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Recent Events
2013
Join the Collaboration at the 2013 UN CSW in NY!
The UN Commission on the Status of Women Meets in New York March 3-14
March 5: Collaboration/WILPF Presentation
NGO CSW Parallel Event
Presented by Members of WILPF's
Cuba and Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee and the
U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration
Drew Room, The Church Center, 777 UN Plaza
Tuesday, March 5, 12:30pm
"Literacy is a Women's Right:
Cuba's Commitment to Women and the World"
Join us on March 5 for a lively discussion of the work that
women in Cuba have done historically, and are doing now, to
maintain a basic principal of the Cuban Revolution that all
people have the right to literacy. Women's roles in the Cuban
Literacy Campaign of 1961 are the topic of the film Maestra
which will be previewed by US film maker, Catherine Murphy,
and discussed by Cuban women and Collaboration members.
Presented by Members of WILPF's Cuba and Bolivarian Alliance
Issues Committee and the U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration.
Cuban panel members at this time include Collaboration
Organizing Committee Member Caridad Morales Nussa, University
of Maryland-College Park; Maritzel Gonzalez, Foreign Relations
Representative of the Cuban Federation of Women (FMC), North
America Region; and Patricia Pego, First Secretary of the
Washington D.C. Cuban Interests Section (pending travel
permission from the US State Department).
March 10: Fundraiser for U.S. Women & Cuba
Collaboration
Hosted by Zenaida Mendez, President, New York State NOW
Join the U.S. Women and Cuba Collaboration's Jan Strout, co-chair, and NYS National Organization for Women (NOW) President Zenaida Mendez, for an exchange about our work to build a U.S. women's movement in sisterhood and solidarity with Cuba.
Mujeres y Mojitos- Houseparty to Build Bridges with Women in Cuba and the U.S.
WHEN: Sunday, March 10th, 2013
TIME: 2:30-4:30pm
WHERE: 790 11th Avenue corner 54th Street Apt. 26A, Manhattan, 10019
We'll talk and share photos about our work this week with the UN Commission on the Status of Women, about the upcoming International Women's Conference in Havana, about the 2013 US Women and Cuba Collaboration Women's Research Delegation to Cuba in November, and about our Campaigns and your interests.
RSVP at 212-315-2580 or Zenaida Mendez
March 12: Program and Film Premiere
Tuesday, March 12
5:30pm Reception
6-8 PM Program and Film Premiere
Center for Cuban Studies, 231 W. 29 St. #401, New York
"Feminists Organizing in Cuba and the US to Advance Women's Human Rights and End all Forms of Violence"
Cuba's long history of struggle to advance women's (and all
peoples) basic human rights will kick-off with the U. S. film
premiere of Principles of the Heart (Cuba, 2012, 30
min, dir: Delia Cruz) about the Frente Civico de Mujeres-Jose
Marti. This was an independent women's collective that
supported the July 26th movement. They organized
demonstrations, conducted educational campaign, delivered
messages, visited prisoners, visited relatives of prisoners,
collected bodies of those Cubans who were assassinated to
return them to their relatives, and transported materials. It
is one example of how women supported the revolution.
This film was recently shown in every movie theater in Cuba
and on Cuban TV. Since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959,
Cuban women are achieving significant participation in the
workplace, education, science, and in leadership roles as well
as the grassroots levels supported by the Cuba's rights to
health care, education, Constitutional equality and
reproductive health.
Invited Cuban women who are participating in the United
Nations Commission on the Status of Women will share the
latest campaigns in Cuba to address gender equality and sexual
rights as ways to prevent and end violence. Finally, speakers
from the U.S. will speak about organizing to have the U.S.
government ratify The Women's Treaty/CEDAW (Convention to End
all forms of Discrimination Against Women) and about how we
organize across borders.
Jean Weisman, independent film producer (From Maids to Companeras), will introduce Principles of the Heart
Representatives invited from the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) and other Cuban women who may be in the U.S.
Zenaida Mendez, President, NOW-New York State, co-founder and past President, National Dominican Women's Caucus
Jan Strout, Co-chair, US Women and Cuba Collaboration; Board member, National Organization for Women; and Member, Cuba and Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee of WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom)
Co-sponsors: Center for Cuban Studies, U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration, National Organization for Women (NOW), National Dominican Women's Caucus, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Free and the public is invited!
RSVP very much encouraged to Jean Weisman
Allied Event Sponsored by the July 26 Coalition:
Reception and Program to
Welcome the Visiting Delegation
of the Federation of Cuban Women
Friday, March 8, 2013
Martin Luther King Labor Center
310 West 43rd Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues in
Manhattan)
Reception: 6:00 PM - Program Begins 7:00 PM
Preview of MAESTRA Tour 2013
The documentary film Maestra, about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign, will tour the US in February and March 2013 accompanied by Catherine Murphy, Director/Producer, and Professor Norma Guillard from Cuba, one of the original teachers from the campaign featured in the film. Guillard was 15 years old when she and her sister joined the literacy campaign and, as she expresses in the film, "It is the most important thing I have done in the history of my life." [NB: Due to a visa delay, Professor Guillard was unable to participate in this tour.]
In 1961, two years after the revolution, Cuba recruited 100,000 youth to go to the countryside to teach peasants how to read and write. Within one year, these teachers, the majority of them young women and teenage girls, taught 707,000 Cubans to read and write, eradicating illiteracy, according to UNESCO standards, in one of the most successful literacy campaigns ever in the world. Cuba's model of achieving literacy is currently being adopted in over 50 nations.
Maestra celebrates this amazing story through original film footage of the period, photographs and personal interviews of the teachers who are now in their 60's, 70's and 80's. As they tell their stories, the Cuban women reflect on the transformation of their own lives and the whole of Cuban society as a result of the literacy campaign. For most, it was the first time these women experienced independence and realized their power.
Projected Tour Dates:- Mid-Feb: Knoxville
- Feb 20-21: Vanderbilt University
- Feb 22-23: Tuskegee
- Feb 24-25: Western Kentucky University
- Feb 26-28: Highlander Center, Tennessee
- March 1: U Texas, Arlington
- March 1-10: Miami International Film Festival
- March 4-15: UN Conference on the Status of Women, NY
2012
Our 2012 Appeal to YOU!
Share our WorkDecember 10 is Human Rights Day
On December 10, women around the world will be taking
24 hours of feminist action in support of women and
against women's oppresion in all its forms. This is
Seattle's event in collaboration with actions all over the
world sponsored by the World March of Women.
Find an event or MAKE an event in your location!
World March of Women
Feminist Action
10 Dec 2012: 24 Hours of Feminist
Action
Get involved. Check back for action details.
Hurricane Relief for Santiago
Please contribute:
Make Donations to MEDICC and Global LinksMEDICC and Global Links Send
Hurricane Relief to Santiago, Cuba
Global Links and Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC), are waging a joint humanitarian campaign to send hurricane relief to Santiago, Cuba, the country's second largest city, devastated by Hurricane Sandy on October 25th.
Trucks and trains haul food, 4,000 tons of cement and some 84,000 sheets of roofing eastward to Santiago. The province—including Cuba's second largest city of the same name and the country's highest mountain range—was the hardest hit. Today, over one million people there struggle to pick up their homes and lives amidst the ruins.
MEDICC and Global Links, with the aid of the Pan American Health Organization, are sending medical supplies and equipment, chlorine tablets, hospital furnishings and critical medical books for the medical school to Santiago and other provinces directly hit by the storm.
You can help the people of Santiago recover; your donations giving them the extra courage it takes to face such a disaster. Go to MEDICC to make your online donation.
Nancy Morejón on U.S. Tour
The US Women and Cuba Collaboration is proud to be a co-sponsor for the Washington DC/Baltimore visit of renowned Cuban poet and author Nancy Morejón during her upcoming 2012 US tour. Other sponsors include James Early, Director of the Cultural Heritage Policy, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian; Patricia Pego, First Secretary of the Cuban Interests Section, Washington DC; Dr Sonia Rivera-Valdez, Professor, York College; the Latin America Round Table (LART); Dr Cristina Nunez; Coppin State University; and the Baltimore-Matanzas Association.
From Sapphire, writing for Bomb, an arts magazine written by artists: "Nancy Morejón is the most internationally successful and widely translated Cuban woman poet of the post-revolutionary period. Morejón was the first African Cuban student to take a degree in faculty of arts at Havana University [and] was the first black woman poet in Cuban history to be given the opportunity to publish widely and to acquire a professional status as a writer, critic, and translator. Deeply influenced by the black liberation movement, freedom fighters, and intellectuals like Angela Davis in the United States, and in Cuba by the example of her literary mentor, Nicolás Guillén, Morejón was one of the first Cuban women to celebrate blackness in poetry. But like Guillén she has refused to separate black politics from the wider revolutionary process. In her view there is not a distinct African Cuban identity but a Cuban identity-which cannot be understood without taking into consideration the black cultures of the Americas. And thus, while Morejón focuses on the experiences of black Cubans (particularly women) in her poetry, and while she is keen to inscribe Cuban culture within a pan-Caribbean framework, she is always careful to do so within the parameters of Cuban revolutionary thought." Bomb Issue 78
Cuban Visitor Daisy Rojas in Seattle
Daisy Rojas offers rare insight into the daily lives of Cubans under the American embargo. She will discuss her experience as an organizer at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center, a popular education nonprofit in Havana. She will highlight gender issues, relations between church & state in Cuba, and the status of reforms under Raul Castro. This interactive presentation will include pictures and the chance to ask Daisy direct questions about what it means to live and work in Cuba in the 21st century. Sponsored by Witness for Peace.
She will be speaking at Seattle University on Thursday, Oct 18: see event details in flyer, below.On Monday, Oct 22, she will speak at a Community Event at Martin Luther King County Labor Temple, Hall 8, 7-9pm; this venue is located at 2800 1st Ave, Seattle WA. Details in event flyer, below.
