Hawkins described her participation in an October book fair in Equatorial Guinea, a Central African country previously colonized by Spain. She noted the thirst among students there for books that explain the source of oppression and exploitation in today’s world and offer a strategy to overturn those conditions.

Her talk sparked a lively discussion. Responding to points she made about the revolutionary legacy of Malcolm X and the avid interest in books by Pathfinder Press at the book fair, a student, Mawata Dunbar, asked, “Are there any publications in the country telling people what’s going on in the world? Are there any Malcolm Xs?”

“Many Guinean students discussed confronting the problem of not having enough books about their history and heritage, but they are beginning to make advances,” Hawkins said, including the success of the book fair itself.

“You’ve made some good points concerning the exploitation in Africa, how the U.S. comes into these countries and exploits them. But we can’t spend too much time blaming the U.S. government. What about the role of African governments that don't protect the people from this?” was another question from the audience.

“The number one enemy facing working people and oppressed peoples, both in Africa and the United States, is imperialism,” Hawkins said. “In that framework, capitalist governments in Africa serve the domestic and foreign exploiting classes.”

Helen Massele asked Hawkins to talk more about the Cuban approach to treating malaria, which the speaker had alluded to. “My uncle works with Cuban doctors in Ethiopia,” Massele said. “People from the United States can’t even go to Cuba. The U.S. says it doesn’t want Cuban medicine to help treat HIV.”

“In the diamond mines of South Africa, the CEO makes 400 times what the workers make,” another student, Andrew King, pointed out. “It’s the same in the United States. In Cuba that’s not allowed.”

Hawkins replied, “The Cubans say malaria can be easily treated and prevented, for example with methods that kill the larvae of the mosquito that spreads the disease. Imperialism takes a piecemeal and costly approach. The Cubans go to the root of the problem. That’s the difference between a government that puts private profits first and Cuba’s government of workers and farmers.”

Dozens of Cuban doctors serve in the most remote regions of Equatorial Guinea, where other doctors won’t go, she added. “The Cuban Revolution has produced these kinds of human beings who are internationalists. Washington hates the example Cuba sets for people who see the possibility of following that road.”  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home