Journey to Cuba with Pastors for Peace

planning for the 2012 caravan

2011-12-30T17:01:00.000-08:00

it's been a couple of years since i participated on the caravan. although it's a ton of work with a distinct lack of (or uncomfortable) sleep, it's such an incredible adventure. in 2011 i went to the us/canada border to help send the caravanistas on their way, across the first of three international borders, and we were confronted with much resistance. it took several hours to get the van and caravanistas across, and in the process a friend and i (both former caravanistas) definitely caught caravan fever. we've made a pact to survive the 2012 journey, and today i bought a new sleeping pad (made in seattle) during the boxing week sales, in preparation for the adventure.

here's a video from the 2011 picnic at the peace arch park just south of vancouver, as the caravan prepared to cross into the usa:

Rev. Lucius Walker talks about his visit with Fidel Castro

2009-09-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

BC Throne speech signals uncertainty for health care

2009-08-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

(photo: despite a 48 year economic embargo, Cuba continues to put health care on the top of their priority list.)

August 25, 2009

The Hospital Employees' Union says today's Throne Speech offers little comfort to B.C. families and communities who need to know that quality and accessible health care will be available even in tough economic times.

The government’s promise to protect health care has already been badly compromised by its direction to health authorities to make more than $300 million in spending cuts to critical services including seniors’ care, community health programs, surgeries and diagnostic procedures.

"British Columbians are looking to government to ensure that health care and other vital public services are protected, especially when their own economic security is at risk,” says HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy.

“But government’s actions so far this summer and the message in today’s throne speech provide little reassurance to families and communities.”

Darcy says a planned review of health authority spending and operations will fail if its chief objective is to pave the way for further cuts.

“Our health care system is already stretched to capacity. Further cuts to front-line services and staff would be a costly mistake,” says Darcy.

“A rushed review to meet budget pressures is doomed to fail patients and cost taxpayers more in the long run. Careful planning and consultation with front-line staff is key to finding better ways to deliver services to the public.”

In response to the government’s re-announcement of a public sector wage freeze, HEU says that the province’s fiscal situation must be balanced against the reality of ongoing retention and recruitment issues.

For many health professionals represented by HEU, like Licensed Practical Nurses, wages are no longer competitive with those in neighbouring provinces and do not reflect increased training requirements and expanded responsibilities.

“Government has acknowledged that we need to rejuvenate the ranks in health care and other parts of the public sector in the face of an aging workforce,” says Darcy.

“Our union is committed to working with government at the bargaining table and in other venues to make sure that British Columbians continue to have access to skilled and experienced health care workers in the future.”

Caravanista Jerry's Awesome Photos!

2009-08-26T09:03:00.001-07:00

Click here to see Jerry's really beautiful photos from this year's Cuba journey.

Dear 09 Cuba Caravanistas:)

2009-08-23T12:51:00.001-07:00

It was a pleasure to travel, work and learn with you in Texas, Mexico and Cuba. I hope you have all returned safely home or are enjoying your return travels if not yet home. I have uploaded the bulk of the 3,400+ pics I took during our two weeks together into 12 MobileMe galleries (see links below). I have only deleted a few images that were private or potentially embarrassing. Otherwise you get to see my unedited pics (good, bad and ugly).

I am happy to share these with you as I know that many of you did not have cameras or that your cameras had problems. Sorry if I got in the way of your shots and hopefully the images I captured can replace ones you lost for one reason or another. Feel free to use these for Facebook, presentations, etc. All that I ask is that you give me credit as the photographer (Blake H. Schmidt) WHEREVER you use my photos and please DO NOT sell my photos. If someone is interested in them please let me know.

Each original (RAW) image I took was 8-10 MB. The ones you can copy are about 1/10th the size but still good quality JPEGs. If for some reason you need larger/higher quality copies of selected images please contact me.

Have a great rest of the summer and best to you and yours.

Blake

P.S. You can find me on Facebook as Blake Howell Schmidt. My other contact info is below:)

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HARLEM-BASED PASTOR MEETS WITH CUBAN LEADERS RAUL AND FIDEL CASTRO

2009-08-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

MEDIA ADVISORY

August 12, 2009 — for immediate release
Contact: Lucia Bruno (212) 926-5757, (347) 426-4330
Ellen Bernstein (646) 319-5902

ON EVE OF 83RD BIRTHDAY, FIRST PUBLIC PHOTOS OF FIDEL SINCE FEBRUARY 2009

Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., founder and executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, had the unusual opportunity to have extended meetings with Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz and with ex-President Fidel Castro Ruz. The meetings took place when Rev. Walker was in Cuba recently with the 20th Pastors for Peace Caravan.

Rev. Walker indicated that he came away from these meetings with a renewed sense of the potential that exists for improving US/Cuba relations. "Both leaders made it clear that Cuba is ready for talks covering any and all points of interest to both parties” said Rev. Walker.

The 20th US/Cuba Friendshipment Caravan organized by IFCO/Pastors for Peace returned from Cuba last week. Its 130 participants successfully delivered 132 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Cuba.

Since 1992, Pastors for Peace caravans have delivered more than 3132 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. The aid includes hurricane reconstruction supplies, medical and educational equipment, computers, and school buses. Members of the 20th caravan visited Havana and several rural provinces, where they saw and participated in ongoing efforts to recover from the three hurricanes that hit Cuba in the summer of 2008.

Rev. Walker is available for interviews and appearances on talk shows.

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), which has been working for racial, social, and economic justice since 1967. Photos, video clips, and more information are available at www.pastorsforpeace.org

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE

A Comprehensive Links List

2009-08-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

here's a list of all the photos and videos i've uploaded from the 2009 caravan. for some reason the photos uploaded in reverse order, last to first. there's a lot more video that i'll be editing as time permits over the next while, i'll add the links to this edit. feel free to link to this site, to download and keep any of this stuff, or to pass the links along to friends.

i'm gonna put the 2009 caravan behind me now, and resume blogging at janinebandcroft.blogspot.com, as time permits.

hasta la victoria siempre!

Caravan Photos:

From Victoria BC to Seattle Washington

A free day in Seattle

Seattle to Missoula

Missoula Montana

Bozeman Montana

Pocatello Idaho

Salt Lake City Utah

Las Vegas Nevada

Pheonix Nevada

Silver City New Mexico

El Paso Texas

Preparations in McAllen Texas

Reynosa to Tampico - Crossing the border, hanging out in Reynosa, driving to Tampico, unloading the 115 tons of humanitarian aid into shipping containers until the wee hours

Photos from Havana

Morning in Tampico, Arriving in Havana, Press Conference with medical students at Casa de la Amistad (audio file in the podcast section of RelativeNewz.ca), At the grad ceremony for ELAM (Latin American School of Medicine

Chatting with Cuban youth (audio file in the podcast section of RelativeNewz.ca), Lucius' Birthday at Casa de la Amistad / Hip Hop evening, Various photos of Havana, Lucius' Birthday at the William Carey Centre

Various Havana Photos - at ICAP, at the Salvadore Allende Health Centre, in hurricane bedraggled Old Havana, at the Biotech/GE centre (audio file in the podcast section of RelativeNewz.ca)

A morning at a Cuban Beach (in the neighbourhood where travelling dignitaries, business people, eye operation clients, and Chernobyl victim survivors stay or live) and a visit to an urban garden in Havana

Photos from the Province of Matanzas

Havana's Malecon, Greeted by the Communist Party, Sunday Church, on the beach, some of Veradero's all-inclusives, pulling weeds at an urban garden

Bay of Pigs (audio file in the podcast section of RelativeNewz.ca)

Leaving Havana via Canadian built airport (note Palestinian flag), Through Mexico, the Reverse Challenge crossing back into the USA

Videos

From 2008's Caravan Journey -- Eight Days in Cuba

Singing labour songs on the Ferry boat to the Canadian/USA border Peace Park

At the Canadian/USA border, singing a song written by the Raging Grannies

At the Canadian/USA border, Hasta Siempre

At the Canadian/USA border, my farewell

Caravan at Seattle Washington

In Montana, with former Caravanistas Susan and Bob

With the Brown Berets in Salt Lake City

Cuba/USA Solidarity Rally in Havana

Comida No Bombas !!!

Cuba / USA Solidarity Rally

2009-08-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

Catching up with photos etc ....

2009-08-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

i have collected a ton of audio, video, and photos. check here now and then for updates ... i have a newspaper to create, but i'll get all this cuba editing done as time permits.

click here for photos from reynosa to tampico, way a long time ago after we crossed the border into mexico.

click here to choose from audio files from various events in and around havana cuba.

click here for photos from havana.

To the Editor ....

2009-08-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

An AP article "Travellers Challenging Cuba Ban Return to U.S.," published in the NY Times on August 3rd, offers many insightful truths. It is illegal for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba; both the Venceremos Brigade and the IFCO Pastors for Peace have been challenging that ban for many years; and we were all able to return to the U.S. on August 3rd. The crossing was "without incident" for U.S. travellers, however three international travellers, who had broken no laws, were taken aside at the Reynosa border and threatened with deportation plus a lifetime travel ban to the United States.

International travellers routinely travel on the annual Pastors for Peace friendshipment caravan to show solidarity with their struggle to expose the injustices of this particular U.S. foreign policy. This is my second year working in that capacity. Last year's return crossing was without incident. This year I was isolated, threatened, and groped by a female border guard who insisted it was necessary - for safety and security.

I assured the border guard that I did not feel safe and secure, in a small room alone with her, all my possessions elsewhere, her hands touching my breasts and between my legs. She was concerned I might be carrying a weapon. I assured her we that we Canadians are not usually prone to violence, particularly those of us working for peace and justice. She didn't care. I learned later that my other Canadian friend, also a woman, and a male German Caravanista were treated similarly. We three comprised half of the international travellers returning to the U.S. after visiting Cuba.

Eventually we three were able to consult with Pastors for Peace representatives, and we signed the document that we had formerly been advised not to sign. It was this refusal that led to our interrogation and harrassment. While U.S. citizens respond "on advice of my attorney, I refuse to answer those questions," our response holds no merit since we are not entitled to the liberties offered by the fifth amendment.

My experiences crossing the U.S./ Mexican border on August 3rd were not "without incident." I would have preferred to have been barred from your nation for life rather than have a stranger's hands between my legs. My country does not deny me travel to Cuba, or anywhere else. Canadians comprise 50 per cent of the travellers who visit the beaches of Cuba each year, our dollar is valued more highly than the greenback, and as far as I know we are not subject to harrassment and intimidation from our government simply for chosing freely to travel to a small island nation determined to walk a different path.

Si se Puede. Yes we Can.

