Please sign the petition here.
UPDATE – Thank you very much if you have supported this statement. We have learned that Frank García Hernández and Maykel González Vivero, director of the LGBT+ magazine Tremenda Nota, were released on Monday, July 12 at 2100hrs. They are under house arrest but are nevertheless allowed to move around so long as they do not participate in protests etc. They have been charged with causing public disorder on 11 July. Leonardo Romero Negrín, a young socialist Physics student at the University of Havana, and Marcos Antonio Pérez Fernández, a pre-university student, HAVE NOT BEEN RELEASED. The whereabouts of Leonardo Romero Negrín are unknown. His name does not appear in the police detainee registry, but he was seen being arrested. It is therefore essential to continue the campaign.
For years, indeed decades, we have denounced the blockade imposed by the US authorities against Cuba. We have denounced and continue to denounce the various policies and measures adopted by Washington since 1959-1960 to isolate, destabilise and attack Cuba. We are anti-imperialists and convinced internationalists.
We were therefore very concerned to learn of the arrest during a march of protest in Havana on 11 July of Frank García Hernández, Cuban historian and Marxist, Leonardo Romero Negrín, young socialist studying physics at the University of Havana, Maykel González Vivero, director of Tremenda Nota and Marcos Antonio Pérez Fernández, pre-university student. Frank García Hernández is an important scholar has achieved a worldwide reputation for his work on reevaluating the history of the Cuban left and organising an international congress on Trotsky in Havana in 2019.
We call for the unconditional release of Frank and all his comrades and for respect for the democratic rights of all the Cuban people.
As the revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg stated in The Russian Revolution in 1918:
‘without a free and untrammelled press, without the unlimited right of association and assemblage, the rule of the broad masses of the people is entirely unthinkable.’
She added:
‘Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party — however numerous they may be — is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. Not because of any fanatical concept of “justice” but because all that is instructive, wholesome and purifying in political freedom depends on this essential characteristic, and its effectiveness vanishes when “freedom” becomes a special privilege.’
As we publish this petition, we have heard of unconfirmed reports that Frank García Hernández was released on Monday 12 July. We are delighted to hear this and await definitive confirmation that he has been freed. At present we don’t have any information about the other people arrested with Frank.
Signatories
Etienne Balibar, Anniversary Chair of Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University London
Tithi Bhattacharya, author Feminism for the 99%, USA
Sâmia Bomfim, deputada federal São Paulo, Brazil
Richard Boyd Barrett TD (member of the Irish Parliament)
Robert Brenner, University of California Los Angeles, USA
Christine Buchholz, Member of the German Bundestag, Die Linke
Gerry Carroll, MLA (member of Northern Ireland Parliament)
Maria Carvalho Dantas, Member of the Spanish Congress, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Noam Chomsky, Emeritus Professor, MIT, USA
Petros Constantinou, Athens city councilor, coordinator KEERFA, Greece
Mike Davis, Emeritus Professor, University of California Riverside, USA
Rehad Desai, Radical film maker, South Africa
Fábio Félix, deputado distrital Distrito Federal, Brazil
Eva Flyvholm, MP, Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Red-Green Alliance, Denmark
Luciana Genro- ex-candidata a Presidente, direção nacional do PSOL (Party of Socialism and Liberty) e deputada estadual Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Jess González, member of the Catalan Parliament for En Comú Podem
Christian Juhl, MP, Spokesperson on Development Aid, Red-Green Alliance, Denmark
Gino Kenny TD (member of the Irish Parliament)
Paul LeBlanc, Professor of History, La Roche University, USA
Paul Murphy TD (member of the Irish Parliament)
Fernanda Melchionna, deputada federal Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
David Miranda, deputado federal Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sola Olorunfemi, General Secretary AUTOBATE, Nigeria
Gerardo Pisarello, member of the Spanish Congress, Unidas Podemos-En Comú Podem, and First Secretary of the Bureau of the Congress
Vivi Reis, deputada federal Pará, Brazil
Mônica Seixas, deputada estadual São Paulo, Brazil
Brid Smith TD (member of the Irish Parliament)
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, USA
Eric Toussaint, University of Liège and Paris VIII, internationalist militant and writer, Belgium
Miguel Urban, member of the European parliament, Anticapitalistas, Fourth International, Spanish State
