"We want to know, Kamala
What did you come here for?
We want to know, Kamala
We want to see
If you're going to talk about law 60
Or about the Fiscal Control Board
The vice president is here
Making history
We want to know
What she thinks of the colony
We will keep playing
The plena of our country
Long live Free Palestine
and Haiti too!"
this is your daily reminder that it's been over 65 years since cuba overthrew batista's US-backed fascist dictatorship and the US is STILL keeping cuba in extreme poverty using an "embargo."
back in the 1950s, using US funds and US-trained soldiers, batista (not castro) removed most of cubans' rights, including the right to strike, censored all media, and used secret police to torture and publicly excute anyone who protested his dictatorship. In a document released by the CIA in 2005, it stated as many as 20,000 people were killed. In return, batista gave control of most of the arable land to the US. during the revolution, this land was reclaimed and redistributed, which means that USAmericans can now sue anyone who "traffics" in this "confiscated" property.
Despite US sanctions being an "embargo," the US also fines foreign companies for doing business in Cuba, meaning it's effectively a blockade. Despite Obama lightening some of these restrictions, Biden has done little to undo the tightened policies from Trump's administration.
In November, the UN called for the 31st time (!!!) for the US blockade to end, supported by 187 countries and opposed only by the US and its bestest buddy (I'll let you guess who).
Cuba has been in economic crisis for years. Monthly income in Cuba is $30-60. There is very little food and it is hard to purchase anything like toiletries, clothes, and over-the-counter medicines. Domestic production is down because they don't have the resources to sustain them. The US has been intentionally impoverishing and starving Cuba for decades, and they continue to make it clear that it is not going to stop.
So, yeah. US democracy is a joke, end the US blockade on Cuba, and fuck genocide joe.
Remember, we aren’t just freeing Palestine, we’re freeing:
CONGO 🇨🇩
SUDAN🇸🇩
YEMEN🇾🇪
SYRIA🇸🇾
HAITI🇭🇹
PUERTO RICO🇵🇷
UKRAINE🇺🇦
TIGRAY
KASHMIR 🍁
and HAWAI’I
I’ve been gathering resources for all these countries listed on Twitter, and I will do the same here. I will update this post with more information I find — i encourage everyone to do the same.
The duty of youth is to challenge corruption. Don’t give up, keep on fighting.
Then they ask my why as a Puerto Rican I sympathize with the Palestinian struggle. We are both colonized people and they, the colonizers, all think of as less than them.
Protect your community by wearing N95s and KN95s when meeting indoors or in crowds! The more of us mask up, the less we get sick, the harder it is for police to surveil us, and the safer we make our shared spaces for our disabled and immuno-compromised comrades and loved ones.
Get started by finding local mask resources on the global COVID Action Map (you can also submit groups to be added). If you have the means, donate masks and tests to your local orgs and encourage accessibility so we can ALL join the fight (bringing in interpreters/translators and medics, ensuring accessibility for wheelchairs/mobility devices, offering child care, filtering the air indoors, setting up virtual options etc).
UPDATE: Download this 8.5"x11" poster for free on itch.io to print and distribute! Includes files suitable for color, black and white, and risograph printing. Any donations will go to printing costs, or buying masks for my local mutual aid groups.
Pandemics have no borders, and all our struggles are united!