Doug
----
>We are women and men of the democratic left, united by our
>commitment to human rights, democratic government and social
>justice, in our own nations and around the world. In solidarity with
>the people of Cuba, we condemn the Cuban state's current repression
>of independent thinkers and writers, human rights activists and
>democrats. For "crimes" such as the authorship of essays critical of
>the government and meeting with delegations of foreign political
>leaders, some 80 non-violent political dissidents have been
>arrested, summarily tried in a closed court, without adequate notice
>or counsel, convicted, and given cruel, harsh sentences of decades
>of imprisonment. These are violations of the most elementary norms
>of due process of law, reminiscent of the Moscow trials of the
>Soviet Union under the rule of Stalin.
>
>The democratic left worldwide has opposed the US embargo on Cuba as
>counterproductive, more harmful to the interests of the Cuban people
>than helpful to political democratization. But the Cuban state's
>current repression of political dissidents amounts to collaboration
>with the most reactionary elements of the US administration in their
>efforts to maintain sanctions and to institute even more punitive
>measures against Cuba.
>
>The only conclusion that we can draw from this brute repression is
>that Cuban government does not trust the Cuban people to distinguish
>truth from falsehood, fact from disinformation. A government of the
>left must have the support of the people: it must guarantee human
>rights and champion the widest possible democracy, including the
>right to dissent, as well as promote social justice. By its actions,
>the Cuban state declares that it is not a government of the left,
>despite its claims of social progress in education and health care,
>but just one more dictatorship, concerned with maintaining its
>monopoly of power above all else.
>
>Stanley Aronowitz
>Ike Balbus
>David Bensman
>Leo Casey
>Bogdan Denitch
>Mel Dubofsky
>Adil Hajjoubi
>James Hughes
>Nathan Newman
>Maxine Phillips
>Danny Postel
>Michael Pugliese
>Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema
>Joseph M. Schwartz
>Clifford Staples
>David Walls
>Luke Weiger
>Ian Williams
>Ellen Willis