The Strabane branch of Sinn Féin’s youth wing, Ógra Shinn Féin this week launched a new mural situated at Meetinghouse Street in the town. The mural was erected by the Republican youth activists to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution which falls this year.Local spokesperson for the Republican youth movement Neno McFarland commented on the hard work put in to the mural by Ógra Shinn Féin activists;
“I would like to commend all activists who took the time out to work on this mural, which we have erected to show solidarity with the Cuban people at this time, as they celebrate the anniversary of the overthrowing of the ‘Batista’ dictatorship in 1959”
“2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Half a century is really a short time in history but for the Cuban people this time has been an intensive period of changes that have transformed their nation. From the status of a neo-colonial and undeveloped state, the social changes carried out by the revolutionary government during these 50 years have transformed Cuba into a truly independent nation.”
“Cuban people have undoubtedly suffered heavily because of US policies that aim to isolate the country internationally, including its criminal support of terrorist attacks on Cuba and its decades-long blockade. Still, an extraordinarily resilient and courageous society not only survives but also has the figures to prove it.”“We in Ógra Shinn Féin send solidarity greetings to our revolutionary comrades in Cuba during this milestone anniversary in their development as an independent nation. We believe as Che Guevara believed, that international solidarity can play a huge part in political struggle against injustice, as we have seen from difficult periods in our own country’s history, when nations rallied to support the Irish people in their fight for freedom. In terms of Cuba, this solidarity helps to break down the attempts of US imperialism to isolate them.”
4 comments:
Cuban law greatly limits freedom of expression, association and assembly. Anyone attempting to voice views, attend meetings, or form organizations that do not conform to government policy or state ideology is likely to be persecuted, the punishments ranging from harassment and loss of employment to imprisonment and beatings.
For this reason, in Cuba there are Thousands of which we know, probably many more of which we do not know, who are political prisoners and/or prisoners of conscience. Political prisoners are generally thought as individuals incarcerated for political reasons. Amnesty International defines prisoners of conscience specifically as "people who are imprisoned by reason of their political, religious, or other conscientiously held beliefs or by reason of their ethnic origin, sex, colour or language, provided they have not used or advocated violence" ("Cuba: Current prisoners of conscience must be released," AMR 25/36/99).
Cuban political prisoners and prisoners of conscience run the gamut of age, sex, and color. Some have been explicitly convicted for political reasons, such as "enemy propaganda" or "desacato," a vague legal term that can be translated as "contempt for authority." Others have been detained on fictional criminal charges to disguise the political motivations for their arrests.
The judicial system in Cuba has little in place to protect these individuals since lawyers are employed by the Cuban state and are often reluctant to question seriously the arguments put forth by prosecutors or the Department of State Security. Furthermore, lawyers are not always given adequate time to prepare a defense, or alternately, detainees are held for long periods of time without access to a lawyer and sometimes even pressured to sign incriminating documents.
¡VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
All of the above!
Youth wings of political parties often show us the 'mainstream' parties deep roots.
I am a Nationalist, and I support SF work in the devolved powersharing executive. But their communist ideals and objectives represent basket case politics.
Stiofán
The above 2 pieces have been very select in their criticism.
There is no mention of the oppressive blocade by the US on Cuba or the numerous attempts to overthrow and assisinate Castro.
There is also no mention of the 1st class Free Education and Health system that all Cuban citizens avail of.
Both systems are the envy of the supposed 1st world countries who have privatised and butchered health care.
Look at the state of the 26 County health system.
Cuba represents an inspirational, although not perfect, model of how we can achieve the impossible and set about re-organising gov to benefit all the people.
Viva Cuba!
Hasta la victorie siempre!
Joe
According to Spain's El Pais newspaper, the doctors -- who have first-hand knowledge of Castro's stomach condition -- said Castro had received questionable or even botched care at the hands of health experts on his communist-ruled island.
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