|
Cuban women join anti-war campaig
BY ROSE ANA DUEÑAS—Special
for Granma International—
INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day was established some 100
years ago to fight for women’s rights in the context
of the broader struggle of the working class. Since
then, every year it is an opportunity to celebrate
victories and face the challenges that remain. This
year, the date is being marked by anti-war protests,
and the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) – with some
four million members – is joining in that campaign.
At the World
Social Forum in Venezuela last month, the “Women Say
No to War” mobilization was announced, organized by
the U.S. group CodePink Women for Peace and anti-war
activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son is among the more
than 2,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the
start of the invasion. The group set a goal of
collecting 100,000 signatures for a petition
demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops and
combatants from Iraq, and plan to deliver them on
March 8 at the White House, where an anti-war
protest will be held that day, as well as in other
U.S. cities.
According to
CodePink’s website, organizations in other countries
were doing the same, and anti-war actions were
planned for that day outside U.S. embassies and
other sites in Berlin, Germany; Cairo, Egypt,
Hyderabad, Pakistan; Lavelanet, France; Lismore,
Australia; London, England; Rome, Italy; Stockholm,
Sweden, and Wellington, New Zealand, among others.
In the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a group of
National Assembly deputies is leading the petition
campaign, and Deputy Cilia Flores said they expect
to collect “millions” of signatures, and deliver
them after a march on the U.S. embassy, according to
El Universal.
In Cuba, “we
have many achievements to celebrate; this has been
an important year for Cuban women,” affirmed Yolanda
Ferrer, general secretary of the FMC, citing
advances in the economy, the energy revolution, the
battle to end illegalities and corruption, and other
campaigns to strengthen the Revolution that are part
of the Battle of Ideas.
At the same
time, Cuban women are speaking out against the war,
and the FMC has sent a message to sister
organizations around the world urging them to join
in the U.S. activists’ campaign, Ferrer noted.
Moreover, in
the struggle against imperialism and war, “we must
reiterate our condemnation of the permanent
genocidal U.S. aggression against Cuba,” and protest
the blockade, terrorist actions, unjust imprisonment
of the five Cuban anti-terrorists, and the failure
to convict Posada Carriles, Ferrer affirmed.
In Cuba’s
case, the collection of signatures will be a
symbolic one, representing the FMC membership and
Cuban women in general, she explained, and tens of
thousands of women are expected to sign their names
under the title “Cuban Women Against Terrorism and
War” during local meetings in every municipality
beginning March 1. These events will be videotaped
in order to share them with U.S. activists via
e-mail, along with a message of solidarity, and the
main event celebrating March 8 and protesting the
war will be held at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist
Tribunal, next to the U.S. Interests Section in
Havana.
At the same
time, women’s participation in Cuba’s
internationalist missions – from Venezuela to
Pakistan – will be celebrated as well. In health
services provided through these missions, women make
up 52.1% of Cuba’s doctors, and they comprise 57.2%
of all Cuban internationalists.
At the
close of this edition, it was learned that Sheehan
was arrested on charges of trespassing and resisting
arrest after trying to deliver signatures for the
anti-war petition at the offices of the U.S. mission
to the United Nations in New York.
|
