The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.59/No.23           June 12, 1995 
 
 
`Help Us Tell The Truth About Cuba' Cuban Youth Leader Talks With Students, Workers On First Stops In Australia  

BY MARNIE KENNEDY
SYDNEY, Australia - "The only question that would offend me is the question that isn't asked," Alejandro Herrera Agete told 45 students at Macquarie University here May 29.

Herrera, 27, is a leader of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) of Cuba and a member of the organization's Provincial Bureau in Havana. He is on tour to tell the truth about Cuba's socialist revolution and win people to the idea of seeing it for themselves during the August 1-7 "Cuba Lives" International Youth Festival. The tour is sponsored by the Cuban Youth Tour committee, which includes student associations, academics, and supporters of Cuba.

The Macquarie meeting for Herrera, one of two held at the university that day, was organized by the International Solidarity Collective of the Students Association. It was the first campus event as part of Herrera's tour in the Pacific. Following a week-long visit to Australia, Herrera will be traveling to New Zealand; he has also been invited to speak in the Philippines.

In response to a question concerning the potential for widespread social unrest in the face of profound economic problems, Herrera noted, "The only serious outbreak that happened in Cuba happened more than 35 years ago, and that was the Cuban revolution."

One questioner asked, "Are there people who want complete political change?"

"There are people who want Cuba to be a capitalist country," Herrera answered. Some want "to go back to a market economy, to go back to private property, prostitution and racism, class differences where some people die from overeating while others die of hunger. The people made the revolution in order to eliminate such injustices."

Herrera responded to a question about support for the revolution around the world. "Most important is solidarity with the ideas," he said. Supporters of the Cuban revolution "should help us tell the truth about Cuba. Everyone here who has come to listen is making a valuable contribution. Your presence enables us to tell the truth - it is the greatest thing that can be done today for the Cuban revolution.''

The second talk at Macquarie, which followed a reception attended by 20 people, was held at the Law School. The director of the school, Gill Boehringer, attended the reception. Boehringer participated in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in the United States 35 years ago.

One participant asked if the World Bank was involved in Cuba now. "The World Bank has a very clear involvement in Cuba," said Herrera, "influencing other countries not to invest in Cuba. Their conditions are unacceptable for the revolution. We'll never be in the World Bank's good books."

All points of view were welcomed at the meetings. Questions included: What happened with the collapse of the Soviet Union beginning in 1989? Where is the revolution going and what keeps it going? Is there room for spirituality in Cuba? How free are people to express different views? Are there restrictions on leaving Cuba imposed on Cuban citizens? Isn't promoting tourism a dangerous step to take? Are Cuba's criminal laws too harsh? At day's end 15 people had signed up for more information on the Cuba Lives festival.

Herrera also visited with a dozen Maritime Union of Australia members in the lunch room at Australian National Line's Port Botany container facility May 27. The same day he met three workers outside the Hoover plant here on their lunch hour to exchange views and experiences. One young worker asked if youth in Cuba are communists because they want to be or because they have to be. Herrera answered, "In Cuba not everyone is a communist. You don't have to be a communist to support the revolution. The Communist Party and the UJC select their membership from the most disciplined and most hardworking."

 
 
 
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