On October 1st, people from different parts of the San Francisco Bay Area gathered in Berkeley California to hear Michael Parenti give an overview on how the U.S. is driven to make an enemy out of any country that is the least bit independent of policy emanating from Washington. The well attended meeting took place at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Univeralists; a long time established meeting place for progressive events in the East Bay.
Cynthia Johnson, a member of the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship, that co-sponsored the event, gave a warm welcome to the audience. She was followed by Alicia Jrapko from the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5. Jrapko gave an update of the case and reminded the audience of the various types of US aggression that Cuba has been subjected since 1959. This background information was her introduction in explaining why it was necessary for Cuba to send a group of men to be the eyes and the ears of the Cuban People. She went on to urge people to get involved in the struggle for the freedom of the Cuban 5 as the only way to broaden public awareness about the case and counter the media silence.
Michael Parenti is considered one of the leading progressive thinkers in the US whose writings have been featured in scholarly journals, popular periodicals, and newspapers. Parenti has written 20 books and has an essay in the book Superpower Principles, edited by French researcher Salim Lamrani. In the essay he wrote “The US policy towards Cuba has been consistent with its longstanding policy of trying to subvert any country that pursues an alternative path in the use of its land, labor, capital, market and natural resources.”
A few days later, on Sunday October 4th, another community event took place in Davis California; a city nears the state capital. It was here that a group of people had recently heard about the case of the five and decided to have an event that coincided with the International Call to Action to spread the word of the Five in their community. A member of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 was invited to speak about the case and told those attending that it was exactly this type of event, organized from the grass roots, which will be instrumental in bringing about justice for the five heroes.
At the meeting the documentary “Against the Silence”- testimonies of the wives and mothers of the 5- was shown. One woman, visibly moved by what she heard, spoke loudly when it was over and said to the others “this video should be shown in every city across the United States”.
