Northampton, MA – On July 26, the River Valley Anti-War Committee (RAWC) called a rally to stand in solidarity with Cuba. The rally was held in Pulaski Park in downtown Northampton to demand the U.S. lift the blockade and for the Trump administration to cease its drive toward war with Cuba.

The rally was attended by over 30 community members holding signs reading “Cuba is not a threat” and “Stop the embargo.” A trio of teenage activists held a hand painted banner that proclaimed “Hands off Cuba! Break the blockade!” In between speakers, the attendees chanted, “Biggest threat in the world today? Donald Trump and the USA!” and “We want justice, you say how! Lift the blockade on Cuba now!” earning applause and cheers of encouragement from community members passing by the park on several occasions.

Aidan Mastroianni of RAWC opened the rally, “July 26 is widely considered the spark that began the Cuban revolution that would go on to topple the U.S.-backed dictatorship,” he said, detailing the importance of July 26 to the history of Cuba.

Mastroianni continued by denouncing the 100-page document recently published by the U.S. State Department titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” stating that this is “an attempt to fool the people of this country into supporting yet another illegal military intervention against a sovereign nation” and that it contains “mostly fantastical lies and outright projection.”

Sadie Ryan, a member of Mass Cuba Solidarity, talked about the declassified federal documents that clearly lay out the reasoning and tactics employed by the U.S. government when the blockade was first enacted.

“The most effective means of undermining the popular revolution was to isolate and suffocate the country,” said Ryan, quoting one of the many similar documents available to the public. “The strategy was clear: to tighten the noose around the Cuban people to deliberately produce hunger, desperation and overthrow of the government.”

“Why do we demonize the country that has uplifted and helped so many nations when inside the belly of the beast we are told to support only destruction?” asked Roman Handlen of the River Valley district of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, as he spoke about the tradition of internationalism upheld for generations by the people of Cuba. “Why was our government spending so much time, money and energy trying to destroy the Cuban people when America’s own people struggled in poverty?”

Handlen continued, contrasting how by 1960 the Cuban government had outlawed discrimination and institutional racism with the fact that Black Americans in the Black Belt south continued to suffer under Jim Crow laws.

Several speakers ended their speeches with calls to visit Cuba on one of the many solidarity brigades that make the trip yearly and to continue their solidarity work.

“The experience and perspective gained from traveling to Cuba is essential for us to continue to expand our advocacy and solidarity work here,” said Jaiden O’Kane of the River Valley Democratic Socialists of America. “Every conversation we start, every voice we amplify strengthens our solidarity and builds our movement.”

Aidan Mastroianni closed out the rally by echoing this call to visit Cuba stating, “See for yourself that they are not our enemy, see what kind of society they have built and how much of a lie the mainstream narrative we have been fed for decades is.”

#NorthamptonMA #MA #International #Cuba #AntiWarMovement

Northampton, MA – On Saturday, November 29, community members from towns across the River Valley gathered in front of Northampton City Hall to protest President Trump’s war on Venezuela.

Protesters held signs stating, “U.S. hands off Venezuela” while Anti-Imperialist Action Committee (AIAC) organizer Aidan Mastroianni opened the rally. He explained the Trump administration intended to go to war with the sovereign nation of Venezuela, “whose only crime is refusing to bend a knee to American imperial interests.”

Mastroianni explained, “Once again, a false narrative is being fed to the people of this country in order to manufacture consent for regime change and the plunder of resources from a nation in the Global South!”

He compared the Bush administration’s lies about weapons of mass destruction in 2003, used to justify the invasion of Iraq, to the new lies that Venezuela is a narco-state. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio claim Nicolás Maduro leads a drug cartel and traffics narcotics into the United States. The false narrative about this fake cartel is the basis for the U.S. labeling President Maduro the head of a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Next up at the rally was the Western Massachusetts chapter of the Raging Grannies who led the crowd in three protest songs against U.S. wars.

Their singing was followed by Thea Paneth, a member of CODEPINK, asking, “What does Venezuela have that might be coveted? Are we facing another brutal war sure to cause mayhem because U.S. oil companies and financiers want to control Venezuela’s oil? In the struggle against the war on Iraq, we asked: how does our oil get under their sand?”

Paneth paused and reminded the crowd, “Wars always come home.”

Mastroianni returned to leading the crowd in chants, “Not a penny! Not a dollar! We won’t pay for war and slaughter!”

Sam Murphy of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) came forward and read a statement from Maduro, as well as a statement from FRSO on the United States threats of war against Venezuela.

A leader from Massachusetts Peace Action, Merri Ansara, spoke next, “All of the Caribbean and Latin American states have said that all conflicts should be negotiated for peace. We have to make sure that we stand with all of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and say not just ‘No war in Venezuela,’ but no regional war. Venezuela cannot be the entry to empire expansion by the United States.”

Kevin Young, a local professor at UMASS Amherst specializing in Latin American history, spoke about the “attitude of ownership” over the Western Hemisphere exhibited by Trump and United States officials. Young spoke about Democratic Party leaders encouraging American soldiers to defy illegal orders, “The U.S. cannot carry out their plans without the consent and cooperation of the U.S. military, so one of the most important things that we can do is making clear that soldiers have the constitutional duty to refuse illegal orders.”

Alex Ivans, a representative from Veterans for Peace said, “When I heard we were going to war with Venezuela, my first question was: ‘Why?’ We know that using violence at home doesn’t help with the war on drugs and we know using it abroad doesn’t help, and even if it did – Venezuela doesn’t have a massive drug smuggling problem itself. None of the fishing boats that have been bombed could have even brought fentanyl to the United States if they had it.”

Nick Mottern, of Demilitarize Western Mass, explained that locally the Northampton L3 Harris Corporation builds attack submarines and military weapons. His group fights to shut down war profiteering.

To close out, Mastroianni called for action, “Are you willing to stand by while the Trump administration attempts to turn Venezuela into the next Iraq? Into the next Libya, Syria, or Vietnam? The list goes on and it will continue to grow if we don’t fight back against the destructive ambitions of the U.S. war machine – in order to do just that, we must organize ourselves and our communities in a manner that is conducive towards effective and sustained resistance. A world free of imperialism and never-ending war is possible, but it will not be brought about by sitting on our hands.”

#NorthamptonMA #MA #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #AIAC