Daisy Rojas at Seattle University
Daisy Rojas at MLK Labor Temple
2012 Women’s Research Delegation
“Women Advancing Economic Justice
and Human Rights"
September 1-12, 2012
Cost: This was a 12-day delegation for up to 25 women, at a cost of $2200, which includes the following:
- Cuban visa
- Round trip air fare, Miami to Havana
- Double room accommodations (single rooms are available for an additional fee of $200)
- One to three meals per day (see itinerary for details about which meals are included, which are on your own)
- Full program with professional guides and translators
- Transportation in Cuba (with group)
- Cuban health insurance as required by law
- Tips for guides and drivers, and 11 meals, mostly lunches. We recommend that you bring the equivalent of $500 (in Canadian funds or Euros) to cover these expenses and other personal incidental costs.
- Travel from your home city to Miami is not included and we ask you to wait to make your Miami travel reservations until we have confirmation of our exact Miami-Cuba flight schedule (in July). We will get this information to you as soon as possible.
Program Itinerary:
We expect the following to be our final program, but please note that program details are subject to change in order to take advantage of the best opportunities that become available to us.
Saturday 1st Arrive in Havana and transfer to hotel. Orientation meeting and walking tour of old Havana. Lunch and Dinner in groups on your own.
Sunday 2nd Breakfast at the hotel. Visit to the Revolution Museum or Jose Martí Memorial and visit to Callejón de Hammel. Lunch on your own. Meetings with Communications and Economics specialists at the hotel. Dinner on your own.
Monday 3rd Breakfast at the hotel. Meeting with Meeting with Desk Officer from ICAP. Meeting with FMC representatives. Meeting with CENESEX expert at Casa de Amistad. Lunch at Casa de la Amistad with guests from FMC and ICAP. Visit to Nguyen Van Troi school. Dinner on your own.
Tuesday 4th Breakfast at the hotel. Check out and leave the hotel. Meeting with CTC members. Leave for Santa Clara in morning. Arrive at ICAP Guest House in Santa Clara for lunch and accommodations. Afternoon visit and exchange with women at a house for family and women orientation. Dinner at ICAP Guest House.
Wednesday 5th Breakfast at ICAP guest house. Lunch on your own. Afternoon visits to Che Memorial and Mejunje Project (LGBTQ Center). Dinner at ICAP Guest House with Santa Clara guests.
Thursday 6th Breakfast at ICAP guest house. Morning visit to women's cooperative business. Departure for Camaguey and stop on the way for lunch. Check In and dinner included at the hotel.
Friday 7th Breakfast at the hotel and checkout to depart for Granma Province. Lunch on your own in Bayamo. Check into hotel in Santo Domingo or Balcon de la Sierra depending on confirmation. Dinner included at the hotel.
Saturday 8th EARLY breakfast at the hotel. Take mountain transportation up to Alto del Naranjo to climb to La Comandancia la Plata. Lunch at Santo Domingo upon afternoon return. Free afternoon and dinner included at the hotel.
Sunday 9th Breakfast at the hotel. Check out and depart for Santiago de Cuba. Lunch upon arrival on your own. Afternoon City Tour including visit to Santa Ifigenia Cemetery and tomb of Mariana Grajales and other relevant patriots´ monuments, with expert guide. Afternoon visit to Carnival Museum with folkloric presentation (tentative). Dinner included at the hotel.
Monday 10th Breakfast at the hotel. Morning visit to Vilma Espin House. Lunch on your own. Afternoon visit to a factory or centre (work site). Evening visit to a CDR.
Tuesday 11th Breakfast at the hotel. Flight back to Havana. Visit to ELAM (tentative). Lunch on your own and check in at the hotel. Farewell dinner with 3 guests from FMC.
Wednesday 12th Breakfast at the hotel. Goodbyes and transfer to airport for return to Miami.
In addition to events noted, our final itinerary is likely to include some informal social/cultural events, meetings as a group to discuss the Collaboration's work with Cuban women (and your potential involvement), and meetings with other Cuban women who are friends of the Collaboration (details to be finalized). Our delegation will foster opportunities for individual and delegation work back in the US, particularly to impact US policy toward Cuba with a goal of creating travel freedom, establishing women’s projects across borders, and developing just and peaceful relations.
World March of Women Newsletter
Aug 31, 2012
See stories about:
~ Young feminists from 12 countries meet in a camp in Romania
~ Africa: Actions target extractive industry and violence
against women
~ Herstoric fights in Asia-Oceania: For women’s reproductive
rights and for nuke-free societies
~ Americas: In the streets to fight mining corporations and
pro-coup attitudes
~ Guatemala organizes WMW 3rd Americas Regional Meeting
~ Europe: Progress in preparing for the campaign against
austerity measures
~ Galician women marching for the right to open, free
abortions
~ Middle East-Arab World: Tunisians on the alert in defense of
their rights; WMW coordination continues in the Arab World
~ Alliances and mobilisation: WSF Free Palestine | Focus on
solidarity strategies
FROM NOW CONFERENCE 2012
OLGA VIVES – PRESENTE! (In Memorium)
It is with great sadness that we learned that our hermana and companera Olga Vives has passed away. She fought tirelessly during a long struggle with cancer, just as she did for women’s rights.
In addition to her many contributions and accomplishments with the National Organization for Women, Olga brought all of her identities as a Cuban American, lesbian, immigrant and feminist to the table. She understood and supported the work of the US Women and Cuba Collaboration in many ways that fostered strong ties between NOW and the Collaboration. Because of her leadership in advancing global feminist strategies and issues within NOW and beyond, Olga co-lead, and NOW co-sponsored, our 2006 International Women's Day Delegation to Venezuela. She spoke eloquently at the IWD Rally prior to millions of people marching for peace and women's human rights down the main highway of Caracus. She also facilitated numerous workshop opportunities with the Collaboration and NOW at venues - large and small - including the National Women's Studies Association, numerous NOW conferences and also to local Seattle house parties to support our organizing.
Her visionary leadership for NOW as a co-founder of the National Coalition of Immigrant Women (with the National Latina Roundtable and NAPWAF) was especially inspiring to bring multicultural feminist perspectives to address racism in immigration policy as was her leadership in opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan within NOW. And she initiated the National Women of Color and Allies Summit in 2005 that resulted in regional conferences across the country including keynoting the NW Regional Conference in 2007.
Olga was active in NOW in the Great Lakes region, served on the National Board and then as National’s Vice President for Action and then as VP Executive. She was a prime force behind the 2004 March for Women’s Lives, developed the NOW anti-Wal-Mart campaign, made NOW a welcoming place for women and girls with disabilities and was a passionate advocate for global women’s rights as she established the NOW Global Feminist Committee. She traveled with Eve Ensler and a few other prominent women to the Middle East for a women’s dialog between Israeli and Palestinian women for peace.
Olga's tireless energy will always be evident as part of her legacies in work and play and we salute her courage in life and in facing her death.
Viva Olga! Olga Presente!
The US Women and Cuba Collaboration
April 6, 2012
World March of Women Newsletter
Feb 2012
Women struggling against the commodification
of life and of the environment!
Men and women the world over are resisting the idea of considering nature as resource in the service of corporate profit, as unlimited good, or as more expensive one as it becomes exhausted by improper use. Women, in particular, are very active in these struggles. Their experience of being rendered invisible and devalued in the work they do caring for others is very similar to the invisibility and devaluation of nature. The time and energy that women spend in care-taking, cooking, providing affection and listening, are not visible and are elastic. In most families, women are the first up in the morning and the last to go to bed at night.
In Bozeman, Montana
Montana State University
February 8, noon to 1pm
Sack Lunch Seminar
Advancing Women’s Rights: Views from Cuba
SUB 168
Want to see Cuba up close and personal? Ever wonder why the majority of scientists, doctors, teachers and technicians are women on this small island? Or why gender equality, education, and health care are priorities for Cuba? Join Adele Pittendrigh, Seminar Director and former Associate Dean of CLS (MSU) and Jan Strout, Adjunct Faculty and co-chair of the US Women and Cuba Collaboration, as they share tales of adventures and lessons from Cuba. With an illustrated presentation, see Cuba’s natural beauty and hear stories of their experiences participating in the 2011 International Women’s Conference at the University of Havana and traveling across the island as part of the US Women and Cuba Research Delegation.
In Havana
Coloquio International
Mujeres, circuitos de colaboración y asociacionismo en la cultura y la historia de la América Latina y el Caribe
La Habana, 20 al 24 de febrero de 2012
Programa
Informacion
In Seattle
World Wide Books and Maps
4411 Wallingford Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
Tuesday, March 13th, 7 pm
Cuba with Seattle Times Travel Writer Carol Pucci
The U.S. government has made it easier for Americans to
legally travel to Cuba under new "people-to-people" provisions
which authorize educational and cultural tours by licensed
travel providers. Go behind the scenes with Seattle Times
travel writer Carol Pucci and her husband, Tom Auciello, who
just returned from a 10-day trip with Global Exchange, a San
Francisco international human rights organization, followed by
five days of travel on their own.
(Postponed to
September)
2012 WOMEN'S RESEARCH DELEGATION TO CUBA!
Final Details
Application and Payment Deadline: February 9, 2012
2012 Delegation
Application
Delegation Dates: March 9-21, 2012
"Global Economic Crisis: Women Working Together to Advance Economic Justice and Human Rights"
Join women from the U.S. to explore the history of the Cuban revolution and its impact on the status of women and girls. The delegation will follow the footsteps of the Revolution, flying into Santiago de Cuba to hike the Sierra Maestras where the Revolution was launched (alternative activities for non-hikers), then proceeding by bus cross country to Santa Clara, and ending with several days in Havana. Program for the tour will include engaging discussions with various organizations and peoples about the present day economic and social reforms occurring in Cuba in light of the global economic crisis, and about the role of women and the Federation of Cuban Women in advancing the Cuban women's rights agenda. This delegation is organized by Marazul Tours, a US licensed travel provider, in consultation with U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration.
Details:
The dates of the delegation are March 9-21 (March 9 departure from Miami-Santiago, March 21 departure from Havana-Miami). The cost of the delegation will be $2,200 for double rooms and $2,400 for single rooms. (Not included in this price is the airline ticket cost from your home city to Miami, Florida, our site of departure for Cuba).
