CubaNews summary - September 7, 2001 ================================= ANTI-RACISM CONFERENCE WINDING DOWN Media coverage of the Durban conference has declined significantly since the well-publicized withdrawals and is now reduced to alternative sources such as THE BLACK WORLD TODAY and DEMOCRACY NOW IN EXILE. http://www.tbwt.com and http://www.webactive.com and www.kpfa.org the Berkeley Pacifica affiliate. Rev. Jesse Jackson and actor-activist Danny Glover have spoken up and out strongly demanding that the Pacifica Network broadcast uncensored DN broadasts. (note: Pacifica Radio is continuing to play reruns of wonderful old programs, but is NOT running currently- produced DN materials. Fortunately, you can now here DN IN EXILE programs through outlets such as KPFA, WBIX and Webactive. Washington's withdrawal from the Durban gathering, was followed by that of Israel and much of the media's attention. Cuba's Granma, however, detailed the views of many Black participants from the US. Behind the US withdrawal from Durban is not the Middle East and the Zionism resolution, but rather the discussion of slavery and reparations for its victims. http://www.granma.cu/ingles/septiem1/36repara-i.html ========================================= ACTIVISTS IN LA TO SUPPORT CUBAN MUSICIANS Activists, Cuban-Americans and artists in Los Angeles announced their support for Cuban musicians who will be attending the Latin Grammys, in a broadly-attended news conference. Rightist exiles announced plans to protest the Cuban musicians' visits at their own news conference. Broad support shown for Cuban Grammy nominees (photo from Thursday's news conference) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20010906/en/999814833latin_grammys_la105.html Cuban-American producer Jorge Rodriquez speaks on behalf of Los Munequitos de Matanzas. (photo from Thursday's news conference) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20010906/en/999814798latin_grammys_la104.html ======================================== CUBAN ART, PHOTOGRAPHY AND POLITICS... Two new exhibitions about Cuban photography are reviewed and contrasted in today's New York Times. Living in Los Angeles, I haven't seen the New York program at the Center for Cuba Studies. However, I can the reviewer is trying to suggest that the more modern Cuban artists have moved away from "heroic" photographic style of Korda and Salas, etc. This is actually true, as the SHIFTING TIDES exhibition demonstrates. But there is more to this than artistic commentary in an abstract, "art-for-art's sake" way... This reviewer suggests that the "heroic" photos by Korda and others did more than excercise artistic choice, but rather that the images were manipulated. Keep these in mind when reading the review. This is suggested further in a book referenced in the review, which appears to be the catalog of a show of Cuban art by contemporary artists on the island. The catalog suggests the art is politically critical, tha wasn't clear to me when I saw the program... http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/07/arts/design/07COTT.html?searchpv=nytToday&pagewanted=all ======================================== ORTEGA RUNNING STRONGLY IN NICARAGUA Polls show the FSLN's leader running ahead due to the widespread corruption in Nicaragua since the defeat of the FSLN in 1990. Washington's hostility to Ortega is as active as ever as it says US aid and investment will dry up if the Ortega wins the November election. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54598-2001Sep6.html ========================================= VENEZUELA & CUBA - ONE TEAM: CHAVEZ From Reuters: "Venezuela and Cuba, united in ``one team'' by their growing cooperation ties, should spearhead an international campaign against free-market capitalism, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said. "In a speech on Wednesday night opening a bilateral cooperation meeting in Caracas, Chavez heaped praise on veteran Cuban President Fidel Castro and his communist-ruled island and hailed a year-old economic accord between the two countries." http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010906/wl/venezuela_cuba_dc_1.html VENEZUELA FURTHER LOOSENS TIES WITH US Reuters reported, "Venezuelan Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel said Wednesday a 50-year-old bilateral military cooperation accord with the United States was a relic of the Cold War and was no longer viable. But cooperation between the two countries' armed forces, which included a number of U.S. military officers attached to Venezuelan units, was nevertheless continuing, the minister told reporters on a visit to the western state of Merida. http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010905/n05277834.html ======================================== SANCHEZ' LEGAL OPTIONS EVALUATED Ramon Saul Sanchez and his indicted "Democracy Movement" associates will have a hard time proving they were selectively prosecuted. This was what most legal scholars suggested in today's Miami Herald. Sanchez says he thought the legal stipulation he signed, acknowledging the federal government's right to limit his movements only applied to one boat, not the others in his mini-flotilla. Sanchez insists he had the right to enter Cuban waters as a matter of "free speech." http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/dade/digdocs/075797.htm http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/dade/digdocs/101905.htm =========================================== SINN FEIN'S ADAMS RISKS US TIES WITH CUBA TRIP Read the full story linked below, but these two sentences stood out, "Analysts said the trip to Cuba would probably not damage the standing of Adams or Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland or the Irish republic. The party's support in Ireland comes mainly from young voters who do not share fears held over from the Cold War about contacts with communist Cuba and its aging leader Fidel Castro." http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010906/wl/irish_cuba_adams_dc_1.html ============================================== ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This summary prepared by Walter Lippmann. 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