Statement on the U.S. and NATO Troop Expansion in Afghanistan

The last week witnessed a new decision by the U.S. administration to send 30.000 more troops to boost the war in Afghanistan. At the same time, other allies in NATO agreed to send 7000 additional troops mainly from European countries.

It is important to mention that the same president who leads the wars in two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, won a Nobel Prize for Peace few weeks ago, in a glowing sign that the interests of imperialism are the only criteria used by the world’s main leaders, away from the advertising slogans of democracy and human rights. Democratic rights of the
people of Iraq and Afghanistan start from their right to live in independence and sovereignty without the death squads and the occupation armies used by imperialism.

WFDY strongly condemns those moves by USA and its allies in NATO and EU governments because they will only bring more death and misery to the people of Afghanistan and also to all the people of the world.

WFDY demands USA, EU and NATO to immediately halt their military actions in Afghanistan and withdraw their troops out so that the people of their own path of governance. WFDY also supports the democratic and secular forces of Afghanistan which are fighting against the occupation armies and against Taliban and religious extremists at the same time.

WFDY expresses its deep solidarity with the innocent youth and people of Afghanistan being victims of imperialism and extremism, and call them to escalate their struggle for their free independent future.

No army has been able to defeat the will of the people when the people are united in their struggles, and the future of the youth and the people in the world shall only be prosperous and safe in a world with no occupation and war, in a world where imperialism is defeated.

A look back: crawford cartoon #2

Cuba does not deserve this criticism on human rights

The real abuse taking place in Cuba is the crippling and inhumane American blockade

Rob Miller
The Guardian, Thursday 26 November 2009

Your article on the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Cuba gives little context of the complexity of US-Cuba relations (Hopes of new dawn dashed as Fidel Castro's brother cracks down on dissent, 19 November).

You report that president Raúl Castro "has kept up repression and kept scores of political prisoners locked up", but ignore that these include individuals accused of receiving US government money who were jailed for being paid agents of a foreign power - a crime punishable in every country in the world.

And you make scant reference to the inhumane US blockade, recently voted against by 187 countries at the UN. The blockade should surely inform any debate, since it permeates every aspect of Cuban life. You only repeat HRW's accusation that it is a "pretext for Havana to crack down on dissenters".

HRW appears to care little for the human rights abuses the blockade inflicts on Cubans. Its 123-page report is more concerned with how the blockade "alienates" US policy internationally. Maybe this politicised view is not surprising since HRW's Latin America director, José Miguel Vivanco, recently accused Cuba of having the "worst human rights record in the region". In a region where trade unionists are assassinated, homosexuals murdered and children live in poverty with lives blighted by drugs, violence and abuse, Cuba does not deserve such an unjust title.

The Guardian failed to report, let alone devote an entire page to, Amnesty International's more even-handed July 2009 report, The US Embargo against Cuba, which stated that the "impact of the embargo on the human rights of Cubans has received insufficient attention from the US government". Rarely do we read about the multimillion-dollar lobbying by groups intent on demonising Cuba to justify the blockade, nor US funding - $45m (£27m) in 2008 - for Cuban individuals and organisations. Such hostility has intentionally kept the island in a state of siege.

Six words out of 1,400 in your article recognise "acknowledged advances in education and healthcare". But where are the reports on the 40,000 doctors providing healthcare in 80 developing countries, the 1.5 million who received free sight-saving operations, the thousands of students from poor countries receiving free medical scholarships?

The former UN general secretary Kofi Annan said: "Cuba demonstrates how much nations can do with the resources they have if they focus on the right priorities - health, education and literacy."

However, you quote Brian Latell, senior research associate from the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies, who claims that "no organised or potentially threatening opposition of any kind is tolerated". We are not told that his organisation is based at Miami University, the academic heart of the rightwing Cuban exile community, nor of its funding by both the US government and the Bacardi family, infamous financial backers of the blockade. Also not mentioned is Latell's background as a former CIA officer for Latin America.

Nobody claims that Cuba is perfect, but the country does not deserve such pariah status. Anyone who genuinely wants to improve human rights should start by demanding an end to the blockade.

Calefornia students protest

New publication launched - International Communist Review

Readers of Rebel Youth may be interested to know that a new publication has been launched by a number of Communist Parties around the world. It's called International Communist Review and the first issue can be read for free online at http://www.iccr.gr/ Check it out!