London events reports

North-east England events reports

North-west England events reports

Scotland events reports

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Celebrating Fidel's 84th Birthday

Saturday 14TH August, MANCHESTER

"On Saturday 14th August 2010, RATB (Manchester Branch), held a stall to celebrate
Fidel's 84th Birthday.  With this in mind we put a framed photo of Fidel in his prime on
our stall along with a large poster-size birthday card on display and invited members of
the public to add their signatures to it.  It was amazing how many people came up to the
stall wanting to sign his card and send greetings to this great warrior including many
young people. Red, blue and white balloons in the colours of the Cuban flag along with
special revolutionary music and recorded speeches by Fidel  added to the occasion.
Educational and enlightening speeches on the megaphone from another comrade were excellent
and many people just sat nearby in the sun listening to what he had to say.
Viva Fidel"

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26th JULY MOVEMENT CELEBRATION 2009

Manchester RATB celebrated the weekend of 26 de Julio (26th July Movement 1953) by holding a couple of events on both the Saturday and the Sunday.  This important event marks the key date when Fidel Castro and his comrades attacked Moncado Barracks in Santiago and the Bayamo Barracks in Oriente, Cuba.  Although the attack failed at the time, it was instrumental in the birth of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

On the afternoon of Saturday 25th July, there was a film showing about Fidel Castro, entitled ‘Moments with Fidel’.  Fidel Castro played a pivotal role in the 26 de Julio Movement which was to launch the Cuban Revolution six years later. Before the film was shown, one of RATB comrades, Keith, gave a very informative introduction to the film tracing the political history of Cuba and demonstrating that Cuba has always been involved in struggles against various forms of imperialism and colonisation.  From 1492, when Christopher Columbus first arrived on the island, up until the Batista regime and the changes in Cuban society pre-and post 1959 Revolution.  The film itself displayed the enormous support for the Cuban Revolution by the Cuban people which was accompanied with dynamic speeches from Fidel through the years.  It highlighted the key issues as to why Cuba is still hated today by the US and other imperialist interests.  The fact that Cuba has become an ideological threat rather than a military threat.  Approximately 13 people attended the afternoon event.

On the afternoon of Sunday 26th July, an open air event was planned to be held in Piccadilly Gardens complete with speeches, poetry, salsa dancing and music.  A selection of speeches throughout the day intended to provide an insight into many of the issues which Cuba is often criticised for were unfortunately cancelled due to the extremely poor turn-out of the public due to the despicable English weather intervening and so there was not the public attendance which was anticipated. However, the music went on and there was some dancing.  Various members of the public who were there were attracted to the information stall and signed the large ‘Free the Cuban 5’ petition we had on one of the walls.
Julie

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On Saturday the 9 May Rock Around the Blockade in Manchester held a dayschool to celebrate 50 years of the Cuban revolution.

The event was attended by around 40 people who stayed the whole day.

The dayschool started with 3 comrades just back from RATB's brigade to Cuba, talking about their impressions and experiences of two weeks intensive activity in Revolutionary Cuba. A common theme was how people are involved at all levels of society.

The next speaker was Helen Yaffe who talked about how she researched the material for her newly published book, Che Guevara - The Economics of Revolution.

The floor was then opened up for questions to the speakers and discussion, a lively debate then took place on issues such as the US blockade, Cuban agriculture and international solidarity.

In the second session we had two more speakers, the first being Diana Raby the author of Democracy and revolution in Latin America , who talked about the revolutionary movements in Latin America and the crucial role played by Cuba.

The last speaker was Robert Clough from the Revolutionary Communist Group who spoke about the present so called 'credit crisis' saying we should call the crisis by its correct name a crisis of imperialism setting this against the context of the present onslaught in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well its economic and political effects here in Britain.

His talk also highlighted that Cuba was not only an example to the revolutionary movements in Latin America but was also important in building a movement against imperialism here in Britain.

Again this was follow by lively disscusion with questions on democracy, the future of the Cuban revolution and ALBA.

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On Saturday 11 October supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! and Rock Around the Blockade in Manchester held an event in Piccadilly Gardens in the city centre of Manchester to celebrate the life of Che Guevara. Speakers pointed out that forty one years after his death his ideas of socialism are more relevent than ever as the crisis of capitalism lurches forward and banks are collapsing in most of the major imperialist countries. We also collected signatures on petitions calling for the release of the Cuban 5 who have now spent more than 10 years incarcerated in the US prison system purly for attempting to stop terrorist attacks sponsored by the US on Cuba.

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On 13 September, to mark 10 years in prison for the Cuban 5, supporters of Rock Around The Blockade and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! held an open air rally with speakers, leaflets and petitions in the centre of Manchester. Hundreds of informational leaflets were given out with queues of people forming to sign our giant wall petition for the 5.