The Hindu report

photo courtesy: mangalorean.com

BANGALORE: Cuba may be far away but the Cuban spirit pervaded here much to the joy of a large gathering at the Senate Hall of the Central College on Sunday.

The packed hall resonated with songs, music and poems during a festival organised by the Cuba Solidarity Committee, Bangalore, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. Spanish songs and Kannada poems interspersed with inspirational talks on the courage, heroism and distinct attributes of Cubans kept the gathering glued to their seats for over two hours.

Three books on the Cuban revolution translated into Kannada were released on the occasion.

The books included the “Socialism and Man in Cuba” which was authored by Che Guevara. A weblog on Cuba, which can be accessed at http://cubaa.wordpress.com, was also launched.

The corridors of the Senate Hall bore Cuban paintings, posters and photos. Literature and books on Cuba’s history and the central characters of the revolution, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, were available at the venue. The programmes essentially depicted Cuba, its people, its difficulties and its achievements. “Cuban people braving economic sanctions have shown to the world at large that they have the right to choose a system which they want and not a system dictated by a foreign country,” said convenor of the committee T. Surendra Rao.

Cuban Minister of Council and Deputy Chief of Mission Eduardo Iglesias Quintana and Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat joined writer G. Ramakrishna, Kannada director B. Suresh and Kannada poet Mamatha Sagar in paying tributes to the Cuban people.

Times of India report

CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat today said left parties smarting from electoral reverses must look to Cuba for inspiration, saying

that the Caribbean country has overcome adversities, most difficult times and “impossible odds”.

“We had serious setbacks in these (recent Lok Sabha) elections. But we must learn from Cuba”, Karat said in his address to ‘Cuba Festival,’ organised by the Cuba Solidarity Committee to mark the 50th anniversary of Cuban Revolution.

Cuba has gone through adversity, most difficult times and what may people say “impossible odds” but overcome every time, he said and added, “So, we in India also…Left and progressive forces…must take heart and must learn from Cuba and not surrender.”
He said after the Lok Sabha elections, many of the left parties’ “friends and critics” tell them to give up fight against imperialism because it has become “irrelevant in the 21st century” and give up fight against neo-liberal policies, and “accommodate itself”.

“If you do that (give up fight against imperialism and neo-liberal policies, we (Left parties) cease to be what we are; we cease to be a force for progressive change and that lesson (never to surrender and continue fight against imperialism) we must imbibe”, Karat said.

Karat praised the “indomitable courage” and “heroic endeavours” of the Cuban people.

“Cuba is not only a symbol of resistance to imperialism but also a source of inspiration for all countries who were under colonialism and imperialistic exploitation,” he said.

Cuba, a country of just 1.1 crore population, had a remarkable recovery, he said, noting that the country wiped out illiteracy in just one year. In terms of development in health and education, Cuba is far superior to many of the developed countries, he said.

“In Cuba, the number of physicians to 100,000 people is more than that in the US,” Karat said. “It has got an education system which we in India cannot even dream of”.

Cuba spends 6.5 per cent of its GDP on health, whereas India spends just one per cent in this sector, he said.

Cuban Minister of Council Eduardo Iglesias Quintana suggested that the Left parties, who suffered electoral reverses, should look to Cuba on how to “turn setbacks into victories” by regaining the “will of the people”.

che guevara on Imperialism from a footage of 1965
according to YOu Tube

Mamatha Sagar who visited Cuba recently likes to imitate PAPA, that too in his favorite bar.

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I love this. I sent a note out to the CubaNews list about this beautiful page with the rotating photographs!
Would love to learn how you do this beautiful blog.

will be back in Cuba tomorrow until January.

Walter Lippmann
Tlatelolco, D.F., Mexico

Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
“Un paraíso bajo el bloqueo”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/