Janine Bandcroft

~~~~~~~~~~~

click here for the original ny times article

click here for an audio description of this incident (about half way through)

Preparing for Departure - Aug 1st

2009-08-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

lucius is telling us about july 26th and his opportunity to visit with raul and then fly to habana in his plane and meet fidel. he says fidel is in good health, that his mind is as sharp as ever, and he has a huge amount of respect and gratitude for the work of the caravanistas and ifco.

contrary to what some believe, neither fidel nor raul have any say in where that humanitarian aid is delivered on this island. it's collected from people in the united states, loaded onto a cuban ship in tampico, and then delivered to a central church in havana. there's a committee of people who distribute the aid to organizations who have submitted applications requesting things. the committee is comprised of community representatives, doctors, people who work with seniors or disabled folk. the medical aid obviously goes to hospitals and poli-clinics, as it's needed. the sports equipment goes to youth centres or schools. computers and other educational materials are priorized for organizations that work with disabled or otherwise disadvantaged children. this year there was a lot of paint, shovels, other construction equipment that will go to neighbourhoods trying to keep up with the damage inflicted by the annual storms.

and now alison is telling us about the construction brigade that worked on a housing project yesterday in marianao, a neighbourhood in havana. there were plans to have the construction brigade situated in pinar del rio for the duration of our time here, but that was cancelled because of the july 26th holiday. the cubans took time off for the holiday, and decided there weren't enough consecutive days to transport the caravanistas and organize that level of work. but the folks who signed up to work were able to contribute yesterday, and they're happy about that.

today a few of us went to a beach just outside of havana. it's the same beach i visited last year. i learned some more about the neighbouring community. there are still over 10,000 of the chernobyl victims living there. they were brought to cuba after the nuclear disaster for the purpose of healing. it's a lovely neighbourhood and houses are also available for international business travellers and dignitaries.

cubans are able to visit specific beach resorts for a certain number of days each year. i think it's 3 or 5 or something. the government (which is, truly, all of them) pays for that. everyone gets monthly ration cards which are used to provide the necessaries of life (food and water, and children and elders get free milk), and if they're working somewhere, they get a salary too. salaries aren't, as i had thought, equal across the board. i guess the special period (their first peak oil experience) necessitated some changes. they needed to encourage people into certain industries, so farmers became the highest paid people in the country. next is military and police enforcement, as i understand it. there are young police on the streets all the time, but unlike police where i live, these guys seem to be part of the community. they do carry billy clubs and small guns, and they can ask people to produce identification at any time, but their job is to maintain social order - unlike our police who spend far too much time hassling homeless people.

there are no homeless people in cuba, so police can instead be on the lookout for those provoking violence, or theives, or that sort of thing. houses are built collectively here. if you want to build a house, you talk to your cdr (committee for defense of the revolution) to help organize a work crew (comprised of your neighbours), and to attain the necessary materials. there's still a problem with housing in cuba, primarily because of the hurricanes that batter their shores on a consistent basis, plus their inability to buy any building materials from anywhere since the usa government forbids it. but i understand there is no homelessness at all here. there is community. a community of people who care so deeply about each other they'll defend their revolution and, even through their most difficult times, make sure everyone's got access to health and dental care and some place to lay their head at night. i've also heard, but forgot to get it affirmed from the cubans, that they own their own homes but they don't own the land the house is built on. people live in the homes their family own, so sometimes they're a bit crowded, and that's one reason there are always so many people outside - children and adults and teens gathering on the malecon or in the parks or on the sidewalks. i don't know how much to attribute it to the police, but i've never felt safer in my life.

one night my friend tom and i went for a walk along the malecon and into old havana. we heard some music and went inside a building to find a theatre with young hip hop musicians on a creatively adorned stage with large screens on either side projecting images of themselves. they might benefit from some public relations planning, showing something more entertaining and informative, but they seemed very popular with the crowd. we couldn't understand much of what they were saying, but they werre sure enthusiastic about it. we stayed for a few songs but it was hot and loud so we tried another place across the street where we also heard some music. we walked up a staircase that was propped up with wooden two by fours, i suppose because of storm damage. the building was beautiful, ornate, the damage was heart breaking. i felt it was appropriate to mourn all the architectural damage i witnessed, knowing that the cubans are primarily focussed on evacuating everyone so loss of life is very minimal. i don't think i've ever felt sorry for a building before. we sat on the balcony where, presusmably, people of material wealth were enjoying what some would call 'fine dining.' the young trio sang 'hasta siempre' (a song about che) at my request, and later accepted tips from their small audience - some of whom seemed reluctant to contribute. on our way home we again walked along the malecon and there was a huge street party with lots of teens and young adults. i followed tom as he wound his way through the crowd, it was like being at a house party, and i'm delighted to report that not a single one of them touched me. not at all. neither an intentional feel, nor an 'accidental' brush against me. there were cuban women who fought or otherwise aided the revolution - wilma castro (raul's relatively recently wife) among them was one of those, and she founded the federation of cuban women that strives for real equality. i would argue there's no safer place for women than cuba. and their birth rate isn't spiralling out of control, further evidence that education is the best form of birth control.

though they love their rum and beer, there's not a lot of drug or alcohol abuse in cuba, as far as i can gather. that might partly be because there aren't needles readily available (diabetics are very grateful to the pastors for peace and other groups who bring needles and insulin), but it might equally be because these people don't need to escape from a society that is primarily motivated by selfishness and greed, that will stand by while their friends suffer through a lifetime of poverty and then freeze or die unnecessarily from some simple and curable disease. rum and beer are readily available from various merchants all over town 24 hours a day, but never once did i see any obnoxious drunken behaviour. and amazingly, despite their challenging sewage conditions (again no doubt the consequence of the international blockade dictated by the usa government), no signs of public urination problems. it's okay to take a bottle of rum to the malecon or walk down the street with a can of beer. these are a civilized people who are considered intelligent and necessary individual components of a little revolution that continues to succeed despite all odds against it.

if only people knew.

Touring Old Havana

2009-07-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

yesterday afternoon we had some free time, so i enlisted gerry to provide a tour of habana viaja - old havana. little did i know what i was getting into .... the man is in his 60's, and i knew he was fit (plus he's vegan so i know he's healthy), but after wandering the streets with the ragged sidewalks for a few hours, i could no longer keep up with him. "i do this all the time," he told me. gerry's a retired college professor. i told him my adventures in walking or cycling are more about getting where i need to be rather than any sort of endurance training. and he walks fast .... he said that when he was walking his students through the streets of london, he would wear a brightly coloured hat so they'd be able to find him if he walked ahead of them.

i was absolutely exhausted by the time we got back to our hacienda, but i can say i've seen a fair chunk of downtown and old havana. it's perhaps not surprising that the area where the touristas visit is clean, painted, and under repair. they have garbage bins. the rest of havana is not quite so clinically unsullied, but it sure has character.

there are lots of people in cuba, on the streets visiting with each other, walking from place to place, riding in various forms of taxis or bicycle transportation or motorcycles or buses or cars. we saw a little shop selling herbs for medicine. we saw newspaper vendors, and learned that there was a front page article about us in two different newspapers yesterday. who knows how many others of those there have been - we've been too busy to buy a daily newspaper. we stopped for a beer (gerry tried one of the cuban colas) and gerry told me about the camera obscura in the building across the square. we saw the places where cubans trade their ration stamps for goods.

there weren't a lot of choices on the shelves. the embargo doesn't allow it. the embargo was designed the starve the cubans into submission. to encourage them to give up and just accept and embrace the corporate and militaristic and hedonistic takeover of their world, as is happening in the rest of the world, as was happening prior to their revolution. but these people don't want to be slaves. they acknowledge that there are flaws with their socialist system, but they are united in their struggle to be something other.

at the moment we're at the icap centre, visiting with relatives of the cuban five. the cuban five are imprisoned in united states jails because they dared to reveal anti-cuban terrorism in miami. there are images of the cuban five all over the place - on government buildings, in restaurants, museums, and shops. ariel's busy translating the many questions (actually, mostly comments about acts of solidarity in the usa and canada) from the audience. i asked him yesterday, when we were at the urban garden, if he'd received my emails. i'd written asking how they fared after last year's hurricanes. he said he had responded .... mysteriously, i didn't receive his response. there are a few other people whose emails are blockaded from my mailbox at islandnet.com. i've been working with their tech support people to determine where the problem originates, but it's not an easy task. and then there were those cuba files that were somehow hacked on my computer. those anti-cuban mafia guys really hold a grudge!!

we were up early this morning, had a quick breakfast (thankfully i brought instant oatmeal and tea, otherwise i'd be looking at bread ... no hotdogs or cheese for me) and then met up with the venceremos brigade for a rather huge and very impressive rally to express solidarity with cuba and the usa. there are about 150 of brigaderos, maybe more, and they're working on farms and doing reconstruction work. it's their 40th anniversary here, so it's definitely a big year for all - 20 years for the caravan, 40 years for venceremos, and 50 years of revolution. (venceremos means "we shall overcome")

a quick little essay from havana

2009-07-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

i had the brilliant idea of writing blog entries, putting them on my magic transfer stick along with a photo for each, and then heading over here to the havana libre hotel to upload them and update the blog. strangely, when i got here, i realized that none of the files i´d attempted to transfer are on my magic stick.

of course i´ll blame this, as i do everything else that messes up unusually, on the cia. or the agent 66 or whatever those folks in miami call themselves.

i´ve learned a ton, and am enjoying cuba even more than last year. most of that is documented in my blog entries, which i´ll update maybe before we leave, or which might have to wait until i get to texas. for now, i´ll summarize, in these 20 minutes, since it´s 3 pesos for 20 minutes, some of the highlights.

our visit to the provinces was awesome. i travelled to matanzas, to varadero, which is the tourist mecca for cubans and internationals. canadians comprise about 50 per cent of their travellers, and they give us a better rate on our dollar than my united states friends are getting on theirs. of course i´m teasing my caravanista friends about this incessantly. but in a polite canadian way.

we visited the bay of pigs, which is a couple hour drive from varadero. we learned a lot about the invasion, including the fact that of something like 1197 anti revolution fighters, bought and paid by the us government to invade cuba and attempt to establish an interim government quickly, within 72 hours, so that the usa could declare to the world a victory with support of the cuban people, in that propagandized way they function, of those 1197 or whatever the number is who were captured by castro´s government, only 5 were executed. the rest were treated for their wounds and traded to the usa for medicine. interesting, isn´t it, that now the usa holds 5 cubans who reported on anti cuban terrorists in the usa. i wonder if that´s their way of retaliating. apparently the 1192 mas o menos imperialist cubans who wanted to destroy the cuban revolution and were traded to miami have now formed anti cuban groups, including agent 66 or whatever they´re called.

we learned that the first line of defense at the bay of pigs were teachers, though fidel had troops stationed there and all over the island where he thought they might invade. the teachers told the defenders of the revolution, of which there were many, that the invasion had begun at the bay of pigs, and castro and his buddies stopped the imperialists in 66 hours. che guevara had been stationed at pinar del rio, and raul castro was in santa clara, in case the attack happened there. but fidel had guessed it would happen at the bay of pigs since the area´s surrounded by swamp land, wetlands, and he assumed that´d be where they´d land and try to set up their little government. he was right.

people love fidel. we attended the graduation of this year´s class from the latin american school of medicine. there were a number of usa citizens who graduated. those folks are here because lucius walker, and the pastors for peace, helped them get enrolled. the school was set up to help people from poor nations, in south american and africa, become doctors, but lucius and folks helped convince the cuban government that there is a desperate need for not for profit doctors in the usa. so those students, all who attend, are trained for free, are given free housing and food, and a stipend. the usa students who graduated thanked the cubans, especially fidel, for their generosity in allowing them to study here. they said those words through genuine tears of gratitude.

there´s so much people don´t know about cuba. this morning we were at a biotechnology centre and it was explained how cuba has developed vaccines, for example for meningitis. they can cure meningitis. they can also cure cretinism and other mental health impairments. the trick is to diagnose the babies early and then treat them. they´ve reduced hep c to almost zero and there are very few cases of hiv-aids.

last night i walked to old havana with a friend. we found a hip hop club, and also stopped for a brewski at an old hotel that was clearly hurricane damaged but where touristas were having dinner. an expensive dinner. we listened to a trio of very young musicians, there are so many musicians and dancers and artists here as kids are encouraged to study whatever it is they love to do. i requested they play hasta siempre. i love that song.

i love this revolution.

there are still things that concern me about the cuban revolution, such as the fact that cubans cannot travel off the island unless they have an invitation. so, at a public forum where this was explained to us, i invited all the cubans to canada i got the feeling, while in varadero, where tourists stay in fancy all inclusives and swim in the most beautiful ocean in the world, or certainly some of the best beaches anywhere, and fund the cuban health and education revolution, but i got the feeling that we weren´t eating much fruit where we were, even though a lot of fruit is in season right now, because it´s being redirected to the hotels. i learned later that banana crops were wiped out during the hurricanes, though, so that might be part of it too.

they do so many things really well, though. the health system is only the beginning of that. they have people who stand on the highway and organize hitchhikers with rides. the health system includes dental care. the people are intelligent, knowledgeable about the world and their place in it. they love the pastors for peace and understand that the usa citizens are not the government. lucius walker and a few of his staff were ushered to the very front row, in front of raul´s podium, to hear the july 26th speech and then lucius flew in raul´s plane. raul talked about the importance of agriculture, of creating even more of it to feed the people. they do eat too much meat, but they also do all organic and understand the importance of that. raul also mentioned the pastors for peace, and our 20 caravans that have offered so much help to the cubans over these decades. he said all that to over a hundred thousand people who went to listen to him speak, and also over the national television.

there´s so much bullshit about cuba and the castros. i love it here. i´m off, now, to visit old havana.

hasta la victoria siempre!

From Varadero, In the Province of Matanzas

2009-07-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

i'm being tortured. waking up and walking across the street to the beach for a swim before breakfast, then fitting another two or three in during our busy days - pulling weeds on an urban organic farm, visiting the museum of the battle of ideas, meeting with men and women who worked for, and continue to build, the peoples' revolution. today we're off to the bay of pigs - about a 2.5 hour bus ride from where we're staying.

most of us are staying in the casa del carino - the house of loving care - in veradero. some of the men are bunking in a church about a 20 minute walk away. the house was donated by a benevolent man, to be used as accomodation for groups like ours. it's literally across the street from one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet.

i'm sharing a room with 7 other women, who seem intent on maintaining a level of air conditioned cold that is intolerable to me. i joke with them - it's colder than a witches mitt, colder than a canadian winter, i didn't travel south so i can sleep under blankets, i do enough of that at home. some of them are willing to compromise, to set the air conditioner to 28. but i wake up in the night and it's set at 25 or, like last night, at 21, and someone has bug spray on them and it's getting in my nostrils and my lungs and my cells and i grab my yoga mat and my pillow and light blanket and go sleep outside on the picnic table where the natural weather is quite comfortable. i'm fairly good friends with the picnic table, after two nights there, it's under cover so as long as it doesn't storm like the first night i'll be alright. (the first night i got control of the air conditioner and now they're on to me so as quickly as i change it, the cuban woman on the bunk near the controls adjusts it to cold and i head for the picnic table.) it's not the most comfortable place to sleep, but i wake up to an amazing sunrise, change into my swim suit, and work out my body's kinks with a morning swim in the healing waters of the tropical sea. i might also note that my tinnitis has returned .... and i think i saw some chem trails ... maybe that's what causes the annoying ringing in my ears?

an aside: tom smith is telling us about their july 26th experience. he, ellen, jim, and lucius and reps from the venceremos brigade were up at 2, left by 3 am, and went to the airport. it's about a 55 minute flight to the city where the event was held, and there were thousands and thousands of people. lucius was ushered to strand in a place at the front of the speaker's podium. there was a choir to the right, and presidente raul stood right in front of the podium where lucius was. the sun began to rise, and the heat, but they endured and listened to speeches from the ministers and accomplishments they've made in the various provinces. there were also provinces that received awards for the work they had done, and the focus of the celebration this year was on the province that made the most progress after the devastating hurricanes of last year, rebuilding and restoring things to normal. most of the parents of the cuban five, who are currently imprisoned throughout the united states, were on board their plane.

jim told us that raul's main focus was about maintaining the goals of the revolution, the need to build a supply of water through dams, and encouraging the people to do this work. he said there's been enough thinking about hurricanes as something horrible, it's necessary to think of them as part of the norm and just get prepared for it. during the three hurricanes last year, which devastated over half a million homes, only 8 lives were lost because the cubans focus on preparedness and emergency training.

after it was all over, lucius disappeared and they learned later that he had flown back in the president's plane.

the president challenged the people to work harder. he apologized for the sun rising and the way people were positioned in front of it and if he could he'd turn the world around so they wouldn't have to suffer the morning heat. he talked about putting the land back into the hands of people, concerns about maintaining self sufficiency in food production.

end of aside.

thinking about cuba, this being my second time here and i'm able to build on my foundation of knowledge (this is such a different place, a different head space), but still i have a few concerns. i've spent a few days in varadero, the number one tourist destination in cuba. it's right up there with other world class destinations in the caribbean. there are 5 star hotels. the cubans are very intelligent. they know about the evils of capitalism, how it encourages greed, and their how to deal with tourist and tourism courses include an understanding that tips are to be shared, and some given back to the revolution to maintain a health care system for all. but still, it seems clear that cubans living in tourist areas are livin a slightly higher standard of life than others who do not have acces o tourist dollars.

on the way here lisa told us that this area was owned by wealthy united statesian families, and the mafia, and the beaches were all privatized. there was nothing in the way of reasonable accomodations for the people, who were treated as slaves and kept as peasants. after the revolution, money was diverted from havana to the rural areas so they could build houses and hospitals and develop their communities, rather than moving in droves to the cities which would no doubt have become ghettoized as they're unable to accomodate all of that. this is inspiring, and one clear example of why we love the revolution.

but here's a concern -- the cubans are big consumers of animals. there doesn't seem to be much awareness of the amount of energy and resources needed to produce animals as food. their imaginations seem stifled by these traditional (and oppressive and unhealthy) eating patterns. the attitude, the belief, that animals are destined for use by humans can be seen in some of the wild cats and dogs. many of those are well tended, in much better condition than their mexican counterparts, wandering freely. but occasionally we see emaciated dogs, diseased, barely holding on. maybe it's a judgement call, but i'm quite sure that people who don't see animals as food treat animals differently. in the tourist area of varadero there's an aquarium with trained dophins. that's one concern.

here's another one. we've had very little fresh fruit provided to us and i'm convinced that they're diverting fruit and other food production to those hotels. and other resources, like water and energy for air conditioners. sure, it's true that there's no gambling in the resorts, the cubans realize that gambling was responsible for the horrific conditions that existed prior to their revolution. and it's also true that the money they earn from the tourists and, presumably, from the partnered relationships they've established with other nations in building and maintaining thei hotels, offers some pay back. there's no doubt that the distribution of wealth does reach the people, in the form of education and an amazingly high standard of health care that includes preventive and dental maintenance. plus, they're sponsoring all those young students from all over the world, turning them into doctors at no personal expense. there are doctors in honduras where previously there were none (and those, since the coup, are concerned for their lives), there are doctors all over africa and south america and in the ghettos of the united states working in public health clinics. all those tourist doctors no doubt help fund that.

but .... everything comes with a price. as the revolution evolves and changes, will the cubans remain true to their core values? do they ask themselves "what would che do?" do they consider the vast amount of energy, food, and water diversion necessary to accomodate an ever increasing number of five star tourists? yesterday representatives from the tourism industry told us there are many plans for more hotels. we saw where a wetland is being destroyed to accomodated another marina. do they realize the reprecussions of damming rivers and flooding fields? if someone speaks against unmitigated growth of the tourist industry, would their concerns be heard? if they were able to organize a group of people to protest the damming of wild rivers, would they be greeted with police and imprisonment, as we are in canada? what would happen if they were to insist that the world change to meet cuban standards, rather than cuba changing to meet the world's standards, if they were to offer smaller and simpler accomodations, ecotourism for example?

we're passing through the city of cardinas, which can boast the only statue of a bicycle in the world. there are many bicycles there. our hostess, the macrobiotic woman whose name i don't recall, is telling us that the blockade, and the fall of the soviet union, resulted in a lot of bicycle riders during the special period when there was no oil available. the people became increasingly healthy, expanded their lung capacity. then, when oil became available again, many people got back in their cars. our hostess was one of those. i told myself i'd not drive my car everywhere, she said, but i do.

so i wonder .... will the cubans be able to curb the seemingly universal human greed component that kicks in when wealth is plentiful? will they know when to say enough is enough? or will they, like so many in the rest of their world, justify their use of the natural world for the purposes of selfish human consumption?

in some ways i'm living in paradise - for one more day until we return to havana. the sun and sea and tropical rains and greenery are magnificant. in other ways i'm being tortured - unable to sleep comfortably, and tormented inside at the idea of cuba promoting human health and comfort at the expense of the environment, the earth, and all her sentient creatures. but i'm not really in a position to comment on that. it's their revolution, and they'll evolve it however they collectively decide. and they do make great efforts, it seems, to hear each other's concerns. i just hope someone's voicing them.

Cuba 09 - July 26th the sounds of silence

2009-07-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

i realize that the sometimes near deafening tinnitis that afflicts me every day of my life in wifi/cell tower victoria, or indeed almost anywhere in north america, is absolutely non-existent here in cuba. prior to leaving i had intended on noticing the difference, since last year's visit left me with a feeling that the vibe around here affected me differently. but i hadn't paid particular attention to whether or not it was in fact an absolute silencing of the incessant humming that can drive me to near madness, or more of a quieting of the sound. turns out it's silence.

after dinner last night we experienced a truly tropical storm. we're staying very near the beach, and the claps of thunder were closer and louder than i think i've ever experienced. earlier in the day we had been introduced to the province by the municipal communist league. they told us about their hurricane preparedness, this being one of the regions hardest hit during the annual storms. they showed us a grid, with each house on every street clearly identified. it may sound big brotherish, but i'm sure there are folks with similar maps in every country in the world, and these maps are used (perhaps among other things, who knows) to track every single individual in the province. they know which houses are hurricane safe, which are in need of repairs. they have a plan that enables the people in less sturdy households to partner with other households, and some people are actually bussed to structures that can contain them. there's no katrinas here, he said. in the past four hurricanes they've not lost a single person in matanzas. i remember hearing, after the three major storms that hit this lovely little island last year, that the cubans lost half a million homes, but only a small number of people. maybe it was five. something like that. compare it to haiti, next door, which is ruled by a corporate military elite, where the people are considered nothing more than fodder for the sweatshop mills, where the same three storms took many many lives. in cuba, lives are actually worth something, and hurricane preparedness is something they take very seriously. our evening storm gave us an idea how powerful the earth really is, an even greater appreciation for this peoples' revolution.

my new caravanista friend nonkululaka asked me, on the bus ride to matanzas, whether i could live in cuba. i told her it isn't really up to me, it's up to the cubans and their government. but, she said, could you live here? i told her that my life in canada is dependent on being connected to internet, that i publish a newspaper and leaving all that would be difficult but, ultimately, yes, i could live here. if they'd let me. in fact, this might be just the place to write that book i've been contemplating ....

Cuba 09 - July 25th

2009-07-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

today's the day before the anniversary of the battle that marks the beginning of the cuban revolution. apparently it was not a successful battle for the revolutionaries, but it did galvanize the movement. january 1st is the official anniversary, for cubans. the chiapas zapatistas also sparked their revolution on new year's day, in the year of the nafta.

during the afternoon, yesterday, we were bussed to a theatre to witness the premiere screening of the documentary film that filmmakers catherine and america, who joined us last year in mcallen, were working on. it's titled 'people to people: pueblo a pueblo and the producer, consuela, a cuban woman produced the film with financial assistance from her government and icap (the instituto cubano para amistad con los pueblos - icap, an organization established to nurture friendship with foreign organizations). although consuela's team has been working on the film for many years, and there was a definite historical story told about the pastors for peace friendshipment caravans, there was a lot of film footage from last year in mcallen and shutting the border and crossing the border and loading the shipping containers in tampico.

lucius, the founders of pastors for peace, was celebrated a lot yesterday. he was given a bouquet of flowers at the film opening. he was on stage at the graduation ceremonies for the latin america school of medicine (we were invited to attend those after the film screening). and he was also invited to speak at the william carey centre celebrations last night.

for me, yesterday was exhausting. finally, the body wins. it's simply not possible for humans to continue without sleep endlessly, so i had to surrender last night and i missed out on some of the welcoming party. we were a little off schedule, dinner was a bit late, and i was washing some stuff in the sink and getting prepared for our adventure to the provinces while some lovely young people were singing on the outdoor stage. i assumed there'd be lots more such music through the night, since the folks staying at the martin luther king jr. weren't there yet, but as darkness fell the program proceeded with various speakers and music dispersed throughout and, as the president of the national assembly, ricardo alarcon, spoke ..... i just couldn't stay awake and quietly removed myself to my room and i'm sure i fell asleep even before my head hit the pillow.

i know we were told to do all we can to stay awake at all events, regardless of how tired we might be, but last night i reached a point where it simply wasn't possible. i really was interested in hearing about the cuban five, impressed that such a high ranking government official cares enough about political prisoners to actually tell the story so emphatically, to impress upon us the significance of their plight and to encourage us to do all we can to convince the usa government to set them free. now. i listened intently for about 20 minutes. (cubans seem to have much longer attention spans than the average north american and are, no doubt, inspired by fidel's lengthy sharing). this morning i joked with my companeros that there's something about politicians, even cuban ones, that put me to sleep. i would have stayed and listened if i could have, really i would have, but last night my body won. i slept, and now i feel great.

we're at the icap centre, listening to a representative speak about the history of cuban/american relations prior to departing for the provinces. i've managed to set myself up on a little table near a plug in, and diana is holding onto my recording device so i can record and write and listen. at this moment the icap representative is talking about guantanamo, that there's talk about the usa closing guantanamo prison but keeping the land. this does not serve cuba's sovereignty. she's making it clear that she does not feel animosity towards the united states citizens, she's lived there and has friends there, but she's not all that thrilled (to say the least) with the bullshit and propaganda about cuba, and the usa inspired blockade that messes up cuban trade opportunities with all other nations.

as the icap employees poured bottled water into little plastic glasses for us, honoured guests, i asked our representative to clarify the procedure by which cubans can travel to other nations. for example, i said, one of my raging granny friends (and i mentioned that only so it'd be clear this didn't come from some right wing lunatic) who works for peace and justice, she has a granddaughter and a son in law here. prior to leaving she told me how difficult it was, dealing with the cuban government, to bring her granddaughter to canada for a visit. an invitation was required from the cuban government, and then a bunch of paperwork and a lot of money. our rep was quick to defend her government's policy, perhaps because criticism is still, even after 50 years, not particularly encouraged, and attempted to turn the question around and blame the canadian government for the travel troubles. sure, our government is goofy right now, there's no doubt, but it still bothers me that cubans are not able to travel unless they have an invitation. how's the average cuban supposed to get an invitation? our representative is very informative, very passionate, but earlier, when asked about foreign investment and our concerns that cuba will become just like everywhere else, nothing's off the table, she said, from the cuban perspective regarding the normalization of cuban/american relations. there's nothing the cuban government won't talk about with the american government, there are no restrictions. let's build a walmart, she suggested, and then see how the cuban people feel about it. "hey, i like walmart," she said.

maybe next new year's, in 2010, as the world begins to witness (if they pay attention and check the interweb) the massive movement against the philosophically misaligned corporate olympic disaster that will be imposed on the people of british columbia (the theft and destruction of wilderness, the further colonization and division of indigenous cultures, the privatization of public services, the increasing homelessness etc ...) maybe next year we can begin a new, peaceful and non-violent peoples' revolution, without walmart, in our home on native land.

We´ve Arrived !!!!

2009-07-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

this year's airplane was significantly different from last year's -- bigger, newer, more spacious. but still russian. i guess some countries are not afraid to take the cuban pesos. consecutive days with little sleep sparked caravanista plans for IFCO (pastors for peace) airlines -- we'll travel on various routes, establsh affinity groups, and our motto will be "we don't care what you think." we're going to cuba.

we arrived around 4 am. the advantages of travelling in large groups was also discussed. imagine what fun it would be if we organized a hundred people each time we want to go to the market, or to a movie. it's just so much more entertaining and challenging to travel in groups of a hundred. individuality can be so expedient.

when we arrived we were greeted by many pastors for peace supporters. after a speedy pass through customs, an early morning press conference for the pastors staff, we found a few of translators we'd met last year and they guided us to the awaiting buses - brightly painted relics from previous caravans. some of us, destined for the william carey centre, boarded the spirit of humbolt - a rusty old school bus that woody had lovingly steered on the 2004 caravan. we heard stories of everything possible on the bus falling apart, of caravanistas holding a mirror out the window so that woody could see behind him.

at the centre staff were awake and kindly showed us our rooms - dormitories with bunks for women, and for men, and one of the men's rooms has bunks three high. for some reason two of the other places we had hoped to stay, to distribute our caravanista bodies and their earthly requests for sleep, food, and bathrooms, were unavailable so we're all assigned to the william carey centre downtown and the martin luther king jr. centre a short distance away in marianau. i'm happy to be close to downtown, even though it's a bit more crowded. this year i want to explore a bit on my own, to see old havana.

after a few hours sleep, an attempt about the vegan caravanistas who will appreciate comida sin los productos animales, and a shared breakfast of granola and soy milk that gerry and i brought to the island, we all boarded the old humboldt schoolbus destined for the casa de la amistad. this lovely heritage building and its surrounding gardens serves as a gathering place when all of us caravanistas need to be together. this morning we were witness to an international press conference. lucius explained about this, the 20th caravan, its cargo, answered questions about the border crossing and the journey, and then we moved on to a second press conference focussed on the graduation ceremonies of the latin american school of medicine that we'll be witnessing this afternoon.

two usa citizens from this year's graduating class spoke about their experiences. they both welled up with tears as they expressed their gratitute to the cuban people, and especially to fidel castro, who have made this opportunity available for them. these are women of african heritage who would not otherwise have had an opportunity to become healers. they are now destined to return to their neighbourhoods, to serve, as they say they learned from the cubans, to give without expecting anything in return. lucius walker and ifco helped facilitate this training opportunity. i didn't know of their involvement in the school until now .... these folks really are doing the work for its own sake, rather than for any reward or accolade. i'm very honoured to be here with them.

we moved outside to plant a cuban mahogany tree in the gardens of the friendship centre, to represent continued growth for the school, for the work of the pastors for peace. although, ultimately, it is hoped that the evil usa embargo will be lifted so that these people can have access to all the necessary hospital and healing equipment they require to fulfill their mission, outlined in the cuban constitution, to provide health care and education to all cuba people equally

From Tampico July 23 09

2009-07-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

(i'm at the tampico airport, waiting for our flight. the cubans did a very thorough search of our checked luggage, very different from last year. you can click here for photos from yesterday and loading the storage containers.)

(by the way, the pastors for peace want to buy roofing materials to help rebuild the half a million homes that were lost during last year's hurricanes. you can donate online - they want to buy the corrogated roofing supplies locally, in tampico - at pastorsforpeace.org.)

