“An example for the world,” is how the Canadian activist
Tamara Hansen describes Cuba’s socialist process. Tamara
is the coordinator of Vancouver Communities in Solidarity
with Cuba, author of the book: “Five Decades of the Cuban
Revolution: the Challenges of an Unwavering Leadership”
(Battle of Ideas Press, 2010), and executive member of the
Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC).
Since 2004, she has been involved in solidarity work with
Cuba which centers on campaigns to denounce the cruel
blockade imposed by the United States; and organizing
groups that travel to the largest island in the Greater Antilles,
to learn first-hand the true Cuban reality. This includes the
Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigades, the Calixto García
Brigade and the Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba.
Another solidarity activity has been to collect monetary
donations after natural disasters that have occurred in the
Caribbean Island, or to finance social projects. Today, there
is a CNC solidarity campaign to collect funds to contribute
to the work carried out by the Henry Reeve Cuban medical
brigades around the world fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So far, we have raised over $31,000 CAD towards this
project. This is very important as the economic situation for
many working people in Canada today is challenging because
of the pandemic. So, their generosity towards Cuba and the
important work of Cuban medical professionals around the
world is significant,” says Tamara who is also a teacher of
English, social studies and French, at a secondary school in
Vancouver.
In addition, the organization’s Tamara works with maintain
several virtual and printed publications, principally the Fire
This Time newspaper, with the objective of refuting media
campaigns that seek to slander the Cuban Revolution and to
share about the advances of Cuba in the fields of human rights,
the environment, science, agriculture, medicine, sports,
culture, and other fields.
As a consistent action, they carry out mobilizations on the
17th of each month in front of the U.S. Consulate to demand
the lifting of interventionist U.S. policies against Cuba:
“Groups in Ottawa and Montreal, Canada, as well as Kiev,
Ukraine also protest in front of their embassies and consulates.
During this pandemic, street protests have not been possible,
so we have begun to organize ourselves online. On May 17th
the Canadian Network on Cuba organized a “virtual picket”
with guests from Australia, the U.S., Ukraine, Britain, Cuba,
and across Canada to demand an end to the genocidal U.S.
blockade on Cuba. We had over 120 people participate and
hundreds that have watched the video on Facebook since the
event. It was very powerful to come together online and raise
our voices against the blockade on Cuba. We are planning to
organize another action for June 17th.”
In March 2020, an International Conference on Normalization
of US-Cuba Relations at Fordham University School of
Law in New York City was planned. Due to the outbreak of
Covid-19, the conference was rescheduled for November
2020. Organizations and individuals involved in planning
the conference include Vancouver Communities in Solidarity
with Cuba, the National Network on Cuba in the U.S., the
Canadian Network on Cuba, and La Table de Concertation
de Solidarité Quebec-Cuba and many others, through online
exchanges as part of a new campaign called the SavingLives
Campaign.
In this campaign, they share the stories of altruism carried out
by the doctors of the largest island in the Caribbean: “The U.S.
imperialist government truly sees this work as a threat to their
global hegemony, all the U.S. has to offer is military-might
and endless war. While Cuba is demonstrating the powerful
example of free healthcare, solidarity, and revolutionary
internationalism.”
Tamara Hansen concluded her remarks by stating: “My
dedication to Cuba solidarity began over 15 years ago. While
this work is always voluntary and never paid, I continue along
with my amazing compañeras and compañeros in Vancouver,
across Canada, and worldwide – because I believe that once
humanity understands what the Cuban people and their
revolutionary government stand for, they will see an important
example we can all learn from and follow.”
Reprinted from: www.granma.cu May 30, 2020
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