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| Greens Endorse "Peace and Democracy" Statement on Cuba. |
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Ecological Wisdom * Social Justice * Grassroots
Democracy * Non-Violence Marc Reichardt -- Party Chair, GPMI phone: 734-668-9628 e-mail: chair@migreens.org Greens Endorse "Peace and Democracy"
Statement on Cuba The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) today endorsed a statement by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy (CPD) regarding recent events in Cuba. The endorsement came after considerable discussion involving the State Central Committee of the party, and reflecting the views of a broad range of the party's membership. Speaking for GPMI, chair Marc Reichardt summarized the resolution: "The Green Party of Michigan re-affirms our commitment to non-violence as a means of resolving international conflict. We call on supporters of peace to speak out against the bellicose language emanating from some quarters in Washington. In particular, we call upon Senators Levin and Stabenow to firmly repudiate the notion that war with Cuba is acceptable. "It is time for our elected officials to act responsibly, and reject the 'weapon of mass distraction' tactic of vilifying one third-world country after another. This tactic has meant billions of dollars for wealthy defense contractors, death and deprivation for the people of Iraq, and basic human needs unmet here at home." Non-violent resolution of international disputes is one of the Four Pillars of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) and Greens worldwide. The CPD statement, besides rejecting war as a mechanism for resolving the crisis with Cuba, explicitly rejects and opposes Cuba's implementation of the death penalty in recent cases. This is in keeping with another of the Four Pillars -- social justice -- as Patricia L. Smith, a GPMI representative on the GPUS Co-ordinating Committee, pointed out. "Greens' view of socialjustice includes immutable opposition to the death penalty. By endorsing the CPD statement, the Green Party of Michigan adds its voice to the growing crescendo telling our government that we reject war as an option for dealing with Cuba. At the same time, we express our opposition to the recent judicial executions in Cuba." GPMI's expression of opposition to both war and the death penalty reflects and strengthens a viewpoint increasingly expressed across the world. For instance, in a brief letter dated April 29 and published on the front page of Mexican daily _La Jornada_, the Colombian Nobel Prize-winner for Literature Gabriel García Márquez affirmed that his statements opposing implementation of the death penalty in Cuba had been manipulated by some in the media. The author indicated that these press accounts were misrepresenting his views, and exaggerating the facts, in order to justify a U.S. invasion of the island. Jim Moreno, Green Party member and an elected City Commissioner in Mount Pleasant, observed: "The cycle of propaganda against a small country, followed by massive defense expenditures to 'safeguard' us against a non-existent threat, undermines our ability to meet the increasing difficulties caused by the economic downturn. Every day, the people of Mount Pleasant and Isabella County see urgent social, educational, and environmental needs go unmet because the funds needed for these purposes are being wasted on unneeded military expenditures. I intend to bring this matter to the attention of the Mount Pleasant City Commission, and I call upon my colleagues in cities, townships and villages across the state to do the same." Campaign for Peace and Democracy Statement Protesting Repression in Cuba Please join Michael Albert, Stanley Aronowitz, Eileen Boris, Noam Chomsky, Joshua Cohen, Manuela Dobos, Ariel Dorfman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Samuel Farber, Janeane Garofalo, Barbara Garson, Adam Hochschild, Doug Ireland, Jesse Lemisch, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Nelson Lichtenstein, Katha Pollitt, Stephen Shalom, Adam Shatz, James Weinstein, Naomi Weisstein, Cornel West, Reginald Wilson, Howard Zinn, and others in signing this statement against repression in Cuba from the Campaign for Peace and Democracy. CPD's statement "We Oppose Both Saddam Hussein and the U.S. War on Iraq: A call for a new, democratic U.S. foreign policy" appeared in the New York _Times_, _The Nation_, and _The Progressive_, as well as on the ZNet, _Progressive_, _Nation_, and Boston _Review_ websites and on numerous listserves in this country and abroad. With your help we will also aim to publicize this statement as broadly as possible. Thank you, Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison, Jennifer Scarlott, Co-Directors, CPD -------------------------------------------------------------------- We, the undersigned, strongly protest the current wave of repression in Cuba. We condemn the arrests of scores of opponents of the Cuban government for their nonviolent political activities, and the shockingly long prison sentences -- some as high as 28 years -- imposed after unfair trials. According to Amnesty International, the arrestees include journalists, owners of private libraries and members of illegal opposition parties. We condemn as well the trial and execution of three alleged hijackers in a week's time, both for the lack of due process and because we oppose capital punishment on principle. As anti-war, social justice and human rights advocates, we condemned the brutal Saddam Hussein regime, and we oppose the United States occupation of Iraq. We support civil liberties and democratic rights everywhere, regardless of the country's economic, political or social system. We believe it is imperative to be consistent in opposing repression wherever it takes place, whether in Iraq or Saudi Arabia, Israel or Cuba, Turkey or the United States. Democratic change in Cuba needs to be achieved by the Cuban people themselves. The Cuban government's violations of democratic rights do not justify sanctions or any other form of intervention by the United States in Cuba. The government of the United States -- which employs the rhetoric of human rights when doing so promotes its imperial goals, but maintains a discreet silence or makes only token protests when U.S. allies are involved, and which fully supports the barbaric practice of capital punishment, routinely inflicted in the U.S. -- is hardly in a position to preach democracy and human rights. And we recall too the long, criminal record of U.S. interventions in Latin America. This record has included six decades ofexploitation and imperial control of Cuba, followed by an attempted invasion and a campaign of international terrorism and economic warfare, that is by now well-documented. Only a government that repudiated this record, renounced any intention of restoring its economic or political domination over Cuba (either directly or through right-wing Cuban-American proxies), and promised to respect the democratic will of the Cuban people themselves would have the moral legitimacy to call for democratic change in Cuba. As the Bush administration -- further emboldened by its military victory in Iraq -- threatens to wage "pre-emptive" wars around the globe, we reaffirm our support for the right of self-determination in Cuba and our strong opposition to the U.S. policy of economic sanctions that has brought such suffering to the Cuban people. At the same time, we support democracy in Cuba. The imprisonment of people for attempting to exercise their rights of free expression is outrageous and unacceptable. We call on the Castro government to releaseall political prisoners and let the Cuban people speak, write, and organize freely. Additional information such as the list of
signers and the mechanism for signing is available at the CPD web
site: http://4.43.253.201/cpd/antiwar/
Green Party of Michigan * 548 S. Main Street * |