a few of us have braved the tropical heat and wandered to an internet cafe in tampico. they wont let me plug in, their keys are different, so i dont know where all the punctuation is, i cant upload photos, i've only got an hour, so ill make this quick and try again somewhere later.

our two border crossings, in the north, were pretty much without incident. but last night, after driving all day, we got to the docks in tampico around 9 pm and had to wait a couple of hours before theyd let us in to unload the buses.

the people were out in the streets, as is common here, kids playing, elders chatting, and there was much hoopla when we arrived. especially at woodys party bus where the hip hop was blaring and folks were dancing. the dock people took the names of all the people on each bus, reconfirmed the drivers about three times, took license plate numbers as many times, then photographed the license plates. armed military dudes showed up after an hour or so. we were instructed to remove license plates and cb radios from all the vehicles destined to cuba. and meanwhile, over the course of about 2 or 3 hours while all this was slowly unfolding, pastors representatives were negotiating our entry into the port.

for some reason, this year, the authorities didnt want to allow us entry. here is the story as i have heard it from some of the drivers and others. first they insisted that only the vehicles would be allowed in, and that they would transfer the aid to the storage bins themselves. of course this is unacceptable. we didnt haul all this stuff, 115 tons of it, across canada and the usa to simply hand it over to people we dont know and many of us dont trust. i was suspicious that a bomb could be planted, and attributed to the pastors. who knows what might go on. ive had my own cuba files hacked on my computer, theres a lot of frustrated hedonists out there who want cuba back. we were not going to give up those buses.

the next choice was to allow two people per bus into the dockyards to unload. this, too, is unacceptable. we would have been there all night. as it was, there were between 80 and 100 people unloading the gear and we didnt return to the hotel until 4 am.

strange and mysterious. they claim its because of the quote drug war. i think its because theyre diverting all their social spending, as are so many nations {except cuba] to the military and they need to find excuses to validate their priorities. i mean really ... the quote drug war [and we know the cia has been running drugs since at least vietnam if not earlier] isnt something new. but every few years these goofy power hungry government types need to prove their importance so they inflate an already tenuous situation and spark fear in the hearts of their citizens and send in the military and we are all supposed to thank the heavens and feel safer. meanwhile the kids are going without dental care and the sewers still arent capped and the waters are increasingly polluted ... but a bunch of kids in army fatigue get their paycheques and a pat on the back and the miltiary war economy continues to prosper. at the expense of everyone, and everthing, else.

one guy we talked to on the street last night told us that there had been a shoot out right where we were standing just the other night, that the military had captured some drug runners [i guess its common between tampico and reynosa] and shot them dead. another caravanista didnt believe him, but i wouldnt be surprised. there is no justice. people are targeted and shot, their drugs taken and sold on the streets. thats what i think happens. capitalism breeds such activities.

to end this on a positive note .... you can not believe the outpouring of support from the mexican peoples. they stood on the roadsides and waved and gave us peace signs. we saw them sparingly as we drove along the highway, but as drove through tampico to the docks i felt like we were in a parade. these arent the wealthy elite, of course, theyre the victims of patriarchy and the globalized war economy who understand that cuba is doing something different. that we are doing something different. that there is a better way.

(back at the hotel now, on the slow internet, will try and upload a photo or two ...)

Driving through Mexico - July 22nd

2009-07-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

i love looking out the window of this big blue bus and seeing the caravan of buses and trucks headed for tampico! we've worked hard to collect and transport all these goods for the cubans, and we've now got tampico sign posts on the side of the narrow two lane highway (that's under construction, to be expanded). the mexican labourers are smiling and waving and offering peace signs as we pass. they understand, so much more intently than those who have it all, or who have the opportunity of it all, or who are forced to look and yet are still denied it all, north of the border.

rick (our driver) suggests his country needs a new name. mexico is also known as the 'united states.' and we can't call it 'america,' because america is much larger than just the middle bit. he's suggesting 'kleptopia.' he says he's been promoting that for about 15 years. they'll need a new anthem, and a new flag.

we left early this morning, though much later than last year, after sleeping four to a room at the capri hotel in reynosa. i'm adjusted to 4-5 hours sleep, amazingly my body fell into the pattern before i left home. i guess it sensed the journey, and remembered last year. this year doesn't seem nearly as harsh. of course, it helps that i didn't fall ill this year. that's no fun at the best of times, and especially when on the road and without the usual comforts and herbs. so yesterday, after all those hours at the dockyard waiting for the mexican authorities to finish their work, i snuck a few quiet moments alone in our room, watched a colbert report i'd downloaded, caught a 20 minute nap, and headed out for dinner with more vegans than i've ever met in a random situation.

did i mention that there's a woman on the caravan who lives in the same town as stephen colbert? apparently he lives in a regular house, drives a regular car, and teaches sunday school at a catholic church. who knew?

we left so much later than last year because this year the mexican heffes wanted to keep the buses overnight at the border. we didn't have to navigate the narrow mexican streets with them, that was a good thing, but it's a long hot drive to tampico and leaving that much later means we'll be unloading the aid until the wee hours. luckily we don't fly until the afternoon so at least we'll get some sleep.

in reynosa last night, after a vegan dinner of frijoles, arroz, y guacamole (and a coronisata, a little tiny bottle of cerveza .. what's the point) my new friends and i wandered over to the zocalo where we sat and watched the commuity gather. people so often talk about places like mexico and south america in terms of mere finance, claiming they're 'poor,' but i rarely see family and friends gathering in the city square of any north american city after dinner, to just talk and let the kids run around freely. there's a price that just can't be put on community. thanks to capitalism, the preponderance of individualism at the expense of community building, and the corporate media that promotes fear and hysteria, we north americans are denied these simple acts of solidarity and friendship.

from the plaza we returned to the capri. i stopped in the restaurant and had a real sized beer and chatted with some caravanistas, then wandered up to the rooftop. last year there was a horrid stench up there, though the view of all the neighbourhood 7/11s (and there are many of them) almost made it worthwhile. this year there was a lovely evening breeze, a gathering of progressive minded young folk, some music, and a distinctive lack of sewer stench. i laid on my back and listened to their conversations and the music and looked at the stars and marvelled at this adventure i'm so delighted to be a tiny part of.

July 21st - At the Border

2009-07-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

photo: debra faulkner, a unitarian minister (originally from victoria, now living in toronto) leads our morning reflection the day of the border crossing.

it was somewhat anti-climactic on the usa side of the border with mexico .... homeland security (plenty of them) looked through various boxes on the many buses, and when they got to ours (the last one, the 'sweep'), they took a laptop. apparently they took a desktop computer from a different bus. that's it. they didn't check our passports, they didn't try to steal any huge amount of our stuff. they ran their big x-ray truck machine over our buses (we were standing in the corral so we wouldn't get fried), took the two computers, and let us go.

the mexican authorities sent in the army. kids in fatigue. they snapped on latex gloves - we feared cavity searches but all they wanted to do was look through the boxes of aid. this was after they asked us to leave the buses, one bus load at a time, and walk single file to the office to be processed. they were friendly and helpful, we got our transit visas, and walked back to the bus. our passports were returned to us as the next bus load walked single line to the admin building. then the inspection of the buses began. the latex gloved guys on the buses, the fellow with a wand like instrument that he used to scan the vehicles, the slave dogs instructed to sniff them.

bus loads of people and paperwork and inspections later, we are starting to load the vehicle that will take us into reynosa to our hotel. we were told that vehicle would be a bus, and that it would arrive in a half hour. that was a couple/few hours ago. a vehicle finally arrived, but it's not a bus, it's a small van. and a car and a truck. we're 120 people. it's gonna take a while. hurry up and wait - i learned that on last year's caravan.

our buses, filled with aid and the bulk of our personal luggage (except what we need for overnight in reynosa), will be held by the mexican authorities overnight. this actually saves us the worry of security for the aid, plus the hassle of parking the buses. we'll somehow be shipped back here in the morning to commence our day long journey to tampico where we'll load all this aid onto a cuban ship, and fly to cuba the following day.

while we were being processed, one busload at a time, the cuban ambassador to mexico arrived. he spoke to us, one of the caravanistas interpreted. he appreciates the work we've done to bring all of this to the cuban people, and they're very grateful. the united states has a beautiful history, except the last 50 years with the embargo. wait a minute ..... i couldn't possibly have heard that correctly. i asked a young bolivian/american afterwards and she said she'd have interpreted it differently. she'd have said the usa likes to tell people about its beautiful history. that makes more sense. and my african/american brothers and sisters agreed. there's not much about the history of the usa that's particularly beautiful. apparently the unofficial interpreter also missed the part where the ambassador said the blockade is an act of genocide against the cuban people. hmmm.

who knows when i'll be able to post this blog. maybe not until i return from cuba. i'll collect my writings, though, i still owe a chunk of change to the canadian government for this ability to write clearly and comprehensively, so i might as well make the most of it.

Viva Cuba !!!!

2009-07-20T18:34:00.001-07:00

one last post before i get the final chores accomplished in preparation for tomorrow ....

Onwards to Cuba ....

2009-07-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

Art Farquharson sings on the BC Ferry, July 5th, on our way to the Peace Arch park where this adventure began. We'll be crossing the big border tomorrow ... wish us luck, send us light, and check in again in early August when I'll have a chance to update after 10 days in Cuba 2009.

ellen shares a brief history of ifco and the pastors for peace

2009-07-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

you can see photos from today's press conference if you click here.

and there are photos from san antonio texas here. (note the 'beer scoop' that sandino is adeptly demonstrating -- the ultimate in couch potato paraphernalia.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

in 1960 something a national black conference took place in the usa. it brought people together from all over, and called for reparations for all the years of slavery. the reverend lucius walker jr. (founder of the pastors for peace, leaving tomorrow on its 20th caravan to cuba) chaired the conference.

as a result, the national anti-klan network, now known as the centre for democratic renewal, was formed. support for offered renewal projects in central america via a group called rains - relief for africans in need in the sechelles.

ifco began organizating delegations to central america in the 1980s and a central america information week. folks witnessed the liberation movement of central america, which was all about health care and education, and people who had been oppressed finding their dignity and transforming the government.

lucius was shot while leading a delegation in nicaragua on august 3, 1988, riding on a passenger ferry called the 'mission of peace.' the contras attacked, ronald reagans' 'freedom fighters' were on both sides of the river, shooting for about 10 minutes. people died, lucius' daughter witnessed it, 29 people were injured. lucius toook a bullet in one of his buttocks which, they say, taught him to turn the other cheek. lucius announced, the following day, the formation of the pastors for peace. he said the news story isn't about a minister being shot, it's about the oppression the guatemalans have to live with every day.

while pastors werre forming and beginning to organize, a hurricane hit and it was decided that big box trucks were required to help where needed - ellen estimates about 60 altogether.

the soviet union collapsed, and cuba lost 85% of its trade overnight. this changed things in cuba dramatically. congressman toricelli, where ellen lived, had his district reorganized to include a lot of cuban americans. they gave him $250,000 and he rewrote the united states' relationship with cuba. the toricelli law says not only can't cuba trade with the usa, they also can't buy stuff from any company that has any ownership connections to the usa. there's also a shipping penalty - any ship that touches a port in cuba is forbidden from docking in the usa for 180 days or they may have their ship confiscated. so cuba is forced to sail around the world to trade goods with friendly nations.

in 1996 the helms burton law was passed. ellen figures jesse helms was one of the most famous racists ever. he was allowed to be head of the foreign relations committee. his bill said that any goods containing components made in cuba cannot be bought by any foreign government.

the intention has been to destroy the revolution, to give it back to the mafia who ran a hedonistic gambling and prostitution empire. they just hate the thought that they've lost. even 50 years later, they just don't get it.

there are organizations who obtain licenses from the usa government, getting 'permission' to go to cuba. how paternalistic is that? "please, mr. government, i'd like to take supplies to the people in cuba who you're trying to kill." the pastors for peace have never asked for a license. it's just not their way. in fact, there's some sentiment that if all those other organizations hadn't asked for permission, had just lived their consciences and done the work that humanitarians ought to do, perhaps those licenses wouldn't exist anymore. perhaps the embargo wouldn't exist anymore. perhaps we'd be able to look at cuba, to study its constitution, to allow them to determine their own destiny - with or without our assistance, depending on what they might want from us. besides, ellen says, there are all kinds of complications with trying to get the licenses and then, upon returning to the land of the free, proving that you went and did what you intended to do, etc etc etc.

and the government brags about how it 'allows' goods and people to go to cuba. ellen was at a meeting where toricelli was speaking, and he said something about 'allowing' the pastors for peace to take aid to cuba. and ellen stood up and said 'excuse me, you beat us up when we tried!'

despite all their challenges, the cubans have not only thrived, they've prospered - in many ways. in ways that can't be measured by money.

FIESTA CUBANA - Victoria BC

2009-07-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

3:00pm Sunday,
July 26th
@ 1241 Balmoral

With this year's annual fiesta we will be celebrating the 50th year of the Cuba revolution with all of its accomplishments and examples. From having more doctors per capita than any other country and sharing them with so many other developing countries to having free education for all. We will have great food, live music, speakers, surprises with lots of fun for all.

Dinner served @ 5:00pm. Admission $12 (freed for kids 12 and under).
Sponsored by the Goods for Cuba Campaign

Please let us know if you can join us so we can cook accordingly.

In solidarity,
Randy Caravaggio
Goods for Cuba Campaign

PRESS CONFERENCE MONDAY: PASTORS FOR PEACE HEADING TO CUBA

2009-07-20T09:01:00.001-07:00

MEDIA ADVISORY

July 19, 2009 for immediate release
Contact: Ellen Bernstein, IFCO/Pastors for Peace 646/319-5902
IFCO in NYC: Lucia Bruno 212/926-5757, 347/423-4330

PASTORS FOR PEACE TO OBAMA:
‘TIME TO END THE BLOCKADE!'
‘FRIENDSHIPMENT' CARAVAN TO CUBA
TO CROSS BORDER JULY 21 IN NEW CHALLENGE TO US BLOCKADE

PRESS CONFERENCE: Monday July 20, 2009, 12:00 noon
Living Faith Center
Our Savior Lutheran Church
1105 W. Fern Ave
McAllen, TX 78501

130 volunteers from the US, Canada, and Europe will challenge the US economic blockade of Cuba when they cross the border from McAllen, Texas into Reynosa, Mexico on July 21. The members of the 20th US/Cuba Friendshipment Caravan will deliver 100 tons of aid to Cuba in a direct challenge to the inhumane blockade.

Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., founder and executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, and other members of the Pastors for Peace caravan will speak at a press conference on Monday, July 20, at 12:00 noon, in the parking lot of the Living Faith Center of Our Savior Lutheran Church, 1105 W. Fern Avenue, McAllen, TX.

"We are engaging in this act of civil disobedience to let the Obama administration and Congress know that the US economic blockade against Cuba is immoral, illegal, mean- spirited, counterproductive, and just plain dumb," said Rev. Walker.

Seven brightly painted schoolbuses filled with aid, two large box trucks (filled with aid collected by Cuban-Americans in Florida), and several smaller vehicles make up this year's caravan, which is carrying urgently needed construction supplies for victims of the three hurricanes that hit Cuba in the summer of 2008. Nearly 500,000 Cuban homes were damaged by the hurricanes.

The caravan stopped in 140 cities over the last two weeks. Every place the caravan stopped, the message was clear: ‘President Obama, it's time to end this blockade!'

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical agency that has been working for social, racial, and economic justice since 1967.

Photographs and additional information are available HERE

addendum: if you're a united statesian citizen, we'd really appreciate if you can

CALL THE WHITEHOUSE !!!

The 20th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba crosses the US/Mexican border on July 21st. We’d sure appreciate it if you’d show solidarity and support by calling the Whitehouse @ 202-456-1111 to say:

"My name is ___; I come from (city/state); I am a supporter of Pastors for Peace; I am calling to say that the US economic blockade of Cuba is immoral, illegal, mean-spirited, counterproductive, and just plain dumb. It's time to end the blockade of Cuba --and to free the Cuban Five and let the caravan cross July 21st."

Comments can ALSO be written to the White House at www.whitehouse.gov; or send a fax (please use recycled paper) to the White House: 202/456-2461.

catching up with photos and videos

2009-07-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Click here to see photos from McAllen Texas, where all the caravanistas have converged in preparation for our crossing into Mexico with over 100 tons of humanitarian aid destined for Cuba.

Click here for photos from El Paso Texas, where three buses met.

Click here to see a video with former caravanistas Susan and Bob in Montana

McAllen, Texas !!!

2009-07-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

we arrived in mcallen, texas, just in time to get checked in and signed up for sleeping quarters and make the rounds saying friendly hellos to our caravanista friends from previous years and fed (ample vegan options). and now it's orientation time ....

we're learning who the board of directors are and who the drivers are and which are from europe (germany and holland) and how many from canada (7) and which are the pastors and who's under 25 and who's on the caravan for the first time. the oldest caravanista is 76 and the youngest, for two years in a row, is the lovely jovanna. there's a contingent from seattle, brown berets from watsonville, and a bunch of individuals from various states across the union.

from what i can gather after a quick scan of the sign up sheets, there are two other vegans aside from gerry and i. we're movin' on up!!! and gerry and i have agreed to work different shifts in the kitchen so we can inform each other which are the really vegan choices.

we're being encouraged to think as a collective, after emerging from our various bus groups. we're gonna learn how to make decisions as a large group, how to be inclusive and respect each others' decisions, how to work together and get to know each other as we pull all the aid off the buses the next few days and re-sort and re-label it in spanish and english.

with one exception .... when we're crossing the border, challenging the usa government's starvation plan for cuba, we listen to the board of directors and the ifco staff. they're the ones threatened with the million dollar lawsuits, in and out of court on contempt charges .... so when it's time for those big important decisions, we listen and obey. we don't have to risk our own lives (if folks want to hunger strike, it's not required that everyone participate), but we do need to learn the best way to cross that border - both ways.

we're flying to cuba a day earlier than planned, so we've lost a day on the ground doing that work (which means we'll be working extra long days this weekend and monday), but we're flying early because we've been invited to attend the graduation ceremonies of cuba's latin american school of medicine. this is very exciting .... the school trains people from poor neighbourhoods all over the world. it's an inclusive and holistic methodology these folks learn, for free and with a living allowance included. the only catch is that the applicants must be otherwise unable to attend medical school (ie harvard), and they must return to their communities and serve their neighbours for a period of time (i think it's five years).

i've heard that cuba has more doctors per capita than anywhere else in the world, and they export doctors all over the planet. there were a thousand doctors ready to go, with backpacks containing medical supplies and their own food and water, after the new orleans hurricane. because they were cuban, george bush fuckhead denied them entry. he, i guess, preferred to let the blackwater goons just shoot them.

we're being reminded that the name of the organization is the interreligious foundation for community organizing, and the project is the pastors for peace caravans to cuba. there will be morning reflections, of an interfaith flavour. it's not about trying to convert people to any particular religion, we're told, it's not about converting the cubans. it's about seeing the blockade against cuba through a moral, rather than merely a political, lens. what kind of humans are we, if we continue to allow this denial of freedom (americans are denied an opportunity, by their own government, to visit cuba), if we don't speak out in protest of the imprisonment of the cuban 5 who found anti-cuban terrorists and are now serving life sentences because of it. who are we if we watch a 'war on terror' kill civilians around the globe, while anti-cuban terrorists (many miami based) run free.

one of the wives of the cuban five was recently denied a visit to her husband (who is in a usa prison because he was trying to protect his homeland from terrorist). she was told that news on the day of their anniversary. apparently the usa injustice committee pulls these sorts of pranks frequently. they hate that the cubans are creating a different world, that the hedonists lost the revolution.

back to logistics ..... there are affinity groups assigned by geographical region. this enables the process of democracy. one person will be assigned, from each group, to meet separately with the representative from the other groups. they'll take issues from caravanistas, ideas, concerns and collectively come up with solutions and bring those solutions back to the affinity groups and keep on doing that until we're all happy campers.

we're encouraged to provide our own plates, cups, bowls, and cutlery. ifco has bought their first and last stack of disposable plates (hurray!) so we're encouraged to be environmentalists and care for the earth and reduce and reuse. it turns out that about 40% of us are vegetarian/vegan (another hurray!).

there's plenty of work to do. there's security, there are kitchen shifts, there are buses to paint, recycling to organize, and there's all the aid that needs to be sorted and labelled.

they want a small media crew to organize - i suppose i'll involve myself in that again this year. it's amazing how little media we've had, though i've heard that fox ran something they taped while the caravan was in fresno, there was one newspaper that talked put a story about the cuban five on the front page, and wolf blitzer let a couple of men go at each other over the cuban five. there's been some local media, ellen spoke on a conservative radio station this morning. but where's democracy now? i wrote to them the other day ... whether they'll consider that 150 people defying the usa government on this 20th caravan to cuba in their 50th revolutionary year is newsworthy is anyone's guess. if enough people knew about cuba, realized that tax-paying citizens in the land of the free are forbidden from travelling there, i'm sure things would change rather quickly.

our work, this weekend, is in the details, and also in the big picture of what is right for the health of people and the planet.

El Paso

2009-07-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

It’s been a long, hot, dry day driving through the Texas desert from El Paso. We stopped for dinner in Sonora. Gerry is the other vegan on this journey, we met last year, and I was very happy to see him again this year. We tend to stick together at mealtimes. It’s a lot simpler for vegans to move in numbers. As with any minority group who dares travel against the mainstream current, we’re less likely to meet with oppression and resistance if we join together and form some sort of community to support each other during difficult times.

The menu in the little Mexican restaurant said, on its cover, that they cook with peanut oil. Great, Gerry said, and started munching on the fried taco chips and salsa we were offered while we scanned the menu. We sat at a table with four others, one somewhat vegetarian, the others omnivores, who listened as Gerry and I discussed whether the beans might be cooked in lard, and what our options were reduced to in this particular place. We politely asked the necessarily culinary questions, and ended up with a baked potato and guacamole each. Gerry promptly quit consuming the taco chips when it was discovered they were fried in lard. The refried beans also contained lard. We wondered what was left to be cooked with peanut oil?

During dinner, I was lured into a conversation when a comment was made about lard being that much cheaper than peanut oil. Is it really, I wondered aloud, when we consider the impact that the consumption of animal products has on the earth? This didn’t go over well.

But here’s the thing. I’m currently watching, helpless, as my beautiful British Columbia is transformed into a power project that will dam every river and forever end life as we know it for all wild and indigenous creatures in our province. I find myself increasingly unable to sit quietly (though we all know Canadians are intrinsically polite) as business as usual proceeds, even among some of the most progressive of our southern (mostly whacky) neighbours.

If you will, please take a moment to really seriously read an essay I researched and wrote a few months ago. As I ride on this bus filled with humanitarian aid, to be delivered to one of the most environmentally sustainable nations on the planet that is itself harassed because it dares to be different, through hour after hour and day after day of desert, I feel …… well, I feel desperate. And indescribably helpless. These otherwise wonderful people are going to be, albeit inadvertently, responsible for a change to British Columbia’s landscape the likes of which we’ve never seen, and from which we will never recover.

I wish I could just ignore this, or make something funny out of it, but it’s impossible. They refuse to consider that, by thinking of animals and their by-products as ‘food’ they’re entitled to, they’re not only contributing to unprecedented environmental devastation, but also an imperialist act which oppresses sentient creatures, in addition to an enormous personal health risk. Can we not evolve, we 7 billion earth inhabitants, starting with those in the privileged world who ought to know better? There’s no excuse – there are many diverse, delicious, and earth friendly non-animal food options readily available.

‘Nuff said. I will not be provoked into more head-banging discussions. I’ll sit quietly, with my gentle friend Gerry, and feel good about what I’m putting into my body.

Why Vegan?
By Janine Bandcroft

It was 1987, and I was a first year student at De Anza College in California when my environmental/social justice awakening began. Their Liberal Arts degree program got me thinking about evolution, ancient history, and the magical ecological processes of planet Earth. With other concerned students and supportive professors we launched the Green Future Club, hosted a Rainforest Awareness Week, and established an on-campus recycling project that exists to this day. I gave up my traditional Alberta raised, British parent influenced meat centred diet, learned to soak beans and spice tofu, and reveled in my new ‘direct action’ veggie lifestyle.

Years later, still studying, still living in poverty, I was searching for affordable accommodation in Victoria. I found an opportunity with a compromise attached – the animal rights occupant insisted on a vegan flat-mate. What the heck, I thought, it’s time for the next phase of my personal evolutionary growth. Who knew the rather enormous learning curve involved in living without any animal products at all! I’m now adept at reading labels, scanning websites for hidden animal products in products from soap to dental floss to beer and wine. I’ve never been physically healthier, or more spiritually self-satisfied.

As mainstream corporate culture catches up with the awareness that scientists and informed citizens have been broadcasting for years, decades, about our need to make more environmentally friendly lifestyle choices, I’m eternally grateful to those who helped me learn, and think, and live as gently as possible on this beautiful planet. I hope this story, and the information that follows, inspires you to consider ways you can live a healthier and environmentally gentler lifestyle – for the good of all.

Beyond Carbon … What’s Your Methane Footprint?

Though some continue to dispute it, the reality of the global climate crisis is now common knowledge. Phrases like ‘greenhouse gases’, and ‘carbon footprint’ are an integral part of our common lexicon. The discussion has shifted from whether we ought to act, to determining our best strategies. While mainstream discussions often focus on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, other environmentally minded folk are considering the impact of our collective methane (CH4) footprint.

Basic Methane Facts

Methane is the main component in natural gas, and can be burned as fuel for heating, cooking, and transportation. Because it’s commonly found throughout the solar system, NASA is considering methane as a potential rocket fuel.

Along with carbon dioxide, and some fluorinated gases, methane was an important part of the 2005 Kyoto Protocol discussion.1 Based on the amount of warming it causes, and the amount in the atmosphere, methane is considered the number two greenhouse gas.2 Over a hundred year time period, methane emissions have 25 times more impact on temperature than carbon dioxide emissions of the same mass.3”

Methane is produced by coalmining, landfills, decaying organic waste, and wastewater sludge, but animal agriculture is the number one source of emissions at 100 million tons per year.4 Interestingly, about 16% of the world’s annual methane emissions are the result of cow burps.5 As cows digest their food, microorganisms break down the fibers and other nutrients. Hydrogen and carbon dioxide are released, and bacteria transform these into methane, up to 100 gallons of it per cow per day. The cows get rid of it mainly by burping.6

Capturing livestock methane

Ranchers and feedlot owners across America are working to capture livestock methane. “Energy recovery from methane, where economically viable, is of considerable benefit to the environment.”7 A New Jersey landfill has been collecting methane since 2001 and currently generates about 13 megawatts of electricity, enough for about 13,000 homes for a year.8

In Argentina, researchers are managing cow burps by reducing grains, instead feeding alfalfa and other plants that are easier to digest. In an attempt to capture remaining cow burps, big red plastic tanks are strapped to the cow’s backs, with tubes connecting the tanks to the cows’ stomachs.9

Reducing your Methane Foodprint

Vegetarians, and especially vegans, sometimes marvel at the lengths people will go in order to protect their ‘right’ to consume animals. While methane capturing technology may prove useful in some instances, livestock methane can practically be eliminated with a simple paradigm shift – to a plant based diet.

In the 70s Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess distinguished between ‘shallow’ and ‘deep’ ecology. While shallow ecologists search for ‘environmentally friendly’ ways to live without significantly changing our often elaborate lifestyles, deep ecologists recognize the inherent value of all living beings and shape environmental policies accordingly. Deep ecologists “are motivated by love of nature as well as for humans. They recognize that we cannot go on with industrialism's ‘business as usual.’”10

There are many reasons, aside from reducing greenhouse gases, to consider a plant based diet

Leaders pledged, at the 1995 World Food Summit, to cut global hunger and extreme poverty in half by 201511 but, while world meat production has quadrupled in the past 50 years, approximately 840 million (about 14%) of earth’s human population are still undernourished.12 The fact is, there are currently 3.5 times more livestock than humans on the planet - about 21 billion livestock animals which are, every day, consuming grains and cereals that might be fed to humans.13 “In 1900 just over 10% of the total grain grown worldwide was fed to animals; by 1950 this figure had risen to over 20%; by the late 1990s it stood at around 45%.”14

While 1.5 billion people have no access to clean drinking water,15 about 70% of fresh water resources are diverted specifically for agriculture.16 According to Professor David Pimentel at Cornell University, 500 litres of water are needed to produce 1kg of potatoes, 900 litres per kg of wheat, 3,500 litres per kg of digestible chicken flesh and 100,000 litres for 1kg of beef.17

In addition to inadequate food distribution systems, current methods of global food production also play a significant role in the continuing global food crisis. The industrial world exports grain to ‘developing’ countries, where an “efficient, plant-based agricultural model is being replaced with intensive livestock rearing, which also pollutes the air and water and renders the once-fertile land dead and barren.”18

Health Considerations of a plant based diet

A Science Advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research reports "the vast majority of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other forms of degenerative illness can be prevented simply by adopting a plant-based diet.”19 We also know that the risk of death from heart disease for vegetarians is half that of non-vegetarians, and vegetarians have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, gallstones, kidney disease, obesity, and colon disease.20 And let’s not forget that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, first surfaced in England in 1986, with the most recent case in Canada reported in February 2008.21

It’s easy to attain all the necessary vitamins and minerals from a plant based diet. The Vegetarian Society of England reports “excess dietary protein may lead to health problems … one of the benefits of a vegetarian diet is that it contains adequate but not excessive protein … it would be very difficult to design a vegetarian diet that is short on protein.”22

Some vegans supplement their diets with vitamins and minerals including B12, iron, and calcium. There’s plenty of good information available about how to live a healthy vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, and lots of people, including professional athletes, are doing it.

Animal Rights Reasons to consider a plant based diet
John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and Healthy at 100, suggests it’s time to consider the impact of living alongside six billion others. “I just don't see any way that free range grass-fed beef can be anything other than a food for the privileged. It's just too resource intensive. If there were fewer of us, then I could see how it would work. But I can't turn my back on the literally billions of us who are hungry. …. We can't continue to exploit the Earth, we've got to protect it and preserve it.”23

George Monbiot, in a Guardian article titled Why vegans were right all along, concluded “as a meat-eater, I've long found it convenient to categorise veganism as a response to animal suffering or a health fad … it now seems plain that it's the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue. We stuff ourselves, and the poor get stuffed."24

Lee Hall, Legal Director with Friends of Animals, believes “the life of the vegetarian is direct action. It is direct action for environmental justice. It is direct action for global food security, and thus for world peace. It is direct action for the liberation of other animals. The vegetarian addresses the most urgent social justice issues, and works not at the branches, but at the roots.”25

Conclusion

A 2005 University of Chicago study, which examined both direct and indirect emissions gases (i.e., CO2 emissions due to fossil fuel combustion, and methane and nitrous oxide CO2-equivalent emissions due to animal-based food production), finds “a person consuming a mixed diet with the mean American caloric content and composition causes the emissions of 1,485 kg CO2-equivalent above the emissions associated with consuming the same number of calories, but from plant sources. Far from trivial, nationally this difference amounts to over 6% of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. We conclude by briefly addressing the public health safety of plant-based diets, and find no evidence for adverse effects.”26

From various perspectives, it’s clear that a plant based diet is healthier for individuals and for the planet overall. Of course there are those in unique circumstances who will disagree for various reasons, but the time is now to engage the dialogue, do the research, and consider that direct action to save the world is as close as your next meal.

Resources
1 http://www.alternate-energy-sources.com/kyoto-treaty.html
2 http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/25/co-2-gases-fuel-climate-fears
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane#cite_ref-4
4 http://earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm
5 Miller, G. Tyler. Sustaining the Earth: An Integrated Approach. U.S.A.: Thomson Advantage Books, 2007. 160. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane
6 http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0816/p13s01-sten.html
7 http://www.tva.gov/greenpowerswitch/landfill.htm
8 New Jersey Landfills Capture The Methane They Produce, Turn It Into Energy http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/27/new-jersey-landfills-capt_n_138076.html
9 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/cow-burps-climate.php
10 http://www.deepecology.org/movement.htm
11 FAO, 'The State of Food Insecurity in the World' 2002; republished at www.vegansociety.com/environment/land
12 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Agricultural Data 2002 www.fao.org; republished at www.vegansociety.com/environment/land
13 ibid.
14 Prof. V. Smil, 'Rationalizing Animal Food Production,' in Feeding the World: A Challenge for the 21st Century, MIT Press, London, 2000; republished at www.vegansociety.com/environment/land
15 www.blueplanetproject.net/documents/RTW_handbill.pdf
16 FAO, Review of agricultural water use per country www.fao.org/ag/agl/aglw/aquastat/water_use/index.stm; republished at www.vegansociety.com/environment/water
17 R. Goodland & D. Pimentel, 'Sustainability and Integrity in the Agriculture Sector,' Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation and Health, D. Pimentel, L. Westra, R. F. Noss (eds), Island Press, 2000; republished at www.vegansociety.com/environment/water
18 http://www.all-creatures.org/tytt/env-animalag.html
19 T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Senior Science Advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research; republished at madcowboy.com
20 Virginia Messina, coauthor of the American Dietetic Association position paper on vegetarian diets, Messina, Mark, and Messina, Virginia, The Dietician's Guide To Vegetarian Diets: Issues and Applications, Aspen Publishers, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1996, pg. 58; republished at madcowboy.com
21 www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23360165
22 www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html
23 http://www.healthyat100.org/display.asp?catid=6,28&pageid=168_live_where_our_ecological_footprint_is_lighter.
24 George Monbiot, "Why Vegans Were Right All Along," Guardian Unlimited, 24 Dec. 2002 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/dec/24/christmas.famine
25 “Bringing Social Justice to the Table” - http://www.dissidentvoice.org/July2004/Hall0727.htm
26 “Diet, Energy, and Global Warming” - geosci.uchicago.edu/~gidon/papers/nutri/nutriEI.pdf

and then there were three ...

2009-07-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

we're in el paso, listening to some local musicians sing traditional songs that were banned by the spanish imperialists. we're being hosted by the unitarians, and there are now three bus loads of us, so when we leave, at sunrise, we'll be a real caravan stopping in san antonio, and then mcallen.

there's one thing that's bugging me, that's been bugging me for some time ..... and it's a sign on our bus that says "silence is the voice of complicity." and i'm guilty.

but what am i to do? i realized, as soon as i saw our t-shirts, way back in seattle, that someone had screwed up. they're gildan shirts, the label says 'made in honduras.' and they're our main source of revenue for this journey. so after lisa offers her inspiring talk each night, and asks folks to consider that this yearly pilgrimage to cuba isn't an annual picnic but is part of a strategic and purposeful attempt to encourage 'the most powerful nation in the world' to put their big fat ego aside, admit they lost the freakin' revolution 50 years ago, and allow the good law abiding tax paying citizens of the land of the free an opportunity to travel to cuba so we can witness that there is indeed a different way to shape the world - perhaps not a perfect one, nor one we'd want to copy precisely, but something that offers health care and education and is difficult to forget once you've seen it. as lisa says, if cuba was really under the spell of the evil dictator as the evil capitalist greedheads claim it to be, every usa citizen would be offered a free ticket to go witness the evil. but they're not under that spell - they're doing something vastly different than anywhere else in the world, and the stupid and cruel usa government simply can't have its citizens witnessing it. and realizing they've been lied to. again. still.

so anyways, here we are, we caravanistas, travelling throughout the excited states of amnesia, with t-shirts made by gildan, one of the most evil canadian corporations who encouraged the canadian government and the rcmp to involve themselves in the first overtly imperialistic act, at least that i'm aware of. i know that there was canadian uranium, harvested by north saskatchewan indigenous peoples, in the bombs that blew up hiroshima and nagasaki, and that uranium is still exported to the usa under the guise of being needed for nuclear energy. i know we sold candu reactors during the korean war years. i know that we have troops trying to secure an oil pipeline in afghanistan, blowing up anyone - civillian or taliban - who gets in the way. but when our tax money was used to remove the democratically elected jean bertrand aristide from the small island nation of haiti, for the purposes of maintaining the lowest slave wages in the region (which dictates the slave wages for the rest of the sweatshop world), i swore i'd never support the gildan corporation ever again.

and there i was in seattle, looking at a gildan shirt with a 'made in honduras' label, on my way to visit a small island nation that also survived a revolution, but one that works in favour of the people rather than imprisoning them in a sweatshop labour camp. granted, the shirts are adorned with a lovely vancouver artist inspired design and it was printed in a union shop in nyc. but ... are we really gonna take these t-shirts to cuba??!!??

so part of me hopes the usa citizens would buy the shirts and there are none left over to take to the cubans. and part of me wants to make a lot of noise about it, about how we must walk the talk especially here, with the guidance of the reverend lucius walker who founded the pastors for peace after being shot by a bullet that the usa government, his government, bought - with his tax money. silence is complicity. and diplomacy, it's tough sometimes.

i'm assured, by the pastors for peace office, that they won't do the same thing next year.

aside: i'm not sure why the usa is considered 'the most powerful nation in the world.' they can't get an invite to my home, so what's so powerful about them? so what if they can blow everybody up. that's not power, that's cowardice. they can kill me, but they can't make me love them.

Silver City New Mexico

2009-07-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

i love silver city.

i told the folks last night, at the potluck in the back yard of william's solar powered home (he actually sells power back to the grid), that the reason i'm on the caravan is so i can visit this wonderful place again! carol, the woman who organizes our visit, made sure (as she did last year) that there's plenty of vegetarian food and vegan stuff too. she billeted us, two here, three there, one here .... so we slept well.

brianna and i stayed with rinda, the llama lady. she lives about 10 minutes out in the sticks (as we used to say in rural alberta) where there are more stars at night than i ever remember seeing. apparently we're several thousand feet above sea level, and when you look on the nasa photos this is one of the only dark sections in the united states.

rinda and brianna and i talked about the wisdom of using grey water rather than well water to flush toilets, about building south facing dwellings with lots of windows if you don't have solar like william does. we were up early to help feed the lovely gentle llama creatures, and then she dropped us at carol's for breakfast. there's soymilk! and fruit, and granola (some of it gluten free), sprouted bread and yoghurt and eggs for those who want that. carol's a wonderful hostess/organizer! we're just waiting for the others to emerge from their sleepy places. we've got a bit of time today because our next stop, el paso texas, isn't all that far away. it feels so good to sleep soundly, and have a relaxing morning in a rather more temperate zone than the deserts of arizona which are just scorching hot. they scare me, with their lack of water and their excessive heat. it just doesn't seem a natural place for humans to dwell.

i'm not sure what the weather is 'supposed' to be here today, but it looks like another dry day. (funny, that 'supposed' to be thing about describing weather, as if we humans can dictate what is best. in spanish weather is described as 'it makes rain,' or 'it makes sun,' as in 'hace lluvia,' or 'hace sol' - from the verb hacer - to do, or to make. as if there's something bigger than us humans that dictates what the weather's 'supposed' to be. which, of course, there is. and i'm not talking about the haarp weather control project). it's traditionally monsoon season int these parts, but they've had an exceptionally dry month which is of particular concern since they depend on the summer rains to get them through the winters. there are wildfires ablazing, unfortunately. as we drive through texas we'll see lots more desert, and heat.

people who complain about the rain, from the pacific northwest, ought to move here, or at least visit with eyes wide open. when i told rinda, last night, that folks where i'm from describe the rain as 'bad weather,' she was thunderstruck. i explained that i can commisserate, if the people are homeless and just trying to survive, but it perplexes me how housed people, who live in one of the greenest places on the planet, so persistently complain about the life affirming rains.

here are some more interesting links:

an el paso cuba caravan supporter's blog.

photos from silver city new mexico.

An environmental activist on B.C.’s central coast said Tuesday he has resorted to direct action to raise awareness of a consortium of U.S. and Canadian scientists planning to launch a massive seismic program aimed at unravelling the geologic secrets of the Coast Mountains.

The Doctor Who Became Public Enemy #1 - Robert Huish — THE MARK
By Robert Huish
After receiving a medical scholarship from Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine in 1999, Dr. Castillo returned to the Garifuna to build the clinic. Today, it provides affordable and accessible health-care services to 20000 people. ...

The Mark News - Thoughts Feed -

Catching up with audio/video and photos files ...

2009-07-15T08:16:00.001-07:00

Finally- a speedy internet connection! here are some audio/video files, and photos:

Click here for a couple of audio files with Lisa Valenti, who's been on all 20 caravans and has many stories!

Click here for a video with the Brown Berets at their Cooperative Garden in Salt Lake City

Click here for photos from Pheonix

Click here for photos of Salt Lake City

Click here for photos of Las Vegas

Click here for photos from Pocatello

water .... what is it good for ?

2009-07-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

they need our canadian water, these arizonans, though they probably don't know it.

they're the reason the evil bc liberals are looking to dam all of british columbia's beautiful wild rivers - further colonizing indigenous peoples' unceded territory and destroying natural habitat - for power export.

there are former enron employees working inside bc hydro, that's what i've heard, moving it towards privatization. like so many other publically built and own enterprises, there are plans to steal it from us and turn it into a big money making machine. big money for a few, environmental devastation for the rest of us. as a public resource it's been efficient, effective, affordable, accountable. we are on the brink of losing all of that. nafta, that nasty trade agreement brian mulroney shoved down our throats, contains a provision that we provide energy to our southern neighbours even before we meet our own needs.

the majority of canadians need to wake up before life as we know it is a distant memory and we're left freezing in our igloos.

i'm currently in pheonix, a huge city in the hot, dry desert. we left las vegas yesterdy morning and saw nothing but dry .... lovely, in its own way with joshua trees and saguarro cacti, but definitely dry. and hot. ice collected at a reststop was melted within minutes on our un-airconditioned old schoolbus. i wrapped my hands around my braided hair, and it felt hot. our bodies were sticking to the plastic seats, or leaving puddles on the futons. it was 117 according to a signpost in pheonix at dinnertime.

we were a bit late arriving in pheonix last night and, after waiting a half hour or so for our hosts to meet us at the rendezvous site, we were transported to a bahai centre where we were witness to the beautiful, and loud, drumming and dance mexica azteca. as with all other indigenous traditions i've witnessed including, no doubt, those i haven't (being buried under layers of colonization as they are in other parts of the world), these dances honour and respect the natural cycles. they connect us to the earth. they show reverence for the rain which gives us life, for the sun that enables growth, for the sustenance this magnificent planet provides. we were invited to the dance, a very rigorous awakening for our hot and tired and hungry bodies. afterwards, we feasted.

i consumed rice and beans, no doubt there'll be a lot more of that in the next few weeks, salad, and watermelon for dessert. others ate food with los productos animales. i couldn't help but think of the vast amount of resources, especially water, needed for that particular 'food' industry. thankfully, after all that honouring of the earth and her systems, i was able to consume my food from the $1 plastic piggie plate i bought during last year's journey after leaving my tupperware at a hosts's home, rather than having to use a paper plate. there's no telling how many paper and styrofoam cups are kept out of the landfills when people carry their own mugs, too. a part of me was confused -- what was all that dancing and honouring of earth really about? isn't it more significant if our dances and our lifestyle choices are more philosophically aligned?

but who am i to judge. i'm just a foreigner, a gringo, a fanatical environmentalist.

unfortunately, me and my obsession with using washable dishes, avoiding the creation of 'garbage' at every opportunity, and my love of rain, are an anomaly. it's difficult for me to ponder the lives of people here in the desert, driving their air conditioned cars and living in their air conditioned homes, purchasing consumer products with excessive packaging at walmart, swimming in their pools, golfing on their manicured courses, as if there's no such thing as global climate change. as if the endless consumption of the earth can continue forever. of course this sort of lifestyle choice is happening all over this nation and mine, and indeed all over the earth. but here in the desert it becomes very apparent just how unsustainable it all really is.

unless, of course, those bc private profiteers can fuel their independent power projects by channelling all our wild water into this vast desert ........

New Video: Huge Crowds Turn Out in Kootenays to Protect Wild Rivers!

Save Our Rivers Society presents a new 5-min video by Damien Gillis, documenting a big week in the battle against private river power in BC. See highlights from the recent Kaslo meeting where 1,100 spirited citizens showed up to rally and speak out for their wild rivers. At issue was Montreal-based Axor Group's plan to divert 5 rivers in the Purcell Wilderness, northeast of Kootenay Lake, for a 125-megawatt private power project - the largest such proposal in the region. The people of the Kootenays join British Columbians who have come out en masse to oppose projects on the Ashlu River, Upper Pitt River, in Bute Inlet, and elsewhere - showing citizens around BC how to mobilize to protect our rivers and public energy system.

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO

Requests for a meeting in the region's biggest city, Nelson, were denied by the company and government, leading to the huge turnout in Kaslo. But the public will get a chance to discuss the proposal in Nelson after all - local Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall will host a public meeting there on July 15 at 7pm at the Prestige Inn, 1301 Front St. Click here for more info.

Also read Rafe Mair's Tyee article on the Kaslo meeting.

Salt Lake City

2009-07-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

it's 6:15 am in las vegas, and the internal fan on my computer is whirring. no doubt it'll be another 100+ degree day in the desert. as we drove here yesterday, from salt lake city where the surroundings are greener than usual for this time of year because of some lovely extra rainfall they received this spring (global climate change works in mysterious ways), we pondered whose idea it was to build - not just any city, but this city - in the middle of the desert. we know the mafia was involved, and some of the same ones who were kicked out of cuba. there's a certain sense of irony bringing the caravan to here, the anti-thesis of cuba, what cuba would likely be if no for their revolution.

lisa spoke most eloquently again last night about that place and the small crowd agreed - it's a violation of their basic human rights that americans are unable to travel there. i had spoken with lisa on the bus about the many wonderful canadians i know who visit, and then return year after year, all who told me they take an extra suitcase with gifts for our socialist cousins. those don't sound like the canadians i meet on the airplanes, lisa said. she visits cuba often, with her sister cities project, and has encountered those who, i suppose, measure success in terms of material aid. they stay in the all inclusives, and don't know that cuba has the highest literacy rate in the western world, one of the lowest infant mortality rates, that they ship doctors all over the world, many of whom are foreigners schooled at the latin america school of medicine. there are currently 100 americans studying to be holistic doctors, each receiving a free education plus a stipend, on the agreement that they return to the poor neighbourhoods they're from and help their brothers and sisters there.

we're off to pheonix today.

click here to hear a short segment abour our journey, and a lot more of interest from dahr jamail and robert party, on chris cook's gorilla radio show yesterday.

the brown berets of salt lake city

2009-07-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

they're even more impressive than they were last year, if that's possible.

they met our bus at the designated place and time - the mestizo coffee house, owned by chicano artist ruby chacon who offers up a lovely meeting room at no charge. they took us to see the community permaculture organic garden they're creating in collaboration with a non-profit organization called tree utah. we sampled the dill, the currants, the peas, the apricosts. then they took us home and fed us - there were rice and beans which was great for me, and burritos with cheese that others enjoyed. i watched part of a latin american soccer match that only happens every four years. mexico and guadalupe were playing, in pheonix. now we're back at the mestizo learning about the brown berets, and the caravan to cuba.

the brown berets are very cool -- they're young, they're hip, they care, and they're making change!!! these folks are proud to be indigenous peoples of north america, turtle island. they're reaching back to their agrarian ancestral roots, teaching kids how to grow their own food and be proud of their culture. and they're doing this in a rather conservative zone. there's definitely hope for the future.

Click here for photos .....

Click here to hear what Lisa had to say to the Brown Berets of Salt Lake City ....

Someday soon you'll be able to click here and see a short video of the Brown Beret/Tree Utah permaculture garden (not sure why uploading videos and is so time consuming here in Middle America).

Pocatello, Idaho to Salt Lake City, Utah

2009-07-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

nearing salt lake city

i can see the temple off the left side of the bus. this is mormon territory. lds, as they're called - latter day saints. apparently part of their belief is about preparedness, and all mormons are required to have a year's worth of supplies in the event of .... whatever it is they're waiting for. the return of jesus? no, that's those other guys. a year's worth of food, water, guns and ammo .... wait a minute, if you have guns and ammo, surely you can get the other stuff easily enough.

i shouldn't be so crass. it's just that, although i'm enamoured with the work of the pastors for peace, i'm not here as a representative of any particular faith. although i do appreciate the quiet contemplative way of the quakers. and i can relate with some of indigenous spirituality, and some wicca. i appreciate that i can be a part of this group, and do this work, without being forced into any particular doctrine of belief. as lisa mentioned last night when we were talking with the pocatello unitarians, we're not a cult. people go into this thing knowing full well what they're getting themselves into. we're from various socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds, some people steeped in the tradition of faith, some not. what unites us is a curiousity about, and a love for, cuba. the cuban people and their revolusion. their struggle to create an economic and social alternative to global corporate capitalism. the strength of their belief, their endurance, their intelligence, their compassion.

all 'blasphemous' comments aside, i am very grateful for the unitarians who host and support us along the way. although we don't believe in the same 'god' (i'm still searching for a word to describe what i believe in, being unwilling to twist my head around re-defining that ancient meaning-filled word every time i hear it), these people are willing to host us in many cities across these the inflated states of erratica - feeding us, letting us use their showers and laundry, offering a piece of their floor or their spare room or their couch. all kidding aside, we're very thankful for that.

it's raining a little bit, as we approach the city that borders the great salt lake. the hills between here and pocatello are decidedly greener than they were last year. don, our poca host, explained it's been a very wet and cold spring which is tough on some of the farmers who aren't used to it, but i sure feel better being surrounded by some green. i couldn't live in the desert, with its lack of water .... it'd scare me.

it was a good drive. rick is a terrific driver, though i'll confess to a white knuckle moment when we were approaching 70 mph on that downward hill.

in the pocatello kitchen last night, after the potluck (i had cole slaw salad and cherries and grapes), i listened to two men air their concerns about a phospherous mine to the south of the town as dishes were washed and dried. apparently it's starting to leach selenium, and that's having some impact on livestock in the area. phospherous is used primarily in chemical pesticides, also in toothpaste and clothing. i'm sure we can figure out something else to use in toothpaste and clothing. it's really just another good reason to support organic agriculture.

Click here for photos ......

Montana to Idaho

2009-07-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

photos and video soon ..... the connection from pocatello is really slow so it might have to wait .... some photos here ....

over a rice & beans dinner, with fresh organic salad from the garden, susan and bob told me about their experiences with cuba and the caravan. bob drove the very first caravan, into nicaragua. susan was formerly a clinical social worker, helping mental health patients define themselves as something other than 'schizophrenic' or whatever they'd been labelled. she told me about a visit to havana's mental health facility.

they were greeted by an orchestra, which was clearly comprised of both workers and patients, though it wasn't clear which were whom. one of the first things fidel and the revolutionaries did, susan told me, was transform this institutionalized place into a facility where people could find their talents and express themselves. inside, she witnessed people with various mental health concerns displaying their artwork, or practicing ballet. at the end of their visit they were treated to a music and dance performance.

we talked about how different the cuban approach is from ours in north america, where patients are (essentially) labelled, medicated, and put in front of a television.

but we don't live in a society that was created by a people's uprising. we live in a society that was established by the elite, for themselves and their wealthy friends. they were never concerned about the less fortunate, those people just get in the way. in our north america, people who are poor, or infirm, or mentally challenged are problems to be dealt with by making them as invisible as possible. our society is not about caring for every single individual, providing them with the tools necessary to become fully functioning creative citizens.

we agreed that che would be pleased with cuba's health care system, though we're not sure how he'd feel about being a rock star - his face pasted onto t-shirts that are sold in the private/public partnership all inclusive hotels on the beaches.

the next day ...

i awoke at 4am in my futon room, likely the last private room i'll see for a while, from dreams/nightmares about missing the connection in pocatello, and witnessing an airplane that almost crash landed after being swept onto its side by a strong wind. i think it's because i'm reading margaret atwood's "bodily harm," and connected with the character's idea that airplanes are really just impossibly heavy pieces of machinery that only achieve flight because of the determination of their passengers. any loss of faith and the things wouldn't fly. plus, it won't be long before i'm aboard an old russian air cubana flight.

susan created a magnificent oatmeal and dried fruit breakfast, reaching for dishes from the beautiful douglas fir cupboards that bob built (and yes, we talked about sustainable logging rather than the devastation of clearcutting and shipping raw logs) and we loaded bella the dog into the car and headed for the mountains and beyond. i listened to many stories about the caravans, bob having driven point on the very first caravan to cuba, and we continued the previous night's conversations of activism and politics and what a whacky world it is and how can we possibly manifest some significant change.

After Missoula, Bozeman

2009-07-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

there weren't a lot of people at the event last night in missoula, but they were sure an interesting bunch. one woman, a professor at the u of montana, had travelled to cuba to research water systems in 2004. they took an informal survey of a significant cross section of citizens, from peasant farmers to urban dwellers, asking them if they knew where their water supply is sourced, and how their sewage is treated. the cubans, vicki discovered, are remarkably aware of their water sources ... moreso than their american counterparts, she said.

missoula's water was previously supplied by the clark fork river, until they discovered giardia, and now they depend on underground aquifers.

last night's event was held at the jeannette rankin peace centre in missoula. jeannette was a woman congressperson who advocated for peace, and she commissioned this painting of sacajawea.

today on the bus i sat next to a young university student travelling to butte for their weekend folk festival. he told me a lot about montana - he grew up on 5 acres and has worked several summers with his dad commercial salmon fishing in alaska. apparently there was at least one salmon stream that ended in montana until recent years. although the returning salmon were able to maneouver up the ladders, the new borns had a much more difficult time trying to traverse the dams and find their way to the ocean. it's incredible to think that salmon spawned this far inland. and sad to realize they will no more.

my friend told me about hiking in glacier park, that some of the oldest fossils on earth are found there, from the pre-cambrian era. he said local agricultural practices are draining the aquifers. and here in butte they moved a mountain for a mining project. he told me a story about a dog who somehow managed to get into the highly toxic abandoned mine area, i think he said it's called the berkeley pit, and actually adapted. maybe it's an urban myth, but the story says that efforts to rescue the dog failed when they realized that the dog was so highly adapted to the otherwise devastating environment that removing it would for sure result in its death. so the dog lived in the pit until it eventually died, and then a monument was constructed to immortalize it.

i also learned that the continental divide, which i can see from the greyhound station here in butte where we have a half hour rest, was intended to be the border with idaho. but someone drew the wrong line on the map, and idaho's border is a long ways from here - i'd estimate about 6 hours west.

next stop - bozeman.

bob and susan met on the 04 caravan. they've built a beautiful home, and so far are gracious hosts, as have all the cuba supporters been. it's a special bunch, these who care about that small island nation, and i feel honoured to be among them.

Click here for photos - Missoula to Bozeman

Upcoming Caravan Events ....

2009-07-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

In Pocatello, Idaho:

Saturday, July 11, 2009

6 pm: Potluck followed by program provided by Cuba caravan.

Potluck jointly hosted by Pocatello Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship and First Congregational United Church of Christ

Sunday, July 12
10 am: Worship service at First Congregational United Church of Christ

All events at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 309 North
Garfield Avenue, Pocatello, Idaho 83204

Contacts: Don Allen 208-220-1736, alledone@gmail.com (PUUF)
Mike Adams 425-501-3526 (UCC)

In Las Vegas, Nevada:

CARAVAN EVENT:

Date/Time: July 13th /6:30 p.m.
UU (Unitarian) Congregation of Las Vegas 3616
E. Lake Mead Blvd, Las Vegas NV 89115

Food: Potluck at 6:30 p.m. (Will include vegetarian meals)

Entertainment: Documentary about Cuba.

Program as close to 7:00 p.m. as possible. Speaker followed by discussion and signing letters to our congresspersons and senators to pass bills for lifting blockade for families etc.

Event Contact Information:

Name: Laurrie Bullock Phone: 702-325-1947
Email: laurrie.bullock@gmail.com

And here is the rest of it.

seattle to missoula - july 9/09

2009-07-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

i left seattle about 10:45 wednesday am on a somewhat crowded, but not uncomfortable bus, thankful that the guy at the video terminal in the train station wasn't joining us to cut our heads off or whatever it is those stupid games teach people.

we had an hour stopover in spokane, where hot water for tea costs 50 cents for those willing to pay it, and the bus filled up.

within moments the woman next to me, upon hearing i'm from victoria, began to unravel the story of her life. i learned of communes and police harassment and hippie survival in vancouver and on the west coast of vancouver island during the 60s and 70s. i feel as though i know her three children and their spousal units, that i've been immersed in her 15 year rustic mountain cabin experience - the herbs, the hauling water from the river to wash the diapers, the wood burning stove, the outhouse - the wilderness survival tactics.

as we passed by the area where a silver mine dumped a supply of lead into the water supply of towns named kellogg and smeltville (?), where there's a gold fiver and a silver street (or something similar), my friend told me how devastated she was the first time she travelled through this region, just east of coeur d'alene. the mountains were bare, she said, the people's children were challenged with mental deficiencies, and even recently she met a man at the co-op where the volunteers who grew up in the region and suffered because of the poisoned water supply. but now, look, they've build the world's longest gondola, and a ski resort, and reinvigorated the town's economy. is it wise, i asked out loud, to repopulate such a region? wouldn't it be better to just let the earth recover? she agreed - it wouldn't be a great place to live.

i think my new friend's 60s activism burned out years ago - as so often happens with those of us who work and work and work to build a better world. she's been busy raising a family and enjoying her life, working at the co-op and hiking in the woods, and i realized, as i spoke of recent political events like the imprisonment of peace activists in israeli prisons, that her awareness of the current status of our world and all its players is not at all familiar to her. she still cares, but when i showed her my ipod, invited her to put the headphones in her ear and listen to amy goodman, her response was something of a person being invited into the 21st century. she managed about a half hour and then, with something of the desperation of an elder hippie who just can't imagine reimmersing herself into the abyss of our woeful world, pulled the earphones from her ears and expressed her despair that any gains they thought they had made are now all unravelling before her eyes. i told her i understand, and can she imagine what it's like for us, now, trying to carry on the work of peacemaking and human rights and progressive politics, and realizing, year after year, that there are no real successes? at least the hippies from the sixties saw some progress - my friend recounted the free health clinic in vancouver where she could get herbs for her ailments, the rights of women to choose their body's destinies, some victory in the end of the vietnam war. she tried voting a couple of times, she said, but what's the use. same game, different faces ...

a lovely woman named suzanne picked me up at the train station in missoula and i slept, again, in a bed. soon, i'm sure, the idea of having a private room with my own bathroom and a bed will be nothing more than a distant memory. so i'm enjoying the luxury.

we walked the river trails this morning, with her beautiful doggie sadie, and i'm now in a fairly hip coffee house where i received my soy latte in a paper mug even though i asked for a ceramic one. i'm doing my best, as i go, to educate folks about the last of the remaining ancient rainforests in the land from which i've ventured, of the run of the river projects that aim to remove every last british columbian river from wild status and devastate our province. it astounds me that people can be so progressive in some ways, and so destructive to the earth in others. habits, i realize, are tough to break, but using ceramic over paper seems a no-brainer. i don't mean to 'diss' missoula, it seems a lovely place, and it's not to say this is the only place on the planet where people are stuck in their old excessive resource using ruts, but it's something i keep hoping and hoping will change. i guess i'm guilty, too, of enjoying the odd latte ....

click here to see a few photos from seattle to missoula

and click here to see martin's photos from the border crossing july 5th.

Vancouver Olympics Gets in Touch with Its Fascist Past

2009-07-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

not exactly caravanista newz, but important nonetheless (though of course it's all related), and my friend chris' incredible site has been hacked - again - so he's feeling left out .... art by currently victoria based artist greg wilcox.

by C. L. Cook

As the countdown to Vancouver's suspension of democracy ticks closer to the Big Day the traveling five rings circus comes to town, even journalists tied to the corporate friends of the games are voicing concern.

It seems the sacrifices liberal democracies such as Canada must make in return for the somewhat dubious honour of hosting the Olympics are adding up to a decidedly undemocratic few weeks.

Already, Vancouver's unhoused are being unceremoniously shuffled along out of the city, while social activists opposed to the illegal behaviour of both the city and its various police forces are being visited in their homes and when they're out and about by representatives of federal and local police.

None dare call it the birth of the Police State

Meanwhile, the Vancouver Olympics Committee (VANOC), already used to acting as a power unto itself, (undoubtedly buoyed by their impunity in the face of the burgeoning fiscal fiasco behind the coming games) is taking to issuing press releases announcing the "legal" areas Vancouverites and the expected national and transnational objectors to the effects the quadrennial show has on civil society will be permitted to protest.

A puzzled police spokesperson reacted to questions about the questionable edict issued by VANOC by saying, "Protest is legal anywhere in Canada, so I don't understand what they mean by "legal" protest areas.

Well of course, the permissible protest zone is nothing new to anyone conscious during the eight year-long anti-democratic Bush stomp on freedoms guaranteed in the American Constitution. Though it's admittedly a new and unwelcome notion for Canadians.

What's Canada Got to Do with It?

Daphne Bramham, writing for Canwest Global organ, The Vancouver Sun relates the case of Canadian university professor, Chris Shaw. Shaw is the author of the book, 'Five Ring Circus,' an unflattering look at the history of the modern games. Branham relates an incident where the professor was assailed in a Vancouver cafe by police. Days later, she writes, Shaw was intercepted and detained by police at London's Heathrow airport. Shaw was in London to speak on the topic of the games at a conference convened in Coventry. London will be the next fortunate host after Vancouver of the Summer games in 2012.

According to Bramham, Vancouver city councillor, Ellen Woodsworth says she knows of more than a dozen citizens identified as "anti-Olympics activists" tracked down and "contacted" by police last month.

These casual visits paid by police on those having committed no crime began earlier in the year when undercover police questioned citizens expressing concerns about the negative effects on the city's poor to city council. It seems a tactic better suited to last Olympics host, China than Canada. But then, when the Olympics blow into town, local laws go out the window.

Says councillor Woodsworth, "I was appalled. That was intimidation and a real breach of the promised protection under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

Freedom Schmeedom

The modern Olympics may have once had pure motives, but since Hitler's co-opting of the games in 1936, making of it a torchlit paean to Naziism and preview of his global designs, the games represent nothing more than the overriding of nearly three centuries of democratic traditions by a gathering of international elite.

The athletes seem little more than a trifle, like the bull in the ring, for the greater goal of the spectacle. If Canadians must be herded into pre-approved protest pens, then so be it.

If the fun and games mean spending more than a billion dollars on "security" and the making of the city an armed camp run by the military and police, then so be it.

A City is Not Enough

But, it's not just the city that will enjoy the fallen fruits of past presenter Herr Hitler. Writing for the staid Globe and Mail of Toronto, Caroline Alphonso reveals VANOC's attempts to make its own of Canada's Border Service. According to Alphonso, the protectors of world sport would have the guardians of the 49th parallel inform to them any athletes found to be carrying banned performance enhancing chemicals in the carry-on luggage.

Alphonso quotes a statement released by VANOC's doping Czar Jeremy Luke. Luke puts his organization's demands on Canadian law enforcement this way;

"VANOC is unequivocally opposed to doping in sport and is working collaboratively with many partners to help insure doping-free Games in 2010. As a key partner, the Government of Canada's leadership and commitment to the issue of doping are critical to helping VANOC meet this goal."

Well, that's okay then. Perhaps the Canadian government can provide a colour guard to serve as referees too? Clearly, there aren't any more pressing problems in need of police intercession in the country.

Besides driving the poor from the city limits, and making many working poor give up there suddenly too expensive renovated rentals, and putting the city of Vancouver in the poor house, these Olympics, as with its at least twenty predecessor extravaganzas, promises to leave Vancouver with nothing more than the sweeping up duties, while Canada's judiciary buries the nation's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Notes:

Canadians Shouldn't Accept Repressive Olympic Security

VANCO Seeks Access to BorderSearches

Olympic Security Force of 16,500 Prepares

A reasonably leisurely day in Seattle

2009-07-07T23:03:00.000-07:00

Twenty years, more or less, have passed since I visited my Seattle friend on a fairly regular schedule. Now I travel to San Francisco to see him, but in those days I'd bring my University assigned reading aboard the black ball ferry, and pass the 5 hour journey pouring over my studies while admiring some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet through Puget Sound.

Today I had an opportunity to retrace some of those ancient steps, to wander through Ravenna park where I had previously spent many hours wandering with my friend's doggies. The park is remarkably green and clean with a fairly intact ecosystem where it's easy to forget there's a big United Statesian city just moments away.

I found a veggie restaurant for lunch, chatted with a Real Change vendor, stopped at a bookstore coffeeshop, and then got all sweaty at a friendly yoga studio. Soon these moments of leisure will be mere memories, as the caravan adventure starts to move into high gear. Tomorrow I'm on a greyhound bus to Montana for two presentations in Missoula and Bozeman before reuniting with our blue bus in Pocatello Idaho on Saturday.

It's tough to leave the pacific northwest .... so much beauty here. But, the big adventure awaits. You can click here to view photos from my leisurely day in Seattle.

And you can click here to hear an archived radio interview with Lisa Valenti from Monday's "Wake Up With Coop" radio programme which airs from Vancouver's Coop Radio.

Seattle

2009-07-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I heard Lisa tell the story about the year a bunch of caravanistas refused to eat for 90+ days because uptight border guards refused to allow goods bound for cuba to cross. I think Lisa's a tiny bit concerned about the July 21st crossing at the US/Mexican border because of the rather unusual response we got trying to cross from Canada.

People who believe so strongly in what they're doing they're willing to refuse food are a special breed indeed.

We don't know what to expect on the 21st, anything could happen, and last night I undertook, for a few moments, a faux hunger strike in preparation for what may lay ahead.

