60 Years of Failed Policy: Boston DSA Leads the Way in Ending the Embargo on Cuba
Sixty Years after the US Navy’s Caribbean fleet first created a picket around the island of Cuba, the United States’ cruel and aimless embargo of Cuba continues. Despite decades of red scare tactics, designed to silence Socialists who believe the embargo is a moral and political failure, people of all political stripes have come out in opposition of the ongoing embargo. So why is the embargo still in place? Simply put, it’s good politics for certain voting blocs. Though America’s ruling class hopes Cuba can continue to be the US’s socialist boogeyman next door, the embargo should galvanize support for Socialism.
Burdensome Sanctions Limit Medical and Food Imports
The embargo’s continuing existence remains as enduring evidence of US imperialism’s cruelty against countries that dare to pursue an alternative to the capitalist economy. Cubans find themselves cut off from critical sections of trade and the global economy as a result, limiting the import of medical items, food, and cash remittances that can enter Cuba from the US. Cuba can’t even import these necessities from non-US countries due to the threats of the US’s secondary sanctions.
While the embargo in theory allows the import of food and medical items to Cuba, the structure discourages these imports in practice. For instance, the Calixto Garcia Hospital in Havana, which is Cuba’s main trauma hospital, has only two working anesthesia machines. Although they had contracted with a Swiss company to purchase more, cash-in-hand, the threat of secondary sanctions killed the deal. The threat of sanctions that would cut off foreign companies from financial processing and credit institutions housed in the United States, in addition to burdensome application and approval requirements, discourage most American or global companies from doing business with Cuba.
Similarly, while the embargo theoretically allows food exports into Cuba, US sanctions still cut off critical food imports to Cuba. Sanctions require Cuba to purchase all food with hard currency or through third-party guarantees from foreign banks. This again is where the threat of secondary sanctions discourages foreign companies and countries from providing Cuba with financing for food. Cuba’s access to hard currency is further limited by US imposed travel restrictions, limits on remissions, and restrictions on foreign currency exchange, meaning Cuba can find little relief by trading with other countries. Moreover, if a product contains more than 10 percent US-made components, then US sanctions apply to the product, effectively locking Cuba out of critical technologies in domains dominated by US production such as agriculture, computing, and aerospace. (You can read more on the sanctions here and here)
But this has not stopped Cubans from carrying on. In the face of the embargo, the country has shown extreme resilience, building a leading health and pharmaceutical industry, becoming a global leader in sustainable development, and even creating its own COVID-19 vaccine when the embargo would have excluded the country from global stocks.
Though in many ways the country is a success story in how to thrive without globalization, Cuba should never have had to adapt to such a situation. From every angle, the US embargo of Cuba is a failed and cruel policy.
DSA Leads a National Campaign to End the Embargo
With widespread consensus on the embargo’s failure comes the opportunity for DSA to achieve an elusive political goal: permanently ending the embargo. DSA has kicked off a national grassroots campaign to end the embargo that reflects the importance of strategic organizing in achieving big, progressive wins, and Boston DSA is leading the way.
The campaign begins with cities. Local DSA chapters are lobbying their city councils to pass resolutions against the Cuba embargo, through constituent lobbying, public education events on the embargo, and demonstrations against the embargo’s negative effects. Boston DSA has already achieved the passage of resolutions in the Boston City Council, Somerville City Council, and Brookline Town Meeting. (Cambridge passed a similar resolution in early 2021)
With local support for ending the Cuba embargo firmly established, the campaign now expands to coalition work. The city council resolutions are strategically written to provide the foundation for developing ties between Cuba and local constituencies in Massachusetts in domains such as biomedical research, public health, academia, and cultural institutions. Providing the basis for doctors, public health officials, artists, academics, researchers, environmental activists, religious leaders, farmers, union organizers, and others to develop concrete ties to Cuba and experience first-hand the difficulties of the embargo is a crucial piece of broadening our base of support and creating new activists organized around ending the embargo of Cuba.
This broadened coalition will provide additional leverage as we move to federal pressure campaigns. Since the legal framework of the embargo is a construction of Congress, it is vital to push elected officials in the House and Senate to respond to their constituents’ wishes and propose or support legislation that will end the embargo. Not only do municipal resolutions provide tangible evidence of the desire for a change of Cuba policy, but the new movement created by using resolutions as coalition organizing tools will provide powerful leverage from our region’s top leaders in various industries.
