The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.16           April 27, 1998 
 
 
Cuban Officials, Puerto Rican Independence Fighter To Speak At Minneapolis Conference  

BY GAETAN WHISTON
MINNEAPOLIS - A public conference entitled "One Hundred Years since the Spanish-American War: The Struggle for National Sovereignty in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines" will take place here at the University of Minnesota with broad academic sponsorship April 17 and 18.

Félix Wilson, second secretary of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., and Gustavo Machín, third secretary of the Cuban Interests Section, are among the featured speakers who will be at the event. Juan Mari Bras, a longtime leader of the Puerto Rican independence movement and professor at the Eugenio María de Hostos School of Law, will also participate. Other invited speakers include Addi Batica, a veteran Filipino activist in Minnesota; Mary-Alice Waters, president of Pathfinder Press; and Kathryn Sikkink, Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota.

The conference will open April 17 at 3:00 p.m. with an exchange with Juan Mari Bras. That evening will feature a panel discussion, "Origins and Development of Resistance," with David Roediger, chairperson of the American Studies Department; Dennis Valdés, associate professor of Chicano Studies; and Gary Prevost, professor of Political Science at St. John's University. Following the panel discussion there will be a cultural event with the band Proyecto la Plena.

The conference will resume April 18 at 10:00 a.m. with 11 workshops on a wide range of topics. They include: "The U.S. Embargo Against Cuba" with Gustavo Machin, "Youth Activism in the Struggle for Self-Determination," and "Imperialism in the Public School Classroom in Puerto Rico: 1898-1903" with Ramón López, director of the Escuela Antonia Pantoja in Chicago.

The main session of the conference," The Struggle for National Sovereignty Today," will take place April 18 at 2:00 p.m. and will feature all the invited speakers. Félix Wilson will take the place of Camilo Guevara and Orlando Borrego, both lecturers at the University of Havana in Cuba, who could not attend this conference.

The conference is sponsored by the Institute of International Studies, Chicano Studies, American Studies Department, Political Science Department, MacArthur Interdisciplinary Program on Peace and Cooperation, History Department, and Spanish/Portuguese Department, and the Women Studies Department. Other sponsoring organizations include La Raza Student Cultural Center, Africana Student Cultural Center, Asian-American Student Cultural Center, American Indian Learning Resource Center, Minnesota Cuba Committee, and Students for Cuba.

Leading up to the weekend conference La Raza Student Cultural Center is sponsoring classes, discussions, and cultural events on Puerto Rico. On April 18 at 7:30 p.m. following the conference, Daniel Correia, a representative of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) of Brazil, will speak.

Conference organizers have received inquiries from as far away as Toronto, Seattle, and Chicago. For more information on the conference call Institute of International Studies at (612) 624-9007.

Gaetan Whiston is a member of the United Steelworkers in Roseville, Minnesota.

 
 
 
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