Members of this delegation will be traveling under the general license for professional research. Therefore, all members of the delegation will have to be certified and accepted by Marazul as "full-time professionals conducting research in their fields." Submit your application ASAP so that Marazul can begin the qualification process to assure you may travel under this license. There are many channels for qualification under this license, so please ask questions if you want more information.
Following is a proposed itinerary for the cross country trip via bus beginning in Santiago and ending in Havana. We are still working on filling out the itinerary with Marazul.
- March 9 (Friday) Travel Day to Santiago. City tour and tour of the Moncada Barracks (site of the defeat of the July 26 movement led by Fidel Castro). Orientation for Delegation and review of itinerary.
- March 10 (Saturday) Santiago. Farmer's Cooperative. Visit to a neighborhood/Committee in Defense of the Revolution (CDR).
- March 11 (Sunday) Drive to Sierra Maestras. This is the base camp of the revolutionary movement led by Castro.
- March 12 (Monday) Climb Sierra Maestras. This is both a scenic drive and a climb filled with history of the roots of the Cuban Revolution. There are two legs to the hike with a resting place in between. Depending on the conditions (rain), the second leg can be quite challenging (slippery). For those who do not feel they can make this hike, there will be alternative activities.
- March 13 (Tuesday) Drive to Camaguay. Depending on the timing of the drive, we may have meetings in Camaguay.
- March 14 (Wednesday) Drive to Santa Clara.
- March 15 (Thursday) Santa Clara Symposium, see details below.
- March 16 (Friday) Santa Clara. Visit the Che Memorial.
- March 17 (Saturday) Drive from Santa Clara to Havana. Visit Latin America School of Medicine (ELAM). Havana City Tour. Meeting with Women in Communications.
- March 18 (Sunday) Havana.
- March 19 (Monday) Havana. Nguyen van Troi Elementary School. Meeting with Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). Meeting with Federation of Cuban Women (FMC).
- March 20 (Tuesday) Havana. Meeting with Cuban Federation of Trade Unionists. Meeting with Cenesex. Meetnig about Cuban Economy. Summation Meeting.
- March 21 (Wednesday) Travel Day Back to U.S.
Since we will be spending a lot of time of the bus, we will have the opportunity to see various films (on the bus) and have informal and in-depth discussions on our thoughts, reflections and questions. Our Cuban guide will help to facilitate this.
Lastly, information about the Santa Clara symposium: We are excited to be working with two professors from the University of Santa Clara that we met during our work at the University of Havana's Women's Conference last spring and the Federation of Cuban Women and Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP).
There are three parts to this symposium:
- Panel on the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign with a showing of the documentary, Maestra, and a panel including the director/producer, Catherine Murphy, and 1961 participant in the campaign, Norma Guillard. The panel will discuss education as a human right for women and girls and the contributions of Cuba to eradicating world wide illiteracy.
- Panel on the international struggles of women in advancing a women's rights agenda. Proposed panelists will talk about the roles of women in Cuba, Philippines, Puerto Rico, U.S. and possibly other countries.
- In the evening, the symposium will move to "Mejunje," a cultural center in the center of Santa Clara that embraces diversity and acceptance of all peoples, to hold a panel and discussion with Norma Guillard and Mejunje's director on the Struggle Against Homophobia in Cuba.
Please Complete and Return This Form
ASAP to Guarantee a Space:
Please submit payment with application.
Deadline for payment is February 9, 2012
Art by Antonio Guererro of the Cuba
5
Jan 3 to Feb 10
On January 12, the M. Rosetta Hunter Art Gallery at Seattle Central Community College, in collaboration with the AFT-Seattle, Local 1789, AFL-CIO, will host a reception for their showing of Antonio Guerrero's art from 5 to 8pm. This exhibit by a member of the Cuba 5 runs from January 3 to February 10. Please see the link following for more details.
Antonio Guerrero Seattle Art Event
2011
WILPF Delivers Civil Society Recommendations
on National Security
The
Recommendations
December 2011: Last week, the Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) submitted the full report of the
civil society consultations on Women, Peace and Security to
the U.S. Department of State. The report contains 64
recommendations for the U.S. National Action Plan (NAP) for
compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution
1325. Sixty-four concrete recommendations, but no surprises.
When it comes to matters of war and peace, U.S. women haven’t
changed their minds.
Rene is Free but
Must Stay in US
October 2011
His safety and well-being are compromised by requirement to stay in Miami.
Top 10 Wins for Women's Movements
International Women's Day, March 8, 2011
On the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, the Global Fund for Women (GFW) looks back over the past year and celebrates some of the extraordinary victories won by women's movements around the world. From progressive new national and international legislation to mass mobilizations for peace, we celebrate the hard work of our grantee partners. These 10 victories remind us that despite enormous odds, women are paving the way to a more just and equal world.
1) Domestic Workers to Win Workers' Rights2) Women and Girls Get a Strong Voice at the UN
3) First Successful Use of CEDAW in Rape Case in Phillipines
4) Human Rights Court Rules Against Ireland's Ban on Abortion
5) Mass March for Women and Peace in Congo
6) Nationality Laws Sweep Middle East
7) Nigerian Women Defeat Nudity Bill
8) Argentina Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage, First for Latin America
9) Maternal Deaths Drop by 34 Percent
10) Revolution by and for the People: Tunisia, Egypt and Beyond
2011 WOMEN'S RESEARCH
DELEGATION TO CUBA
"Advancing Women's Human Rights,
Racial Justice and Social Welfare"
May 14-25, 2011
Join Us in Cuba!
Delegation 2011
Invitation and Overview
Please Complete and Return This Form ASAP to Guarantee a
Space:
Delegation
2011 Marazul Application
Delegation 2011
Marazul Application
Submit deposit now; FINAL PAYMENT DUE
APRIL 14.
Information for Prospective Delegates:
Women in the 21st
Century Havana Conference Details
Cuba Travel Advice
The U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration is pleased to announce our 2011 Women's Research Delegation to Cuba, set for May 14-25, 2011. We are program consultants to this tour which is being organized by Marazul Charters, Inc. The delegation's itinerary will include participation in the VII International Conference, "Women in the 21st Century," at the University of Havana, May 16-20 (information link below). Delegation members are encouraged to submit conference proposals [these were due March 30 but check for possibilities of late submissions] for panels, round table discussions and individual presentations (although this is not required for participation in the delegation).
This will be a 12-day delegation for up to 25 women, and will cost about $2,300, plus roundtrip airfare to Miami. Per US government guidelines for travel to Cuba, our delegation will be arranged by Marazul Charters, a Travel Service Provider (TSP) licensed by the US Treasury Department. This tour is designed for women who are "full-time professionals conducting research in their fields" such as community organizers, educators, social and health care workers, artists and musicians, public policy makers and advocates. Our delegation will be as diverse as possible in terms of race, age and life experiences.
While in Cuba, the delegation program will be coordinated by Cuba's international solidarity organization, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), and by the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), an organization that represents 85% of Cuban women and girls 14 years and older.
Cindy Domingo and Jan Strout, co-founders of the US Women & Cuba Collaboration, have been leading successful women's delegations to Cuba and other nations in Latin America for over 15 years.
Besides the international women's conference, plans include visits to Havana, Santa Clara, Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba provinces to explore the enormous gains in the status of Cuban women as a result of the Cuban revolution. Site visits tentatively include health clinics, schools, art and music schools, schools of social workers, Latin America School of Medicine, museums, community gardens, cooperative farms and cultural performances.
For further details, email 2011 Delegation
VII
International Conference
Women in the 21st Century
University of Havana, Cuba
May 16th to 20th, 2011
Dra. Norma Vasallo, the Chair of Women Studies of the University of Havana, is pleased to announce the 2011 VII International Scientific Workshop "Women in the 21st Century," co-sponsored by the Federation of Cuban Women. Its objectives are to provide a space for scientific and theoretical reflection on gender and the most important issues concerning women and feminist theory; to promote an interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange of experiences about these themes among experts of different fields; to disseminate research findings and experiential knowledge about these topics, as well as to promote their continuity and exchange; and to encourage an exchange of working experiences among women about contemporary feminist and women movements.
Maestra Tour Concludes its US Premiere Run!
We want to thank the local sponsors who
helped make this tour a great success!
In Washington DC:
Cuban Interests Section, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, Busboys and Poets, Women of Color United, Global
Exchange, CODEPink, National Organization for Women
In Jackson, Mississippi:
Jackson State University and Conference of the Veterans of the
Mississippi Civil Rights Movement
In Montana:
At Montana State University: MSU Leadership Institute,
ASMSU, KGLT-FM and co-sponsored with MSU's Office of the
President, College of Letters and Science, Native American
Studies Department, Program in Women's & Gender Studies,
Modern Languages Department/The Latino & Latin American
Studies Program, Department of Education, Office of
International Programs, Women's Center, Diversity Awareness
Office, Affirmative Action/Human Resources Office; Women's
Faculty Caucus
Bozeman Community: Bozeman High School, Bozeman Public
Library Foundation, Bozeman Business and Professional Women,
Thrive/Girls for a Change, Hopa Mountain; Gallatin Valley
Human Rights Commission, Gallatin Community Radio, Tias y Tios
In Seattle:
At Seattle University: Academic Salons Program, Center
for Global Justice–School of Law, Center for Service and
Community Engagement, Children's Literacy Project,
DCSJ–Diversity,Citizenship and Social Justice Track;
Department of English, Global African Studies Program,
International Studies Program, Latin American Studies Program,
NAWCHE at SU, Seattle University Youth Initiative, Women
Studies Program
Seattle Community: Bailey Gatzert Elementary School;
Washington Wellness Center at Washington Middle School, Local
6–SEIU Offices, LELO, AFSC-NW Regional, American Federation of
Teachers, Comite de Solidaridad & Justicia en Chile,
Community Alliance for Global Justice, Community to Community,
Seattle NOW, WA State Labor Education & Research Center,
Highpoint West Seattle Neighborhood House at High Point
Center, Neighborhood House YUM Program, US Social Forum–NW,
University of Washington Women's Center, Seattle Public
Library
In the Bay Area:
La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley
Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco
DC Women's Leadership Lunch Celebrates Maestra
US WOMEN AND CUBA
COLLABORATION
MARCH/APRIL 2011 FILM AND SPEAKING TOUR
featuring
NORMA GUILLARD & CATHERINE MURPHY
Norma Guillard and her sister at time of 1961 Literacy Campaign
US Women & Cuba Collaboration is proud to announce a March/April 2011 Women's History Month US Film and Speaking Tour with Cuban gender justice activist Norma Guillard and US documentary filmmaker Catherine Murphy, who will be presenting and talking about the role of women in the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign, including screening Murphy's film, Maestra, which features Norma Guillard talking about her coming of age in the Literacy Campaign as a young woman of 15 who left home to work in the countryside as a literacy teacher, una maestra. The history of Cuba in the early years of the Cuban Revolution will be part of the discussion by the speakers, as will discussion of the reality of Cuban women's lives in Cuba today.