The Seattle event, at El Centro de la Rasa, was scheduled to begin at 6. Judy had gone on ahead, I assumed she was going there to organize the food for the potluck. (It turned out she's the central record keeper for all the Cuba bound aid which is listed and labelled, only to be ripped open in Texas, re-sorted, listed and labelled again. And still the border guards don't trust us, they like to rip the boxes open and check through it themselves too. And if they see something they like, they take it. And then we decide whether to hunger strike, or undertake some other peaceful civil disobedience until they give it back). Tom, Lisa, and I waited patiently for our trusty bus driver, Rick, to arrive from Olympia. Rick's a busy dad, among other things, and got caught in rush hour traffic, so by the time he picked us up, around 6:15, we were feeling a bit hungry and looking forward to the evening's event.

But alas, it was not so simple. Seattle's one of those big United Statesian cities, with many hills. We knew El Centro sits atop one of those hills, and so we travelled Highway I5 past the distinctive downtown skyline, decided on an exit, and approached one of them. Was it the right one? I recognized the neighbourhood, it was where I had stayed last year, at Tom and Judy's daughter's home. She's a doctor who can barely afford health care for her children. I was hoping to see her again. Maybe she was at the event last night, but by the time we realized we weren't on the right hill, though we were sort of in the right neighbourhood .... after touring several cute little alcoves of coffee houses and bookstores and passing a library and a little mexican area, it was finally time to decide we were officially lost. The guys parked the bus and checked in at an activist feminist bookstore .... surely they'd know which hill El Centro is on and how we might get there. And sure enough they did.

We got to the event an hour and a half late. Luckily, we were carrying the beans and rice so our little foray into hunger awareness was short lived. But it was enough to remind me that there are many, children among them, who do not have quality food to eat every single day, day after day, year after year. My hunger reminded me that enormous amounts of food are wasted -- left on plates and scraped into the garbage, or labelled 'unsellable' and intentionally thrown there. I was reminded that sentient beings are labelled as 'food' and their lives stolen from them.

The choir had waited for us. They sang three songs, and then most of the crowd scattered. We stayed late, labelling and loading the very generous aid that Seattleites have entrusted us to deliver to their Cuban sisters and brothers. And we may very well take on the hunger in our efforts to keep that promise.

CALL THE WHITEHOUSE !!!

2009-07-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

The 20th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba crosses the US/Mexican border on July 21st. We’d sure appreciate it if you’d show solidarity and support by calling the Whitehouse to say:

"My name is ___; I come from (city/state); I am a supporter of Pastors for Peace; I am calling to say that the US economic blockade of Cuba is immoral, illegal, mean-spirited, counterproductive, and just plain dumb. It's time to end the blockade of Cuba --and to free the Cuban Five and let the caravan cross July 21st!"

Comments can ALSO be written to the White House at www.whitehouse.gov; or send a fax (please use recycled paper) to the White House: 202/456-2461.

Peace Arch Perspective

2009-07-07T00:22:00.000-07:00

Click here for a short video of the Vancouver Solidarity Notes Labour Choir.

Hi friends in solidarity with Cuba,

Yesterday the West Coast contingency of the 20th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba crossed the border from Canada into the US. At around 12 noon cars, trucks, vans and a bus full of people and humanitarian aid started to arrive on the B.C. side of the Blaine, Peace Arch border. There were people belonging to various organizations from Nanaimo, Saltspring Island, Victoria and Vancouver. Vehicles full of people also arrived on the US side of the border. They came from Bellingham, Seattle and Olympia. All 250 of us joined together on the Canadian side of the Peace Arch park.

We began by eating the food we all had brought to share with one another. Then the program started with some great performers such as Victoria folk singer Art Farquharson, the Raging Grannies from Seattle joined by grannies from Vancouver and Victoria. We also enjoyed the Vancouver Solidarity Notes Labour Choir's spectacular performance. Between the musical interludes, representatives from different organizations working in solidarity with Cuba and caravanistas from both sides of the border spoke on the value of solidarity with Cuba and reaffirming our determination to eventually bury the blockade and free the Cuban 5.

When our program at the park ended, drivers designated to take the humanitarian aid across the border returned to their vehicles and joined the border lineup. Everyone else accompanied the vehicles on foot carrying banners, signs and chanting through megaphones "Cuba si Bloqueo no!" and other slogans.

As we approached the border booth it was very obvious that there were mixed feelings among the guards about to what to do with us. Some of the guards were extremely rude and aggressive to the vehicle passengers and their supporters on foot, there were mixed messages given and orders shouted at our people. In the end the officers in the higher chain of command were very clear about what to do and that was "let them go now!".

Again this tells us that the people united will never be defeated. If we have the numbers, supporters can stand their ground and make it difficult for them to justify or implement their hateful, immoral blockades and crimes.

We heard that the prairie crossing on Sunday with humanitarian aid from Edmonton, Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg also went well. There will be another two crossings from Canada into the US next week and on July 21 all the caravanistas and the humanitarian aid will cross into Mexico where the biggest challenge of the blockade has historically occurred.

We need to keep close watch on the caravan until all the caravanistas and aid cross into Mexico.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have participated in any way toward making the start of this 20th Friendshipmant Caravan another blow against the blockade as well as showing our solidarity with Cuba.

Venceremos!
Randy Caravaggio
Victoria Goods for Cuba

I'm Being Oppressed

2009-07-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

It has taken me less than 24 hours in the Anticipated States of Fulgencia to realize that the levels of oppression here are worse than ever.

Here's what happened .....

1. This morning I walked to the QFC for breakfast/lunch. I asked the woman in the deli which of the salads are vegan. "Oh," she said, "None of our salads are vegan."

Wow. What kind of nation is this, I wondered, where a poor wandering caravanista can't even find a vegan salad?

Luckily, with a little coaxing, the deli woman agreed to check the list of ingredients on the tabouli salad, and then on the fava bean salad which, I assured her, sure look vegan from my angle. And, after a rather confusion interaction with two clerks regarding my Odwalla Greens that were sale priced but that only applies if you have a special card but I don't need one because I'm just visiting from Canada, I enjoyed my vegan salads.

2. I tried to spend money at the massively huge Best Buy store which, I was assured by my United Statesian friends, would have the most choices for the cell phone and/or a wireless magic travelling devices I was considering to help my media work on this journey. And it was then I learned more of the horrid violation of human rights that results simply from being Canadian.

It exhorbitantedly expensive to make cell phone calls across our shared border. After some chatting with the nice young salesman, we concluded that the use of a phone card might alleviate the excessive cost of telephoning. Nothing, however, can be done to make amends for the violation of human rights that is the consequence of being an oppressed Canadian.

3. After returning to the house, and simultaneously attempting to configure both the new phone and the new wandering internet thingy, it was determined (thanks to Lisa's innate ability to read the small print) that the magic would not in fact be happening. Here in the land of Microsoft, it seems there will be no temporary wandering WiFi for the Mac user. I got a ride back to the Biggest Bestest Store and talked to my salesman friend. Nope, he said, my only option with a Mac is to buy a 2 year plan at $60 a month and I'm only eligible if I offer up a social security number and an American Driver's License.

It was then I realized --- I'm being oppressed not only for being Canadian, but additionally for being a Mac Owner who might dare to utter the word 'Mac' in the land of the Microsoft.

My favourite days don't typically involve spending a lot of time running back and forth to Massively Big Stores and Malls, particularly when not much has been accomplished by it. My dream of updating the blog from the bus while gallivanting through the southern desert now dead, I'm left only with fond and entertaining memories of the day .....

While wandering through the mall, which extended along much of the half mile route that I was to wander on my return journey to Tom and Judy's, I saw a sign advertising special shoes that actually enhance one's walking experience. Instead of getting whatever meagre benefit from simply walking, one can purchase this new (no doubt made in China) footwear, and actually get more exercise than when simply walking in any other shoe. Again, I feel that, as a Canadian, I am being denied the basic human right to spend more money on another pair of shoes, and the added advantage of a more physically, and perhaps spiritually and psychologically demanding walking experience.

Also in the mall is a kiosk selling electronic cigarettes. With half the nicotine of regular cigarettes, and none of the tar or other nasty stuff, smokers can battery charge their fags and slowly reduce their nicotine input through the simple setting of a dial. And, they look just like the real thing. The man selling them told me he enjoys his electronic cigarettes with a setting of zero.

God Bless Ameri ...... ur, I mean (it having recently been brought to my attention that America is much bigger than merely the middle bit) .... and then there's the confusion because I don't believe in God ....

Good Grief, Charlie Brown.

Friends say farewell to Victoria Caravanista

2009-07-06T08:03:00.000-07:00

Folks who know me know that part of my paid work involves caring for animals.

Here's a short clip of their farewell message, interpreted on their behalf by my friend Martin.

This short movie clip from the peace arch park picnic has an ad-hoc group singing a song written by Edmonton's Raging Grannies. (Hurray for the Grannies!)

And here's a link to a radio interview regarding updates and insights from the recent conferences in Toronto, Ontario and Havana, Cuba regarding the ongoing struggles and accomplishments of the Cuban people. Hear more about the Cuban 5, imprisoned in the U.S. for more than 10 years and their struggle for justice by the Supreme Court.

Cuba Caravan 09 - Day One, Crossing the Canada/USA Border

2009-07-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

there seemed to be some disagreement, at the border, among the authorities. the guy we usually deal with was rumoured to have retired, but he was there and greeted randy by name. told him which lane to take so we could be processed quickly and on our way. then the confusion began. some of the very stern and way too authoritarian immigration officials were determined that they were going to search our vehicles, a pickup truck, a van, and another smaller truck pulling a trailer with kid's bikes. a senior official emerged from the building, i guess at the same time that i was inside the building being 'processed' (which consisted of handing my passport over, watching a man write an a inside a circle on a big orange sticky that he inserted into my passport and returned to me), and told the younger power hungry guys that there would be no searching of our vehicles. apparently it was a bit of a power struggle, but the older man asserted himself and we all won. i caught a ride in the van, and we proceeded to the american part of the peace arch park and met our supporters who had walked across without having to show identification. no doubt the canada/usa shared peace arch park is heavily surveilled, though. but no worries, we activists are used to that.

who knows what goes on behind the scenes. maybe barack obama himself told stephen harper just to let it go. they certainly don't need the press. and there certainly wasn't any present, save myself and perhaps some other oft-ignored indy types.

one can only imagine what might happen if a significant number of people were to actually witness the wonderful community of solidarity that the 48 year old usa imposed economic blockade has nurtured. generations of individuals, from all sorts of backgrounds and socio-economic standings and ethnic diversities, have joined forces, peacefully and non-violently, to show that we the people really do care when a small island nation is denied its autonomy and its right to evolve in a different way.

if they had been there today they'd have been greeted with a flurry of coloured banners, songsters, speechifers, friends, relations, food and music. they'd have seen the back third of a big old schoolbus filled with aid including bandages and other medical supplies, telephones, crayons, televisions, guitars, cables for electronic appliances, and even an accordian. and that's just from one canadian collection.

lisa, the pastors for peace representative who flew to vancouver from pittsburgh to join the rocky mountain route, says she heard from one other canadian border crossing - montreal, yesterday. apparently it was one of the easiest they've ever accomplished, and she was sure to add, when i asked her whether she's heard about the other crossings, that she's never seen the sort of in-fighting she witnessed today at the peace arch.

i'm contented, relieved, delighted, exhuberant to be on the road again on this, my second friendshipment caravan to cuba. i'm melancholy, the clearcuts, in the hills alongside i5, are more disgusting than ever.

earlier in the day, we sailed across the ocean blue accompanied by the ever-entertaining art farquharson (photo) who, never one to let a firing from bc ferries (for a poster he pinned up of president and ceo david hahn with a 'pie this guy' joke) sway him from an opportunity to sing labour songs alongside his union comrades.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS

CLICK HERE FOR A SHORT MOVIE OF THE BORDER CROSSING

What to expect on a Caravan Route

2009-07-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a route of the 20th Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba. You
may be joining two people in a car, or 15 people in a school bus, but
below is what lies in front of you.

Every day you will travel to a new city. Usually this will mean
getting up early, and sometimes very early, to ensure that your
vehicle gets to that city in good time. Your hosts will usually give
you breakfast. Often there will be a group circle and reflection
before setting off, to introduce new people, make announcements etc.
The journey may be from 2 to 10 hours depending on the distance to be
covered. There will be brief bathroom stops and a lunch stop of 45-60
minutes. You pay for your own food and drink on the road. No alcohol
or any illegal drugs are permitted on the caravan vehicle.

At the next city your hosts will normally feed you, often via a
pot-luck supper at the evening event. The public event will last 2-3
hours and is a key activity in reaching out to talk to people about
the blockade and the caravan. There may be anything from 10-100
people. There may also be opportunities to talk to the local media. In
some places there will be material aid to load, and in some places new
people will join the caravan. After the event you will be housed by
local people. Usually this will be in beds in private homes, but where
the caravan group is large and the host resources modest, some people
may have to sleep on mats in a community center or church. Hosts are
urged to provide an evening meal and breakfast for the caravanistas
but be aware that occasionally on large bus routes this may not
happen.

There are certain key roles on the caravan. Usually these roles are
filled by different people who have been pre-selected by Pastors for
Peace – though on a small route one person may fulfill two roles.

-The Route Coordinator is the person in charge. Their job includes
ensuring that the caravan vehicle gets to where it is going in good
time and everything goes as smoothly as possible. The coordinator
should consult with caravanistas as much as possible and seek
consensus, but if there is disagreement the coordinator has the final
say. They should delegate many of the practical tasks to other people,
including you.
-The Speaker is the person responsible for putting across the Caravan
message to public audiences and the media in a clear and consistent
way. They may well involve some caravanistas in assisting them. They
are not in charge of the route – though they will often be experienced
caravanistas and thus a source of good advice.
-The Driver(s) is the person(s) responsible for ensuring that all of
you get to your destination safely. On issues of safety on the road
they are in charge, but otherwise they should follow the lead of the
route coordinator.

You may volunteer or be asked to assist with any of the following:
1) Navigation - assisting the driver
2) Sorting, packing and loading of material aid
3) Setting up and running the sales/information table at events
4) Basic vehicle maintenance – refueling, cleaning windows, keeping
the insides tidy. If you have car mechanic skills please let the
driver know
5) Arranging with nighttime hosts who goes to what accommodation – be
sensitive to who want to be housed together and who may need to be
kept apart
6) Submitting event reports and/or photos to the Caravan Blog at
www.pastorsforpeace.org
If you are sending email updates during the journey to friends, think
about including the people who hosted you as well – both as a way of
thanking them and of involving them further in the caravan project.

You are embarking in high summer on what may be a road journey of many
days in an old vehicle without air conditioning, and space may be
limited (if you are on a school bus expect to be sharing a bench
seat). Let the camaraderie overcome the material hardships. Excitement
may be high, but so may stress levels. Be respectful, tolerant and
patient with each other. Raise any problems in a constructive way at
the group circle or with the coordinator during the journey.
Take this opportunity to practice becoming collectivist Cubans rather
than individualistic Americans. When the bus stops for what is meant
to be a 5-10 minute break – go straight to the bathroom, and have a
few people go to the service till to purchase the snacks/drinks for
the rest. Aim to get in and out fast and encourage others to do the
same.

Depending on your experience the speaker may ask you to say something
during the caravan event, or to talk with local media. Whatever your
knowledge of Cuba, you are an expert on your own motivation for going
on the caravan – so be ready to share that with others. If you have
musical or performing arts skills which could be incorporated into the
caravan event - please let the speaker know.

20th Caravan to Cuba Departs July 1st from Canada !!

2009-07-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce the
20th annual
Pastors for Peace
Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba!!

The routes begin July 1st,
travel through the US,
and convene in McAllen Texas before
challenging the embargo against Cuba
and crossing the US/Mexico border
on July 21st.

This year there are over 130 Caravan participants
travelling on 14 different routes
and stopping in 140 cities !!

Our new website design offers information for the route stops,
including posters and photos.

We invite you to connect with the Caravan
when it visits your area!

We will also be maintaining a blog for the 20th Caravan
and invite you to check it for
updates and stories from the road!

Thank you for your continued support!

IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE
418 West 145th Street, 3-FL.
New York NY 10031
tel: 212.926.5757 - e-mail ifco@igc.org

Caravan to Cuba Send Off Event from Victoria BC

2009-06-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

a note from janine -- i'll be leaving with the caravan from the peace arch border park (vancouver bc/blaine washington) on july 5th. it was such an incredible experience, i just gotta do it again!!

20th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba - Breaking the blockade, delivering humanitarian aid and standing in solidarity with Cuba.

5:30 potluck - 7:30pm presentation - Friday, July 3
@ BCGEU Hall 2994 Douglas, Victoria.

U.S. Pastors for Peace representative - Lisa Valanti will give an update on the Obama’s US/Cuba relations, what this caravan represents and why people should be in solidarity with Cuba.

Lisa has traveled to Cuba over twenty times - each time refusing the mandatory licence from the U.S. Treasury Dept. She participated in the 24 day hunger strike on the “Little Yellow School Bus” and the 90 day “Fast for Life”. She is on the executive and founder of the US-Cuba Sister Cities Assn., the Pittsburgh-Matanzas Sister City Project, the Pittsburgh CUBA Coalition and others. Lisa is a consultant to the University of Pittsburgh's Semester-at-Sea bringing the largest number of US students (over 700) ever to go to Cuba.

Join us to hear this dynamic, motivated guest for the Caravan’s farewell send off.

Admission by donation.

Sponsored by the Goods for Cuba Campaign 250-743-2994

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Changeman!

2009-06-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

In January 2006 I was invited to attend a book fair in Cuba, where one of my books, newly translated into Spanish, was being presented. All my expenses were to be paid by the Cuban government and I was very much looking forward to the visit. Only one problem — the government of the United States would not give me permission to go. My application to travel to Cuba had also been rejected in 1998 by the Clinton administration. (On that occasion I went anyhow and was extremely lucky to avoid being caught by the American Travel Police on the way back and being fined thousands of dollars.) I mention this because Obama supporters would have us believe — as they themselves believe — that their Changeman has been busy making lots of important changes, Cuba being only one example. But I still don't have the legal right to travel to Cuba.

The only real change made by the Obama administration in regard to Cuba is that Cuban-Americans with family on the island can travel there and send remittances without restrictions. The April 13 White House announcement listed several other provisions concerning telecommunications companies, but what this will actually mean in practice, if anything, is unknown, particularly as it affects Cuba's access to the Internet. American anti-Castroites have long blamed Cuban's deficient Internet access on the proverbial "communist suppression", when the technical availability and prohibitive cost were to a large extent in the hands of American corporations. Microsoft, for example, bars Cuba from using its Messenger instant messaging service.4 And Google has long blocked Cuban access to many of its features.5 Venezuela and Cuba have been working on an underwater cable system that they hope will make them less reliant on the gringos.

The multifarious US economic embargo, which causes unending hardship and expense for the Cuban people, remains in place. Here is Changeman in a recent press conference:

Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President. You've heard from a lot of Latin America leaders here who want the U.S. to lift the embargo against Cuba. You've said that you think it's an important leverage to not lift it. But in 2004, you did support lifting the embargo. You said, it's failed to provide the source of raising standards of living, it's squeezed the innocent, and it's time for us to acknowledge that this particular policy has failed. I'm wondering, what made you change your mind about the embargo? The President: Well, 2004, that seems just eons ago. What was I doing in 2004? Reporter: Running for Senate. The President: Is it while — I was running for Senate. There you go.6 Yes, there you go; you shouldn't confuse campaign rhetoric with the real world and the real Changeman.

The case of the Cuban Five is another chance for Changeman to come to the rescue. This outrageous perversion of justice whereby Cubans were sent to the United States to try to learn of further terrorist attacks in Cuba planned by anti-Castroites in Florida and were themselves arrested by the FBI on information partly supplied to the US by the Cuban government as their contribution to the War On Terrorism.7

The Cuban Five have been in US prisons for more than 10 years. Around June 15 the Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on whether or not they will hear the appeal of the Five. The Clinton administration arrested them. The Bush administration continued the awful, mindless, crimeless persecution for eight more years. But now comes the Changeman administration. Hooray! Oh, in late May, the Changeman administration filed a brief urging the Court to deny the Five a hearing, and on June 2, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an Organization of American States meeting: "I want to emphasize the United States under President Obama is taking a completely new approach to our policy toward Cuba."8

Another opportunity for Changeman to come to the rescue also involves Cuba — closing the Guantanamo prison. But our hero is once again displaying a woeful lack of political courage and imagination. If there's good evidence that certain detainees are a danger to anyone, then try them in US civilian courts with full rights, a decent defense team, and excluding secret evidence and coerced confessions. If they're found guilty — and with an American jury sitting in judgment of "terrorists", this, in almost all cases, would be the verdict — then imprison them in one of America's maximum security prisons, which already houses about 355 men labeled as "terrorists".9 The new ones will not be any more of a danger in prison than the ones already there.

However, if they're found innocent, then declare them free men. It would be much easier then to find a country to accept them, including the United States. Until now, the world has been told repeatedly by Washington that these men are "the worst of the worst". Small wonder that no country or community wants them near. But if they've been tried and acquitted, this situation should change markedly.

So Mr. Obama, we're waiting for you to step into a phone booth.

"Men go mad in herds, but only come to their senses one by one." — Charles Mackay, 19th century Scottish journalist

Notes

Washington Post, May 26, 2009 book review↩
Washington Post, May 15, 2009↩
Associated Press, December 12, 2006↩
Associated Press, June 2, 2009 ↩
Does Google Censor Cuba? ↩
White House Press Office, April 19, 2009 ↩
Cuban Political Prisoners ... in the United States ↩
Washington Post, June 3, 2009. ↩
"There Are Already 355 Terrorists in American Prisons", Slate Magazine, May 29, 2009↩
"The fundamental social division is class, not race or gender", World Socialist Web Site, May 28, 2009↩
–

William Blum is the author of:

Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir
Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire
Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.killinghope.org

an email correspondence ....

2009-05-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

it's always interesting when people point to the 'poverty' in cuba, jeff. they have community. there's a doctor living in each neighbourhood. they have organic urban gardens. they share, care, and look out for each other. they're not dependent on the world bank and the imf and i'll bet the big crash of 08 didn't affect them one bit. we didn't hear about massive layoffs from cuba corporations, because everyone in cuba earns the same amount of money via a 'guaranteed income' from their government. doctors and farmers earn the same! so there's a real sense of equality. people can choose careers based on what they love to do rather than what makes them the most money. they can choose to be a doctor because they want to heal. how many canadian doctors really want to heal?

as i mentioned, cuba's not perfect. they are lacking a lot of things. i don't think i could live without internet. but then we have to ask - is it because of the us blockade that they don't have that stuff? on the other hand, they live in a world without corporate advertising! there are no kfcs killing animals and hiring cheap labour in lousy working conditions. (though cubans eat their share of meat, unfortunately). there's no starbucks, no corporate banks, no billboards, no glossy magazines with half naked women staring at you as you try to buy soy milk. there's been an increase in prostitution along with the tourist trade, though they're not very good at it - last year one of our caravanistas was offered a blow job for, i can't remember, 5 or 10 pesos. they're obviously not capitalists!

so, yeah, there's 'poverty.' compared to mexico, though, they have potable water. apparently that's one of the first things they did after the revolution, fidel insisted they clean up the water supply. they've done incredible things despite the big blockade that prevents, for example, a company in germany from selling a pacemaker to cuba because it has a component that's made in america.

and if you compare the emergency response, last year during hurricane season, between haiti (a country so capitalist that even canadian forces helped remove their democratically elected leader so gildan t-shirts could continue to take advantage of haitian sweatshop labour, the cheapest in the world) and cuba, it's unbelievable. the cuban government and its people are prepared for emergencies. i think i heard they lost three people last fall. the corporate media would never tell us that ... they just showed the devastation of the neighbouring island of haiti, where many many more people were killed and injured.

capitalist governments don't care about people, they care about profit. you're right, there's still poverty in the industrialized work, lots of it, and it's inexcusable that the ultra rich can have sooooo much while people freeze to death in canadian winters, denied even the opportunity to construct their own shelters.

the blockade against cuba is a double edged sword, no doubt. but things are changing in south america, and now cuba is trading doctors for oil. so they have fuel, but unfortunately they're still driving those big old cars which are feats of engineering, i suppose, but also very stinky.

i really recommend going and seeing for yourself. when i was describing it to my mom, last year, she said it sounds like northern england when she was growing up --- everyone was poor, so nobody realized they were! they made do with what they had, and they didn't miss what they didn't have because they didn't know about it. cuba's future is interesting to ponder ... the people who remember what it was like before the revolution, when fulgencio batista and the american government and the cia stole land from peasants and ran a gambling empire, they don't want that again and they love their revolution. they're very proud of what they've accomplished, citing birth mortality and literacy comparisons before and after that would blow your mind. but the youngsters, they see touristas with ipods and cell phones and it's just natural to want stuff. ultimately, i hold onto faith that an educated populace will make the right decisions -- they will not choose to surround themselves with stuff made by oppressed peoples using unsustainable environmental tactics.

i'm very much looking forward to cuba again this year, and the journey through america. it's good to remember there are so many good ones --- though the obama koolaid crowd is a bit scary.

have a great day, jeff, hope you've got some springtime weather!

namaste,
janine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Janine, I was very impressed to hear of the free holistic health care system and University education and organic coop farms. My limited familiarity is another example of how propagandist corporate (and government) media are so willing to prop up the (US) blockade. As you say, Cuba is not perfect. An acquaintance who has made several trips after falling in love with a Cuban citizen tells of widespread poverty and local government corruption. But we are well familiar with that here too.

Sincere wishes for good luck and success on the next caravan.

Jeff
http://www.4thtime.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On 26-May-09, at 4:12 PM, janine bandcroft wrote:

looking for a good news story?

2009 marks the 50th year of the Cuban Revolution. Now before your brain starts regurgitating those words you've been fed ..... 'dictatorship,' 'communism,' 'human rights abuses' ..... allow me to tell you a little story....

Last year I travelled with the 19th Friendshipment Caravan, bringing over 100 tons and as many Americans (including a few Internationals) to Cuba. I began the journey in Canada, crossed the border into Washington State, then travelled (on one of 15 routes) through Oregon, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and finally to challenge the 47 year old US blockade (the most incredible act of civil disobedience I've ever experienced) at the Mexican/American border, and through Mexico where we left 100 tons of computers, health care equipment, school supplies etc to be shipped - not to the Cuban government, but to the people of Cuba. We caravanistas jumped onto an old Russian plane and flew to Havana where we were treated like long lost friends. In Cuba I spent 8 days learning about their revolution - their cradle to grave inclusive and holistic health care system, their free education through University, the Latin America School of Medicine which trains (for free) young people from poor neighbourhoods and ships doctors to poor neighbourhoods all over the world.

Cuba is not a perfect society, but they do some things really really well - and I'll bet your readers, like ours, would like to know more about them.

IT'S A BIG STORY!!! And it's ignored by the corporate media who prefer to propagate the 'dictatorship' myth and keep people ignorant about this tiny island nation that is nearly 100% self-sufficient with organic cooperative farms, in addition to their free health care and education.

Street Newspapers across Canada and the USA -- don't miss this opportunity to present an incredible story of grassroots activism (chances are a caravan will be passing through your city!), and infuse your readers with hope and inspiration that another world is possible!

The Pastors for Peace (<>www.pastorsforpeace.org) was founded by an African-American man named Lucius Walker who was shot by a contra bullet and decided he could do something better with taxpayer money. This year will be the 20th annual Caravan (they've also sent caravans to Central America were one of the first groups to bring aid to New Orleans), and I'll be on it!

For more information about Cuba and the Cuban Five (a terrifying story of injustice):

Tune in this Thursday afternoon, May 28th from 2 to 3 pm (PST) and hear a special radio interview with Ambassador Teresita de Jesus Vicente Sotolongo, Canada's first woman Cuban Ambassador, speaking about the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution along with other updates on Cuba's ongoing struggle for human rights and justice. Listen LIVE at www.cfuv.uvic.ca.

To learn more about the Cuban Five Political Prisoners, held in U.S. prisons for more than 10 years, go to www.freethefive.org and the Cnd - Cuban Consulate's website is www.embacubacanada.net. For more updates, check out www.vancubasolidarity.com, www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca and www.thecuban5.org.

--
"May you grow up to be righteous, may you grow up to be true. May you always know the truth and see the lights surrounding you. May you always be courageous, stand upright and be strong. May you stay forever young." Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941

AN UPDATE ON IFCO'S COURT CASE

2009-05-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

WITH THE NYC SPECIAL COMMISSIONER OF INVESTIGATION
GOOD NEWS OF A PARTIAL VICTORY!

After a long period of determined struggle against the campaign launched against us by the NYC Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI), and after waiting two months for the judge's decision regarding the SCI's motion to hold both IFCO and Rev Lucius Walker in contempt, we are pleased to have some good news to share with you:

On May 7, 2009, Judge Gische issued her decision regarding the SCI's contempt motions. The good news is that the judge found neither IFCO nor Rev Walker to be in contempt of court.

The decision said:

"The court finds the drastic relief of contempt is not warranted against either respondent. Reverend Walker has validly asserted a Fifth Amendment privilege.... Therefore, Reverend Walker has not violated the court's prior order which preserve his 5th Amendment privilege."

With respect to Rev. Walker, she found that he could not be compelled to testify or to present documents, either in his personal capacity or as the person in charge of IFCO's records, because to do so would violate his constitutional rights.

In the case of IFCO, the decision stated:

"While IFCO has not fully complied with the order, the court at this point will not characterize IFCO's actions as having been calculated to, or actually defeated, impaired, impeded, or prejudiced petitioner's rights or remedies. Farkas v. Farkas, supra. IFCO is given a further opportunity to comply with the court's order.... IFCO is ordered to appoint another individual, either some other IFCO employee or an entirely new agent with no previous connection to IFCO, who would not similarly be incriminated by the act of production; such person is to search for and produce any and all documents responsive to the...subpoena served on IFCO... IFCO is directed to produce the documents and give testimony...
at SCI's offices on June 11, 2009, unless the parties mutually agree in writing to another date."

So while the case is not over, closed, ended, we do have a partial victory. Our attorneys are in the process of examining this ruling, and we are looking at legal strategies for the next phase of this long struggle.

In the two years that this matter has been hanging over our heads, your support has been such a great help to us. Your letters, emails, and phone messages of support have been tremendously important to us. The presence of so many of you with us in the courtroom was always an energizing moment, which helped to convey the clear message that our cause is important and that "the whole world is watching..."

We thank you for your continued support, and we will keep you updated -- as "la luta continua...."

IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE
418 West 145th Street, 3-FL.
New York NY 10031
tel: 212.926.5757 - fax 212.926.5842 - e-mail ifco@igc.org

Join the IFCO/Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba this July

2009-05-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

a note from the blog author -- last year was such an incredible experience, i'm going again this year! see you on the road ...

Many people seem to think that big changes in US-Cuba policy have already taken place! But the truth is that - except for Cuban American family travel - nothing has really changed.

The blockade is still in place. Hurricane reconstruction supplies and other essential goods are still prohibited to come from the US. The travel ban is still in place. Cuba is still on the US government‚s terrorist list while the real anti-terrorists, the Cuban 5, remain in prison. Guantanamo Bay remains illegally occupied.

A few weeks ago there was a flurry of statements from Latin American presidents, US politicians on both sides of the House, business leaders, retired US generals, and to a degree President Obama, saying it is time for the US to change policy on Cuba. Signatures are being gathered in both houses of Congress for a bill that would enable ALL US citizens to freely travel to Cuba (House bill HR 874 / Senate bill S 428). It is clear that there has never been such potential for ending the 48 year old travel ban and blockade .

But in recent weeks it has gone quiet, and the White House and US State Department have been making discouraging noises about any further steps on their part. It is clear that nothing further will happen without a lot more pressure from the grassroots. Which is why we are organizing our 20th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba this July to both express our solidarity and build momentum and pressure for a radical policy change.

We will spend 9 days visiting Cuba as it is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the revolution while slowly rebuilding from the 3 devastating hurricanes that hit the island in the Fall of 2008. We will be donating more than a hundred tons of humanitarian aid to help with hurricane reconstruction, as well as up to 10 school buses and trucks and, as Fidel would say, millions of tons of love and solidarity.

This caravan will have 14 routes stopping in 140 cities throughout the US and Canada. At every stop we will be talking to local people and local media about the need to lobby their elected representatives for a new Cuba policy. And when we cross the border into Mexico, bound for Cuba, we will be making a direct challenge to US policy ˆ taking ourselves and the aid to Cuba without a US government license. The more people - the bigger the statement we are making.

SO ˆ we are calling on our supporters to make this the year that you come to Cuba with us.

JOIN US when a vehicle passes through your city sometime between July 3rd and 17th - or meet us down in Texas on July 18th as we start preparations for crossing the border. We will be in Cuba July 24th ˆ Aug 2nd and we will proudly cross back into Texas the morning of August 3rd

