U.S. WOMEN AND CUBA COLLABORATION
BUILDING A PROGRESSIVE GLOBAL WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
March
March 2-6: Cohosted Miguel Fraga, First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, for a Seattle area visit that included a day conference and meetings with community groups, college audiences and elected officials. The focus of the visit was discussion on work remaining to normalize US Cuban relations.
March 2: Community Legislative Reception, Nagomi Tea House
March 3: Pinchot University, Reception and Discussion about the future of US business in Cuba, Impact Hub
March 4: Exhibit Opening and Reception for First Secretary Fraga at the Bill Hackwell photo exhibit, "The Cuban Five Return: An Entire Country Celebrates," El Centro de la Raza
March 5: Day Conference, "Imagining New Paths for US and Cuba Relations," Seattle University
Sunday, March 6: Miguel Fraga talks about organic agriculture, Cuba's churches, and race in Cuba, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 12pm: March 31: Collaboration Steering Committee member wrote and published "From Cuba with Love: Sex & Money in the Twentieth Century," a book review published in Gender and Politics, Journal of the American Political Science Association, 12 (1), 2016.
April-July
April 19 and 20: Presented "Still Forbidden Fruit? Bozeman Women Capture a Changing Cuba," Pecha Kucha presentations, The Ellen Theatre, Bozeman, MT.
April-June: Cosponsored with The Literacy Project: the Luisa Campos Gallardo 2016 US Tour. She visited 18 cities and addressed hundreds of students and educators. Ms. Campos directs Cuba's National Literacy Museum, a repository for history, treasures and mementos of the 1961 Literacy Campaign and its impacts on 50 nations worldwide using Cuba's literacy model.
May-June: Organized and cosponsored the US Speaking Tour of Dr. Norma Luisa Vasallo Barrueta, chair of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Department at the University of Havana. She visited and lectured at 3 institutions of higher education (Berea College, Purdue University and California State University-Chico), and presented at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Conference in NY.
May 26: Organized and cosponsored the Lesbians and Allies Project Forum, a Cuban women's panel on "The LGBT Campaign Against Gender Violence in Cuba," Center for Cuban Studies, New York, NY.
May 28-May 30: Participated in the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Conference with five panels that featured Collaboration members.
May 26-July 15: Organized and cosponsored the US Speaking Tour of Cuban lesbian activist, Isel Calzadilla Acosta. Beginning in NY with a community forum and a presentation at the Latin American Studies Association Conference (LASA), Ms. Calzadilla's tour continued in 6 cities with events in Montana and Washington, including 23 community site visits and meetings, 3 LGBT Pride events, and a major July 5 protest rally at Westlake Center in Seattle in support of the end of the US economic blockade. Following the rally, Ms. Calzadilla joined the Pastors for Peace Caravan, traveling with them for 10 days and speaking in 8 additional West Coast cities.
June 22 and July 17: Did information tabling and signature gathering with petitions to Montana Senators Daines and Tester for normalization of US-Cuba relations at Cuban music events, co-sponsored with Gallatin Valley Friends of Cuba, Bozeman Public Library, Montana.
November
November 9: Hosted in Seattle a presentation and discussion: "Revolutionary Medicine: Public Health in Cuba" with Cuban visitor Enrique Beldarrain Chaple, MD, Professor at the National School of Public Health, and Chief of Research Department, Cuban National Information Center of Medical Sciences, Havana.
November 12 and 15: Organized and presented Cuban Film Festival 2016: Images of Cuba Engaging the World! as part of MSU's International Education Week hosted by the Bozeman Public Library and Montana State University-Bozeman. Events included film screenings and discussion with recent travelers to Cuba on film themes: Sharing Cuba's Health Care with the World, Gender and Sexual Rights in Cuba, Impacts of US Naval Base at Guantanamo, Sustainability and Eco-Tourism in Cuba, and Education as a Human Right in Cuba. Cosponsors include Gallatin Valley Friends of Cuba with support from MSU Colleges, Departments and Offices, Bozeman Library Foundation, Doc Fest, Bridges to Cuba LLC and Townshend's Tea House.
November 18-20: Four Collaboration members will participate with other US leaders in US-Cuba work at the NNOC (National Network on Cuba) fall planning meeting in Chicago.
AY 2016
Collaboration supported allies in various formats:
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Rallied our base through eNews to support the efforts of LAWG and others to lobby Congress about specific bills to end the blockade (April, July)
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Signatory to Open Letter to OAS Secretary General Almargo re: his interference in Venezuela (May)
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Participated as community partner for Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ) event, 10th Annual Strengthening Local Economies, Everywhere! Dinner (July)
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Rallied our base through eNews, joined national petition, and wrote Collaboration letter to the IRS in protest of IRS threats to IFCO/Pastors for Peace to withdraw their tax exempt status (Aug, Sept)
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Signatory to CEDAW task force letter sign-on letter to Secretaries of State regarding our concerns about possible suppressive tactics, particularly absent the Voting Rights Act (Oct)