This national Film and Speaking Tour is being co-sponsored by U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration, The Literacy Project and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and is being made possible, in part, through a grant from the Christopher R. Reynolds Foundation and Marazul Charters. Taking place during the 50th anniversary year of the Cuban Literacy Campaign, the tour focuses on the role of the 1961 Campaign as a historical turning point for the independence and leadership of women in Cuba as well as the issues of literacy as a critical global human right.
Events will be held in Washington, D.C.; Jackson, Mississippi; Bozeman, Montana; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco and Berkeley, California.
Maestra (teacher) Tour ItineraryOne of the stops of the tour will be to premiere the film at the 6th Annual Conference of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi at the end of March. The Mississippi conference will allow for a historical exchange of experiences of the literacy campaigns in the South and in Cuba.
Norma Guillard and Catherine Murphy Biographies
Scholar's Tour Successfully Concludes!
Many thanks to the following sponsors for their gracious
support of Dra. Norma Vasallo's tour: Baltimore–Matanzas
Sister City Association and Maryland–Cuba Friendship
Coalition; University of Maryland in Baltimore County; Goucher
University; First Unitarian Church of Baltimore; Indiana
University and its Center for Latin American and Caribbean
Studies (CLACS), CUBAmistad and Rachael's Café in Bloomington,
Indiana; Hola Bloomington Radio; Edinboro University; West
Virginia University; Towson University.
Mil gracias a todos!
March/April, 2011
CUBAN SCHOLAR NORMA VASALLO BARRUETA
Dra. Norma Vasallo Speaking Tour Visits UMBC
Professor Norma Vasallo, Chair of Women's Studies at the University of Havana, has been granted a U.S. visa after a long delay and will come to the U.S. in March/April, 2011 for a 4-5 city tour including Baltimore, MD, Washington, D.C., Bloomington, Indiana, and Edinboro, PA. She will be visiting and lecturing at several universities: Goucher University, University of Maryland—BC, Indiana University, Edinboro University, West Virginia University and Towson University. For more details about the locations and topics of Dra. Vasallo's lectures, please refer to her Tour Calendar.
Dra. Vasallo is a leading Cuban scholar and educator in the fields of social psychology and global feminisms, and a prolific author. With the co-sponsorship of the Federation of Cuban Women, Dr. Vasallo is the convener the biennial International Conference, "Women in the 21st Century," which this year will take place May 16-20, 2011 at the University of Havana. Through plenary talks, panels and workshops, conference participants will engage in interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange experiences around the themes of gender, feminisms and women's studies. U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration's next delegation will attend this conference.
Dra. Vasallo's original national tour scheduled for October-November last year was cancelled due to the delay of the U.S. visa. It is our hope that we will be able to reschedule a full national tour in the fall of 2012 when Dra. Vasallo will attend the Latin America Studies Association Conference scheduled in San Francisco, CA.
"Los Estudios de la Mujer, Mujeres y Genero en Cuba," Norma Vasallo Barrueta
Community Alliance for Global
Justice (CAGJ)
5th Annual
Strengthening Local Economies, Everywhere! Dinner
Saturday, June 11th, 2011
St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake
2100 Boyer Avenue East
Seattle, WA 98112
This year's keynote address will be given by Aba Ifeoma, an organizer with the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. The SLEE! Dinner raise close to half of CAGJ's annual budget, and it provides more than 400 activists, farmers, food workers, and allied organizations with networking opportunities over a meal created with local, sustainable and Fair Trade ingredients. Help make this the most successful SLEE! Dinner to date by attending, and see flyer below for sponsorship information.
Community Alliance for Global Justice
Women and the Cuban Revolution
Presenters: Patricia Catoria and Jan Strout
Sponsored by: Bozeman Business and Professional Women
Comfort Inn on N 7th Avenue, Bozeman, MT
Noon to 1pm
January 26, 2011
Report-back from the US Women's Delegation exploring "Women's Human Rights, Racial Justice and Social Welfare" with tales of adventure and so much more! Join Patricia Catoria, Chair of MSU Program in Women's and Gender Studies, and Jan Strout, MSU adjunct professor and co-chair of the US Women and Cuba Collaboration, as they share their experiences as part of a national delegation of 21 woman who traveled to Cuba last March. Photos and stories from their meetings with the Federation of Cuban Women, women leaders from labor unions, health care professionals, educators, artists, filmmakers and writers in Havana and Santa Clara provinces will be among the highlights.
2010
World March of Women Declaration:
Deportation of activists acting against the G20 summit in
South Korea
08-Nov-2010
http://www.marchemondiale.org
On the 8th November, the Korea Women's Alliance (KWA) and Korean Women's Association United (KWAU), national reference groups of the World March of Women, organized the Gender Justice Action against the G20 Seoul Summit in order to debate the gender blindness of the G20's agenda, and feminist alternatives to the current global financial architecture. The WMW organized a representative delegation with activists from Pakistan, the Phlippines and Japan.
Honoring the Memory of Mothers and Women like Carmen
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban
5
1 Nov 2010
November 2nd will mark the one year anniversary since the death of Carmen Nordelo, mother of Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban 5 political prisoners being held in the US for fighting against terrorism.
U.S. Action Plan Announced on SCR 1325
On October 26, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made history when she told the world that the U.S. will join 20 other nations in creating a U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 National Action Plan on women, peace and security. What's more, she plans on adopting U.N. indicators to track the progress of the plan's implementation.
National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security
Join
WILPF in thanking Hillary Clinton
Amnesty International Report on the Cuban 5
October 10, 2010
A Visit to Cuba's Libraries
Sept/Oct 2010
Public Libraries/PLA Online
The National Library director oversees all of the four hundred public libraries in Cuba. There are public libraries in each province including a large library in each municipality. In addition, each community has a small library. This includes branches in remote areas. Each public library provides service for people with disabilities. We visited the Municipal Library in Old Havana on a Saturday afternoon and all of the rooms were filled with students and their parents working on assignments.
Protagonists for Change:
Women Against Violence in Latin America
National Radio Project
October 5, 2010
Violence against women pervades every culture. Sources say one of every three women is abused at some point in their lives. In Latin America, sexism and impunity contribute to violence against women. But the region is also home to powerful female voices, and effective movements for the advancement of women.
New Book, New Website
Violence against women has increased throughout Mexico and in other Latin American countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Chile and Peru. Law enforcement officials have often failed or refused to undertake investigations and prosecutions, creating a climate of impunity for perpetrators and denying victims/survivors of violence and their families access to truth and justice.
Body, Economy, Movement:
The Global Women’s Movement at the Beijing+15 Review
A Report on the 20th Anniversary Symposium of the
Center for Women’s Global Leadership
August 2010
Center for Women's Global Leadership
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Dolores Huerta Honored by Cuban Five
Actor Danny Glover, while visiting the literature table [at Dolores Huerta's Birthday Party Concert], was asked to present a plaque that the Cuban Five had sent to Dolores Huerta for her birthday, which he readily accepted. Moments later, while being interviewed by KPFK, he was visibly moved as he described his recent visit with Gerardo Hernandez in Victorville Penitentiary.
During the concert, Glover was invited to say a few words in honor of Dolores. He described all the different struggles that she had embraced through the years, including the farm workers, anti-war, immigrant rights, and women's rights. There was an enthusiastic round of applause when Glover mentioned Dolores' support for the Cuban Five.
Cuban Five Send
Birthday Plaque to Dolores Huerta
Cuba declared "best place to be a mother"
Sunday, May 9, 2010
By: Priscilla Lounds
PSLweb.org
Afghanistan is last on list; United States is number 28.
Being a mother brings joy as well as challenges. The international charity Save the Children has released its Eleventh Annual Mothers Index of the World’s Best and Worst Places to be a Mother, just in time for Mother’s Day. The index is based on various indicators of women’s and children’s health and well-being, including access to education, jobs and health care for women and children.
Read articleGlobalizing Rights, Hope and Struggle: The World March of
Women
16 April 2010
By Kathambi Kinoti
awid.org
An interview with Wilhelmina Trout of the World March of
Women,
a movement formed to put an end to social, political and
economic injustice against women.
The Cuban Art Space
of the
Center for Cuban Studies Presents
Cuban Women Artists
Oct 21-Nov 24, 2010
opening reception
October 20, 6-8 pm
with rocio garcia and ana flores
231 West 29th Street, 4th floor, New York City
"BÚSQUEDAS
INVESTIGATIVAS":
INVESTIGACIÓN DE LA PRÁCTICA EDUCATIVA CUBANA
"ACADEMIC EXPLORATIONS":
RESEARCHING CUBAN EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES
A Research Trip to Havana and Villa Clara
Province, Cuba
October 23-31, 2010
With the assistance of the Association of Cuban Educators
Please join us in Cuba for an intensive week of research on the Cuban educational system, policies, and practices at all levels, from day care to university and postgraduate education! Four days in Cuba's capital, Havana, will be complemented by four days in Santa Clara Province.
