Ahjamu Umi's: "The Truth Challenge"
  • Home
  • Workshops
  • New Manifesto
  • Hit Me Up
  • Blog
  • Coming Events
  • Videos
  • Donations

Props to the July 26th Movement

7/26/2013

0 Comments

 
Today, July 26, 2013, represents the 60th year anniversary of the historic attack on the Moncada Military Garrison in Santiago de Cuba.  This attack was carried out by young Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro Ruz, Raul Castro, Juan Almeida, Camilo Cienfugos, and others.  The rebels were attempting to overrun the garrison, secure the arms inside, and use that victory to propel their effort to overthrow the viciously oppressive regime of Fulgencio Batista.  The Bastista dictatorship was hugely unpopular in Cuba because of it's massive corruption, terrorist violence against the populace, and it's firm cooperation with U.S. imperialist interests, including the full access to the island nation by the criminal Mafia crime family. 

The attack against the garrison on 7/26/53 was unsuccessful and most of the rebels were imprisoned.  The movement was reorganized and revitalized two years later in 1955 when dozens of the original participants in the 7/26/53 attack were reunited in a Mexico City jail.  Present for this reorganization effort were the Castro brothers, Almeida, Cienfugos, and an Argentine medical doctor who happened to be thrown into the same jail for participating in protests against U.S. destabilization in Guatemala.  That doctor's name was Ernesto "Che" Guevara.  The band of rebels adopted the Argentine Guevara as a part of their mission and regrouped under the name "The July 26th Movement."  After being underestimated by the Central Intelligence Agency and Mexican Intelligence, the rebels were unceremoniously released where they embarked upon reigniting the revolutionary movement in Cuba.  The group, with Guevara, returned to Santiago de Cuba in 1956.  Only a handful of the 82 rebels imprisoned in Mexico survived the sinking of the Granma ship off the shore of Santiago, but those 11 survivors were able to safely escape into the mountains and initiate their guerilla campaign against the Batista regime.  With a well organized support movement in the urban areas and well disciplined and highly tactical guerilla units operating in the Sierra Maestra mountains, the rebels began to gain success.  On Janurary 1, 1959, the rebels marched successfully into the streets of Havana and since that time, Cuba has fought, and continues to fight to maintain and develop their socialist revolution.

In the contemporary times of 2013 and beyond, where revolution for many people is more of an idealistic concept than a material and historical one, Cuba remains committed to it's developing socialist revolution.  They still have many obstacles to overcome, but they have established a system that successfully and efficiently meets the basic needs for all of it's citizens.  Even those who presently defect from Cuba, like U.S. professional baseball sensation Yasiel Puig, are forced to admit their decision isn't based on lack of resources.  When interviewed, Puig freely admited that he had sufficient food, healthcare, and education in Cuba.  His desire to come to the U.S. had nothing to do with oppression, but everything to do with wanting more material wealth for himself.

Cuba's journey towards socialist construction will require continued advancements in the areas of education so that historically backward ideas and practices like racism, sexism, and homophobia, are wiped out, but in fairness, the Cuban revolution has made strides in these areas that far outrace it's Caribbean contemporaries.  Plus, the socialist model of free quality education is the best way to insure reactionary ideas are gradually and systematically wiped out.  Mariana Castro is the daughter of Raul and Vilma Espin and she is the Director of Sex Education in Cuba.  Her recent very public comments about confronting and eradicating racism, homophobia, and sexism in Cuba are clear examples of this progress.  

Cuba is liberalizing it's policies on revenue development to open up markets and further industrialize the country.  This is a necessary economic strategy since socialism functions most effectively when utilizing the industrial capabilities of a former capitalist system.  There are no rules in socialist development that say you have to do things in any particular order.  Cuba is a former colony and as a result, much of what's happening now is necessary to strengthen socialism in that country.  They are on the right path and they don't need help from moralist "revolutionaries" in North America and Europe.  They also won't be intimidated by terrorist supporting anti-communist hacks on the right.  The truth is the world owes the July 26th Movement revolutionaries a huge thank you for providing a model of resistance for modern day revolutionaries and people committed to justice.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    I don't see disagreement as a negative because I understand that Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  Our brains are muscles.  Just like any other muscle in our body if we don't stress it and push it, the brain will not improve.  Or, as a bumper sticker I saw once put it, "If you can't change your mind, how do you know it's there?"

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    June 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly