>>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
What will the organizers of the petition do with it? Send it to the Cuban government? That's unlikely, given the wording. Publish it in the Miami Herald? Send it to the US government? -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>