Details and Application information
Memoria, Musica, y Liberacion
Saturday, October 23 · 3:00pm - 9:00pm
Olympia, Washington
A multi-media event celebrating the release of three creative projects:
- Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment, a breakthrough book in the field of liberation and cultural studies, by Leticia Nieto
- Galopa, a new recording by Latin American band, Sin Fronteras
- Lo Que Me Toco Vivir/The Life I got to Live, a film by Vero Barrera, recounting the heroic story of Alice Berrera's life in rural Chile in the 1970's and the strength of thousands of women in their struggle for human rights.
This is an opportunity to experience the works and to "meet and greet" the artists. Books, CD's and DVD's will be available for sale throughout the event. Along with performances, showings and readings from our three featured artists, the day long event will also include performances by Pasajeros Playback Theatre and an opening musical set from the local Latin band, Los Calaveras.
Our Forgotten Sisters:
Women with Disabilities in Situations of Conflict
Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 1:15 - 2:45 PM
UN Conference Room E, New York
THIS SPEAKING TOUR WAS
CANCELLED
Draft Itinerary for
DRA. NORMA VASALLO BARRUETA
of the University of Havana
October 2010 U.S. Speaking Tour
Cuban scholar Norma Vasallo Barrueta is Chair of Women Studies and Professor of Psychology at the University of Havana, and she is co-founder and convener of the biennial University of Havana International Women's Studies conference, "Women in the 21st Century."
Professor Vasallo Barrueta lectures internationally about topics that include the status of Cuban women and Women's Studies in Cuba. Her U.S. speaking tour will support and strengthen the Campaign on the Realities of Cuban Women's Lives, part of the educational and organizing work of the U.S. Women and Cuba Collaboration. Professor Vasallo's U.S. lectures will address the information blockade in the U.S. about the lives of Cuban women, and in particular provide examples of Cuban women's rights and Cuban racial and economic justice as models to build more progressive social justice movements in the U.S. During this speaking tour, information will also be provided to audiences about right-to-travel legislation, global feminist opportunities, and other activities from sponsors' campaigns, as well as to promote Professor Vasallo's "Women in the 21st Century" Conference in Havana in May 2011. The Collaboration is exploring the possibility that our 2011 US Women's Research Delegation will coincide with this conference.
Some of the topics Dra. Vasallo will speak about include:
- Status of Women in Cuba--accomplishments and challenges, including addressing the issue of sex work or prostitution and impacts of the US blockade on women and families
- Current issues in Women's Studies and progress in Cuba to integrate a multicultural gender lens into the curriculum of the University of Havana.
- Themes to compare and contrast Cuban/US women's issues:
- reproductive rights, health and justice including Cuba's policies on abortion, family leave, sex education (CENESEX), maternal and infant mortality
- images of and by women in the media
- impacts of global economic crisis on women and families in Cuba
The U.S. Women and Cuba Collaboration is working with several co-sponsors to bring Dra. Vasello to the U.S. following her participation at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) conference in Toronto. At this point co-sponsors include: National Organization for Women (NOW), Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Latin America Working Group (LAWG), U.S. Social Forum - NW, California State University - San Marcos and San Diego, Seattle University, University of Washington, University of Massachusetts - Boston, Northeastern University, Lesley University, Wellesley College, and more sponsors in formation.
Tentative itinerary:
- October 6-9, LASA Conference, Toronto, Ontario
- October 10-14, Boston/Cambridge MA area
- October 15-16, Washington, DC
- October 17-19, San Diego, CA
- October 20-23, Seattle, WA area
- October 24 (week of), Miami area
October 20, 2010
Dear Friends,
With great disappointment, we write to tell you that we have been forced to cancel the US speaking tour of Cuban scholar Dra. Norma Vasallo of the University of Havana because the US State Department has not issued a visa to Dra. Vasallo for travel to the United States. Consequently, she and her prospective US audiences are being prohibited from participation in the exchange of ideas at events planned on college campuses and communities in Washington, DC, Boston, Baltimore, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Miami. We find this situation regrettable and infuriating. We believe it is an abridgement of academic freedom, and a direct result of the travel ban imposed by the United States that affects both Cuban and US citizens, as well as the US embargo on Cuba which is a failed policy that promotes injustice, restricts American liberties and hurts Cuban families.
We are grateful to all our co-sponsors who supported with their funding and their time our efforts to realize this tour. They include Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), National Organization for Women (NOW), First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, Howard County (Maryland) Friends of Latin America, Towson University, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore - Matanzas Sister City Association, University of Massachusetts - Boston, Northeastern University, Lesley University, Wellesley College, California State University - San Marcos, University of San Diego, Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing (LELO), Seattle University, University of Washington, Florida International University, and University of South Florida.
There had been much hope in the fall Congressional season in HR 4645, a bill that would end travel restrictions on all Americans to Cuba, but in late September this House vote was postponed until after the current Congressional recess. We encourage you to refer to Latin America Working Group's Cuba Campaign Action Center for background and up-to-date information on the travel ban, and to become involved in this struggle for the liberty of US citizens to travel to exchange ideas with Cuban citizens, and to hear from Cuban visitors in the US.
Meanwhile, please note these two upcoming opportunities for exchange of ideas and travel to Cuba:
Please check back to this website for updates as plans develop.
Also, please contact us to sign up for our action and events alerts, and if it is also possible for you to support our work financially, no matter how large or small the amount, please consider making a tax deductible donation on this website.
Thank you once again for your interest in supporting the exchange of ideas between the US and Cuba!
In the spirit of friendship and solidarity,
Caridad, Cindy, Jan, Kamilah, Sheryl, and Victoria
US Women and Cuba Collaboration
Speaker Tour Organizing Committee
Women’s Revolutions in the Global South
Montana State University Women's Center Sack Lunch Seminars
Noon to 1pm, Sept 29, SUB 235
Jessa Thiel and Jan Strout (Co-Chair, US Women and Cuba
Collaboration) from Sisters Across Borders will discuss
intriguing women’s movements and women’s revolutions in a
number of different countries in the Global South including
Cuba, Venezuela, and Mexico. They will focus on various
strategies for peace and social justice, while recognizing
that global gender issues that plague the Global South affect
women worldwide. There is strength in solidarity, and we have
integral lessons to learn from our sisters in the South.
JOIN SEATTLE NOW and
MOHAI
to Celebrate
WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY
SEATTLE NOW and Friends--
US Women and Cuba Collaboration,
Equal Rights Washington, ALLYSHIP, UFCW 21 and more--
INVITES YOU TO A RECEPTION
to Celebrate and Acknowledge
WOMENS’ EQUALITY DAY @ The Museum of History and Industry
Light Snacks and Refreshments
FREE TOUR of current exhibit "Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices"
PANEL DISCUSSION RE: EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR ALL
FREE, PLEASE RSVP
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Date: THURSDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2010
Address: MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry), Seattle
More Details
Free the Cuban Five!
July 13, 2010
Wayne S. Smith
The Nation
The time is ripe to correct this injustice, now that Cuba has begun to release its own political prisoners, argues Wayne S. Smith, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, longtime Cuba expert, and former chief of the US Interests Section in Havana (1979-82).
NOW National Conference
July 2 - 4, 2010
Boston, MA
Boston Park Plaza Hotel
Workshop:
SISTERS ACROSS BORDERS Demand to Ratify Women!
Friday, July 2nd
4:45 - 6:00 PM
Ratify Women! is the NOW Campaign designed to make a final successful push for US government ratification of a "clean" global Women's Treaty, otherwise known as CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. The goals of our workshop are to educate participants about the use of United Nations international human rights treaties to advance women's rights in the US, to discuss how international women's movements and specific countries are using the United Nations as well as feminist transnational grassroots gatherings to increase women's political participation and our human rights, and to build sisterhood among women worldwide.
Women from nations where CEDAW has been ratified will share strategies to advance the status of women including National Plans of Action based on the UN Beijing Platform for Action, national and local women's budgets, creation of Ministries for Women & Gender Equality, and specific advances such as paid maternity/paternity leave, reduction of infant/maternal mortality rates, sexual and reproductive rights, and violence-prevention policies. We will share the new NOW Ratify Women! Campaign kit produced by the NOW Global Feminist Strategies Committee. Finally, we will also discuss possibilities of organizing specific US-based women's solidarity projects growing out of networks established at the US Social Forum (June), the US Women & Cuba Collaboration women's delegation to Cuba (March), and from NGO's working in Mexico, Venezuela and more.
-
Panelists include:
- Norma Romero, Vice Minister for Equality, Gender Equality, Afro-descendents and Ethnicity, Ministry for Women, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
- Stephanie Ortoleva, Chair, NOW Global Feminist Strategies Committee and international human rights attorney, Washington, DC
- Tanya Burovtseva, Coordinator, Advancing Women as Peacemakers Campaign, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF—US Section, Boston
- Catherine Murphy, Sociologist and Documentary Filmmaker, The Literacy Project (US) and Cuban Film Institute/ICAIC (Cuba), screening a trailer from her film "Maestra" about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign
- Jan Strout, NOW Global Feminist Strategies Committee and Co-chair, US Women and Cuba Collaboration, Virginia City, MT
Vancouver International Che
Guevara Conference
Saturday & Sunday
June 26 & 27, 2010
Vancouver BC, Canada
Simple Free Registration Special $20 Registration with Chance to Win Prize Conference Schedule Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba
US SOCIAL FORUM II
June 22-26
Detroit, Michigan
06–28–2010 – DETROIT
Second U.S. Social Forum Closes in Detroit and Opens New
Chapter in US Movements for Justice, Equality, and
Sustainability
The United States Social Forum (USSF) ended with an inspirational national assembly and closing ceremony. The Forum's National Planning Committee (NPC) declared the forum a great success with attendance of more than 15,000 people from Detroit, from rural and urban areas across the nation, and from countries across the world including South Africa, Palestine, Honduras and Nepal.
Report from US Women & Cuba Collaboration at USSF 2010
US Women & Cuba Collaboration Events at USSF 2010 Flyer
"Global
Women Panel"
Panel chaired by Jan Strout, co-chair of the US
Women & Cuba Collaboration at the 2010 US Social
Forum. MP3 produced by WINGS: Women's Int'l News Gathering
Service. Program #13-10, length 28:49. (Click
on arrow to begin.)