JOIN US!!

To get an application form or further information

Email cucaravan@igc.org

Call 212-926-5757

Visit our website www.pastorsforpeace.org

IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE

418 West 145th Street, 3-FL.

New York NY 10031

tel: 212.926.5757 - fax 212.926.5842 - e-mail ifco@igc.org

Message from Rev. Lucius Walker, Executive Director, IFCO/Pastors for Peace

2009-03-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends in the Struggle for Justice,

We are writing to give you an update on yesterday's court hearing, regarding the ongoing attempt by the office of the Special Commissioner for Investigation (SCI) for the NYC Department of Education to hold IFCO and Rev. Walker in contempt. The SCI’s stated purpose is an investigation of students and teachers who visited Cuba. Our understanding is that they are trying to do what OFAC has not been able to do- to punish IFCO for its efforts to end the blockade.

The first thing we want to say is THANK YOU so much for your support. We are grateful to our spirited friends and supporters who filled the courtroom on Centre Street yesterday; to those who sent us encouraging notes from all around the US; and especially to our friends in Cuba who have been holding us in prayer and in their thoughts as we continue in this tedious and time-consuming struggle.

The hearing yesterday was an oral argument, in which attorneys for both sides were given an opportunity to present their respective cases and to answer questions from the judge. We were represented by IFCO attorney Linda Backiel who has been working in cooperation with attorney Palyn Hung and attorney Art Eisenberg, both excellent attorneys from the NYCLU.

The good news is that the judge did not make an immediate ruling yesterday.

NY State Supreme Court Judge Judith J. Gische listened very attentively as our extraordinary attorney Linda Backiel presented our case.

The SCI wants the judge to hold IFCO and Rev. Walker in contempt of court because they refused to produce the information the SCI has demanded. The critical issue now is whether a state court judge should order IFCO to turn over to the SCI the same information that has been demanded by OFAC, information that IFCO has refused to provide to OFAC as a matter of deeply held principles. If the SCI were to receive that information, his office would be mandated by law to turn it over to OFAC. So we are hoping that Judge Gische will understand how much is at stake.

But Judge Gische did listen very thoughtfully as Attorney Backiel explained the seriousness of the concurrent federal issues. We hope the judge will carefully study the points of law and cases cited by attorney Backiel before making a ruling about the contempt motion.

One of the most notable parts of the afternoon came when one of the members of Rev. Walker’s church approached our attorney and asked "Why is the government going after my pastor?" Linda replied, "I don't know; maybe you should ask the government..." So this intrepid parishioner went up to the SCI's attorneys, and asked: "If the government belongs to the people, and we're the government, then why is the government going after my pastor??!!!"

SO: what can we do now? IFCO is pleased and honored that so many of you have written expressions of support, offered prayer and been present in the courtroom. As we reach the crucial moment of the judge’s decision we ask that you continue your support. Meanwhile, let us continue in our solidarity with Cuba:

Please contact your elected representatives in Congress and ask them to co-sponsor HR874/S428 to end the restrictions on travel to Cuba.

Help us build the 20th Friendshipment caravan this July!

Let's end the immoral blockade against our brothers and sisters in Cuba!

In continued solidarity,

Rev. Lucius Walker

--
Lucia Bruno
Communications Director
IFCO/Pastors for Peace
(212) 926-5757

8 days in Cuba

2009-03-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

IFCO Pastors for Peace Court Date: March 12, 2009

2009-02-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

Please join us for oral argument before Judge Judith Gishe
at 60 Centre Street --
2:30 PM March 12, 2009 - NYC

We need your presence!

Dear Friends,

On December 23, 2008–yes, on the day before Christmas Eve–we received a written notice of a motion filed with the New York State Supreme Court, requesting a hearing, with the intention of holding IFCO/Pastors for Peace and its director, Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., in contempt of court.

That's right: just when all of us at IFCO/Pastors for Peace were getting ready to wish you and yours a very happy holiday season, the NYC Special Commissioner for Investigation dropped a little something into our Christmas stocking. The first page of the document says:

"WARNING: YOUR FAILURE TO APPEAR IN COURT MAY RESULT IN YOUR IMMEDIATE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT THE PURPOSE OF THIS HEARING IS TO PUNISH THE INTER- RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT,

AND SUCH PUNISHMENT MAY CONSIST OF A FINE OR IMPRISONMENT OR BOTH, ACCORDING TO THE LAW."

This is the Special Commissioners second effort to hold us in contempt. Apparently the City of New York is still intent on flexing their muscles and trying to find us in contempt of their process. They want to punish us for our work in solidarity with Cuba–and because we did not let them use us to help them collect information for their interrogation and harassment of people who go to Cuba. They are trying to threaten us with fines or jail time. In a broader sense we think they want to punish us as a means of intimidating the whole Cuba solidarity movementˆ so we all need to keep on organizing and we will need you support now more than ever.

People all over the US are asking the Obama administration to do away with restrictions on travel to Cuba, and the House and Senate have introduced bills to eliminate those restrictions (HR874/S428). 185 nations of the United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn the US blockade of Cuba.

Meanwhile, with our nation in an economic meltdown, New York State and New York City are facing multi-billion-dollar deficits. Yet they find time and money to threaten us for refusing to be complicit in their witch hunt. In the midst of so many crises, it is VERY hard to understand why the City of New York is wasting taxpayer funds to pursue a foreign policy agenda which is a federal matter, and (according the US Constitution) isn‚t even within their legal purview. Perhaps the budget of the Special CI should reviewed by Governor Paterson while he is looking for places to cut waste in the state budget.
We want you to know that YOUR SUPPORT, during this nearly ˆtwo-year- long project of the NYC Special Commissioner for Investigation to harass and intimidate us, has been both morally and politically significant.

We truly appreciate your support–and once again, I hope that you will be able to join us at 60 Centre Street in the courtroom on March 12, at 2:30 PM as our attorneys represent us before State Judge Judith Gische.

The Special Commissioner has reiterated his intent to punish IFCO and me because we prefer to invoke our rights rather than be complicit with their investigation. With your support, we will continue to stand up for justice.

We hope you received our year-end appeal letter, which contains and open letter to President Obama with our wish-list for a more enlightened and more humane US/Cuba policy.

Please contribute by clicking the donate now button at our website, which you can access at www.ifconews.org or pastorsforpeace.org

We wish you many blessings in this new year, and we pledge to "keep on keepin' on" in the struggle for justice.

In solidarity,
(Rev.) Lucius Walker, Jr.

IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE
418 West 145th Street, New York NY 10031
tel: 212.926.5757 - fax 212.926.5842 - e-mail ifco@igc.org

Venezuela’s Chávez Participates in Historic Regional “Mega Summit” in Brazil

2008-12-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

December 18th 2008, by Erik Sperling - Venezuelanalysis.com

photo: Venezuela's Chavez hugs Cuba's Raul Castro while Bolivia's Morales, Brazil's Lula, and Chile's Bachelet look on. (Efraín González/PP)

Carora, December 18, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez participated in the two day "mega summit" in Brazil that included four meetings of regional organizations, joining leaders from 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations, which aim to confront the world financial crisis with increased regional economic and political integration.

The countries faulted the wealthy nations for causing the world financial crisis and agreed to remain united in demanding a new international financial structure that guarantees democracy and transparency. In the summit's final declaration, the countries agreed to study the creation of a regional currency, a proposal made by Chavez and other member countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas trade bloc (ALBA).

The summit included the first Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development, as well as meetings of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), and the Grupo del Rio, a policy-coordinating organization comprised of 23 countries in the region.

Chavez highlighted the historic nature of the gathering in Costa do Sauípe, which included Cuba's official entrance in the Grupo de Rio, as well as a special statement from the full 33 member summit demanding the United States government end its economic blockade against the island, implemented nearly five decades ago.

"What makes this summit historic is that, for the first time, it has been with the necessary presence of Cuba," said Chavez. "Cuba returned where it should have always been."

The United States and Canada were notably not invited to the summit convened by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, which to Chavez signified "the start of a new era... the United States doesn't rule here anymore."

Also absent were the presidents of Colombia, El Salvador, and Peru, three of the region's top U.S. allies.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said that the summit indicated the end of "scared, puppet governments, who had to ask permission to make sovereign decisions."

The nations in attendance, including some US allies, such as Mexico, agreed to work to form an organization excluding the economic giant to the north.

"We hope to celebrate the bicentennial of the anniversary of our countries with a real regional organization," said Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

On the first day of the summit, the 12 members of Unasur, which includes Venezuela, agreed to create a joint defense council.

The approval of the defense council, which was not expected to happen on Tuesday, will help integrate defense ministers and armed forces of the participating nations, improving confidence between nations, and allowing for joint military training and manufacturing of weaponry, according to Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. He assured, however, it would not be a "traditional military alliance."

The body also approved the creation of the South American Health Council, which will unite ministers of the area with the goal of creating regional health programs jointly financed by the organization.

Earlier in the day, the Mercosur meeting was held, but without the presence of Venezuelan President Chavez, who arrived late due to scheduling issues. Despite delays in the approval of Venezuela`s full membership, which awaits congressional approval from Paraguay and Brazil, Chavez said that his country already feels like part of the trade bloc.

"We are Mercosur," he declared.

In his speech to the full summit, Chavez proposed the creation of a regional fund, suggesting that each nation contribute one percent of their reserves, which together total US$ 500 billion.

Chavez said the fund would include a joint currency, possibly called Sucre or Pacha, as well as a fund for development projects.

"Only through this system, our system, can we have a say in the world," Chavez said in his speech, in which he asked for "concrete results" from the summit, which agreed to study the proposal in its final declaration.

Chavez denied any struggle over regional leadership with Brazil's popular president, Lula. "They ask me if Chavez and Lula are jealous. I tell them they can keep wasting their time," Chavez said, while Lula chuckled.

Lula later reflected on Chavez's role as a pioneer of the progressive changes in the region.

"In eight years there has been an extraordinary change in Latin America. There was a time that Chavez was alone. Who would have imagined Evo Morales as president of Bolivia ten years ago, or a bishop of Liberation Theology as the president of Paraguay? This [summit] is thanks to the change in the ideological profile in Latin America," he concluded.

July 2009 - IFCO/Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba

2008-12-25T11:28:00.000-08:00

Time for Real Change - Time to end the US blockade of Cuba

Support the July 2009 IFCO/Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba

In July 2009 IFCO/Pastors for Peace will be sending its 20th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba, as an act of solidarity with our Cuban brothers and sisters as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of their revolution. We will take with us hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid, much of it aimed at supporting the ongoing reconstruction efforts in Cuba after the devastating impact of Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma this fall.

We will also take a large contingent of citizens of the US and other countries, as part of a coordinated Travel Challenge along with sister organizations such as the Venceremos Brigade, US-Cuba Labor Exchange, and African Awareness Association. As always we will do this without requesting or accepting a US treasury department license to go, because we do not cede the right to any authority to license our conscience.

But this will not just be another caravan. We believe that NOW is the time to end the US government's policy of economically blockading Cuba, and banning travel by its citizens to Cuba. A policy that has:

* survived almost 50 years and 10 US Presidents
* been a sustained attempt to starve the Cuban people into desperately rising up against their government.
* caused tremendous economic suffering in Cuba over half a century, as well as hurting business in the US.
* divided hundreds of thousands of Cuban families.
* prevented both nations from interchanging and learning from each other.
* been subject to almost universal international condemnation, and is immoral and inhuman.

We judge that the situation in Congress is the best it has been for many years to repeal the laws on which the blockade is based. We note that President elect Obama said on the campaign trail in Miami that he would remove all restrictions on Cuban Americans visiting Cuba and sending money to their families, and this commitment was included in the Democratic Party's National Platform for 2008. He also said he would be prepared to sit down and talk with the Cuban government. Welcome steps if implemented, but we need to go much further.

* All US citizens should be free to travel to Cuba, whether for educational purposes, tourism, business, or cultural, scientific or religious exchange.

* Normal trading relations should be resumed, so that Cuba can purchase the goods it needs like any other country, to develop its economy and rebuild after the hurricanes, and so that the US can purchase the products that Cuba specializes in such as a number of unique life saving vaccines.

We call on citizens of faith and conscience throughout the North American continent to come with us, work with us, organize with us to ensure that this 20th caravan has the numbers, the aid, and the educational and media impact to make it a major focus for a broader push to end this blockade once and for all.

BE PART OF THE CARAVAN

In July we will travel in school buses, trucks and cars on 15 different routes to visit up to 140 US and Canadian cities. At every stop we will educate people about the blockade while collecting construction supplies and tools for hurricane reconstruction, as well as medical, educational and cultural supplies.

Our 9 days in Cuba from July 24th to August 2nd will be spent in fellowship with our Cuban brothers and sisters. In Havana and neighboring provinces we will attend cultural events and visit social projects such as organic farms, homes for the elderly and health centers including the Latin American School of Medicine. We will meet and learn from Cubans at every level about the problems caused by the blockade and how they have creatively responded, as well as how they are rebuilding after the hurricanes.

In Cuba there will be an option for skilled building workers to spend about a week working alongside Cubans on a hurricane reconstruction brigade. And as an integral part of the caravan we are inviting Hiphop and related artists to participate and perform on caravan routes, and in Cuba there will be opportunities to meet, record and perform with Cuban artists.

If you are interested in:

* coming with us to Cuba as a Caravanista
* hosting a caravan event in your community
* spreading the word to your friends, neighbors, colleagues or congregation
* raising material aid or money for the caravan

Contact cucaravan@igc.org or telephone 212-926-5757 for application forms, publicity materials or further information

Caravan Schedule

July 3-18 Caravan routes through US and Canadian cities
July 18-21 Orientation period - McAllen, TX
July 22-23 Border Crossing into Mexico and travel to Tampico
July 24-Aug 2 Fly to Cuba for 9 day Cuba program
Aug 2 Fly to Tampico and travel back to border
Aug 3 Reverse challenge crossing into Texas

IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE
418 West 145th Street, New York NY 10031
tel: 212.926.5757 - e-mail ifco@igc.org

Pastors for Peace Construction Brigade to Cuba

2008-10-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Friend and Supporter of IFCO/Pastors for Peace,

This is an update about the IFCO/Pastors for Peace
Hurricane Relief and Reconstruction project. We are in need
of your help to reach out to more people who might be
interested in joining us on the Construction Brigade to
Cuba. It has been almost one month since Hurricane Ike left
Cuba after wreaking havoc and destroying homes and social
facilities.

People all over Cuba are now in the process of a massive
reconstruction effort, rebuilding infrastructure and
restoring vital services. Pastors for Peace is organizing a
Construction Brigade of skilled workers to join with Cuban
workers in this historic reconstruction effort.

Now that we have more details in place for the Construction
Brigade, we wanted to share them with you to use as you out
reach to people who might be able to join us for this
important time in Cuba. The Construction Brigade will be in
Cuba for a two-week period between October 13 and 31st,
getting to work as soon as possible. We will be working
alongside Cubans in Pinar Del Rio, the Western most province
of Cuba, which was hit hardest by the hurricanes.

We are looking for people to join us who are skilled
carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers, or have
experience in similar construction/reconstruction efforts.
If there is anyone in your community that you think would be
interested, please have them call IFCO/P4P at 212-926-5757,
or send an e-mail to p4p@igc.org. Please join us in
recruiting the hardest working, best prepared Brigadistas to
make this the strongest Construction Brigade possible.

We desperately need fundraising efforts to help support the
brigade and help us buy the equipment to be used in the
reconstruction efforts in Cuba. Please think of the ways in
which your community can contribute to these efforts. If you
have any questions or would like to request informative
materials on the hurricanes and its damages in Cuba please
feel free to contact us at 212-926-5757, or send an e-mail
to p4p@igc.org.

-Alison Bodine
Caravan Coordinator

From: IFCO/Pastors for Peace US/Cuba Friendshipment

Cuba Caravan Slays the US Customs Dragon Once Again

2008-09-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

Cuba Caravan Slays the US Customs Dragon Once Again
by Gerry Bill

“If there is a law against loving your neighbor, I want to break it” (Pastors for Peace slogan).

Is it legal or illegal for US citizens to take humanitarian aid to our neighbors in Cuba? That is the question Pastors for Peace puts to our government every year as it openly, some would say blatantly, defies the nearly fifty- year old blockade of Cuba.

In accordance with the best principles of civil disobedience, Pastors for Peace makes no secret of its intention to break through the virtual wall that the US has tried to construct around the island nation. Pastors considers the blockade to be both illegal under international law and immoral under the law of common human decency.

This summer was my second time to experience a Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba. Once again it was made abundantly clear to me that I would be breaking the law, and that I would be participating in collective civil disobedience. I don’t break many laws, but this is just the sort of law I want to break.

Every year Pastors for Peace successfully challenges the blockade, and in the process they expose the hypocrisy, futility, and outright silliness of the whole thing. This year was no exception.

To get to Cuba we go through Mexico. US exit customs knows we are coming - the date of the crossing, after all, is listed on the caravan website months in advance. The customs agents even have the cell phone numbers of the Pastors for Peace leadership, and they check in frequently in the days before the crossing to see how things are going. Pastors does not in any way try to hide what it is doing from the officials. When we arrive at the border we have “Cuba” plastered all over our trucks and buses in very large letters. We want them to see us coming. They are waiting for us, and they have special equipment and extra customs officers on hand to deal with the situation. This year the routine was the same as last year. They diverted us into a customs yard, x-rayed all of our vehicles with a portable machine mounted on a truck, and then went through the vehicles looking for contraband.

Sometimes it is a little hard to figure out just what constitutes contraband. After all, our government says we can’t take anything to Cuba, so maybe all 100 tons of the aid could be considered contraband. One year, oddly enough, the designation contraband was applied to several boxes of breast pumps. Go figure. Do breast pumps have some secret military use about which we have been told nothing? If anyone out there knows the answer to that one, please let me know. This year the focus seemed to be on computers. The computers were destined for hospitals and medical clinics in Cuba, but that makes no difference to customs officials. We had about 130 computers scattered amongst the twelve vehicles in the caravan. The customs agents spotted these on the x-rays and confiscated 32 of them. Why they stopped at 32 is anybody’s guess. Maybe they just got tired of searching. We refused to unload the aid for them, so they had to do all the hard physical labor themselves. It was starting to get pretty hot, so maybe they just decided enough was enough. This is a little dance we do with the customs people every year.

Meanwhile, there was something else going on at an entirely different level. People in 125 other cities across the country were busily calling the media and their members of Congress to protest the computer confiscation. My thanks go out to all of you in the Fresno area who participated in that effort. We call it the emergency response network, and it is very effective. Members of Congress, or their staff people, contact the Department of Commerce to find out what this is all about, and pretty soon the Commerce Department is on the phone to the customs people at the McAllen/Reynosa border crossing. The media start making inquiries as well. All of this lets the customs officials know that Washington and the media are watching them. In that situation the customs officials usually back off, because otherwise it will turn into a public relations battle that US Customs cannot win.

For whatever reason, after several hours in the customs yard the officials let us go across the border with all the rest of our aid sans the 32 computers. End of story, you might think. Wrong. The drivers did take the vehicles on into Mexico, but some of the caravanistas decided the confiscation of the computers was an outrage. They stayed behind in the customs yard and organized a spontaneous demonstration right there at the border crossing, blocking some of the lanes of traffic. The customs officials noticed, but did nothing. The demonstration lasted about 20 minutes, after which the protesting caravanistas went across the border also.

But even that does not end the saga of the 32 computers. Fast forward about two weeks as the caravan is crossing the border back into the US. We call this the reverse challenge. Once again, we do a little dance with the US officials. This year the dance had a new twist, and it involved the 32 computers. Thanks to the emergency response network (and all of you) a lot of pressure had been generated in Washington D.C. The word came down from somewhere to let the 32 computers go. So after we had cleared immigration with our passports and cleared US entry customs with our personal luggage, the officials returned the computers to us.

According to the customs officials the computers were not really confiscated; they were just “detained.” The computers were returned to us on US soil, and that was where customs thought they should stay. But Lucius Walker, the head of Pastors for Peace, had other ideas. He had received word in advance that the computers would likely be returned to us. He got several of us to volunteer for special duty that he warned could lead to us being arrested. What we were to do was take the 32 computers, one at a time, into our arms, and then walk them right across the bridge to Mexico. This was to be done in full view of the customs officials. The strategy worked quite well. The customs officials, who really did not want a confrontation, conveniently looked the other way as we walked across the bridge under their noses.

No one was arrested. Waiting on the Mexican side of the bridge were some of our supporters in Reynosa. They took over from there and sent the computers on their way to Cuba. The Mexicans, of course, are not breaking any Mexican law when they take things like that to Cuba.

So what did US Customs accomplish by all of their antics? They delayed by about two weeks the delivery of a handful of computers to Cuba. This is how it turns out every year. This was the 19th Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba, and Pastors has always gotten its aid through, one way or another. The best US Customs has ever been able to do is create some delays.

What did Pastors for Peace accomplish? They delivered 100 tons of aid to Cuba, including the 32 “detained” computers. They got the attention of the media and of some officials in Washington. They made the blockade look silly, anachronistic, and un-enforceable. They educated people in 125 cities across the US and Canada about Cuba, about the Cuban Five, and about the folly of the blockade. And everyone on the caravan had a blast doing it.

Next year will be the 20th Cuba caravan organized by Pastors for Peace. It will also be the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Coincidentally, it is also the 40th anniversary of the Venceremos Brigade, which coordinates certain activities with Pastors for Peace. Therefore, next year is being dubbed 20/40/50, and an extra effort will be made to double the size of the caravan.

These caravans are not for everyone. You have to be willing to engage in some civil disobedience. But if that doesn’t scare you off, I highly recommend the caravan experience. The dates for the 2009 caravan have not been set, but it will be in the summer, probably in July, perhaps involving the tail end of June. The cost this year was $1600, and that covered virtually everything. For more information go to pastorsforpeace.org.

This article was originally published in the Fresno Community Alliance Magazine (www.fresnoalliance.com/home/magazine), and reprinted with permission of the author.

Gerry Bill is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and American Studies atFresno City College, and is on the boards of directors of the Fresno Free College Foundation, radio station KFCF, and the Fresno Center for Nonviolence. He may be reached at gerry.bill@gmail.com.

editor’s note: Gerry and I were the two vegans on the Caravan this year and we’ve talked about collecting various soy products for the caravan next year (little soy milk tetrapacks, soy jerky, good organic soya seeds, maybe a vegan cookbook or two ....). If you’d like to help gather these or other earth friendly products to send on the 2009 caravan, please contact me at streetnewz@islandnet.com. Also ... I’ll be presenting a slide show story about my journey through America and Mexico and Cuba at Camas Bookstore on October 11th starting at 7:30 pm. If you’d like to help me organize other slide show presentations, or if you’d like me to present an account of my journey for your group or organization, please write to me at streetnewz@islandnet.com.

photo (by Janine Bandcroft) top: Gerry Bill carried about $3,000 worth of medicine which had to be kept at or near room temperature. Leni Reeves of Meadow Lakes donated the medicine. middle: Rev. Lucius Walker (front of the line) and other caravanistas picked up the returned computers and walked them across the bridge to our supporters in Mexico, who had agreed to send them on to Cuba. The people carrying the computers were risking arrest, but no one was arrested.

why we love cuba

2008-09-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

i just heard this on democracy now:

the cuban government asked the american government to temporarily lift the 47 year old blockade, and promised to buy goods from north american companies in exchange. there's an estimated 5 billion dollars worth of damage in cuba, after three hurricanes recently visited. the american government refused to lift the blockade, even temporarily, and offered 2 million dollars in aid. the cuban government refused, saying it can't accept money from a government that would maintain a blockade even under these circumstances.

let's do it the anarchist way .... without governments.

contact pastors for peace for details.

reconstructing the commons

2008-09-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

the hurricane that collided with haiti, that also hit the pinko communist cuba, is getting money thrown at it. rather, the destruction from the hurricane is getting money thrown at it. in haiti. it's illegal, according to 47 years of american foreign policy, to throw money at anything cuban (except, according to some contraband rum and cigars).

now i'm the first one to admit that the embargo is a bad thing, and that cuba's not perfect, but at least they're not getting money thrown at their destruction. they can't leave, there's no escaping life on a tropic island in the middle of global warming season, and that can't be a good thing, but those cubanos won't be coca-colonized .... not just yet.

there's some communist pinko canadian who calls this form of capitalism, this throwing money at yourself and your rebuilding skills, the 'shock doctrine.' have you heard of that? can you say 'reconstruction profit'? what if those reconstructionists are also involved in the destruction?

perhaps momentarily you've heard about this, here and there, when we pinko commies conspiracy nuts aren't too distracted reconstructing our hacked websites (yes, relativenewz.ca is bug-ridden yet again).

so haiti gets money and cuba gets aid, 'cause the pastores para la paz, from nyc, are at it again. sending a mini caravan to cuba, with carpenters, and construction types and materials. probably some bc old growth, i dunno. it's everywhere. you're probably wiping your ass with it right now. damned communists.

would i, do i, condemn the cubans for wiping their asses with bc old growth you ask?!? from my experience, i'm willing to bet they've devised/maintained alternative technologies in that regard. they're educated people, and they shit from their assholes just like everyone else on the planet, if they're lucky, and they've been doing it for 47 years up against a big american hemhoroid called a 'trade embargo'. the americans did that sanction thing to the people of iraq, for a decade, before they sent the boys and girls over to do their dirty invasion (deconstruction) work. they call that one a 'war.'

you just can't understand what it is for a country to be unable to trade with other countries openly. i was in cuba this year, and i don't fully comprehend the blockade's implications either. i know that i admire the cubans' resolve, their survival instincts and tactics. they offer a good evolutionary alternative to those lords of the flies.

and you know it's strange, but as much as i love those cuban people and their socialist priority that allows everyone the right to die with a full set of teeth, it makes no sense why there is no tofu available for human consumption on their island. the farmers i spoke with said they feed tofu to los animales, which they then consume. there isn't even any tofu in havana's chinatown. i wonder if there are chinese restaurants at guantanamo bay? apparently there's a pizza hut that employs jamaicans ...

nothing is perfect. cuba doesn't have any tofu. guantanamo bay might not have any chinese food. haiti's getting money to rebuild. well ....... someone in haiti is getting money to do something or other. cuba's getting a bunch of hippie peacenik types (or not) who want to graciously accept humanitarian aid offerings from those who offer them and distribute those same goods and skilled workers to some others who will really appreciate the help.

you can check in with pastors for peace and their endless aid missions at their website. you probably won't hear about them much otherwise.

and, since the iweb relativenewz.ca site has been hacked/bugged again, i'm creating another blog. i don't know why. it amuses me.

god's chosen ones had just better hope the history books don't find that they're involved with directing those storms .....

IFCO/Pastors for Peace - CALL TO ACTION FOR CUBA

2008-09-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Like all of you, IFCO has been watching with heavy hearts as Hurricanes Gustav, Hannah and Ike have ravaged the Caribbean.

IFCO is organizing a variety of disaster responses this week.

Here is how you can help:

1. Help us organize an IFCO-Pastors for Peace Construction Brigade
of 30-50 skilled carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc. They and a small number of support individuals will travel to Cuba for approximately two weeks to assist in the reconstruction of social projects-i.e. schools, hospitals, medical facilities, home for the elderly, etc

This brigade will arrive in Cuba with tools and humanitarian aid collected from our friends.

As usual this aid will be delivered to the Ecumenical Distribution Committee which will distribute the aid wherever it is needed most.

2. Help us organize a mini-caravan to gather aid that Cuba says they need.

3. Send a generous donation. IFCO has established a Hurricane Relief Fund to respond as best we can to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Cuba.

The magnitude of need in Cuba has reached historic proportions. Each of us can contribute in some way to the recovery effort.

Our friends in Cuba need our support now more than ever before.

Please be as generous as you can. Send your tax-exempt contributions to IFCO, 418 W. 145th Street, New York, NY 10031 212-926-5757 by phone or by snail mail or donate online at our website.

Let us help Cuba rebuild with no strings attached!

All contributions are tax deductible. IFCO is a 501c3 non profit organization.

And please don't forget to urge other people of faith, conscience and good will to contribute in any way possible to this effort.

Important: Please designate all contributions with the word Hurricane. Do not use the word "Cuba" in the subject notation line of your check or with an online donation.

Donating on line is safe, simple and straight forward:
Go to contributions online

Designate your donation amount and write Hurricane Relief in the box online

IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE
418 W 145th Street, New York, NY 10031
tel: 212.926.5757 - email: ifco@igc.org,
www.ifconews.org

This Year's Journey to Cuba ....... Terminado y Acertado!

2008-08-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

my 2008 cuba friendshipment journey with pastors for peace is now nearing its end. i'm in vancouver, arrived at 1:30 this morning and i guess it's time to sign off this blog until next year.

gotta say it was wonderful, especially the cuba part, and meeting all those socially concerned americans, temporarily immersing myself in my friends' lives, but i was sure glad to cross that border last night. i actually started getting a little choked up, when the border guy asked me 'where's home.' it's not perfect, my canada (the border guy looked a bit like omar khadr, i thought), it's built on theft and murder like most nation-states (some for the purposes of a peoples' revolution, some not so much), but it's not america (no offense to the peace makers). or so i keep hoping.

this morning i woke up at the home of yet another years-in-the-making friendship (bless these wonderful souls!) , watched a goofy old movie (the wheeler dealers), and read the paper while soaking in a hot tub. on the front page, beneath the celebration of the corporate olympic games (talk about theft and murder!), is the story of stephen harper (head of a minority government, elected with way less than 50% of the vote) and his love for destroying afghanistan and everything that lives there.

i opened my email. i'm going to publish correspondence i received from my palestinian journalist friend mohammed omer, and sign off this cuba journey blog until next year. all those hours on the train offered me an opportunity to rebuild my website so, if you're interested, you can stay connected there.

here's what omer wrote:

yes the money received- thanks! sorry, i have been to the hospital and in dire situations due to my injury after the assaults! I am sure you read about it, if not, I would send you the link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080818/omer
Mohammed

from cuba to catalina island

2008-08-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

august 2nd, morning, pasadena

click here for photos of catalina island

88 % of catalina is protected by their local land conservancy. apparently the wrigley family controlled the island for many years, and one or more of them cared enough about the natural environment to turn the place over to a local land conservancy rather than ending up with more of the same from so-called 'developers' (who do more destroying than developing). thank you, wrigley family.

i travelled on a rather expensive privately owned ferry ($30+ dollars one way, i suppose bc ferry travellers will look forward to such rates as our publically owned transport system is stolen from us and corporatized) early thursday morning to avalon, and then to two harbours on catalina island. it reminded me of jasper/banff national park - avalon is like banff, very 'developed' and corporate and touristy; two harbours is similar to jasper, relatively unchanged despite decades of passing travelers, with nothing corporate in site except some of the products inside a little general store.

the safari bus (owned by the company that the wrigley family continues to manage) took me to the little harbour campsite and i found my friends. they shared their rented kayaks, their food, and we constructed a fire using chunks of trees from who knows where. one of the wood chunks was definitely cedar. maybe it's time to provide lights at campsites, rather than burning the last remnants of wood extracted from the last remnants of earth's forests.

the catalina journey lasted only a day and a half, but it was wonderful. there were surprisingly few people there. my friends and i decided we ought to tell everyone how awful it was, in an attempt to keep people from flocking there. we've tried to do that with vancouver island, telling people it rains all the time and it's really miserable, but the monster houses are going up and the forests are coming down anyways. it's incredible to think of this lovely, wilderness preserved little island existing so close to the crazy busy city of los angeles.

it occurred to me that, as cuba evolves, the cuban people might attempt to influence their government to build campsites rather than resorts. if it's impossible to keep people from inhabiting the last of earth's most beautiful places, at least we can influence how they inhabit. the type of people who travel to campsites are rather different from the type who travel to resorts and, though i wouldn't want to imply anything elitist, if i had my druthers i'd rather invite wilderness loving travellers rather than excessive comfort seeking tourists.

returning to my friends' home in pasadena, the energy hungry air conditioner was immediately enlisted. i must say that i really really appreciated the air conditioner during the 100 degree days in austin, but here in california ...... i expressed my disdain. it's interesting how my canadian friends are often complaining that it's not hot enough, when's the hot weather going to arrive, lousy weather ... while my southern friends often complain that it's too hot, turn on the air conditioner.

apparently the spanish have a saying -- it never rains the right amount for everyone.

we're all gonna die. i'm thankful to have had an opportunity to experience catalina island before the world ends.

we're all gonna die

2008-07-30T18:41:00.001-07:00

