Protesters demand end to US blockade of Cuba

 

 By Reginald Johnson

 

   NEW HAVEN --- Daily news reports out of Miami have shown Cuban-Americans waving flags and marching loudly in support of the anti-government protests in Cuba.

 Demonstrators have denounced Cuban leaders for allegedly ruining the economy of Cuba and openly call for the United States to invade the island and topple the communist regime.

  Getting little attention from the media have been demonstrations in the US expressing support for Cuba’s government and demanding that the United States end its hostile policy towards the Caribbean nation.

 One of those rallies took place in New Haven last week, where a group of about a dozen activists marched to the office of Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn and urged her to lobby for relaxing harmful sanctions against Cuba and ending the 60-year-old trade embargo against Cuba.

  “The protest was very good,’ said Henry Lowendorf, chair of Greater New Haven Peace Council. “We had a couple of Cuban flags and we had one sign that said “Stop the Embargo --- Stop the Blockade.”

  A representative from DeLauro’s office came out and listened to the group make their case for changing American policy towards Cuba.

 “We pointed out that Rosa had signed a letter in March of this year along with 78 other members of Congress calling on President Biden to get rid all these restrictions, restrictions which Trump generated and pursue normalization of relations,” said Lowendorf.

  “But Biden has not done that,”  he said, adding that the president has instead “doubled-down” on the Trump sanctions, which include prohibiting the mailing of remittances from Cuban families in the US to their relatives in Cuba and closing down US tourism to the nation.

 Those sanctions have had a devastating effect on the Cuban economy.

 The end of the congressional letter called for an end to the US trade embargo in effect since 1961 --- one of the longest-standing trade embargoes in history.

  The blockade has crippled the ability of the Cuban government to trade with other nations and obtain badly-needed food and medical supplies. Right now, the government is unable to administer COVID vaccines due to a lack of syringes.

 “We need to take the knee of the United States off the neck of the Cuban people, because we’re asphyxiating them,” said Lowendorf. “This is Derek Chauvin on George Floyd on an international level.”

  Lowendorf said the group wants DeLauro “to follow up on the letter, pressure the White House and publicly announce that she’s done this. There’s no reason why she should not do a news release on this.”

  

Scene from Havana, Cuba. The nation has been under economic siege by the US for 60 years. (Photo from cubaeducationaltravel.com) 

 The rally also saw remarks by a Cuban who lives in the US and is “very much opposed to the embargo and efforts to destroy the Cuban people,” said Lowendorf.

  Also speaking was John Lugo, of Unidad Latina en Accion, an immigrant rights group. Speaking in Spanish, Lugo  “related what’s happening in Cuba and what’s happening elsewhere in Latin America from the point of view of immigrants who have to leave their country often because of actions that the United States takes that puts them in a position of either to flee or to die.”

  Another rally supporting Cuba will take place this Thursday at the federal building at 141 Church Street at 4:30 PM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greenwich Rally against War and Income Inequality

By Reginald Johnson

         

      One of the wealthiest communities in the United States will be the scene this weekend of a rally against income inequality and America’s ongoing wars.

    The “Rally and Teach-in for Peace and Economic Justice” will take place Saturday from 11 am to 3 pm on the Greenwich Common, 290 Greenwich Avenue in the heart of downtown Greenwich.

   According to Nick Mottern, one of the organizers for the event, speakers at the rally will address the destructive consequences of the wide and rapidly expanding gap between rich and poor.

   “We will emphasize what Martin Luther King labeled the 'Triplets of Evil: Racism, Extreme Materialism and Militarism' and the takeover of our democracy by an increasingly insular plutocracy,” said Mottern.

   Representatives of social justice and antiwar organizations will discuss strategies on how to stop US wars, police oppression and how to create income equality, including a call for divestment from the military-industrial complex.

   Mottern said that Greenwich was selected for the protest since a number of its residents have extraordinary economic and political power and as such have the ability to make a difference as to how national resources are spent, whether for war or for peaceful reasons.

   “Greenwich is not only one of the wealthiest communities in the United States but the world.  I’ve read press reports that show there are at least 10 multi-billionaires in Greenwich and their total worth combined is about $35 billion, and six of those people control investment companies that have under their management about $500 billion,” said Mottern, an activist with the peace organization in Westchester County called WESPAC.

   Investment firms and banks have holdings in publicly-funded weapons manufacturers and large health companies which benefit from massive military spending and US involvement in wars.

   Mottern said “we would want these people (leaders of the investment firms) to take leadership in selling stock they own in companies that are making weapons.”
   Mottern drew the connection between stopping wars and economic justice. He said the US wars overseas are "essentially colonial" wars where this country makes sure that foreign lands are open for corporate exploitation. "Economically, these wars, by repressing people overseas and grabbing their resources at cheap prices keep their economy struggling, keep wages low and thereby maintain low wage zones that undercut US workers," Mottern said.  "In addition, dollar for dollar more jobs are created by taxpayer spending on education health and green energy then on military industry."
   Out of the rally and teach-in, Mottern added, “it is hoped that people will go out and form local peace and economic justice groups that will carry forward with the purpose of using economic power to stop war and achieve some kind of economic justice.”

   Speakers at the rally will include some nationally known figures, including Medea Benjamin, of the antiwar organization Code Pink/Divest from the War Machine.  There will also be representatives from Veterans For Peace, Black Lives Matter and the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC).

  The event was organized by Mottern and others in WESPAC and by Orange County Peace and Justice.

  It has been endorsed by a number of groups including Code Pink, Friends of the Congo, the Greater New Haven Peace Council, Knowdrones.com, WESPAC and the Hudson Valley Green party.