Join the US Women & Cuba Collaboration and other progressive movement forces from all over the country when we meet this summer in Detroit at US Social Forum II to continue articulating visions and plans for "Another World" that is possible and necessary in the US.
The US Women and Cuba Collaboration is sponsoring and hosting two workshops this year at the USSF, and we warmly encourage your participation. Both workshops will be convenient to attend in centrally-located Cobo Hall.
Workshop:
Why Women? Why Cuba? Building a Women's Movement for
Cuba
Thursday, June 24
10am-12noon at Cobo Hall 02-43
Our workshop on Why Women? Why Cuba? will discuss the history and accomplishments of the Cuban women's movement under the leadership of the Federation of Cuban Women and in the context of the Cuban revolution. We will also discuss the role that Cuba has played internationally in advancing human rights, especially in the realm of healthcare and literacy.
Panelists include Rita Olga of Cuba, representing the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, Carolina Sanchez of the Cuban Chapter in Defense of Humanity of the Ministry of Culture of Cuba, and Catherine Murphy, director of "Maestro," a film about the 1961 one-year national campaign that eradicated illiteracy in Cuba. A short trailer of "Maestro" will be shown. Jan Strout and Cindy Domingo, of the US Women & Cuba Collaboration will discuss strategies, campaigns and work that participants can take with them to build a women's movement and network of supporters to change US policy towards the Cuban people and to lift the 51-year old US blockade against Cuba. Panelists for this workshop are from Cuba and/or have traveled extensively throughout Cuba.
This workshop is sponsored by the U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration, along with collaborating organizations: the Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee of WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), and the LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership and Organizing) Worker to Worker Project.
Workshop:
Sisters Across Borders | Advancing US Women's Rights
through
Global Feminisms
Friday, June 25
1-3pm at Cobo Hall 02-42
The goals of our workshop are to educate and organize about the use of United Nations international human rights treaties to advance women's rights, racial and economic justice in the US and to build solidarity among women worldwide. Specifically we will focus on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)/Women's Treaty and UN Security Resolution 1325 which promotes a gender analysis in conflict areas, peacekeeping and post-conflict situation. We will also utilize the UN Beijing Platform for Women and the UN CERD/Racial Justice treaty as organizing resources.
We also will share and build the organizing of specific U.S.-based women's solidarity projects on US campuses, in local communities and with Cuba and Venezuela as ways to increase U.S. women's political and policy understanding as well as our contributions to transform U.S. foreign policy to one of peaceful and just relations. Panelists have direct experience with organizing and educating diverse women in the US and globally across race, class, age and sexualities on these international human rights strategies for the past twenty years and have organized women's delegations to work in solidarity with women in Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela.
Panelists include Jan Strout (NOW's Ratify Women! Campaign and US Women & Cuba Collaboration), Cindy Domingo (US Women & Cuba Collaboration), Erica Swanson (Leadership Council on Civil Rights), Laura Roskos (WILPF), Rita Olga Martinez (ICAP—Cuba), Jayariyú Farias Montiel (indigenous health organizer and media activist—Venezuela), Filmmaker Catherine Murphy screening a trailer from "Maestra" about Cuba's 1961 Literacy Campaign, Filmmaker Debbie Carlsen screening clips of "Queers Against the WTO."
The Elected Delegate and the Dissident in Cuba’s Municipal
Elections Cuba’s Municipal Elections: Analysis
May 22, 2010
Arnold August
Global Research
La delegada electa y el disidente en las elecciones municipales en Cuba
CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S
DAY!
Seattle and Belgrade, MT, Event Information Follows
Look for IWD Events in Your Location
An afternoon of CUBAN MOVIES &
MOJITOS!!
Featuring the film SALUD!
Sunday, March 7th
3PM – 6 PM
To benefit Cuban Doctors supporting Haiti
and Health Care throughout the Global South
And to CELEBRATE 2010 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Hosted by Susan Nichols Roughton and Jan Strout
at the home of Susan and Bob Roughton
200 Tower Road, Belgrade, MT
Space is limited; please RSVP to peacewomen4ever@yahoo.com or
406/388.1919
US Women & Cuba Collaboration: March 2010 Research Delegation to Cuba
"Women's Human Rights, Racial
Justice and Social Welfare"
Organized by Marazul Charters, Inc.
- | Recuerdos: Voices of
2010 Delegates
- | 2010 Delegation Photo Slideshow
-
Delegate and Ms Magazine
Money editor Martha Burk
reports in Ms Magazine
Cuba Puts Women ...
-
Response to Ms article
from US Women & Cuba Collaboration Co-chairs
Letter to Editor
- 10 days of living and learning experiences in Havana and Santa Clara
- Discussions with a range of Cuban women about achievements in Cuba to advance the status of women, accomplishments that mark Cuba as a global model of progressive women's movement and human development
- Half-day symposium with the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) featuring a rich exchange of perspectives, research and strategies among Cuban and US women
WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS,
RACIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL WELFARE
2010 Women's Research Delegation to Cuba
March 13-23
US Women & Cuba Collaboration,
program consultant
Organized by Marazul Charters, Inc
CELEBRATE 10 DAYS OF WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH 2010 IN CUBA!
Research Theme: In this delegation, we will research and develop models for taking into our own professional lives lessons of the Cuban Revolution that Cuban women have used to extend the definition of basic human rights to include rights to racial justice and social welfare such as health care, housing, employment, education and food, and also to investigate shared leadership strategies for US and Cuban women across borders.
Legal trip: The US Women and Cuba Collaboration is program consultant to Marazul Charters, licensed as a Travel Service Provider (TSP) by the US Treasury Department to organize travel delegations to Cuba. Per US government guidelines for legal travel to Cuba under the Treasury Department's General License for research, this delegation is designed for full-time professionals who are conducting full-time research in their fields. (See links below for additional information, and contact us or Marazul with any remaining questions you have.)
Applications: Send as soon as possible. Detailed information in Marazul Application. (Applications and Final payment deadline is Feb 15, 2010.)
Cost: Estimated cost of this research program departing from either Miami, FL or Cancun, Mexico, is $2000 USD. Does not include airfare to the departure city.
Program Highlights:
Delegation Invitation and Details
Marazul Charters Cuba Travel Advice
OFAC: Cuba, What You Need to Know About US Sanctions Against Cuba
Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice and
"Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies"
is very pleased to present:
(85 minutes, Cecilia Domeyko, 2005)
Friday, February 19, 7:00 to 9:30PM
Discussion after the film will be lead by members of the US Women & Cuba Collaboration and will focus on the film's themes as well as contemporary US and Cuban relations and Cuba's role in humanitarian aid and international solidarity with Haiti. The Collaboration is organizing a women's delegation to Cuba in March 2010; for details about the Delegation and the US Women & Cuba Collaboration, visit their website.
This award-winning (CINE Golden Eagle, Chicago Film Festival, World Music Festival) film was directed by Cecilia Domeyko, creator of dozens of films capturing the Latina/o experience in the US and Latin America. Featuring ten talented and beautiful musicians, playing the harmonies of Cuban soul, CUBA MIA demonstrates the power of music to cross boundaries. This story of the musicians of the all-woman Camerata Romeu is filled with dazzling faces and fiery performances that astonish and delight.
By turns funny, angry, lyrical and moving, CUBA MIA takes us behind the scenes of a Revolution in progress—that has prioritized gender and racial justice, investment in arts, music, culture and the politics of sexuality as essential to healthy human development—and offers a slice of Cuban life seldom seen on the world's screens. "If you liked Buena Vista Social Club, you'll love CUBA MIA!"
Flyer DetailsLOCATION:
Keystone Congregational Church
5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle
(0.4 miles west of the I-5 NE 50th St. Exit - Metro Bus
Routes 16, 26 & 44)
Directions can be found at Friday Night at the
Meaningful Movies.
Event is FREE and open to the public!
...but Donations are kindly accepted.
Experts Analyze Cultural Exchange under the Obama Administration
The Havana Book Fair opened on Friday with a panel of experts from the U.S. and Cuba analyzing the state of cultural exchange between the two countries under the Obama Administration, AFP reported. Members of the panel, "Cuba-United States Cultural Relations: Present and Future," said that although cultural exchange has "rebounded under Obama" it has not reached "the levels of expectation" that were created when he was elected.
Sheryl Lutjens, current head of the Latin American Studies Association's Cuba section, said that academics on both sides face "access problems" to information in the other county and difficulty traveling back and forth. Rafael Hernández, editor of the magazine Temas, said that the increase in exchange is "not necessarily led by the governments, but by cultural actors that have become closer and closer over time."
According to Lutjens, "it's still not clear if [Obama] is going to support exchange," but his administration continues to deny licenses to visit Cuba. "We are at a very important moment, a moment of opportunity, where expectations are big, but the challenges are too, and therefore there is resistance to change," said Cuban academic Carlos Alzugaray.
Sheryl Lutjens is a member of the US Women & Cuba Collaboration National Advisory Board.
Feb 19, 2010
Cuba Central NewsBlast Blog
Center for Democracy in the Americas
Americans Are Learning Medicine the Cuban Way
By Julia Landau, East Bay Express
Posted on February 5, 2010, Printed on March 7,
2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145523/
Melissa Rose Mitchell was discouraged. After taking the Medical College Admission Test, she was uneasy about applying to medical schools. In prep courses for the exams, she had glimpsed her future as a doctor, and she didn't like the environment she saw. "People were like, 'What kind of doctor do you want to be?' and it was all based on how much money you make," the Oakland resident recalled. "It was a really scary moment, because this thing that all my life I had wanted to do without question, all of a sudden I'm thinking, 'I don't know if I want to do this.'"
Mitchell had scraped together the money to prepare for and take the med-school admissions test, but even as she studied, she had begun to waver. "It had taken me over a year to save the $1,400 for the test and prep course and they said, 'We recommend that you apply to no less than twenty schools,' at about $200 each." And there were still the costs of plane tickets and a proper suit to interview at schools. She did well on the exams, but Mitchell was spending a lot of money to fulfill her goal of serving the poor.