Organizational Structure, Elected Allies, and Localized Issues are Critical to Success
The Cuba campaign’s organizing strategy greatly benefits from DSA’s decentralized structure while leveraging the organization’s national reach. Local chapters know how to best navigate the local political dynamics and pass city resolutions, but large-scale change at the congressional level will require national coordination across DSA chapters. Chapters are working independently to pass city resolutions and then with DSA’s International Committee to coordinate the national congressional campaign across chapters. If successful, this interlinked local and national approach can serve as a template for future DSA organizing campaigns that want to build a national campaign from the grassroots.
One of the key lessons learned to date is the importance of developing strong relationships with our local electeds in order to encourage the praxis of internationalism from local office. Kendra Lara, a DSA member and Boston City Council member, introduced the Cuba resolution to the Boston City Council and was an important ally in navigating the political dynamics and procedures to pass the resolution. Willie Burnley Jr., a DSA member and Somerville City Council member, approached Boston DSA about passing a similar resolution in Somerville and drew on our support to pass a resolution in his city. Likewise, Ryan Black, a Boston DSA Coordinating Committee member and former Brookline Town Councilor, was the primary citizen petitioner who introduced the successful resolution in Brookline.
The campaign has also solidified the importance of finding local connections to issues of national and international relevance. Though Boston and Cuba are 1,500 miles apart and the Cuban population in Boston is miniscule compared to cities in Florida,Boston and Cuba are both global leaders in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. The Boston resolution emphasized how Boston academia and businesses could benefit from knowledge exchange with Cuba. Cuba is also a leader in sustainability, a growing concern as the Boston area adapts to the impacts of the climate crisis. Thus, collaboration on sustainability between local cities and towns with Cuba may form promising bases for future resolutions.
Join Our Campaign
Want to end the Cuba embargo? Or just interested in strategic organizing campaigns? Join us! You can email the Boston DSA campaign at cuba.bdsa@gmail.com and we will link you up with the work. Be on the lookout for upcoming political education events as we move new resolutions forward! If you would like to directly help Cubans, who experienced a disastrous fire in early August and the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian in September, you can donate through Code Pink or Global Health Partners. The embargo limits donations that can flow to the country and only certain organizations are able to send assistance.
Abortion Bans Are Scary! Fundraiser Event and Shop
For the month of October we will be raising funds for the creation of Abortion Care kits for our local clinic. Come join us at our special fundraiser bake sale and event or donate online (and get some special treats, no tricks). Abortion Bans are Scary! Fundraiser Shop
Click here to Donate: Abortion Bans are Scary! Fundraiser
74 people in Milwaukee County Jail receive $3,200 in mutual aid funds
74 people in Milwaukee County Jail receive $3,200 in mutual aid funds
In 2020, Cooperation Milwaukee and Milwaukee DSA started a mutual aid fundraising campaign in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were able to work with the Brown Berets and the Milwaukee Turners to distribute food, supplies and gift cards to people directly impacted by the pandemic on three separate occasions. Funds continued to grow after these food drives. We coordinated the distribution of funds to incarcerated people at Milwaukee County Jail with Milwaukee DSA’s Abolition Working Group.
As a result of the fundraising campaign, we have been able to equitably donate a total of $3,200 into the accounts of 74 people who are incarcerated in the Milwaukee County Jail.
The pandemic has created an especially dire situation for people incarcerated in jails and prisons across the United States and the world. The close living quarters in carceral facilities inevitably created a challenge in a pandemic, but there are many steps that could have been taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. People in carceral facilities across the country have reported medical neglect and unsanitary conditions. Many staff have shown indifference to safety precautions, often refusing to get vaccinated or declining to wear masks.
To make matters worse, hygienic products, such as soap and hand sanitizer, have been sporadically provided and only consistently available through the commissary (store). People in the Milwaukee County Jail are not paid for labor they perform while incarcerated, so those with no outside source of funds often have no way to access these basic sanitary items.
While we realize this won’t undo the damage that the inhumane conditions have imposed on Wisconsin families, we hope these funds will make life in custody a little more bearable for incarcerated people. We also hope that they will take solace in the fact that there are people on the outside who do care about them.