morning, july 29th, yuma arizona, somewhere near palm springs california - a sign out the window says san diego is 177 km

to my canadian brothers and sisters i say -- WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE !!!!

you know about the nafta, right, which brian mulroney signed into power with a minority government just prior to the collapse of his conservative party, after an election with nafta as its key issue and a very clear majority of canadians voted against it. well i voted against the nafta (can't recall which of the no to nafta parties i voted for) because of a clause i heard about that states -- canada will provide america with energy resources even before we meet our own needs.

i've been on this train, riding through desert, for 24 hours and there's a lot more ahead of us, and all around us. there are cities built on top of this desert, aquifers built to direct water to them, and they're living like there's no tomorrow. they're driving their cars, using up paper towels in the bathrooms, filing forests of paper in their offices, admiring their lucious green lawns, wimming in their swimming pools, and golfing on their greens.

unless we canadians can finally vote some representatives who will use the 6 month clause, give notice, and get us out of the definitely not fair trade agreement, we're all gonna die, and i expect it'll be a slow and agonizing end as we simultaneously freeze and starve to death. of course, if we refuse to continue to behave as th third world in denial, damming the rivers and cutting the trees and shipping it all south, they'll just bomb us like they do everyone else who tries to hold onto some semblance of sovereignty. it's clear that our neighbours to the south want to live as they've always lived, as they have a right to live, as god intended, with their eyes shut and their heads in the sand and dumpsters full and their engines idling.

so, whatever our illustrious leaders do, we're all gonna die, one way or the other.

as one of my favourite awakened americans, utah phillips, would say .... so long, it's been good to know ya.

ps - i see they've planted some wind turbines at palm springs ....

leaving austin ....

2008-07-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

morning, san antonio, july 29 08
(photo - sunset in the desert)

last night i told an african american man about my journey with the pastors for peace as we walked from the san antonio train station towards town. he'd heard about them, about all the good work they've done. i told him that next year is going to be a big year - it's the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution, and the twentieth year that the pastors have facilitated the caravans. i suggested to the man that he might think about going, told hiim what an incredible experience it is. he went to denny's, and i carried on.

we arrived in san antonio late, around midnight, and weren't scheduled to leave until 5:40 am - destined for los angeles. the train was already late, leaving austin around 9:15. my friends waited around with me for the train. they're good friends - they also took me out to dinner, to the mega-organic alternative food store (fortunately, the wheatsville food coop still survives despite this enormous competition - ostensibly a fundamental component of the free-market system - after 30 years). i love the co-op, and did my own shopping there, but this whole foods place was amazing - an entire city block, i'll bet, definitely american super-sized, full of all sorts of food i might be tempted to purchase (except i already have a ton of food from the co-op to get me to los angeles). they called it the paycheque store, where it'd be very easy to spend an entire one or two or three. aside from all the yummy food and natural health products, there's a beer tasting area and various eating places scattered throughout the place - seafood, bbq, sushi, and my favourite, the vegan cuisine. we three girls shared two yummy salads (one with all manner of foods including blueberries, cucumber, and capers) and some nori, vicente joined us with his crabby patties and we all shared a bottle of vegan wine. vegan wine! they had it listed on their menu. i know a lot of wine isn't vegan so i just avoid it. it was a real treat. i was sad to leave - it's been a good couple of weeks. fifteen years since i've previously been in austin, hopefully it won't be fifteen more until the next visit.

looking outside the train at this moment, i see a huge amount of construction just outside of san antonio heading, i think, south-westish. i see mexican labourers, they look mexican ... i hope they're getting paid a fair wage. there are lots of brand new rail lines, very cool! i love trains.

i love amtrak even though last night i slept curled up on the floor at the back of a very full railcar. my other option was to try to sleep in the seat next to a very nice but rather large african-american man. i was tempted to stay out all night in san antonio - after i walked to the denny's i carried on and found their river walk. i've been there before, but in the daytime when it's full of people. it was a bit spooky at night, i passed an irish pub where i'd have stopped for a beer if i had a penis, or was n't travelling alone. there were lots of drunken men outside, some spitting into the river and making drunken noises - i wonder if anyone ever falls into the river? it's quite beautiful, though a little too corporate, the san antonio river walk. i felt unusually relieved when i saw a police officer on a bike, and a security guy, i didn't really feel scared, but i'm a woman and it was nighttime. eventually i found my way back to the train station and got some sleep amidst the noise of those who didn't sleep and didn't much care that others were trying to.

apparently we're late because american trains, like their canadian cousins, yield to freight trains. isn't that a bit wierd? what's also strange is that ralph nader's visit to austin wasn't mentioned on either npr or in the university daily paper. i didn't check any other media. he's the invisible candidate. we're the invisible paying consumers.

i'm not sure how much longer i can milk this cubajourney blog. i like writing, and maybe someone's interested in reading it. the cuba journey, for this year, is over .... though it lives in my memories. i'm definitely a changed woman. now, in additional to intellectualizing the revolution, i can feel it.

afternoon, july 28, somewhere between san antonio and el paso

very interesting, this desert. 'mexico' on one side of the train, 'texas' on the other. i say if someone can crawl through this desert and emerge alive, they oughta be able to stay wherever they land. apparently it's illegal to help 'illegal aliens' in america - even if they're dehydrated and near dead.

the conductor has been telling us stories about the old west. we just crossed the texas river on a bridge. it was way far below us, a bit scary. i haven't heard many of the stories because, just as he begins to speak, people decide it's time to move from the car ahead of us into this car and the process of the doors opening and closing overrides his voice. people are timing it immaculately - they don't enter the car when he's not speaking, only when he is. if i didn't know better i'd say there are illegal interplanetary aliens taking over their bodies with the intention of driving me crazyl i should get some sleep for my overactive imagination i guess ....

ralph nader thinks the embargo against cuba is stupid

2008-07-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

do you know ralph nader's a presidential candidate? a lot of people don't.

in this, the 'greatest democracy on earth,' there's a complete media blackout against the man .... with tiny exceptions. yesterday, on a corporate news channel, there were soundless images of him speaking, with the news announcer announcing ralph's arrival in austin and promising more from ralph to follow. i'm not sure how much they followed up, but more of nothing is never enough.

why are the american people being denied an opportunity to know about a presidential platform? probably because ralph nader and his running mate, matt gonzales, are trying to connect with, as ralph puts it, the 1% of americans who are actually doing the day to day work of democracy. who are those folks? they're the ones attending municipal council meetings, organizing rallies for peace and an end to economic violence, writing petitions, and lobbying their representatives. 1% of the populace, claims ralph, are working to protect the democracy america holds up as a shining example to the world it bombs. he cited an ancient greek philosopher who said that 'to know, and not to do, is not to know.' not only does the corporate world not want us to know, but they especially don't want us to do - and their media reflects that philosophy of lethargy.

ralph's interested in promoting democracy, and not in an imperialist way. in the last election the democrats promised to talk impeachment, and to begin to end the invasion of iraq. in fact, over 50 billion addiitonal dollars have been designated towards that effort, with approval from many otherwise elected democrats, and especially turncoat nancy pelosi. ralph and matt are offering a real alternative.

they're talking about electoral reform, so that votes are counted in a way that actually represents the will of the electorate. as a canadian i know (and mentioned) that, while multiple candidates makes for a thriving democracy, it can result in a tyranny of the minority unless the votes are counted in some sort of proportionally representative manner. (i also let the folks know that, in a previous decade, the majority of canadians voted for the parties who said they weren't going to implement nafta, but we got it anyways because brian mulroney was elected with 30 something percent of the vote. we need electoral reform. we don't want to provide america with their energy needs even before we meet our own needs - it's not that we don't love y'all, i said, but it's cold in canada!).

one reason my friends and i went to hear ralph nader speak is because they're so disappointed with barack obama's turn to the right. it seems there are increasing numbers of people who feel that same way. last night we learned that obama's getting more money from corporate lawyers than the other candidate in the 2 party duopoly. we also learned of a website - corporatecrimereporter.org.

ralph spoke about personal vs. civic power - americans have lots of personal power, he suggested, able to travel (though not to cuba and yes, he agrees the embargo is stupid and should be lifted) and earn money and buy things .... but americans don't have so much civic power, especially when it comes to democracy. they're political slaves, he says, encouraged to vote for the least worst candidate and led to actually think of any other candidates, aside from the two, as harmful to democracy. 18,000 people die every year in the united states because they have no health care. ralph wants americans to raise their expectations. there's talk of a google sponsored three way debate in california, that'd be a start.

ralph is saddened by the numbers of otherwise reasonable and progressive people who tell him he should drop out of the race. there's actually a poll, he said, that shows al gore got more votes against bush in a previous election because ralph was running. if the ancestors had been afraid to 'throw their vote away,' as ralph supporters are accused of doing, women would still be unable to vote and there would still be slavery. (not that slavery has been eliminated, of course ... ask any migrant worker)

ralph took questions from the audience - he agrees there needs to be reform of the central banking system, he doesn't like the security and prosperity partnership, he's concerned about poverty and medicare and would implement a canadian style health care system - with improvements. he thinks there should be one federal set of procedures for getting a presidential candidate on the ballot rather than different rules state by state. one of the volunteers decided they ought to make posters - how to add ralph nader to your ballot - at every polling station. a man who wrote the software for the diebold voting machines said he knows it's faulty, he knows those machines don't work.

in closing ralph talked about eugene debs who was asked if he had any regrets. eugene said his only regret is that americans, who have so many opportunities, don't seem to want much of anything that's really important. to know, and not to do, is not to know.

The Reverse Challenge

2008-07-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

monday july 14, 2:25 pm, at the border - mcallen texas/reynosa mexico

associated photos

we left cuba yesterday afternoon, stopped for dinner somewhere in small town mexico about an hour's drive from tampico, and then drove through the night to arrive here early this morning. i snuck across the street to the capri hotel in reynosa, managed to get some frijoles, arroz, avocado y tomates and, as is typical my first day or so in mexico, emptied my bladder a couple of times before departure. some people didn't have breakfast. i was hurried away from mine with a report of a mandatory meeting happening pronto. plans were being finalized for our border crossing attempt. i don't think it's a good idea to send a bunch of hungry tired people to confront american border officials, but who am i to argue.

it was a very empowering experience. we walked through the streets of town, chanting 'cuba si bloqueo no' and, as we neared the pedestrian bridge border crossing, some mexicans were busy painting the curbs red. one fellow said 'no hay bloqueo' and i couldn't help but think, again, about those strange and despicable resort hotels that the cuban government is building. they seem to have access to whatever they need for their touristas ... why is it that the same efforts aren't necessarily afforded all the local people?

we made it safely across the american border, without incident. we had to pay a small fee to leave mexico. it'll be so easy for them to close those borders, when the wall's built -- we're all already trained to accept as normal a departure fee.

the american officials gave us back our computers and some brave caravanistas carried them across the border, circling into mexico and back again three times. other weary travellers are hanging out at the hamburger joint, accumulating a pile of styrofoam, waiting for whatever happens next.

some caravanistas are raving about the revolution, and the ways it's been implemented. i agree that the revolution was genuine - their constitution enshrines the rights and powers of working people - but i have some difficulty defending all aspects of its evolution. capitalism is such a force in this world, and the disparity of wealth and selfish greed that accompanies it, i doubt event the cubans can escape its detrimental effects entirely. there remain alive people who fought in the revolution, people who remember how bad it was before the revolution, people who reap the benefits of the revolution daily but who don't necessarily get up every morning and defend it. it'll be interesting to see what cuba looks like a decade from now - if any of us survive that long.

back here in the good old u s of a, and in mexico, the commodification of half naked women on bill boards assaulted me immediately. no more do i see bill boards espousing che and fidel's words of revolution, ideas about what revolution is and ought to be .... now i'm blasted with the empty messages of capitalism, always wanting every last penny from me, reminding me i'm never good enough, never young enough, never empty and vacuous enough. i'm in a mexico/american restaurant/shop, trying to make room on my computer so i can download the latest photos, so i can take more photos of the pastors and their efforts to walk the stolen computers (taken when we crossed into reynosa a week ago and returned to us today) across the border to our mexican compadres who will deliver them to tampico where they'll be delivered to cuba. i'm standing near the folgers coffee, the pepsi, the starbuck's cold drinks, charging my computer's battery, and have been instructed to pay a dollar for this luxury. i've just finished eating a couple of tortillas (with beans and rice, what else) and explained that my work is with the pastors. one dollar please.

in cuba, yesterday morning, i took a local bus downtown and back to the mlk centre where we were staying. we had a few hours in the morning and i wanted to see the museum of the revolution. i asked around, who wants to join me, and dan said he wanted to check out the museum of art so off we went to the bus stop. we'd spent the last week, prior to that, being escorted here and there, this was a new adventure off on our own. i asked the bus driver 'quanto questa' and didn't get a response. i pulled out a handful of change, my tourista pesos (there are two currencies in cuba, one for the locals and one for the tourists, ensuring that foreigners pay more since, generally, we earn more), and a woman entering the bus said no no and gave me one of her pesos to pay for the both of us. she wouldn't accept the 'convertible pesos,' the tourists currency, that i tried to give her. i had half an hour in the museum and then i found my way back, all alone. it was a proud moment. i wish i could thank the woman who paid the fare.

i'm not convinced that cuba's socialism is the ideal solution, but it sure generates a different attitude than this goofy capitalism we endure here. we were lost this morning, as the sun rose, in reynosa, and found ourselves along the maquilladora zone watching bus loads of people being driven to large warehouses that were being guarded by sentries. i wondered what it's like to get up each day to slave away for a corporate master, as compared to getting up each day to work for your revolution.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO WROTE AND/OR CALLED MEDIA AND/OR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS!!

here's a letter from libby davies, mp in vancouver:

Office of Foreign Assets Control US Department of the Treasury
Treasury Annex
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW Washington, DC 20220

Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing on behalf of my constituent, Jim Wilson, who is a Canadian citizen participating in the Pastors for Peace US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan. He explained to me that federal agents seized 32 computers from the caravan.

I respectfully request that the confiscated computers be released so that they could be used for educational purposes in Cuba. I understand that in the past similar caravans have successfully transported goods without incident.

Humanitarian and educational aid to our friends in Cuba is an endeavour I wholeheartedly support, and I urge your compassion and discretion in granting the release of the computers as soon as possible.

Yours Sincerely,

(original signed by)

Libby Davies, MP (Vancouver East)

Old Havana and the Museum of the Revolution

2008-07-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

click here for audio - hasta siempre, and stories about che and the revolution

photos of old havana, and the museum

on the very last day, those of us who had packed the night before had a spare few hours on our own. i rode the city bus (cuba has a bunch of new buses from china, perhaps that's one reason why they're not making any noise about that country's injustices, why they're going along with the olympics?) downtown with dan. he went to the art museum (which, he said, was fabulous) and i waited until 10 am for the museum of the revolution to open. the museum is housed in the former presidential palace of dictator fulgencio batista (rich capitalist, pro-gambling, pro-prostitution, didn't give a crap about the masses of illiterate, unhealthy people living in poverty). the museum was very interesting, lots of history from the revolution and from many decades preceding it, honouring those who inspired the revolution and created a climate in which it could succeed - though the red bull vending machine in the museum's lobby was a bit of a downer.

although i still don't believe that armed revolution is possible in today's world, this adventure to cuba has certainly inspired me to once again believe that the shift in consciousness that we activists hope for might actually happen before the world is swallowed by greed.f maybe.

Final couple of days in Havana

2008-07-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

One important component of the Pastors for Peace mission to Cuba is the on-going hip-hop cultural exchange that is being facilitated.

This year, some young hip hop folk from Sacramento entertained us in McAllen Texas - at a press conference and in the gym one evening - they travelled on the same bus as me to the province of Sancti Spiritus and jammed with some local folks they found there, and near the end of our adventure they performed, along with some Cuban hip-hop artists, at the Friendship Centre (Casa de la Amistad).

Click here for photos of this year's Hip Hop Event (plus some photos from the neighbourhood around the Martin Luther King Centre)

Click here for a song that resulted from last year's Hip Hop connection.

A Senior Centre in Havana

2008-07-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

click here for photos of the senior centre

click here for an audio tour of the place

Other Caravanistas who visited different senior centres had really great things to report. To be honest, the one we went to was a bit depressing. Of course, anytime we're asked to ponder our own immortality, and the prospects that await us as we near the end of our lives, it's gonna be a bit depressing.

We drove through a neighbourhood that was, prior to the revolution, 'exclusive,' and past the Ernest Hemingway Marina, to a small building that has been reclaimed when illegal activities were found to be going on there.

The woman who offered the tour of this place was very energetic, enthusiastic, and obviously cared very much about the people she serves.

One elder woman wrote poetry the entire time we were there, and shared a number of her writings with us. Katie shared a fan and some stories with an elder man on the front porch. We commented, afterwards, that sometimes the prospect of assisted suicide is rather appealing. We asked Leonard, our Danish friend, if such a choice is offered in Denmark. Indeed, when one has reached the logical end of one's life in Denmark, there is a humane option for departure.

At the Che Memorial

2008-07-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

friday july 11th, 10ish in the morning, on the bus from sancti spiritus, returning to havana

click here for photos from sancti spiritus

photos from the resort hotel at the beach

photos at the che memorial (with a police escort, for some reason, then lunch with a revolutionary)

more sancti spiritus photos, including lunch at a cooperative farm

we have a stop somewhere this morning -- i can't believe how busy our schedule has been. events here, meetings there, with a variety of cuban people - government officials, representatives from community organizations, doctors, church people, and then the opportunities to just hang out and talk to people.

oh, i remember, we're going to another che memorial. i sure hope people remember the underlying philosophy of the revolution as they move forward. already it's possible to see some of the detrimental effects of capitalism - people asking for money in the marketplace, on the streets .... in trinidad i found a rather largeish store with various forms of merchandise. i don't have anything against the opportunity for people to purchase or barter for products, but i fear the imposition of all kinds of consumer crap made in faraway lands by factory slaves - like what we're exposed to in canada and the united states - if capitalism proceeds in its typical unbridled fashion. leonard, from denmark, offers us some hope - they too have universal education and health care in their mixed economy. why is north american style capitalism so over-run with greed and excessive consumption, whereas european style free market economies seem able to remember the value of sharing and caring?

at the che memorial, built around the same time that elian gonzales was kidnapped, and the cuban five were imprisoned, and the big resort was built near trinidad, we learned that there's a woman entombed along with the men. this is where they brought che's ashes, after he was murdered by the cia in bolivia. the statue is enormous, he's looking towards the mountains where they battled the american funded contra rebels in the jungle. in the museum there are lots of artifacts from the revolution - clothing, weapons, radios, and photos - one with che reading something written by the german philosopher goethe.

we met another revolutionary who fought alongside che in the congo.

the cuban health system

2008-07-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

click here for audio from the latin american school of medicine

as usual, pastors for peace representatives were greeted as honoured guests and treated to fresh juice and coffee after an introduction to the facility.

photos from the latin american school of medicine

(notice sabine's new glasses, attained after hers were stolen by an american in mexico, for $100 pesos or about $120 Cdn.)

photos from a poli-clinic (and the journey there - near the ancient city of trinidad in sancti spiritus province)

in cuba there are doctors in each neighbourhood, also poli-clinics where patients are referred if the doctor can't immediately help. this poli-clinic was very clean and the well-trained staff able to perform a number of tests (though their equipment is limited due to the 47 year old blockade imposed by the american government) and then send patients for a variety of therapies (including aromatherapy, yoga, and acupuncture) or refer people to specialists at nearby hospitals. all of this is free - paid for with tax money, received as part of a 'social services income' that also includes education through university. all cubans earn a very small cash income, distributed from their national government, but they have access to health services and schooling at no cost. there are no millionaires in cuba, but everyone has an opportunity to be healthy and educated.

Sancti Spiritus - July 10th - understanding the revolution

2008-07-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

thursday, july 10, 7:05, sancti spiritus

click here for an audio file with a song from a local choir, and words from revolutionaries who fought alongside che guevara in cuba's socialist revolution.

photos of the visit with the revolutionaries

photos of the cooperative farm collective

it's our last day in the province. everywhere we've gone we've been welcomed as heroes. yesterday we started by visiting a small village in the jungle where there's a memorial to che and those who fell during the revolution. it is one of the places that the revolutionaries stopped on their way to havana. there were four war heroes in attendance, and we had a chance to talk with them after a girls' choir sang.

they said che never left a man on the battlefield to die. if there was only a small amount of medicine, che would insist it be shared among all - enemies and allies alike. they were fighting for a better world, for an end to homelessness and hunger, and they lived their values all along the way. if it weren't for the huge oceanside resorts selling che t-shirts and key chains (we visited two of those today, one built in the 70s and one from the late 90s), one could almost believe that che is still alive today. he was a doctor, after all, and i'm sure that he would be proud of the cuban peoples' accomplishments in health care.

today we also went (our days and nights are very full) to a health clinic in trinidad. it was explained to us that there are doctors in each neighbourhood, usually one for each three cdr's (committees for the defense of the revolution) and those folks keep an eye on everyone in their community. they know who's who, they live in proximity to their patients. if someone requires a service they're unable to provide, they're referred to the local poli-clinic. there's an emergency centre at these places, also strategically located in various neighbourhoods and close to hospitals. they have various x-ray and other equipment - they're obviously impacted by the evil trade embargo - they're clean, with simple beds and small rooms.

across the street from the poli-clinic in trinidad is a building that houses something like what the newly forming victoria community health cooperative is hoping to accomplish. it's one place that people are referred for various alternative treatments - aromatherapy, physiotherapy, massage, herbalists, yoga, etc. if those folks can't help, there are always hospitals available. and it's all 'free,' paid for by the government which, i'm convinced, the people are able to influence - as long as they're in favour of upholding the values of the revolution.

i'm convinced that those who fought and died for the revolution were devoted to creating a better society. bautista's cuba housed the mafia (i've seen the hotel where al capone and the boys hung out, where a bomb was planted not too many years ago in an attempt to terrorize the cuban people into complicity). bautista's cuba had very high illiteracy, high infant mortality, low life expectancy. today, cubans' life expectancy is about 75 years (i don't recall exactly) and their other statistics show an incredible improvement over what was here before. what was here before was a capitalist government, concerned only with itself and its gambling/drinking money-grubbing friends. fidel and che and wilma (raul's wife, who died last year after establishing much for women) and the others were genuinely inspired to try and create a better world for all. sure, one of the old heroes from yesterday, in answer to a question from the caravanistas, said he was young and saw a bunch of people with guns moving towards some kind of exciting event and decided to join in (perhaps not really understanding what he was fighting for until he got involved with the action), but how many kids pick up guns for the excitement of it and discover all it's about is death and murder for the empire? these guys fought and died for something real, something that continues to live and breathe.

though there continue to be problems with economic inequality and housing, i believe che would, for the most part, be pleased that he did not die in vain. the evils of capitalism are slowly taking hold - i don't think che would much appreciate that his image is flogged, in the form of t-shirts and trinkets, in the resort hotels - but, in addition to the health care system which not only looks after its own people but trains and sends doctors from and to economically deprived communities the world over, the cooperative and community agricultural projects are undoubtedly an inspiration for the world. yesterday and today we visited co-ops - yesterday an agricultural cooperative with worm composting and some 60 labourers and three office staff, today a cooperative restaurant that served up another feast. all the food is organic, all the food on the island. since the 'fall' of the soviet union, there are no chemical pesticides and fertilizers. i've tasted some of the yummies fruits and vegetables ever. their insistence on roasting us pigs kinda makes me gag, but there's always rice and beans to keep me going, protein wise.

on the down side, is the way they're approaching tourism. it's like in british columbia where we know people travel from all over the world to hike our ancient forests, to have a real wilderness experience, yet the stupid government continues to approve massive resort 'developments.' i don't really see that they're 'developing' anything, i see them destroying a lot of beautiful wild places. same here. first we went to a massive seaside resort, designed and constructed to mimic the historical sixteenth century town of trinidad (using architects and builders from santa clara in cuba and materials from spain). the excuse was that additional revenue was needed after the collapse of the soviet block - cuba's only real trading partner since america imposed its trade embargo way back in 1961. but the resort was designed and built starting around 1998 - around the same time that the cuban five went to jail, and when elian gonzales was kidnapped) - and completed in, i believe the pr guy said, 2001.

next to the new spanish style hotel is a slightly older hotel, this one built in the 70s. we went swimming at their beach. the people in both hotels were very friendly and welcoming to us, as all the people who've greeted us have been. i doubt that many canadians and americans, except those from activist communites, know about the pastors for peace. here in cuba, in the remotest villages, people smile and nod when we say we're with los pastores de la paz. that's testament not only to the work these folks have done these past 20 years, but also to the distribution network that seems to ensure that people actually get what they need - hopefully. there is still some pretty severe economic disparity here, though nowhere near what we witness north america. caravanista greg said he met an impoverished man who claims to have been a political prisoner. when pressed for details, though, the man didn't offer up anything substantial. greg says he's met three or four of these folks who claim to have been political prisoners, but none of them have given any real good explanations for that. i asked if they've all appeared impoverished, these political prisoners he's encountered, but he said no, that hasn't been a consistent trait. it's tough to get all the pieces of the story without being fluent in the language.

Journey to Sancti Spiritus - July 9th

2008-07-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

july 9th, morning, sancti spiritus.

photos of havana, and the martin luther king jr. centre

photos of the latin american school of medicine

check back for audio

yesterday we left havana, in three separate buses, for the provinces. we were each asked to choose our preference, selecting from rio del pinar, matanza, and sancti spiritus. i hope the others are as pleased with their selections. i get the feeling i've chosen really well.

just prior to leaving havana, we all met at the latin american school of medicine. this is where all the doctors are trained - local students, plus students from all over the world including the united states. there's an entrance requirement, plus i believe people are given priority if they're from low income neighbourhoods. apparently american students have to take two years of university or college level biology in order to bring their educational status up to match applicants from the rest of the world. we also heard that, recently, cuba authorized gender changing operations as part of their health services.

we drove about 5 hours from havana, east, through lush green countryside - agricultura, jungles, and distant mountains. we were greeted by representatives from the provincial government who gave us flowers and fresh jugo de pina (pineapple juice) and coffee. they told us about their province - comparing statistics from prior to the revolution, proud of their accomplishments with increased numbers of schools and hospitals, higher life expectancy, and extremely low infant mortality. some local bands played a couple of songs, including guantanamara (a celebration of the beautiful earth, sea, and sky), and we were taken to the presbyterian church where we're staying.

as is typical of spanish style architecture, there are small dorm rooms and an inner courtyard. there's also an upstairs balcony with a terrific view of the city rooftops. lots of bicycles here, lots of motorcycles and side cars. it's one of the oldest cities, known for its heritage buildings. today we'll be taken to a cooperatively run agricultural project, we'll have lunch there, and then we meet with representatives from the cdr and the federal organization for womens' equality. each neighbourhood, as i understand it, has a cdr - committee for defense of the revolution. we've seen a lot of their offices as we've been driving through havana. today we get to learn more of what they're about.

ariel, our interpreter, just wandered into the little dining area where i've found a plug in that fits my computer, and i showed him some photos from the ancient forests and victoria's various rallies. i asked if cubans are able to rally in the streets and he said no, not unless it's something in favour of the revolution. this is a concern for me. the cuban government, for the most part, is very benevolent and environmentally strict with regulations protecting the land and their main focus taking care of the people, but the fact that they don't allow dissent is a bit of a concern. i've explained to ariel about the olympics, why many of us are boycotting it, and i've given him a copy of the street newz with an article about its horrid history and impact. he's a very intelligent man. cubans are very well educated. but he didn't know about the olympics. actually, i've had to explain the olympic history to a lot of the caravanistas too. i guess i know a lot about its fascist and corporate history because of vancouver's activist natives, and then of course there's the murder of native elder harriet nahanee for her efforts to try to stop the destruction at eagleridge bluffs. that really woke a lot of people up. i talked a lot about it the other day when we were driving to the beach and saw a billboard for the 2008 games in china. cuba is sending athletes for baseball, basketball, volleyball, and track and field, he told me. it was the first corporate billboard that i saw. the second one i saw yesterday - an overhang off a building that read 'winston.'

ariel's grandparents fought in the revolution. there's no doubt the island is better off now than it was prior. for the most part, i'm all in favour of this revolution. it's incredible, really, to think that a handful of people were able to sail to this island, trek through the mountains, and take this place from the wealthy hedonistic mafia that ran it beforehand. the health care system is indeed incredible. the school system is amazing. youngsters spend a month each year on a farm, learning agriculture. when it's time for university they list their top ten choices and then take a test and are placed in a faculty based on their test results. all their schooling is free.

i asked ariel about leaving the island - is it true that cubans can't do that? to avoid a brain drain, he said, the government has issued exit visas for professionals. if you're a doctor or teacher, you have to apply to leave. they don't want to lose those folks. after all, they've paid for their education and housing and i agree it doesn't seem right that those people can just take off anytime they want without giving anything back.

but it's decidedly unfair that the average cuban can't leave the country unless they receive an invitation from another country. why are governments so wierd about allowing people the right to travel? who created those borders anyways?

pastors for peace are unable to bring cubans to america because the bush administration won't issue the invitation. arial, our interpreter, has been to the united states twice, also some latin american countries. so it's true that cubans have been able to travel in the past, if they're able to get invitations, but now it's difficult to get approval from the american government. ariel said things changed regarding travel to the united states after a couple of cuban girls travelled there with some american men who promised to marry them and give them a good life. the girls found themselves in a bad situation, forced to prostitute themselves, and appealed to the cuban embassy to bring them back to cuba. because of that, there's a form of collective punishment - the government won't allow anyone to leave the island unless they're invited. as is typical of cuba, what seems to be rather repressive legislation has its roots in an attempt to protect the people. still, it's repressive.

i've heard some of the people on this bus describe this island as paradise. i really doubt that people would disappear in droves from the island just because they're allowed to travel. besides, if repayment of debt is what concerns the cuban government then they could request that people offer up some capital prior to departure to take care of what's been invested in them. not allowing people to travel is kind of the same logic that is used in canada regarding homelessness - some municipalities believe that it's better not to provide a lot of support services because then homeless people will flock in droves from other places. it just doesn't happen. studies in victoria and elsewhere have proven that homelessness is home grown. it's the consequence of unjust economic policies. homeless people, just like everyone else, have families and friends, community activities they're involved with. they don't necessarily want to uproot themselves and go somewhere else, even if there appears to be more opportunity. they'd rather take their chances with their friends than go to some new community where they don't know anyone. besides, it costs a lot to travel and start again.

the cuban refugees we hear about, arriving on rafts in florida, are guaranteed entry into the united states if they can get there. they get a lot of media attention, which the american corporate media uses to focus on the parts of cuban society that are repressive. unfortunately, the corporate media refuses to focus on the stuff that cuba does well - and there's a lot of that. it's really difficult to find fault with the health care and agricultural systems, and equally as difficult to capture the essence of what those are with mere words.

The Cuban Five

2008-07-17T11:16:00.001-07:00

july 7th, at the national library, in the afternoon. (with an update july 18 from austin texas)

click here for photos of this day

more photos of havana and the mlk centre

audio of this event

another yummy lunch - christianos y moros, cucumbers, beans, papas, y mango for dessert. entonces, nosotros vamonos a bibloteque national (i think that means we are going to the library, but what i mean is we went to the library. i'll try to learn more spanish before my next visit - i'm able to throw words out there and get my point across, but i think i'm ready now to get the structure of the language and actually form appropriate sentences.)