But then her boyfriend saw a blurb in a church newsletter that appeared to assuage her growing worries. It was a unique offer to study in Cuba, the impoverished nation 90 miles from Florida that is internationally known for its training and use of doctors. She applied through the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization in New York, a group whose mission is to "increase minority participation in medicine" and therefore increase the doctor-patient ratio for underserved areas.
Cuba began educating American medical students after members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with Fidel Castro in 2000. Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi told Castro about areas in his district that suffer from extreme doctor shortages. The Cuban president responded by promising scholarships for 500 Americans to attend medical school in Cuba, under the umbrella of the Latin America School of Medicine. To qualify, the students would have to show aptitude and a commitment to work in underserved communities in the United States. Since then, 34 have graduated, and more than 160 are currently enrolled.
The Bay Area, it turns out, is something of a hub for the Cuba school of thought, where Cuba-trained students, unencumbered by the massive debt that plagues grads from US medical schools, have the luxury to do the kind of medicine that Cuba instructs — family medicine. The island's medical schools focus on nutrition and other preventative approaches. Cuba also is well known for its focus on the "social determinants of health."
The Cuban experience also may provide important lessons for our current health-care crisis. With a fifth of our per capita GDP, Cuba has health statistics comparable to those of industrialized nations. In the shabby, eroding, and commodity-deprived neighborhoods of Old Havana, Cubans also enjoy a better doctor-patient ratio than Americans: 59 doctors per 10,000 people compared to 26 for us.
© 2010 East Bay Express All rights reserved.
View this story online at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/145523/
Seven US Doctors Headed for Haiti:
Graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine
Will Work Alongside Cuban Medical Brigade
This story was aired on the Tavis Smiley Show on January 3, 2010.
US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine (LASM) are prepared to help alleviate the pain and suffering of thousands of Haitian people.
The seven young women physicians arrived in Haiti on the evening of February 3rd to begin a month or more of medical service alongside the Cuban medical brigade. The doctors come from Harlem, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island in New York City; from Houston and from Minnesota. Two of them are currently working in Oakland, CA. A number of their fellow graduates are hoping to join them soon for the urgent work in Haiti.
The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), which administers the LASM scholarship program for US students, is raising funds and collecting medical supplies to support the doctors' mission.
"These dedicated and skilled young doctors are ready to serve. They received their MD degrees in Cuba, with special training in disaster management and public health, and they are uniquely prepared for the multiple challenges of this urgent mission," said Rev. Lucius Walker Jr., executive director of IFCO. "We have sent them to Haiti with backpacks full of medicines and supplies—3/8 of a ton of medical aid for Haiti and more aid will follow."
All of the doctors are graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba, which was founded as part of the Comprehensive Health Plan for Central America and the Caribbean that Cuba established in response to the devastation of Hurricanes Mitch and Georges in 1998.
The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Mirta Roses, commended the work of the Cuban medical teams in Haiti on January 24th. "The Cuban teams were already in Haiti—before the quake took place. They were the first responders treating earthquake victims."
PAHO reports that Cuba's direct medical assistance to the Haitian people in the first 72 hours after the earthquake was critical. Cuban doctors have attended tens of thousands of patients and performed thousands of surgeries. Cuban doctors are working in 21 improvised health centers including 14 operating theatres with 16 surgical teams. Most recently they set up a tent hospital—with ultrasound and x-ray equipment– on the site of an amusement park in Port-au-Prince.
More than 100 specialists from many countries (Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Canada) are also working with the Cuban health professionals.
A Cuban medical brigade of 350 physicians plus other medical personnel has been on the ground in Haiti for the last ten years, working in remote communities where people had no other access to health care services. More than 6,000 Cuban doctors have served in Haiti as part of that brigade. 400 young Haitians have also received full-scholarship medical training at the LASM, and are now attending the wounded in Haiti.
LASM is now training students from 49 different nations of the Americas, Africa, and other regions. Among the graduates are 33 young people from the US.
The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) administers of the scholarship program for US students at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba.
IFCO is continuing to raise funds to support the medical mission of these LASM graduates, and to direct medical aid to Haiti. Contributions to the IFCO/Haiti Medical Service Project can be made at their website or by contacting their office at (212) 926-5757.
Photos, video clips, and more information are available at
IFCO/Pastors for Peace
Ciudad Juárez: Finally, Steps Towards Justice
Violence, including human rights violations, has been increasing in Mexico, and women's rights have suffered blow after blow, but 2009 ended with steps towards justice: on December 10 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) issued a judgment in the "cotton field" case against the government of Mexico for violations of human rights. This judgment represents clear progress in the midst of so many legal reversals. AWID interviewed Andrea Medina Rosas from the Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujeres (CLADEM), which represented the cases before the Court.
By Gabriela De Cicco
January 29, 2010
awid.org
2009
The US Women & Cuba Collaboration is honored to have been awarded a 2009 grant from Resist for our work as "a valuable resource to the progressive community."
Cuba undertaking unprecedented health action with pregnant women
Written by Granma International
Thursday, 17 December 2009 09:35
IN an unprecedented effort on the part of Cuba's public health services, medical personnel and those from other sectors are undertaking daily epidemiological screening throughout the country of all pregnant women and new mothers to check for respiratory symptoms.
This important screening is within the context of the AH1N1 pandemic and its particular "aggressiveness" in the case of pregnant women, a group at high risk of developing complications related to this virus.
Dr. Doris Sierra Pérez, national director of primary care at the Ministry of Public Health, informed Granma daily that this action began last September, given the capacity of the virus to produce severe pulmonary lesions within a few hours, thus requiring patients' immediate hospitalization in intensive care units.
From then on, on a daily basis, local health care personnel have been visiting pregnant women and those with newborn babies in their homes to confirm their state of health and, in the case of any flu symptoms, to instruct hospital admission and immediate treatment.
According to estimates given to Granma, of the 65,456 currently pregnant women in the country, and the 16,507 with newborn babies (a total of 81,963), an average of 96% are visited on a daily basis. Of these, 12,065 have been admitted to hospital.
Dr. Sierra highlighted the selfless dedication of Cuban health workers, including medical students incorporated into the screening program, who are making a decisive contribution to the saving of more than a few lives.
She also noted the support received from political and mass organizations and other sectors of society, in conjunction with the political will of the revolutionary government, which views the health of the population a prime human right.
From US Treasury—OFAC:
Effective September 2009:
New Cuban Regulations
From US Legislators:
Toward New Rules About Cuba
Cuba Central News Blast
UN VOTE: Another drubbing at the UN: 187-3
October 30, 2009
WHO Director General Praises Primary Health Care in Cuba
Posted by Toronto Forum On Cuba
José A. de la Osa, October 27, 2009
Slow But Steady Progress
The Center for Democracy in the Americas, 28 July
2009
When Lincoln served in Congress, he reportedly said during a debate, "I walk slowly, but I never walk backward."
If you look at what happened in Cuba news this week - as we do every week - what leaps off the page are indications of steady progress. Many of us who work on these issues are impatient and want the Obama administration to move forward faster on normalizing relations with Cuba. But the reality is that progress is happening on many levels - it may not be flashy, but it is happening without much controversy and - and that is a major departure from the past.
Here are five examples.
First, the U.S. and Cuban militaries participated in joint military exercises, as they have done in the past, but our administration allowed the press to cover what had occurred. Our organization has previously proposed expanding military cooperation, and going public with these exercises will lay the groundwork for doing exactly that.
Second, officials from Tampa, Florida, traveled to Cuba for meetings with government officials about expanding trade ties. You remember Florida, right, the state that serves as the massive political obstacle to getting something real done on Cuba. The political climate is changing. Not that it didn't take courage for the delegation to make that trip; but this kind of courage is contagious.
Third, New Orleans wants to get into the act. Mayor Ray Nagin wants charter aircraft service between his city and Cuba just like Los Angeles and Miami have. The embargo against Cuba is not simply bad foreign policy and bad for our constitutional right travel, it is also foolish and self-defeating economically, and increasing numbers of Americans (and their elected officials) get that.
Fourth, Senator Byron Dorgan, a fearless crusader for changing Cuba policy, won approval in a Senate Committee for an important proposal that will expand agriculture sales to Cuba. Dorgan is also sponsor of the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, the Senate bill to repeal the ban on legal travel for all Americans, and he understands that expanding travel will result in increased Cuban demand for food produced in the U.S.
Fifth, the migration talks restarted by the U.S. and Cuban governments took place in New York. Both countries issued positive statements suggesting that progress is being made. We were able to confirm the reality of that diplomatic happy talk in private meetings this week with foreign policy officials from both countries during our visit to Cuba with seven high-ranking staff people from the U.S. Senate.
It takes time to dismantle a policy that has been in place for fifty years, long after it was evident to almost everyone that U.S. policy toward Cuba was hurting us a lot more than it ever hurt them.
But in just the last three months, we have seen real changes - the elimination of travel restrictions on Cuban-American families, U.S. cooperation in the effort to lift Cuba's suspension from the OAS, and now the resumption of migration talks. We may be walking slowly, but we're not walking backwards, and we see the prospects of a lot more progress to come.
Che Guevara's daughter recalls her revolutionary father
Libby Brooks, The Guardian, Wednesday 22 July 2009
Global Forum for Health Reseach 2009, Nov 16-20, Havana, Cuba: The Global Forum for Health Research (GFHR) is an independent international organization committed to demonstrating the essential role of research and innovation for health and health equity, benefiting poor and marginalized populations.
Celebrate Women's Equality Day at NAAM: Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, August 27, 5:30-8pm. Brought to you by National Organization for Women, Reclaim the Media, Evergreen College Labor Center, and US Women and Cuba Collaboration
Remembering Marilyn Clement
June 30, 1935–August 3, 2009
"Marilyn Clement's WILPF and Cuba organizing were most
impressive. We travelled together on the delegation for the
GX Interhemispheric Women's Peace and Justice Conference in
Havana in 1996 organized by Medea Benjamin when Marilyn was
ED of WILPF."
