Update 20/08/23
Thank you to everyone who donated towards the zipwire - I am delighted to inform you we raised £520! The jump was scary but your donations gave me the courage to take the leap! The funds will be spent on medical equipment to take to the Central Havana paediatric hospital's emergency room this December. For more information about December's brigade to Cuba please follow our page.
by Sam McGill
On 19 August I am doing an organised zip-wire off Newcastle's iconic Tyne Bridge (gulp!! it is very high!!) to raise money for medical supplies for Cuba and to develop Cuba solidarity campaigning. This December, Rock Around the Blockade will send our 15th solidarity brigade to Cuba and we will be taking over aid to break the illegal US blockade that is making conditions very difficult on the island at present, especially in the global 'cost of living' crisis. Please help to donate and share this event. If you are free why not come along and support me at the Quayside where I will land!
Please make a donation by setting up a one-time payment using GoCardless.
Or by sending cheques or postal orders payable to:
Rock Around The Blockade at
RATB BCM Box 5909, London, WC1N 3XX.
https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002KJW8Z5S
For more information about the 2023 brigade to Cuba click here
Why Cuba? Brigade 2023 (ratb.org.uk)
People who know me, know the special place the Cuban revolution has in my heart, having visited the island on several brigades and voluntary exchanges. This is an incredibly important time for solidarity as Cuba faces immense challenges, compounded by a severe tightening of the US blockade and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation is comparable to the Special Period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with difficulty importing basic necessities such as fuel, food, and medicine. The Trump administration enacted 243 new suffocating measures to reinforce the blockade against Cuba, and Biden has left them entirely intact.
Last year marked the 60th anniversary of the US blockade on Cuba. For over 60 years the Cuban people have faced the political and economic might of the most powerful nation on the planet. The blockade represents the most comprehensive and longest running set of sanctions in modern history.
Despite all of this, Cuba has been able to guarantee adequate levels of healthcare, education, housing and food security for all. Recently Cuba sent thousands of doctors to countries across the world to help them fight the Covid-19 pandemic. This takes the total number of Cuban doctors sent across the world to deliver healthcare that is free at the point of delivery to 400,000 since 1960, primarily in poorer countries.
Cuba needs our solidarity more than ever - help us to raise money to take material aid to help Cuba alleviate the crisis it is facing under the crushing blockade, an act ever more precedent as the tightening of the blockade has left only a handful of banks willing to process transactions to Cuba, allow financial aid to be sent to the island or even process international transactions that have the word ‘Cuba’ in the reference (see the international campaign 1c4cuba.eu for more info).
Please support our fundraising efforts in any way you can, share this post and make a donation.