Join us to celebrate brother Fidel Castro’s 94th birthday and pay tribute to his remarkable life!
Join us on Thursday, August 13 for an extraordinary International Webinar to celebrate the life and legacy of Fidel Castro on his birth date. Join us for a thoughtful discussion and cultural presentations in tribute to the great revolutionary fighter.
In the nearly four years since his passing on November 25, 2016, the relevance and resonance of Fidel’s revolutionary and socialist ideas, and the practice of the Cuban Revolution he was the central leader of, are greater than ever. They are living examples of how working people and oppressed and exploited humanity can move forward in today’s crisis-ridden capitalist world order, wracked by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic catastrophe.
Fidel Castro is one of the outstanding revolutionary leaders in recorded world history. His life, heroic example, ethics, integrity, and, above all else, his revolutionary and socialist ideas, made a huge impact on 20th Century history and world politics that can never be buried or fabricated with calumny by imperialist propaganda.
Among these towering achievements: the winning of genuine independence and sovereignty — and dignity —for the island nation of Cuba. We look to the policies of the Cuban Revolution which conquered illiteracy; gained equal access for all Cubans to world-class and free health care and public education; and which implemented huge advances in women’s rights and the eradication of racist discrimination.
We especially note the socialist and anti-imperialist internationalism permanently identified with Fidel and the Cuban Revolution. In particular, we will never forget the decisive part of Fidel’s Cuba in the defense of Angolan sovereignty, the winning of Namibian independence, and the unraveling and defeat of apartheid South Africa. Our panelists and solidarity expressions from around the world will highlight this particularly beautiful essence of Fidel’s life and contribution to the liberation of the working class and humanity.
Venceremos!
Webinar: Thursday, August 13th, 8:00 PM (Eastern), 5:00 PM (Pacific)
(This Program will go for 2 hours with Q&A)
Introduction of Co-Chairs
Nalda Vigezzi — Co-chair of the National Network On Cuba (NNOC)
Ike Nahem —Longtime anti-imperialist and socialist activist. Retired Amtrak Locomotive Engineer, member Teamsters Union and Railroad Workers United. He is active in Cuba solidarity work in the New York-New Jersey area and a central organizer of the International Conference for the Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations. Author, The Life of Fidel Castro: A Marxist Appreciation.
Tamara Hansen — Executive member of the Canadian Network on Cuba, Coordinator of Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) & Author of “5 Decades of the Cuban Revolution: The Challenges of an Unwavering Leadership”
JosĂ© RamĂłn Cabañas – Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to the United States.
Ambassador Josefina Vidal – Cuba’s Ambassador to Canada. Lead negotiator in talks with Barack Obama Administration leading to reestablishment of US-Cuba diplomatic relations.
Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodriguez — Chargé de Affaires, Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations
Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy — Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations. Former Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Director General of the Institute of Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies at Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Graduate degrees from Carleton University in Canada and Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences. Ana Silvia Rodriguez – Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations.
President Dilma Rousseff – Elected President of Brazil (2011-2016). Invited Cuban doctors to the country. Removed from office on trumped-up charges in a parliamentary coup in 2016.
Ambassador Adán Chávez – Venezuelan Ambassador to Cuba. Vice President of International Affairs, United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Director, Hugo Chávez Institute of Higher Studies.
Don Rojas – Press Secretary for the martyred Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop (1981-1983); Executive Political Editor, The Real News Network; Director of Communications and International Relations, Institute of the Black World; Founder of the award-winning The Black World Today.
Clever Banganayi — Friends of Cuba Society in South Africa (FOCUS); Clever is a Cuban-trained Engineer who studied in Cuba 1991 to 1996 during the “Special Period” of economic crisis and intensified the US economic war. Clever is a recipient of the Friendship Medal Award from the Cuban Council of State for his work in the campaign against the US blockade and for the freedom of Cuban Five.
Mary-Alice Waters – President of Pathfinder Press, a major US and international publisher of speeches and writings of Fidel Castro and other working-class leaders, from Malcolm X and Farrell Dobbs to Thomas Sankara and Vilma EspĂn. Waters has edited or written some 30 books on the Cuban Revolution and its communist example.
Vijay Prashad — Indian historian, journalist, commentator, and Marxist intellectual. He is an executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books.
Gail Walker — Executive Director, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, “Remembering Fidel”
Issac Saney, Canadian Network on Cuba
Cheryl LaBash, National Network on Cuba
Sean O’Donoghue, Table de concertation de solidaritĂ© QuĂ©bec-Cuba.
EL JONES – A poet, professor, activist and author of, “Live from the Afrikan Resistance!” (Roseway, 2014). Her work focuses on social justice issues such as feminism, prison abolition, anti-racism, and decolonization.
Katharine Beeman – is a poet, long-time member of La Table de concertation de solidaritĂ© QuĂ©bec-Cuba, founding member of le Chapitre quĂ©bĂ©cois du rĂ©seau des intellectuels, artistes et mouvements sociaux pour la dĂ©fense de l’humanitĂ© (In defense of Humanity), member and contributing editor of The Canada Cuba Literary Alliance/Alianza literaria Canadá Cuba.
Normand Raymond – Singer-songwriter, musician, poet, translator and a member of the Artistes pour la paix du Québec board of directors. As an anti-imperialist and social justice activist, he is a long-time supporter of the Cuban Revolution.
Alicia Rivera — LA US Hands off Cuba Committee. Environmental and workers rights activist. Alicia fled El Salvador in 1980 during the civil war. She became involved in the Salvadoran and Central American refugee movement, giving testimony about the atrocities committed by the US-backed Salvadoran government against innocent civilians and opposing US economic and military aid to repressive Salvadoran regimes.