Nikolaj Villumsen, Member of the European Parliament, Red-Green Alliance, Denmark
Suzi Weissman, Professor of Politics, Saint Mary’s College of California, USA
Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies, SOAS, London, Britain
Kieran Allen, National Secretary, People before Profit and author, Ireland
Eric Alliez, Philosopher, Professor at Université Paris 8, France
Luana Alves – city councillor, São Paulo/SP, Brazil
Anthony Arnove, editor, USA
Baba Aye, Co-convener Coalition for Revolution (CORE), Nigeria
Pratyay Banerjee
Tarun Bhartiya, Imagemaker, Northeast India
Andreu Blackwell, joint editor Punto de Vista internacional
Beth Boerger
Pratyajayaditya Bondhu
David Brophy, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, Australia
Lai Brown, National Secretary Socialist Workers & Youth League, Nigeria
Alex Callinicos, Emeritus Professor of European Studies, King’s College London, Britain
Josemar Carvalho – city councillor, São Gonçalo/RJ, Brazil
Kunal Chattopadhyay, Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, India
Lam Chi Leung, editor of the Marxists Internet Archive Chinese, Hong Kong
Joseph Choonara, editor of International Socialism, Britain
Matt Collins, Belfast City Council, Ireland
Marc Cooper, writer, USA
William M. Crane, Doctoral candidate, History Dept, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Willy Cumming
Gareth Dale, Brunel University, Britain
Alex de Jong, co-director IIRE Amsterdam, Netherlands
Kadijatu Dem Njie, leading member, Marx21.net, Spanish state
Pelle Dragsted, writer, member of the national leadership of the Red-Green Alliance, Denmark
Penelope Duggan, editor International Viewpoint
Israel Dutra, Secretário de Relações Internacionais do PSOL, Brazil
Carolyn Egan, president of United Steelworkers Local 8300, president of United Steelworkers Toronto Area Council, Canada
Fiona Ferguson, Belfast City Council, Ireland
Pedro Fuentes, Direção Nacional do MES, Brazil
Panos Garganas, editor, Workers Solidarity weekly, Greece
Thies Gleis Member of the Federal Executive Committee of Die Linke, Germany
G K Ghosh, peace activist, India
Melisa Halpin, Councillor, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, Ireland
Wayne Heimbach
Robert Austin Henry, Honorary Associate, Department of History, University of Sydney, Australia
Dr Christian Hogsbjerg, Lecturer in Critical History and Politics, University of Brighton, Britain
Jack Howard
Adam Johannes, Cardiff Socialist Forum Cardiff, Wales, Britain
Kostas Katarahias, chair Hospital Workers Union, Athens Cancer Hospital, Greece
Amy Leather and Charlie Kimber, joint national secretaries of the Socialist Workers Party, Britain
Bruno Magalhães, Observatório Internacional do PSOL, Brazil
Jan Malewski, editor of Inprecor
John Meehan
John Molyneux, Editor of Irish Marxist Review
Marcio Lauria Monteiro, Historian, teacher and Communist from Brazil
Ben Moroney, Greens councillor, City of Campbelltown, NSW, Australia
Kevin Ovenden
Mel Packer
Mark Porciani
Charles Post, Editorial Board Spectre: A Marxist Journal and the Tempest collective, USA
Philippe Poutou, NPA candidate for the presidential elections of 2022, France
Christine Poupin, spokesperson of NPA New Anticapitalist Party, France
Dr Lucia Pradella, Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy, King’s College London, Britain
Dr Sean Purdy, Professor of History, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Viviana Ramírez, Senior Teacher of Spanish & Home Economics (retired), Australia
Dr John Rees, Visiting Research Fellow, Goldsmiths, University of London, Britain
Joel Reinstein
Nick Riemer, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, Australia
Mariana Riscali, Executiva Nacional do PSOL, Brazil
Roberto Robaina, city councillor, Porto Alegre/RS, Direção Nacional do PSOL, Brazil
Neil Rogall
Catherine Samary, economist, member of the Fourth International, France
Zhaleh Sahand
Miroslav Sandev, teacher, unionist, member of Solidarity group Australia
Edgard Sanchez, spokesperson PRT and joint editor Punto de Vista internacional, Mexico
Dr Jeff Sparrow, author
Sukla Sen, peace activist, Mumbai, India
Jurandir Silva, city councillor, Pelotas/RS, Brazil
Ashley Smith Democratic Socialists of America Tempest Collective, USA
Colin Sparks, Professor Emeritus Hong Kong Baptist University, UK
Sue Sparks
Maria Styllou, editor Socialism from below review, Greece
Michael Thomson, NSW State Secretary National Tertiary Education Union (retired), Australia
Alan Wald, H. Chandler Davis Collegiate Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
Adrienne Wallace , Councillor, Carlow, Ireland
Thomas Weyts, SAP – Antikapitalisten / Gauche anticapitaliste, Belgium
Lawrence Wong
Christian Zeller Prof. of Economic Geography, University of Salzburg, Austria
You can sign the petition on www.change.org
cubacommunistsolidarity@gmail.com
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