COVID-19 may be past its peak, but we are seeing a resurgence in cases and we must think of ways to help incarcerated people continue to navigate the pandemic. We certainly can’t rely on current leadership to address this crisis. Mutual aid via funds generated and submitted to incarcerated workers is one way in which we can support those most marginalized by the current oppressive system.
We envision a world where mutual aid, equity, solidarity and cooperation flourish, and will ultimately replace the hierarchical capitalist system which thrives on predation, exploitation, racism, classism, endless war and mass incarceration. We will continue to promote mutual aid for incarcerated people until such a world is achieved.
On the climate change frontlines
Ansley Mall Starbucks Strikes on National Coffee Day
Since their election victory on June 22, unionized workers at the Ansley Mall Starbucks in Atlanta are still waiting on Starbucks corporate to meet them at the bargaining table. Despite over 200 Starbucks locations voting to unionize across the country, including two stores here in Atlanta, Starbucks has refused to engage in good faith to reach a bargaining agreement with Starbucks partners. As of last week, only 3 of the 240 unionized stores have begun bargaining sessions with corporate.
To escalate their demands to begin negotiations, unionized stores have launched strikes, lasting a day or more, to demonstrate to management and corporate how much their labor is really worth. On National Coffee Day last Thursday, partners at the Ansley Mall Starbucks walked out at the start of their 5:30 AM shift, in protest of Starbucks’s refusal to bargain, in addition to a recent rescinding of COVID-19 benefits which the company introduced at the start of the pandemic.
Starbucks partners, DSA, and community supporters convened outside the store with coffee and donuts, holding picket signs and chanting “No contract, no coffee!” from early morning until late that afternoon.
“We want a contract,” said Nick, a Starbucks partner on the picket line outside the store. “We still haven’t gotten any word from Starbucks corporate yet, and we want to make sure we have our voices heard and that we get our contract negotiations under way.”
Another partner of 3 ½ years said, “We are striking because we want better healthcare, wages, and working conditions. Since the start of COVID, our wages haven’t increased, our benefits haven’t improved, and the few benefits they have given us are about to be taken away. We’re tired of it and we want to bring awareness to how they’re being treated.”
Partners also noted frequent understaffing of stores, which puts an extra load on workers during busy days. “I have been on the floor by myself for half an hour before and I was not supported at all,” said one worker. “It’s not fair to people here trying to make a living.”
Over the course of the day, Starbucks partners and supporters were joined by union supporters, including the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, United Campus Workers, Unite Here, and the International Painters Union (IUPAT). Customers who encountered the picket line showed solidarity by refusing to enter the store, wishing workers luck on their campaign to pressure corporate. Management closed the store down by noon, after attempting to run the store themselves, with the help of a scab.
While Ansley Mall and other stores across the country wait for their negotiations to begin, Starbucks Workers United has begun unveiling a set of non-economic proposals to present to corporate, based on input from partners across the country. The proposals aim to improve the day-to-day conditions of Starbucks partners, ranging in topic from hours and scheduling, to benefits and COVID-19 leave, to dress code and handling of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Despite frustration with corporate, partners at Ansley Mall remain confident in their decision to unionize. “It’s important to form a union as a way to show solidarity with each other and to make sure we’re able to live, and earn decent wages, benefits, and working conditions,” said one partner. “Things are tough right now, but we’re gonna get through it. We’re making a better future for future workers.”
Partners at Ansley Mall said they encouraged Starbucks workers at other stores to join in the fight to unionize. “Unions give you a chance to stand up for yourself and your rights,” said Nick. “Definitely unionize your workplace.”
Another worker, Amanda, agreed, saying, “You’re not alone, we’re here to support you. There are so many people here that are here to support you. It’s worth the fight.”
To directly support Atlanta Starbucks workers facing retaliation, folks can donates to the workers’ GoFundMe, and another for the Ansley Mall store specifically. Learn more about Atlanta DSA’s campaign support unionizing Starbucks workers at atldsa.org/starbucks. Starbucks workers looking to unionize can also check out https://sbworkersunited.org/
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Initiative 82: here's what to know
Mid-Atlantic DSA Regional Organizing Retreat - September 2022 report