Pastors For Peace Cuban Caravan
Liisa, 03.05.2008 13:21
A film series and talks on Cuba are being planned, leading up to the arrival of this year's Cuba Caravan. Dates for the film showings at Peace House, all at 7 pm, are Monday May 12: “Looking for Cuba”, Monday May 19 :“Bloque” , and Monday June 9: “Mission Against Terror”.
The talks/discussion on Cuba will be hosted by Socialist Action and will also be held at the Peace House. The dates for the talks are Wednesday, May 21st 7pm : "Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution" and Thursday, June 5th 7pm: "Cuba: The Case for Socialism"
Thursday June 19 will see the 2008 Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan in the Rogue Valley! We will host the travelers with a potluck dinner and hear the story of their journey, and get information about current conditions in Cuba. Plans are for the event at Ashland Bellview Grange to start at 6 pm, with dinner at 6:30 and the program from 7:30 to 9. For up-to-date information, call Mary Ann at 482-8915 or Suzie at 482-0102, or watch for the e-news from Peace House.
Fourteen different routes of the Cuba Caravan will travel through the US and Canada, stopping in more than 120 cities and gathering medical, school and other supplies for Cuba. The Caravan deliberately challenges the US blockade and travel ban, and has done so since the first Caravan in 1992. This material aid will be distributed by a group of Cuban churches to areas where it is most needed.
Consider joining the Cuba Caravan! The complete schedule for the Caravan is:
June 14-28: educational programs & aid collection through the US
and Canada
June 29-July 4: orientation in Texas, border crossing, travel
to Tampico
July 5-12: educational program in Cuba
July 13: return to Tampico, travel to border
July 14: cross the border, reverse challenge to US policies.
The reverse challenge consists of bringing back Cuban products as a gift from the Cuban people; federal officers routinely confiscate these items as forbidden to enter the US. One recent year sixty-five bags of Cuban coffee and ninety-one jars of Cuban honey were the items seized--quite a threat to the well-being of the US!
Traveling with the Caravan is an unforgettable experience! The program in Cuba might include visits to hospitals, neighborhood health clinics, cooperative community gardens, primary schools and/or universities, neighborhood block parties, and meetings with local officials, for example. It is an opportunity to meet and learn from Cubans at every level about the problems caused by the blockade, and the ways they have creatively responded to those difficulties.
One focus of the 2008 Caravan will be a Hiphop Without Borders Exchange. Hiphop artists will go with the Caravan, to participate in an international hiphop festival. Musical equipment such as turntables and keyboards will also be taken to Cuba, to support Cuban hiphop.
Other travel ban challenges will be undertaken at the same time by the Venceremos Brigade and the US-Cuba Labor Exchange. All groups plan to cross the border into the US on the same day, July 14. This solidarity will constitute a proud and emphatic challenge to US policies prohibiting free travel to Cuba.
Such an ambitious project requires cash! Local supplies being gathered for the Caravan (bicycles and bike parts, school supplies, etc.) must be accompanied by funds to pay for their space on the trucks and buses headed for Cuba. There is a specific charge per cubic foot of space.
Checks or money orders can be made out to IFCO (the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, founded in 1967 by progressive church leaders and community activists and the parent organization of Pastors for Peace) and mailed to Peace House, PO Box 524, Ashland. Please Do NOT write the word "Cuba" anywhere on the check; the Bush administration several years ago directed US banks not to process checks with "Cuba" on them!! IFCO is a 501(c)(3) organization, so all contributions are tax-deductible.
For information on participating in the Caravan, contact 
cucaravan@igc.org or call 212-926-5757. The website is 
http://www.pastorsforpeace.org. To speak with members of previous Caravans, call the local numbers listed above. Do join us
for the Caravan welcome on June 19!
Mary Ann Jones