i'm happy to report that the national library's card catalogue lists books about anarchism. 'anarchismo o socialismo' was one. maybe eddie is wrong about his government frowning on philosophical debate including anarchistic philosophy, or maybe the books don't actually exist on the shelves?

i'm in a room with two hundred other people, listing to talking heads. it's important stuff, no doubt, about the cuban five. i should have had more coffee at lunch. it's just that after lunch isn't a good time to sit in a room and listen to people speak. it's siesta time, really, isn't it?

if i got the details correctly, it was one of the cuban five's brothers who spoke for about half an hour at this event. he's also a lawyer and explained, in rather great detail, the recent history of the case. essentially, the cuban five were in miami trying to find people responsible for acts of terrorism against the cuban people. they did their job, and turned that information in to cuban authorities and then they made their mistake - they told the american government and the american government hates cuba - its socialist revolution, its ability to survive all these years despite the blockade, its free health care and world class agricultural projects. so, while the american government has spent billions of dollars ostensibly searching for 'terrorists' around the world, it considers those who want to terrorize the cuban people its friends - the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as jesse helms is reported to have said. the cuban five are in jail, and have been for about a decade. they were tried in miami courts (miami is full of criminals and a well organized anti-cuban mafia) and scattered in prisons throughout the united states.

a woman spoke, the wife of one of the cuban five. she's unable to visit her husband. and she distributed posters, with photos of the five, and asked us to please do everything we can to bring them to justice.

one of cuba's state newspapers, granma international (available in various languages at www.granma.cu) reported (july 13 08) that, during this meeting

"at the National Library in Havana, Graciela Ramirez, president of the International Committee to Free the Five, explained to Caravan participants that 'there is an infinite cruelty in the specific prohibition of the relatives' right to visit these men. These wives, children and mothers have not committed any kind of crime whatsoever; and in every case, without exception, the United States is determined to suspend their rights.' During a visit by Mirta, Antonio's mother, they started to hear shots ringing out from the prison yard. A white supremacist group was celebrating Hitler's birthday. It caused an uprising involving 200 prisoners. The prison officers fired blank shots. Mirta and her daughter had to return to Cuba a few days later and Antonio had to suffer this situation."

if memory serves, i believe antonio and other prisoners were forced into lock down for a significant period of time as a result of those bad nazis. so first they're in jail because they love their revolution and their cuban brothers and sisters enough to track down some anti-cuban terrorists, and then they get punished for what a bunch of skinheads do. sounds like american style justice alright.

Granma International asks that people communicate with the Five:

Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, No 58741-004, USP Florence, P.O. Box 7000, Florence Colorado, 81226

Fernando Gonzalez Llort (Ruben Campa), No 58733-005, FCI Terre Haute, PO Box 33, Terre Haute Indiana, 47808

Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo (Manuel Viramontes), No 58739-004, USP Victorville, PO Box 5500, Adelanto, California, 92301

Ramon Labanino Salazar (Luis Medina), No 58734-004, USP McCreary, PO Box 3000, Pine Knot Kentucky, 42635

Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert, No 58738-004, FCI Marianna, PO Box 7007, Marianna Florida, 32447-7007

click here for more information about the Cuban Five

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Canadian members of Parliament demand justice for the Cuban Five
Havana. July 11, 2008

"We cannot allow this extremely painful situation for these five Cubans and their families to drag on," says letter sent to U.S. Attorney General FIFTY-SIX members of Canada’s Parliament have just signed a petition demanding justice for the Cuban Five, the anti-terrorist fighters arbitrarily sentenced to long prison sentences in the United States since September 12, 1998.

"Nothing justifies keeping them behind bars," the petition says. Arnold August, a member of the Fabio Di Celmo Committee of the Quebec-Cuba Solidarity Committee and the International Committee to Free the Five, told Granma newspaper, "This is good news." August, a Canadian writer and lecturer who is visiting Havana, said the petition also demands family visitation rights for the relatives of Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, René González, Antonio Guerrero and Gerardo Hernández.

The initiative for the petition was introduced by Francine Lalonde, an MP for the Bloque Qubequense por La Pointe-de-l’lle (Montreal), and Libby Davies, a legislator from East Vancouver, and quickly found a hearing among their colleagues, Arnold commented. The petition — which continues to circulate — was sent to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Canadian Foreign Minister David Emerson, and David Wilkins, U.S. ambassador in Canada.

The action is part of the international campaign to demand freedom for the Cuban Five and to call for compliance with the findings of human rights organizations, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (May 27, 2005) and 110 members of the British parliament, all of them denouncing the conditions of isolation imposed on the Five and their irregular trial in Miami, Florida.

"We cannot allow this extremely painful situation for these five Cubans and their families to drag on," the petition says.

In Quebec, prominent individuals like Claudette Carbonneau, president of the Federation of National Unions, and Elsie Lefebvre, a former member of the Quebec National Assembly, have expressed their support for the cause.

Translated by Granma International

Talking Democracy at Casa de la Amistad - July 7th

2008-07-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

july 7, morning, at the house of friendship - casa de la amistad - in havana cuba

click here for photos

click here for some audio

i'm learning about the cuban government, from an elected local official. here are some important things to know about it:

1. the representatives of the government are chosen directly by the people. in each community, representatives are put forward and their photo and biography is printed with government money. that's the extent of their campaigning -- they are from the community so people know who they are, and if more than one candidate is put forward then the people have a process to choose which one to move forward. there is no political campaigning aside from the photo and biography that's provided about each candidate and, i suppose, attending community meetings and connecting with the electorate.

2. those who are chosen from each community, each neighbourhood, they choose who will govern at the higher levels of government. they decide who will be the president and vice president of the national assembly. neighbourhood budgets are approved by locally elected officials. if the people don't like their budget, they can talk directly to the representative they chose from their community, and it's up to that elected person to negotiate so that the people are satisfied with what they get from the collective bank account.

3. if the people don't like the way someone is governing, they have the opportunity to remove them from office. every six months, there is a review of the elected people and if they're not doing their job to the satisfaction of the people, then they're removed from office.

4. about appointed positions by the government - the secretary of the assembly is not appointed, all the others have to be approved by the assembly. the ministers are appointed by the council of state, but they have to be approved by the assembly.

5. how are votes counted - the electoral college is led by the people who live in the neighbourhood. people in the neighbourhood are the ones who make the ballot boxes. between 7 am and 6 pm the votes are taken. the people are able to be there when the ballot boxes are brought out and taken away at the end of the day. everyone is invited to see the vote count. the votes are counted right away, they don't have to wait to find out the results. one person from the electoral college and one other person goes to peoples' homes if they're unable to travel, to facilitate their vote. this is the same process at the higher levels of government too. the cuban motto is 'children are the future' and children are the ones trusted to guard the ballot boxes (that's so cool!).

the discussion continues. there's a return, periodically, to remind us that here there is only one party. it's not a multi-party system (the elected woman is happy about this). the government is not comprised of competing interests. there is one interest, and it's the welfare of the cuban people. judging from what i see, from the beautiful warmth emanating from these peoples' eyes, from their healthy dispositions, the laughter and friendly solidarity they exhibit when discussing within their friendship and family circles, i'd say that fidel (and now raul) and the cuban government really do care about the people, unlike where i live. our government doesn't give a shit about us, they let us rot in the streets.

we're also reminded that there's a vast difference between the political party and the electoral process. representatives are not chosen by the party, they're chosen by the people. if the people choose 8 candidates in a particular district, all 8 candidates receive equal access to the process. all 8 candidates are placed on the ballot. i have a little problem with the fact that the result of the vote is tabulated by majority rule rather than proportional representation and i asked about it, explaining that canada used to be a sort of socialist country but it's been taken over because the majority rule tabulation results in many peoples voices being silenced. i'm not sure i convinced anyone that proportional representation is more democratic than majority rule, but i planted a seed.

the elected official was very keen on explaining that the party is in charge of guaranteeing the ideological guidance of the people, and the government is there to administrate. you may have heard that only 10% of the population are members of the party, she said, explaining that's because only party members are able to invite others to join the party. i guess it's platonic in nature - the idea is to select the cream of the crop to set the ideological tone, and then those who are elected are to follow the will of those. it sounds a bit elitist to me. i'm really more of an anarchist than a socialist and i never was a big fan of plato.

i guess it's easy to find fault with various economic and political systems. i don't know what i think is the perfect system might be. i wish we could examine what a truly woman centred (designed by women uninfluenced by the patriarchy) would be. not a condi rice or margaret thatcher system, they just plugged themselves into the existing system, but a really feminist equality based cooperative system. i like the grassroots nature of this cuban socialism, it seems to be mostly working. it'll be interesting to speak to individual cubans and see what they think of it. the woman we're speaking with right now is an elected official, so of course she's going to be happy with the system. she says she receives about 60% of the vote when she's elected, and she's been elected more than once.

the american caravanistas are keen to ask and explain. lucky for all of us, these aren't the rude americans who so often, unfortunately, fit their stereotype. these are activist americans, critical of their government. katie tried to explain that americans believe their multi party system offers the best option for diversity of choice, and in their collective imagination they feel the cubans are limited because they don't have such choices. another young american fellow (i still haven't got all their names) said their system is ostensibly about by the people for the people but it doesn't actually work that way. in response, our cuban friend said it's important to consider whether the actions match the words or whether they're empty words. as che is to have said, words without action are meaningless.

governing a nation is not easy.

after the workshops this morning, i set up the iphoto slideshow and let folks see the border crossing event. there was only one media person there, when we closed that international mexico/american border for about half an hour, but there was a lot of independent media in the form of caravanistas with cameras and the documentary team of america and catherine. i'm looking forward to being able to upload my files, to edit my other files and put some sort of documentary together.

i met a man who works on behalf of unions, apparently there are labour exchanges with labourers in both estados unidos y canada. the man, eddie, had participated in the discussion about democracy. we talked some more about proportional representation and i explained that mostly i'm an anarchist. he said he doesn't know much about that so i told him the little bit that i know, that the reason i'm an anarchist is because, when i wanted to launch the street newz, after working for several years in a business environment and then earning two degrees, all levels of government turned me down when i asked for funding. i thought, what's the point if they can't bother to help me. so now i float between anarchist ideals, and the concept of centralized control a la cuba. eddie told me it would probably be frowned upon for him to read about anarchy. i reminded him that socialists have killed anarchists in history, and he knew about that.

first impressions of havana and cuba

2008-07-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

julio 6, 2008, casa de la amistad (friendship), havana cuba

click here for photos of our arrival and welcome to havana (the bus that says 'end the embargo' is the one that was seized in 1993, caravanistas lived on it for 23 three days, on a hunger strike, before the clinton government released it).

more photos - first impressions of cuba

there's a discussion happening just across the marble floor in this 'conference' centre place where i've found a plug in for my computer. there's no wifi, no cell phones - i've heard that fidel and raul are concerned about the health effects of those things, so i have no idea when or how i'll have a chance to update this blog. the discussion is about the hip hop exchange that's going on between the estados unidos and cuba. the room is full of young hip hop artists and interested caravanistas. i've chosen to sit here across the hall, where i can charge my computer's battery and download photos. it's a beautiful building, i'd say definitely spanish architecture (as so much is), and there's a small bar that serves the local cerveza (bucanero) and rum.

i spent the afternoon at a cuban playa (beach) called tarara. the option was a tour of old havana and a dance performance, or an afternoon at the beach. surprisingly, there were only a few of us who attended the beach. i imagine the historical city is muy interesante, but i couldn't resist the rhythm of the sea. we rode in the much renowned little yellow school bus, the one where the 1993 caravanistas spent 23 days in on a hunger strike when the gobierno de estados unidos refused to let it leave america at the cuban border. lisa's across the hall, at the hip hop conference - she was on that little yellow school bus. 'i was younger then,' she says of herself when we discussed the documentary about it (titled 'who's afraid of the little yellow school bus') back in mcallen texas.

mcallen texas seems a lifetime ago already. i've only been here two days and i've fallen in love. i'm not sure why it's necessary to 'fall' in love -- actually, it's more like i've been inspired by it. i've already discovered some things about the revolution that aren't so great - i'm sure people will want to know about that, it's what a lot of people, led by the corporate media, mostly seem to focus on, but i'll get to those later. what i love about cuba so far is beyond words.

as if a greeting of song and spoken words and rum at the massive press conference upon our arrival wasn't enough, after we left the airport our luggage was safely transported and we were bussed to our places of residence - three in total, to accomodate all of us. when i arrived at the martin luther king centre, after all those days with very little sleep, i couldn't believe what i saw. along the corridor into the inner courtyard were women and men clapping and cheering and hugging and gifting flowers to welcome us. a few of us had to step aside to wipe away our tears prior to proceeding along the corridor. after the welcoming committee was through with us we were ushered into the dining room, fed, and our luggage was unloaded from the vehicle. after dinner we found our rooms - younger folk were encouraged to inhabit the upper floor, elder folk the second, so as to ease the number of stairs climbed. i'm bunking with relative youngsters katie and mary beth, and they chose the top floor. so i'm climbing many stairs, especially because i'm good at forgetting things in my room and end up running up and down them when it's time to get ready to get on the bus to go somewhere. it's good exercise after all those days on the bus. my precious life-saving pain-relieving yoga will no doubt continue to happen in selective moments, whenever possible.

last night we went to a greeting ceremony somewhere. i was dead tired, almost didn't go, but i'm sure glad i did. in typical latino style we found ourselves seated in a court yard, with the building surrounding us on all sides, and the stars above us. there was a woman emcee, a very self-secure and, i imagine, no-nonsense woman who read (very theatrically, with much passion), poetry in between performances. the cuban national orchestra was there, and a very famous cuban band whose name escapes me, and dancers - it was warm and welcoming and wonderful. we returned to the martin luther king jr centre and slept and woke up to a beautiful breakfast that included lots of delicious local fruit.

after breakfast this morning there was church - a very lively discussion and song opportunity. i especially liked the song about the water. it's certainly not true, the lie about all communists being athiests - the church was packed with enthusiastic celebrators of life. after church, at lunch, someone came into the lunch room with my camera bag, equipped with my two cameras and my sound recording device, asking who it belongs to. i had left it in the church and someone went to the trouble of finding me and returning it. i thought i'd put it back into my room, had no idea it was left somewhere. i like a lot about cuba already.

although my first impression is that these folks appear contented, healthy, and community minded, there are some things that concern me about cuba so far:

1. there's not enough recycling. i try, in my broken spanglish, to explain that recycling would create jobs (trabajar), generate revenue (dineros), and is good for the earth (bueno para la tierra). apparently everything just goes in the garbage at present.

2. although there are no corporate billboards (a good thing), i saw one large sign advertising the beijing olympics (definitely not a good thing). cuba is sending athletes to the 2008 olympics in china to compete in basketball, volleyball, track & field, other events. i'm not opposed to athletes, or athletics, but i know too much about the olympics and its history to sit silent. on the way to the beach, i launched into a lengthy rant about the evil olympic organizing committee, how they are a bunch of fascists stealing land, creating homelessness, making themselves rich, that the torch relay was hitler's way of touching ground on all the nations he intended to conquer, etc.....

3. it seems that cubans have to pay to go the beach we were at today. there were a bunch of interesting looking houses nearby the beach with a guard sitting nearby, and i asked our interpreter what that was about. he said the houses are empty, owned by the government. i later learned that's where the chernobyl victims were housed, and healed (as best they could be) after that disaster. the area has also been used as an educational facility. that's all well and good, but people shouldn't have to pass through a gate and pay a fine in order to get to the ocean. i'm with the indigenous philosophy that teaches nobody, not even governments, should own the land, the air, the sea, the sky.

4. there is no option for people who don't want to live in a house, aside from being institutionalized because of a mental illness, or being sent to a shelter. not like the shelters we have in vancouver, our guide told me at dinner tonight (he's seen the downtown eastside of that city, the poorest postal code in canada), something a bit different from that. different how, i don't know. they don't like people sleeping in tents, i asked? apparently not. there are houses available for all, some definitely in better shape than others, and there's a bit of a housing crisis, but it's not possible to be a gypsy. it's not legal to sleep in the streets. so, there are homeless people in cuba. but it sure doesn't look like the downtown east side of vancouver. there aren't necessarily beggars, but there are hustlers. they prey on tourists, they're tricksters, con artists, trying to get a few extra bucks. the free market at work.

5. while it's wonderful that there are many transport options (the buses from china are nice, though trade with cuba is unfortunate), and the cars on the street are a car collector's dream, there's definitely a layer of pollution here that has been remedied in other places. california, for example, has very strict legislation about emissions. there doesn't seem to be anything in place like that here.

i really like that the people live with a guaranteed livable income. i don't know how much it is, i don't think it's much. but in addition to personal wealth, there's an enormous social wealth. free health care and education, and people own their homes after paying rent for a period of time. there's not a lot to buy beyond that. a lot of food is locally grown and there aren't any walmarts of other places with cheap consumer crap.

the cubans look healthy and seem very contented. there's definitely a different energy here. so they don't earn a huge income, there are no millionaires (and no corporate advertising!), but it's really terribly beautiful and friendly and wonderful. of course, we're special visitors and we're being treated really incredibly well (we're fed regularly, we have comfortable sleeping quarters and informed and interesting interpreter/guides). i get the feeling that a lot of what i've been told about cuba, and that's not much, is complete and total bullshit.

the streets, compared to mexico, are very clean. obviously these people take a lot of pride in their surroundings. i guess it's a different feeling getting up every day to work for the revolution, versus getting up every day to work in the maquilladoras and make someone else rich. there's the odd pocket in some neighbourhoods that has small piles of basura (garbage), but for the most part it's very beautiful. i've seen patches of gardens here and there from the windows of the bus.

there's a guy on our caravan who worked for the american military and was stationed at guantanamo bay. in guantanamo bay, he told me, there are subways, and a & w's, and mcdonald's, and these are staffed by philipinos and jamaicans. there's only about 10% women stationed there, and nobody can leave the base. they're stuck there. it's awful, he said. i asked our guides about it - when it's going to go away. it's never going to go away, was the reaction. my caravanista amigo said what happened is there was an agreement between the pre-revolutionary government in cuba and the gobierno des estados unidos. the agreement was about money. fidel chose to cash the first cheque, then decided not to cash any after that. (i asked one of our interpretors about that and they said no money ever changed hands). in any event, the american imperialists are there, enslaving jamaicans and philipinos in corporate dead animal food places, in a little piece of tropical paradise, for free. that american government, they sure know how to save money. take computers from caravanistas, and keep your torture camps on rent-free land. of course, what they win on the horses they lose on the roundabouts - apparently federal american employees spend a lot of people to track american travellers to cuba, many more than are hired to track the dreaded taliban.

i really don't see what they're so afraid of.

leaving tampico mexico, destiny havana cuba

2008-07-16T11:27:00.002-07:00

july 5 08 tampico mexico, 10:46 am

click here for photos of our journey from reynosa to tampico mexico, and our time at the tampico dockyard unloading 100 tons of humanitarian aid into a shipping container. the goods are scheduled for shipping to cuba in mid-july.

we were loading the aid into the storage container at the tampico dock until 2:30 this morning. then we had a little party on the bus, sitting, waiting and waiting -- 'hurry up and wait' being our mantra -- trying to imagine something that might make the time more enjoyable. i'm still not sure what we were waiting for at that juncture, but eventually we rolled on 'home' to the rather swishy (by mexican standards) hotel.

we bunked four to a room for our two nights in mexico, and i got lucky. my amigas (nita, melanie, and katie) were quiet, respectful, and slept peacefully. actually, we slept like the dead. i've been relatively fortunate all along the journey, actually, to have relatively comfortable and quiet sleeping accomodations. at this point i'm not sure i remember the last time i slept more than 3 or 4 or maybe, maybe if i'm lucky, 5 hours - it was at least a week ago. i've lived these 47 years, born the year that the goberniero de estados unidos imposed it's illegal and immoral bloqueo, and i honestly didn't know that i could function on so little sleep for so many consecutive nights.

our departure time was scheduled for 9:50 am. we were awakened around 5:15 and we hurried up and waited for breakfast, and then we hurried and waited for the bus departure. i almost passed out, standing up on the crowded and humid bus. after about ten minutes of this, someone remembered he forgot to turn in his phone key (there are a hundred and twenty five of us, i'm still trying to get all the names straight) and i was able to squat on an old bus seat on the floor, surrounded by other sweaty caravanistas standing and sitting in the hot humidity. i pretended it was a steam bath, that i was being purified by being there. i sprayed some of my magical antiseptic aromatherapy (thanks kym, for suggesting i combine frankinsense, lavendar, and tea tree - it's saved my life in a variety of situations, especially when driving by the dead animals in reynosa, and then there's that lovely scent of open sewers, periodically, in otherwise very funky mexican society) into my handkerchief, on a small patch that wasn't covered in snot, and breathed deeply and sweated profusely.

working into the wee hours, we got almost all the aid into the shipping container. there were too many of us there, actually, creating the 'chain gangs' as my african-american, indigenous, and latino friends affectionately referred to them, passing walkers and crutches and tables and wheelchairs and boxes of school supplies and tables etc from the buses to the storage bin. the ship wasn't in the port, we don't know when it might arrive, we put all the goods into the container where they're safely locked away until they can be transported.

the experience at the dock was climactic in one regard, and anti-climactic in another. we had loaded and unloaded those buses (well, they had .... sicko mio unable to participate until last night) so many times, carefully and lovingly transporting the gifts from our cuban loving friends across the united states and canada, establishing our own personal relationships within our buses also, now, destined for cuba. only the olympia bus (a heritage bus, the one that almost killed me with diesel during our first run, but which offered safe sanctuary while i healed from my illness, which listened patiently to our songs, our poetry, our stories of revolutionary struggle and our lives), the little white bus, the broken down bus in mcallen, and the 'red queen,' the cargo truck, will return through the us - two along the west coast, two along the east. it was sad to see it all end.

i'm still too tired to realize we're on our way to cuba. i'm in a state of suspended disbelief, i suppose. the next part of our adventure will be busy, but rather different from what we've experienced these past couple of weeks. our days will be full, visiting churches and schools and community agriculture projects, and the latin american school of medicine, perhaps hospitals and clinics, and being greeted by dignitaries and enjoying time to wander the historical streets of old havana and venturing to nearby beaches. i'm guessing it'll go something like that.

photos from the july 3rd border crossing into mexico

2008-07-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

click here to see photos from the july 3rd border crossing from mcallen texas to reynosa mexico.

many caravanistas were awake all the previous night (i played the 'i'm old and sick' card) moving aid off the bus that broke down, and working on repairs to the bus that was struck that evening by a drunk driver in an suv. notice the difference between the american border officials (where else do you hear about a nation's government intervening when people are trying to leave?) and the mexican officials. although all appear to share a mexican ancestry, the way they interacted with us was quite different. where else could people sleep on a cement platform at a federal office? please read the previous post for more details on the crossing.

about to commence blog updates .....

2008-07-15T03:47:00.000-07:00

july 15, 5:47 am, @ the crappy little bus station in austin texas

photo: surviving heroes from the cuban revolution

cuba was amazing, incredible, inspiring. it's not perfect, but it offers esperanza (hope).

i've been away from my computer and offline for a week (what a wonderful change!) and will commence blog updates as time permits -- i've also got a newspaper to build, a mountain of email to sort through, and a long ago friend to visit with.

one thing i'll tell you starting right now ---- if it's possible, i want to participate in the 20th pastors for peace caravan, celebrating cuba's 50th anniversary. i'm going to start saving my pennies and organizing my time and, even if i'm unable to travel, i want to send goods. i hope you can help.

we made it into mexico, minus 32 computers

2008-07-03T17:09:00.001-07:00

3:52 pm reynosa border crossing

photo left: american government stealing computers

that fucking american government stole 32 of our computers.

i figure it's because george is going to be unemployed soon, and he needed someone to do his christmas shopping for him. go steal me some computers, he said. he must have said it, otherwise why would they? they're mexican/americans for christ's sake, it's just a job, a paycheque. they're forging a better life for their families. then some asshole boss of theirs tells them to take stuff from hard working poor people just because he can, and they do it because if they don't they lose their jobs. what a fucking system that is.

i'm soooooo glad to be in mexico. we haven't actually left the border crossing area yet, but already it feels worlds apart from the excited states. there are signs telling people not to use cell phones or smoke, but nobody said anything to me when i called home prior to seeing the sign. in canada or the usa, someone would have been right there, enforcing every last little rule and regulation. it gives them a sense of power. mexicans draw their power from another source, i suspect ... their rich history of revolution, their deep family ties. the mexicans searched through a lot of the stuff, but they didn't steal anything.

photo left - mexicans looking at some of the 100 tons of aid destined for cuba

the caravanistas, all but a small handful of them, are crashed out on the cement. sleeping like babies. many of them were up all night, literally, trying to fix a broken bus (to no avail) and then, apparently using a bus to pull a dent out of another bus that some drunken woman crashed into around midnight. that's the story i heard, anyways. then there was all the unloading and loading of aid off and back onto the buses today. we're an amazing team, there's no doubt ... i begged off the heavy work, still feeling a bit sick, but i'm getting this do it yourself media thing done. somebody's gotta report on this stuff!

where else in the world would federal authorities allow people to just sleep all over their cement? certainly not in my home town, where it's illegal to sleep outside. there's a bit of time to wait while the necessary insurance and licensing documents for the vehicles are completed.

we made as much of a commotion at the american part of the mexican border as we could. did you know that you have to pass through a checkpoint to leave america at mcallen texas? the american (as i mentioned, these are largely comprised of mexican americans) border officials directed all the buses into a compound area and we were all asked to disembark. they were kind enough to let us use the washrooms as we waited around for them to sort through one of the buses - a truck, actually. after about an hour i heard that we were to activate our networks - i was chatting, at the time, about yoga and tai chi with some caravanistas. after another half hour or so the decision was made to block the border and we moved, chanting and drumming, to stand alongside the border sentries (they're there to collect money from people leaving the usa after they've been approved to go) and we were able to stop the flow of empty trucks out of america for a good half hour. i presume they're empty trucks, just like those empty ships that leave vancouver's harbour. off they all go to china, via panama in this case, to gather up a bunch more crappy consumer products made by children in sweatshops.

the decision was made to have the drivers return to the buses - they drove across and we walked over the imaginary line a bunch of men drew in the sand some years ago. we crossed a bridge over a beautiful river with a typical mexican shanty town along its edge, i saw a woman doing her laundry in a stand up sink, and then we were greeted by cheering mexicans and the other part of the documentary film crew. the mexicans did a rigorous search of the buses, pulling a bunch of hospital equipment and bicycles out of them, but they didn't steal anything.

and then they were hospitable enough to let them sleep on their cement. it sure feels good to be living in a civilized nation for a change.

ps -- almost civilized .... someone want to clean up the dead dog, and the dead horse along the road into reynosa? very smelly ....

there's some discussion, at least in the room i'm sharing with the girls, about whether we could have done a more effective protest. i guess it's all up to the media now, how successful we might be in getting those computers to cuba. if you haven't already, please call your local representative and ask them to pressure the american government to return the stolen loot.

and .... a cuban dignitary (not sure of his official title) greeted us at the mexico border. told us everyone in cuba knows about the pastors for peace!! the pastors for peace have reminded us to remember our work and remain humble.

i'm in a little internet corner in a hotel in reynosa. gotta go find some beans & rice ....

PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, THE MEDIA, OR THE U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to voice concern at these actions at 1-800-540-6322.

SI SE PUEDE (Yes, We Can) !!!!!

2008-07-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

july 2, mcallen texas

photos !

there's much anticipation here at the lutheran church centre. hazel and her crew prepared a delightful indian feast - with garbonzos and lentils and a lovely eggplant curry, soup, basmati rice and there were some leftovers from lunch too - beans and rice and salads. she even managed to sneak in some chuntney. all the cooks and kitchen workers did a fabulous job keeping us all fed. i feel terribly guilty that i wasn't able to help in the kitchen at all, it's really not a good idea for me to go anywhere near it in this condition. don't tell my mother, but in addition to this goofy cold that continues to manifest mountains of crap from within me, i'm now chewing on a small piece of cloth soaked in cloves in an attempt to combat a little toothache from one of my abscessed teeth. i'm falling apart!

it's tempting, at this point, to launch into the story of how i got all the mercury removed from my mouth, then found a naturopath to help me rid my body of the awful metal, but not until after a couple of abscesses developed. homeopathic mercury has made all the difference, plus a vitamin regiment ... then there's the accupuncture school (thanks alembic!) and the organic food budget and the daily dose of greens and msm and aromatheraphy ..... it's a couple years later and one abscess is gone, the other is below the surface so i don't really know whether it's there or not (although my dental x-rays indicate it's slowly dissipating) except now and then it does this silly pain thing. thank goodness for clove oil.

i'm on the bus, tomorrow, with the youngest caravanista - jovana - and her mom and donal, the irish guy, and some others i can't remember who just now. jovana's going to celebrate her 8th birthday in cuba on the 6th. our eldest caravanista is 80 something, and there are all variety of ages in between. it's my intention to get some audio from more of them and post it to chris' website, but it appears someone has hacked his site again and removed some of my posts. it's an awesome site, pacific free press, and we know the cia are regular visitors. it's also hacked on a regular basis. someone knows if there's a connection. there's not much we, as activists can do, except reach for the hands of all our brothers and sisters throughout history who have worked against the fascist regime that seeks to destroy us all. as the song goes ... 'you ain't been doing nothing if you ain't been called a red!'

i'm waiting for a ride to the basilica, where i'll sleep tonight. the bus drivers are currently meeting, strategizing, planning the big day tomorrow. the buses are tuned, tires rotated, all the mechanical parts in order, cb radios operational. people have worked really hard these past few days. i was telling katie it feels like the folk festival - people working together in teams towards a common goal, co-operating, sometimes clashing, renewing old relationships, forging new friendships,... the only thing missing is jericho beach park -- the ocean, the distant mountains, the seven stages with music from the stages scattered throughout the bird sanctuary, the artisans flogging their wares, the activists encouraging activism from their information tables, the bridge over the pond where the geese and ducks periodially land, the music from all over the world .... okay, so it's not much like the folk festival at all. except that it is, it's a similar feeling, just in a different place.

in two days i'll be in cuba. i don't know that i'll post much from there, i don't know how accessible the email is or whether i'll feel like sitting in front of this computer much. i'll likely record a lot of my thoughts and try to put something together at the end of it. i have sound files that need auditing, photos that need sorting, and masses of video footage. i'm not going to think about how much work awaits me when it's all over on the 15th ....

i've got some photos i'd like to upload to the .mac account, but i'm having some troubles with my computer. not sure what all that's about .... the hip hop band is called 'the movement', they're from california, and they're awesome!

there are two lovely women here creating a documentary - one is venezuelan living in new york city, the other is american living in venezuela. they're going to make sure we get safely across the border, and then their partner consuela will be in cuba awaiting our arrival.

cross yer fingers, pray (secularly or paganly, or however it works for you), and send us your good wishes !!! july 15th will be another challenge for us, as we attempt to return to texas from mexico after a week in cuba. apparently the authorities sometimes like to interrogate the international travellers, in an attempt to misrepresent the work of pastors for peace and take away their charitable status. the worst that can happen is i have to fly from mexico from canada and make a bit stink about it.

it was funny, actually, yesterday there was a big press conference. even fox news was there. what was funny was when a handful of people i'd been chatting with, wearing shorts and t-shirts, laughing and even inventing new words (vegiana/vegiano for vegan!) suddenly appeared in their collars. it took a few of us by surprise, i think! i had a good chat with edna, veronica gonzales' assistant (veronica is the house of representatives representative and one reason i don't 'google' is because of what they display when you search for her using their search engine ... there are others .... ask.com) about the border fence and the war resisters we're trying to allow in canada.

i'm guessing there is a bus leaving soon for the basilica. i'm going to go get a few good hours of sleep (with any luck) .... thanks all for your well wishes and support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!