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Rock Around the Blockade's 2023 brigade to Cuba has begun! The brigadistas arrived at the Juan Antonio Mella International Camp (CIJAM), Artemisa Province, just in time for the annual celebration of the triumph of the Cuban revolution!
CIJAM camp was established more than 50 years ago, after a first brigade of 228 young people from 22 countries travelled to Cuba to help build schools in Artemisa due to their commitment to the Cuban Revolution. Opened in 1972, CIJAM hosts up to 2,000 brigadistas every year taking part in practical solidarity in support of socialist Cuba. Our brigadistas start a packed schedule of meetings, visits and practical work to learn from the revolutionary example of Cuba. Watch this space and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for regular updates!
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On November 2, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a resolution calling on the US to lift the blockade against Cuba. The US and Israel were the only two nations to vote no, with Ukraine abstaining. This marks the 31st time that the world has expressed its opposition to the blockade. Across the country, activists with Rock Around the Blockade brought opposition to the blockade into the streets, often coinciding with Palestine demonstrations, bringing a message of the importance of solidarity with Cuba and Cuban internationalism with them:
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Cuba 11J: counter-hegemonic perspectives of social protests, Alexander Hall Lujardo (coordinator), published by Marx21, 2023, 392pp digital edition free under Creative Commons Licence.
On 11 July 2021, street protests broke out in various locations across Cuba, some turning violent. They were the first widespread social disturbances in Cuba for 27 years. They occurred in the context of Covid-19 lockdown measures, and conditions of extreme hardship imposed by the tightening of the 62-year US blockade of Cuba, and were stoked by a US-backed social media campaign. 11 July was celebrated by the imperialist media and Florida’s right-wing Cuban exiles, some of whom called for US military intervention (see FRFI 283 for a detailed analysis).
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On 15-17 September delegations from 135 nations met in Havana for the G77+China summit on ‘Science, technology and innovation’. Cuba has acted as chair of the group after being elected for the first time at the UN in 2022. Founded in 1964 by 77 nations as part of the ‘Non-aligned movement’, today the expanded G77+China represents 80% of global population and two-thirds of UN member states. Most are poorer nations facing the brunt of global debt and poverty. China engages with the organisation’s structures but remains a non-member. The group counterbalances international organisations dominated by Western imperialist powers. It contains contradictory interests, from the anti-imperialist voices of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to the oil rich gulf monarchies and rising capitalist powers like India.
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In December 2023 we will be sending our 15th solidarity brigade to Cuba. Young activists from Britain will spend two weeks meeting Cubans from all walks of life, visiting schools, hospitals, factories, community centres, farms; learning about Cuban socialism and holding exchanges with Cuban youth about the reality of living under capitalism in Britain, as millions face the severe consequences of the ‘cost of living crisis’ whilst Britain continues to fuel and engage in wars abroad.
We will also bring material aid to a paediatric hospital in Havana, 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. Please support our fundraising efforts in any way you can and make a donation.
The more we raise, the more material aid we can take with us! Over the years our brigades have coordinated with the Union of Young Communists in Cuba to assess the best forms of material aid to bring; this has included sports equipment, musical instruments, a sound system, ballet shoes, boxing gloves and more.
On our return we will host meetings, with brigadistas reporting back from their experiences, showing photos and film clips, and taking the lessons we can learn from Cuban socialism to the streets of Britain.
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Statement from Rock Around the Blockade and the Revolutionary Communist Group.
We condemn the recent attack on the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC. The incident occurred on 24 September, when an individual threw two Molotov cocktails at the embassy building. Fortunately, no personnel were hurt. The attack took place just a few hours after Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel returned from his trip to the United Nations in New York where he addressed the UN General Assembly.
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Join #1c4Cuba campaign, Learn more: 1c4Cuba.eu #MejorSinBloqueo #EndTheEmbargo #LetCubaLive #OffTheList #CubaVsBloqueo #LiveBetter #ByeByeBlockade #UnBlockCuba 
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On 12 June the Chinese Drug Administration approved the use of Cuba’s drug Nimotuzumab for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The drug was developed by Cuba’s Centre for Molecular Immunology (CIM) and first approved for use in Cuba against nasopharyngeal cancers in 2002. It has since been approved for use against various types of cancer in numerous countries. Nimotuzumab is an antibody that targets a protein called ‘epidermal growth factor receptor’ (EGFR) on the surface of cells, which can cause uncontrolled cell division, the hallmark of cancer, if EGFR mutates.
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As countries around the world roll back human rights for the LGBT+ community, socialist Cuba stands as a beacon of hope. It has enshrined the most progressive Family Code in the world in its own constitution and works tirelessly to fight reactionary sentiment towards LGBT+ people in its own country through the legal system and education.