— Jan Strout, Co-chair, US Women and Cuba Collaboration
About Honduras:
Honduran Feminists in Resistance
22 July 2009
Open Letter to the President of the United States of America
Hondurans Demonstrating for Zelaya's Return
Hondurans Pour into the Streets Demanding Zelaya's
Return
by Medea Benjamin
Published on Monday, July 6, 2009 by
CommonDreams.org
The day started out full of joy, as thousands of Hondurans converged in front of the National Institute of Pedagogy, intent on marching about three miles to the airport to greet the plane that was supposed to bring deposed President Zelaya back to Honduras.
Honduran Feminists Speak Out
Cuban Five Visitation Rights for Adriana Pérez:
Obama and Clinton Must Change their Position
Arnold August, 15 July 2009
Today we have been informed that the US State Department has once again refused a visa for Adriana Pérez to visit her husband Gerardo Hernández.
A new approach to Cuba
By Barry R. McCaffrey
The Miami Herald, Jun. 23, 2009
2009 Miami Herald Media Company, All Rights Reserved
The Obama administration has made an excellent first step to eliminate some restrictions on travel to the island, to loosen constraints on remittances and to re-engage in migration talks. Positive, multiple lines of engagement are clearly the way forward. Broader contact and leverage with Cuba through additional commercial and people-to-people contacts will in time help promote a more pluralistic, less impoverished, and more open society.
High court won't review 'Cuban 5' espionage case
June 15, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP)— The Supreme Court on Monday refused to
review the convictions of five Cuban intelligence agents who
say they did not receive a fair trial because of strong
anti-Castro sentiment in Miami.
Declaration by the Presidency of Cuba's National Assembly
June 15, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today, without explanation,
its decision not to review the case of our Five comrades who
are unjustly imprisoned . . .
Declaration of National Assembly
CUBAN NATIONAL UNION OF WRITERS & ARTISTS
(UNEAC)
Havana, 19 June 2009
LETTER TO AMERICAN INTELLECTUALS AND ARTISTS
On June 15, the US Supreme Court refused to review the case of the five Cuban anti-terrorist activists unjustly imprisoned in your country. This is another chapter in a long series of injustices that have resulted in over 10 years' loss of liberty for Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero y Fernando Gonzalez.
Letter to American Intellectuals
Jean Colman, Who Fought for the Rights of
Low-Income Women, Dies at 59
by Kristyn Joy, Contributing Writer
Real Change
May 20, 2009
Vol 16 No 24
Jean Colman, a longtime leader in the national movement for
dignity and fair treatment for low-
income women, died early May 8, after a nine-year
battle with breast cancer. She was 59.
Travel Challenge 2005:Jean Coleman's Reflections
VII Taller Internacional: Mujeres en el Siglo XXI
The Chair of Women Studies of the University of Havana and the Federation of Cuban Women held the VII International Scientific Workshop "Women in the 21st Century" at the University of Havana from the 18th to 22nd of May, 2009, in Havana, Cuba. It was also co-sponsored by COSUDE, HIVOS, OXFAM, ACSUR, MUNDUBAT, ACPA, and the FELIX VARELA CENTER.
Its main purpose was to promote the opportunity to exchange information, to update and assess academic work on topics concerning Feminism, Gender, Women's Studies and work being done with contemporary women and feminist movements.
The Measure of a Revolution: Cuba, 1959–2009
Understanding the Past, Considering the Future
May 7–9, 2009
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
The "Measure of a Revolution: Cuba 1959-2009" conference was jointly organized by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Havana University, Boston University and Queen's University.
Obama's Cuba Moves Do Little to End the Economic War on Havana
By Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports
Posted on April 7, 2009, Printed on April 14, 2009
A group of U.S. lawmakers visiting Cuba has called on the Obama administration to join every other country in the Western hemisphere in normalizing relations with Cuba.
For Relatives, Travel to Cuba Just Got Easier
MARCH 12, 2009
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
Travel to Cuba Just Got Easier
Ongoing Hurricane Relief
News from Sandra Levinson,
Center for Cuban Studies and Cuban Art Space, NY
Dear Hurricane Relief Contributors,
Last week, thanks to you, the Center's first two containers of materials arrived in Cuba for delivery to hospitals terribly damaged by the three hurricanes that hit Cuba in 2008. The containers contained 30 hospital beds and mattresses, 40 operating tables, and 15 sterilizers, Within the next couple of months we will continue to send materials because we were able to get all of these materials DONATED and only had to pay for the shipping of the containers! With luck we can continue to do this, though of course we cannot count on it, in this economy. We realize that this cannot be a one time only shipment, because the needs are so great and hurricanes happen every year, so we will continue to raise money for hurricane relief and put the money into these kinds of shipments. Thank you so much for your support.
Sandra
Feb 4, 2009
For information about making Hurricane Relief donations:
Dear Friends,
The effects of Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma, had grievous effects on Cuba and their effects persist even when news coverage does not. According to the Cuban government, the hurricanes have caused more than $5 billion in damage across the island, and 444,000 houses have been impacted with 63,000 completely destroyed. Every resource in Cuba has suffered damage. There have been incapacitating losses of food crops and farm animals, electricity and water services, as well as destruction of institutional structures including schools and hospitals.
The Cuban people are known worldwide for their international solidarity with other peoples in their times of need. Today, the Cuban people are in need of our solidarity both in terms of humanitarian aid and a change in U.S. policy to Cuba. Please take action immediately in both of these areas.
Thank you,
US Women and Cuba Collaboration
August 2009
The U.S. Women and Cuba Collaboration works closely with the following organizations and particularly encourages your support of their humanitarian aid drives.
MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba)
Blockade on Cuba Costs US Economy More
Invasor.cu
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hurricane 2008 News
Hurricane Paloma wrecks hundreds of homes in Cuba
By Anne-Marie Garcia, Camgauey, Cuba, Sunday
Nov 9, 2008 (AP)
Reports about Hurricane Paloma from Susana Hurlich in
Havana
Friday, Nov 7, 2008
¿Como ayudar a Cuba — How to help Cuba?
Sandra Levinson, slevinson@cubanartspace.net
September 16, 2008
Susana Hurlich Writes from Havana:
Detailed Hurricane Ike Reports
Susana Hurlich is a Canadian free-lance journalist
based in Havana
Reports from September 7 through September 17
Latin American Working Group Action Alert
lawg.org, Sept 11, 2008
LAWG Action Alert on Cuba Hurricanes
Sign a petition: US assistance to Cuban hurricane victims
In Wake of Storm Damage, Calls to Ease Cuba Embargo
New York Times, Damien Cave, September 10, 2008
Serrano calls for suspension of regulatory restrictions
in order to help Cuba recover from hurricanes
serrano.house.gov/PressRelease, Sept 8, 2008
Serrano calls for emergency suspension of US–Cuba family restrictions
2008
VIO Venezuela Weekly News Roundup
Friday, November 7, 2008
Obama Has Historic Opportunity to Improve Ties With Latin America Center for Economic Policy and Research, November 6, 2008
Obama Has Historic OpportunityCubans hope Obama's win means 'better times ahead'
By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 4:05 PM
Why Can Cuba Do It?
Jose A. De La Osa
Havana, Saturday, 18 October, 2008. Year 12 / Number 291
Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls for a
permanent end to the US travel and economic embargo against
Cuba
September – 6 – 2008
Cuba Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statement
Cuba: Women Combating
Shortage of Decent Housing
Patricia Grogg, Inter Press Service News
Agency, August 01, 2008
US Committee strengthens
efforts to free the Five / Comité estadounidense fortalece
campaña por libertad de los Cinco
Prensa Latina, July 29, 2008
Chronicle of an Injustice: Brief Summary of the Case of
the Cuban Five, Leonard Weinglass, July 21,
2008
Legal Activists of Color Blog
nlgtupocc.blogspot.com/2008/07/brief-summary-of-case-of-cuban-five-by.html
Brief Summary of the Case of the Cuban Five
Cuba has authorised sex-change operations and will offer them free to qualifying citizens, officials say.
Published: 2008/06/07
Story from BBC NEWS
Cuba To Provide Free Sex Change Operations
Venezuela Creates
New Ministry for Women
Olivia Burlingame Goumbri, Venezuela
Information Office, Caracas, April 25, 2008
2007
Luci Murphy, Washington,
DC, Cuban American singer activist, receives Paul Robeson
Award for Peace and Justice
Tim Wheeler, People's Weekly World Newspaper,
September 20, 2007
Is homosexuality
persecuted in Cuba?
José Manzaneda, Coordinator of Cubainformación TV,
September 19, 2007. A CubaNews translation. Ed
Walter Lippmann.
Vilma Espín Guillois,
Cuban heroine, President of the FMC, Dies
Marta Rojas, Granma, June 19, 2007
Haircut,
Highlights, and Safe Sex Tips in Havana
Mary Murray, NBC News World Blog, March 1, 2007,
8:02am
2006
Cuba's Female Vocal
Group Sexto Sentido
Omar Vazquez, October 2, 2006, from Walter
Lippmann via AfricansForCuba@yahoogroups.com
Before 2006
The couple's
decision
Raisa Pages, March 8, 2000, Granma
International
Please Donate
Mission Statement
Our mission is to build a strong US women's movement dedicated to ending the US government blockade of Cuba and to creating mutually beneficial US–Cuba relations; our work is rooted in the concept of universal human rights, racial and economic justice, and women's rights.
Campaigns
- Right to Travel: Help us work to end all travel bans on US citizens for travel to Cuba, and on Cubans who cannot secure US visas to visit the US.
- Reality of Cuban Women's Lives: Learn about impressive public policy advances of Cuban women, and also about the harsh impacts of the US blockade on the lives of Cuban women and children.
- Advancing Global Feminisms: Join us as we learn how to share the lessons of global women's networks to advance the status of women globally and to build a strong US women's movement.
Contact Us
Join the US Women & Cuba Collaboration. Contact us to be added to our email list for notices of news, action items, and upcoming delegation opportunities (not more than one email a month).
Victoria Kill
info@womenandcuba.org
Project Co-Chairs:
Cindy Domingo
yoson66@hotmail.com
Jan Strout
peacewomen4ever@yahoo.com
Photo Archive
