shows to the world an alternative to war, poverty, racism and environmental destruction. Even during periods of intense economic crisis due to the crushing blockade, Cuba has been able to guarantee adequate levels of healthcare, education, housing and food security for all. And these principles are not merely extended to the Cuban people: recently Cuba sent thousands of doctors to countries across the world to help them fight the Covid-19 pandemic. This takes the total number of Cuban doctors sent across the world to deliver healthcare that is free at the point of delivery to 400,000 since 1960, primarily in poor countries.
All of these achievements are because Cuba is a socialist country. For 60 years, even in the face of huge adversity, the Cuban people have built a society that is governed by the people and truly in the interests of the people. Socialist Cuba remains a shining beacon for humanity, and the unwavering solidarity it shows to the poor and oppressed across the world continues to this day.
Now we must show solidarity with Cuba. In 2023 we will be sending our 15th solidarity brigade to Cuba. Young activists from Britain will spend two weeks meeting Cubans from all walks of life, visiting schools, hospitals, factories, community centres, farms; learning about Cuban socialism and holding exchanges with Cuban youth about the reality of living under capitalism in Britain, as millions face the severe consequences of the ‘cost of living crisis’ whilst Britain continues to fuel and engage in wars abroad.
We will also bring material aid to help Cuba alleviate the crisis it is facing under the crushing blockade, an act ever more precedent as the tightening of the blockade has left only a handful of banks willing to process transactions to Cuba, allow financial aid to be sent to the island or even process international transactions that have the word ‘Cuba’ in the reference. Please support our fundraising efforts in any way you can and make a donation.
The more we raise, the more material aid we can take with us! Over the years our brigades have coordinated with the Union of Young Communists in Cuba to assess the best forms of material aid to bring; this has included sports equipment, musical instruments, a sound system, ballet shoes, boxing gloves and more.
On our return we will host meetings, with brigadistas reporting back from their experiences, showing photos and film clips, and taking the lessons we can learn from Cuban socialism to the streets of Britain.
https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002KJW8Z5S
Or by sending cheques or postal orders payable to:
Rock Around The Blockade at
RATB BCM Box 5909, London, WC1N 3XX.
Thank you for your support
