Movement Strategy Center Stands with Cuba, Haiti, and All Victims of Imperialism
On July 11th, for the first time in 62 years, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in Havana and other cities, calling for freedom, vaccines, and food. Since then, two dominating views have made headlines: one calling for US intervention and the other supporting the Cuban government and an end to the American trade embargo that continues to cause pain and suffering to the Cuban people.
The Cuban government-regime has shown solidarity with freedom fighters like Assata Shakur. At the same time, however, the powers that perpetuate violence and deprivation among their own and the media frames anyone exercising their rights to resist as chaotic and violent. Remember, it is Assata who said that “part of being revolutionary is creating a vision that is more humane.”
We condemn all state-sanctioned violence against protesters in Cuba and everywhere. That includes reports of the Cuban government shutting down access to the internet. We support on the ground movement leaders like @holagemeny who is working to replenish cellular minutes and data; the Friends of Caritas Cuba who have been working to feed Cubans in need for 20 years; and @cubanospalante, is working with organizers on the ground to deliver resources directly to Cubans.
Haiti, just a few hundred miles from Cuba, is reeling from the recent assassination of their President Jovenel Moise. The crisis has led to the calls for an American or international intervention that can infringe on Haitian sovereignty while echoing centuries of disastrous imperial intervention in the country. Many Haitians are fearful of the sort of military intervention that upends everyday life at home; and those seeking asylum in the United States are being deported or detained.
What if, instead of military force, the United States supports sustainable development in Haiti — whether among the business community or among farmers?
We at Movement Strategy Center urge our leaders here and abroad to lead with the needs and consent of the governed — in Cuba and in Haiti and elsewhere. We urge President Biden to lift the economic blockade in Cuba immediately. We also urge President Biden to put an immediate end to Title 42, a continuation of a Trump policy that adds suffering and insult to asylum seekers at our borders.
We stand in full solidarity with Cuban people and Haitian People; and those involved in recent uprisings in Venezuela and Colombia. These struggles — for fair representation, for ancestral land, for basic human rights and equality, for an end to imperialistic policies — echo the works of the extended MSC family here at home: Black Lives Matter, the rights of women and immigrants, equality for BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ communities, and sovereignty for Indigenous people and their land. It is time for a vision that is more humane.