Category: Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia

Six three-minute speeches …

I’ve learned to make concise and cogent speeches in the three minutes appropriate for rallies and meetings. Of the several dozen “three-minute” talks I have on file, here are six examples.

Against Islamophobia and white supremacy

The video version of this speech made a  rally against Islamophobia and white supremacy went viral and received over 26,000 views as of this posting.

I speak today as a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust. Nazism took the lives of most of my family and six million my Jewish community. I and so many other Holocaust survivors are here only because of people united to protect us.

What is anti Semitism? It is simply the hatred of Jewish people. Amazingly, Donald Trump honoured the Holocaust by omitting, and in essence denying history. He forgot to mention that that six million Jews were murdered in the attempt to eliminate the whole Jewish people. It’s amazing that we heard no one object to this omission, and we especially did not hear a peep from Israel who prides itself on building a Jewish state. Continue reading Six three-minute speeches …

Fair Play! Building solidarity with revolutionary Cuba (1960-1970)

9 October 2016 —  The triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959 gave rise to widespread solidarity work in the U.S. and Canada, organized through Fair Play for Cuba committees. Two participants in this experience report here on its scope and lessons.

John Riddell and Suzanne Weiss gave the following joint talk on the work of Fair Play for Cuba on July 31, 2016, at a conference of Ideas Left Outside at Elbow Lake, Ontario. For other writings on Fair Play for Cuba, see below.

John Riddell: On September 2, 1960, one million Cubans gathered in Havana in a General Assembly of the Cuban people to hear and approve Cuba’s reply to U.S. attacks on its sovereignty. This statement, known as the First Declaration of Havana, pledged Cuba to nothing less than a hemispheric struggle for freedom from U.S. domination. Continue reading Fair Play! Building solidarity with revolutionary Cuba (1960-1970)

Environmental Racism and Climate Justice

A talk given to Ideas Left Outside August 1 2013

What is environmental racism?

There are disasters from natural causes, and then there are environmental catastrophes and tragedies imposed by the capitalist and imperialist systems which cause unimaginable hardship and suffering. We know that racism is part and parcel of these systems. Environmental racism has been termed “any policy that differentially disadvantages individuals, groups, of communities based on race or colour” such as by locating “hazardous waste sites, landfills, incinerators or polluting industries in areas inhabited mainly by [racialized] and low-income peoples.” (Gosine 2008 p. 4)

Let us take the example from Haiti. In [2011] Haiti was struck by a savage epidemic of cholera, an environmental disease. Cholera was introduced, in fact, by the massive UN military mission in Haiti, which dumped untreated sewage into a stream from which Haitians washed and bathed and from which they drank. More than 7,500 Haitians died. Continue reading Environmental Racism and Climate Justice

Black book exposes Canadian imperialism

The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, by Yves Engler, Fernwood Publishing, 2009.

29 August 2009 – Yves Engler’s Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy lays out the facts on Canada’s sinister role as a partner in world imperialist and colonial quests, and urges us to understand the consequences. He challenges the belief that Canada is a peacekeeping nation.

Engler tells us that he was first questioned Canada as a “peacekeeper” when it “helped overthrow the democratically elected Haitian government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.” Since then he has researched and explained Canada’s world role in the belief that citizens “have a right and responsibility to know, debate, ultimately shape what is being done in our name around the world.” Continue reading Black book exposes Canadian imperialism

Worldwide Protests Condemn Israel’s Assault on Gaza

6 January 2009 – One of the most important protests against the murderous Israeli assault on Gaza took place on January 5 in Kandahar, the Afghan province under occupation by the Canadian army. About 800 Afghan protesters converged in Kandahar city, carrying banners reading “Death to Israel” and chanting anti-Israeli slogans.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the protesters also demanded the immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan of NATO troops, including the 2,700 Canadians stationed in their region. Bismalla Afghanmal, a member of Kandahar’s provincial council, reportedly denounced bombing, whether it takes place in Afghanistan or Palestine. Continue reading Worldwide Protests Condemn Israel’s Assault on Gaza

Venezuela Responds to World Food Crisis

Programs provide land, aid to working farmers

By John Riddell and Suzanne Weiss

Suzanne and John are members of the Venezuela We Are With You Coalition. The following are major portions of a presentation they made to members of the National Farmers Union in Grey County, Ontario, March 10, 2007.

The people of Venezuela are today campaigning to rebuild a devastated family farm economy. They have more problems than solutions, but still are making significant progress.

Venezuela is an oil-rich country. But that doesn’t mean that Venezuelans are rich: in poor countries, oil brings misfortune. The so-called free market ensured that oil exports were balanced by a flood of cheap imports that stunted Venezuelan manufacturing and devastated its agriculture. Continue reading Venezuela Responds to World Food Crisis

After Referendum Defeat, Chávez Pledges to Continue the Struggle

A Report from Caracas

John Riddell and Suzanne Weiss traveled to Venezuela at the end of November, as participants in a tour organized by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network.

Responding to what he termed a “photo finish” defeat in Venezuela’s December 2 constitutional referendum, President Hugo Chávez pledged to continue the struggle for the measures that were presented to voters.

Announcing the results on national TV, he accepted “the decision made by the people” and thanked all voters, both those who voted “yes” and those in the “no” camp. But he called for his movement to stay on course. “I do not withdraw a single comma from the proposal,” he added. “The proposal is still on the table.” Continue reading After Referendum Defeat, Chávez Pledges to Continue the Struggle

Venezuela Rallies International Resistance to U.S./Israeli War

18 September 2006 – While Israel invaded and brutally bombarded Lebanon in July, most of the world’s governments nodded in approval or folded their arms. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, by contrast, roundly denounced Israel’s aggression against the Lebanese people.

“It really causes indignation to see how the state of Israel continues bombing, killing … with all the power they have, with the support of the United States,” Chavez said August 21 after a military parade in Venezuela’s northwestern state of Falcon. “It’s hard to explain to oneself how nobody does anything to stop this horror.” Continue reading Venezuela Rallies International Resistance to U.S./Israeli War

First -Hand View of Cuba Exposes U.S. Lies

Oct. 1960 – As a member of YSA delegation to the Latin American Youth Congress in Cuba this summer, I wanted to see for myself what changes the revolution had wrought in the country, to meet some of the Cuban students, workers and peasants, and to try in whatever way I could to convince them that there are people in the United states who support the Cuban revolution despite the barrage of slanders in the press.

One of the first things the delegation did was to attend the 26th of July celebration in the Sierra Maestra Mountains where the Revolution was born. The site of the celebration was the grounds of a giant “school city” which will eventually house 20,000 students from peasant families. Already 500 youngsters who never had the chance to attend school before are living, working and studying in the completed sections. Continue reading First -Hand View of Cuba Exposes U.S. Lies