    Another theme that will be emphasized at the event is to urge people to put pressure on their members of Congress to curb US involvement in wars.

   Hanging over the event is the announcement by the Trump administration that the United States will likely attack Syria due to charges that the Syrian military recently dropped chemical bombs on a town near Damascus where the government has been fighting Islamic militants. The alleged attack, not yet substantiated, killed dozens of civilians. A number of members of Congress have already expressed support for a retaliatory strike.

   The US has 2000 troops and military personnel in Syria in violation of international law, since the UN never authorized US intervention in that country and Syria had never attacked the United States.

  The American military has been fighting to dismantle the ISIS terrorist group while at the same time covertly aiding rebel groups trying to oust the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.

   Mottern said people coming to the rally should bring folding chairs.

  (For more information call Taylor Rae Bundy at 929-305-2351 or Nick Mottern at 914-806-6179)

  

       

   

   

Fighting for Gun Control

By Reginald Johnson
February 18, 2013



HARTFORD --- They arrived in buses and cars from all over the state, from Fairfield, Weston and New Canaan in Fairfield County, and from Kent and New Milford in Litchfield County. They also came in from the state’s cities, like Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford.

They were there by the thousands, literally --- 5,500 according to a police estimate --- to take part in the “March for Change” rally at the State Capitol last week, aimed at pressuring the state legislature into passing tough gun control laws which will protect Connecticut’s citizens and particularly its children.

Standing in the snow and holding a variety of signs like “ENOUGH gun violence” and “GUNS don’t DIE, CHILDREN DO,” the people heard politicians, gun control advocates and victims of gun violence, say the time for tougher laws on firearms is now.

  They chanted, they cheered, and booed when the name of a pro-gun leader was mentioned.

The rally was put on by a grassroots group, also named March for Change, which sprang up in the wake of the horrific Newtown school shootings on December 14th of last year, in which 26 people were gunned down by a deranged young man, wielding a semi-automatic assault rifle. Twenty school children and 6 adult educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School lost their lives in the rampage.

“We are marching for strength. We are marching to change the conversation and to change the culture. We are marching for safer, rational, commonsense gun laws,” said Nancy Lefkowitz, co-founder of “March for Change” and a resident of Fairfield.

Lefkowitz said the group wants a ban on high capacity ammunition magazines and military-style assault weapons; universal background checks prior to gun purchases and annual registration of handguns.

“We have reached a tipping point Connecticut, our hearts are broken, and we demand these changes today!” she shouted, as the crowd roared.

Gov. Dannel Malloy told the group he fully supported tougher laws and said in particular it was high time to require background checks when people buy guns.

“If you can’t get on a plane without having a background check, then you shouldn’t be able to buy a gun without a background check,” he said, amid cheers.

Three legislative committees are now studying the issue of gun violence, school security and mental health and due to present recommendations for strengthening existing state laws in the near future. The U.S. Congress is also weighing new, tougher federal rules on semi-automatic rifles, magazine clips, and background checks.

State Attorney General George Jepsen also spoke in favor of tougher laws, but warned the crowd that passage of more restrictions may not be easy, even in the wake of Newtown.

He noted that in 1993, when the state legislature banned some forms of assault weapons in Connecticut, the bill only passed the Senate by one vote. “The other side is very well-organized. They work hard. They are not interested in an honest dialogue and they will fight tooth-and-nail,” Jepsen said.

Jepsen also noted that reversing the tide of gun violence will require more than tougher laws.

“We need to change social attitudes. We need to change a culture that tolerates gun violence,” he said.

Speeches by family members who’ve lost loved ones to gun violence were emotional, with some speakers having trouble completing their comments.

“You never get over it,” said a tearful Henrietta Beckman of Hartford, pounding her chest. Beckman lost her son to a shooting in 2002.

With her husband putting his hand on her shoulder as she struggled to continue, Beckman said “Something’s gotta change. There’s no reason in the world why anyone should be walking around with an assault weapon.”

Robert Thompson of Bridgeport lost his son, Justin, when he and two friends were shot by a masked gunman as they were walking home. The two friends survived.

“He was just 14. His opportunity for greatness was taken away from him,” said Thompson.

Thompson also reminded the largely white audience, many from suburban towns, that the violence people are confronting after Newtown, is something city residents have been facing for years. Shootings have been commonplace in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven over the past two decades, and hundreds have died in the mayhem.

“My prayers go out to the families of Newtown, but in these urban cities, we’re confronting this problem every single day,” Thompson said. “Something has to be done.”

Colin Goddard, a victim of the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech university in 2007 that took 32 lives, and is now a gun control activist, had a reply to the pro-gun advocates who insist that restrictions on assault rifles would violate the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to bear arms.

“People have the right to bear arms, not weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

Veronique Pozner, mother of Noah Pozner, 6, one of the first graders killed at Sandy Hook, spoke at the end of the rally, eloquently recalling the wonderful little boy that Noah was, and demanding that action be taken.

“How can anyone think that my son or any of those whose lives were stolen that day were so disposable that it is acceptable to do nothing?” she asked.

She went on: “Thomas Jefferson said ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.’ He was so right about that. Look what happens when no one is watching.”

“Where is the vigilance with respect to these instruments of death? Where was the vigilance in 2011 when this legislature refused to limit the size of magazines?” Pozner demanded to know.

“The vigilance now lies here with us. It is here today. And the vigilance has to remain,” she said.

Pozner concluded by asking for “change now.”

The crowd then began chanting “Now! Now! Now!”