Dear Sisters and Brothers: May 1st is upon us and it is time to celebrate the international working peoples' day. A day when the filthy rich capitalist class recognized that the potential power of the working class was a force to be reckoned with and May Day was born. Toronto, for the past few years, has been mobilizing May Day activities in solidarity with the plight of indigenous peoples, immigrant families and issues affecting us all as working people, which has to be recognized broadly and for which its activist organizers shall be commended. We celebrate this day while having to face the devastation caused by the multinationals -read the imperialist class- which have polluted the water, the soil and the air that the indigenous peoples in their communities and all of us are supposed to enjoy! Needless to say that their disastrous political approaches to the problems faced by humanity have also generated more expansionist wars and, oftentimes have, directly or indirectly, caused and/or contributed to the creation of terrorist organizations with the purpose of displacing governments such as in Libya, Syria, Ukraine, etcetera. The multinationals have created millions and millions of migrants with their wars and economic crises, as we recently saw when witnessing thousands of them floating in the high seas, in their attempt to escape these devastating hardships. These multinationals include mining, oil and other resource extraction companies, such as FALCONBRIDGE in Ontario, whose criminal executives provided CORU (Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations) with the company's villa in the Dominican Republic in June, 1976, thereby assisting monsters like Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles in the organization and coordination of terrorist acts aimed at targets throughout the western hemisphere (with the direct or tacit support of the U.S. Government and its allies), even as close as in the streets of Washington, DC, where they gunned down the former Foreign Minister of the Chilean elected government of Salvador Allende! In addition, this hemisphere's untiring efforts of the imperialist-controlled mass media has not ceased attacking Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution as well as other progressive governments such as the ones in Bolivia and Ecuador. However, it is time to celebrate because the imperialist system is in a deep crisis and it cannot continue to carry on its hegemonic agenda without a response by the working people, who are sick and tired of the dog-eat-dog individualistic and consumerist culture that it wants to shove down our throats. That is why cultural preparations and presentations throughout Cuba have been taking place for over a month. Just imagine! A month before May Day, the whole of Cuba was already mobilized for the celebrations, which is a testimony to the fact that when the working people have the political, economic and social machinery of the state in their hands, they are to celebrate through expressions of culture, which materialize what José Martí, Cuba’s national hero, taught when he stated that, "Homeland Is Humanity". There are glorious pages written by Cuban internationalist medical workers fighting the Ebola virus in West Africa and they are this year’s vanguard of the May Day parades in Cuba, as theirs is just a very small example of what working people could accomplish when they control the power. Needless to say that this year’s May Day celebrations in Cuba enjoy the company of the Anti-Terrorist Cuban Five Political Prisoners of the empire, who will be present at the parade thanks to the untiring work of their nation and an indispensable international solidarity movement. … and, after May Day is over, WE CELEBRATE THE ROMERÍAS DE MAYO! The 22nd edition of a festival where young artists and cultural promoters of Cuba, bring together artists from 25 countries, including from Nova Scotia and Toronto, with the motto: "There is no today, without yesterday", which is to remind us that we cannot forget what happened in the past and we shall not forget who we are.
In the midst of the Special Period of the 1990’s, when the U.S. criminal blockade was tightened even more and approximately 83% of Cuba's trade with the socialist block was cut overnight; when there were chronic shortages of water, electricity, transportation and even bread at times, the Cuban youth decided to fight for their cultural roots, for which so much blood had been shed in the struggles against slavery, colonialism and for Socialism. So, the young artists created the Romerías de Mayo Festival, as their nation was facing all the difficulties and challenges of preserving its cultural heritage in all its manifestations, in order to build their future. Toronto Forum on Cuba remains true to its mission and will bring our readers all that we can collect in the shortest time, which relates to this festive day and week that is observed from Holguin, Cuba and throughout the world! The Cuban working class and its allies are forging ahead to advance their socialist state's agenda for a prosperous and sustainable socialism and for a “different world”, where social justice and peace prevail. Our cultured sisters and brothers deserve our international solidarity with their just cause for sovereignty and for their commitment of an internationalist approach to the problems faced by humanity. We shall raise our voices in solidarity with Cuba for the lifting of the U.S.-imposed economic, financial and trade blockade and for its removal from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism! VIVA MAY DAY of International Working Peoples’ Solidarity! VIVA THE ROMERÍAS DE MAYO FESTIVAL of Young Artists and Cultural Promoters! Brotherly, Morteza Gorgzadeh Toronto Forum on Cuba www.torontoforumoncuba.com [email protected] ps. Toronto Forum on Cuba has access to some VHS tapes of the historical 2003 May Day Celebrations in Havana, which was a giant gathering of internationalist personalities from around the world along with cultural presentations and we will be more than happy to give you some copies free of charge upon contacting us.
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