Castro, Communism and Cuba - A free talk by Robert Austin

Fidel is Fidel

Upcoming event!

ACFS Sydney remembers John Kaye

Join the Cuba Brigade!

Registrations are now open to join the 34th annual Southern Cross Brigade to Cuba. As a participant, or brigadista, you will learn about the every day realities of living in Cuba and meet with doctors, teachers, urban agriculturalists, farmers and government workers. This is the most informative and exciting way to visit Cuba!
Please don't hesitate to contact us for more information.

Clarification on the state of the US blockade on Cuba

More information about the 'Yes, I Can' Adult Literacy Campaign in Australia:

In anticipation of the upcoming event on Thursday 31 March 2016 (see below post), here are some interesting links to give a bit of background for the Cuban 'Yes, I Can' Adult Literacy Campaign in Australia:

• The Literacy for Life Foundation is the organisation behind the running of the campaign in Australia. You can visit their website at: http://www.lflf.org.au/

• Listen to Professor Jack Beetson speaking on Radio National Breakfast on 24 Feb 2016 at: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/inaugural-cuban-awards-celebrates-australians/7194700

• Listen to this Green Left Weekly interview with Bob Boughton 27 June 2013 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwtoX-MeNZE

• Read the article 'From Cuba with love' by Chris Ray, published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 19 July 2014: http://www.smh.com.au/national/from-cuba-with-love-20140713-3bvp5.html

• Read the article 'Cuba’s program for Aboriginal literacy expands in Australia' by Ron Poulsen and Manuele Lasalo, published in The Militant on 21 Sept 2015: http://www.themilitant.com/2015/7933/793306.html

Public meeting Thursday 31 March 2016:

Increasing 

Aboriginal

Adult Literacy

The Cuban ‘Yes, I Can!’ Literacy Campaign in Australia

Why has a Cuba-inspired campaign achieved such outstanding success where government schooling and adult courses have largely failed?

Hear about the campaign from these Aboriginal and Cuban speakers:

Jack Beetson is an Ngemba man, an Aboriginal leader and head of the Literacy for Life Foundation.

José Chala Leblanch is a Cuban educator from the Cuban Institute of Pedagogy for Latin America and the Caribbean and is advisor to the ‘Yes, I Can!’ Aboriginal Adult Literacy Campaign.

Yexenia Calzado is from the Asia & Oceania department of ICAP, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples.

Mary Waites is a Ngemba woman and is the Campaign Coordinator in Brewarrina.

Up to 60% of Aboriginal adults living in rural and remote areas have functional illiteracy in English. The ‘Yes, I Can!’ (!Yo, Sí Puedo!) Aboriginal Adult Literacy Campaign, organised by the Literacy for Life Foundation, began in Wilcannia in 2012 with Cuban advisor, José Chala. Already, after the first pilots of the campaign, more than 100 Aboriginal adults from the Murdi Paaki region in western NSW have graduated.

The campaign draws on the successful mass literacy campaign in Cuba in 1961 as part of the popular social revolution there from 1959. The ‘Yes, I Can’ campaign has been used in 29 countries to help 8 million people develop basic literacy skills.

5.30pm Thurs 31 March

Lecture Theatre 104, New Law School

Eastern Ave, Sydney University

For more information please email sydneyacfs@gmail.com.

Cuba, the U.S. and the Future of the Revolution - Public event

CELEBRATE freedom for the Cuban Five and WELCOME the new Cuban Ambassador 

ACFS MONTHLY MEETING THURSDAY FEB 5

Dear ACFS members and supporters,

• The Cuban Five are free!
• US-Cuba talks on restoring diplomatic relations are under way
• Obama says he'll urge Congress to end the 'embargo'
• We have a new Cuban ambassador in Canberra
• Sydney will host the ACFS National Consultation on June 6-7
• Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) president Kenia Serrano will attend the Consultation  
• Southern Cross Brigade participants have returned to Australia 
• Chela and Matthew are back from Cuba and elsewhere

Welcome back! Our first monthly meeting for 2015 year will be: 

___________________________________________________

THIS THURSDAY February 5

6.30 - 8.30pm

NSW Teachers Federation Building

Level 1, 33 Mary Street, Surry Hills

4 mins walk from Central Station

(I need to confirm this venue - please check email/Facebook)

___________________________________________________

The proposed agenda is: 

1) President's report (focus on ACFS National Consultation)

2) 2014 Brigade highlights and impressions

2) Cuba visit slideshow by Chela and Matthew

Hope to see you there.

In solidarity,

Marce Cameron

President ACFS (Sydney)

Dear ACFS members and supporters,
ALL FIVE OF THE CUBAN FIVE ARE NOW BACK IN CUBA, REUNITED AT LAST WITH THEIR LOVED ONES!!
The Cuban streets have erupted in celebration. The US and Cuba will resume normal diplomatic relations and it looks like the beginning of the end of the US blockade. This is a BIG VICTORY for the Cuban Revolution and for the global solidarity movement. The US empire will now try to destroy the Cuban Revolution by other, less confrontational means: Obama said as much in his speech. The Cuban Revolution and our solidarity now enter a new phase with new challenges. For now, the blockade remains largely intact.
You can watch Obama's and Raul Castro's announcements here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q_Oxq9k-jg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyw1iKif9Zs
All friends of Cuba are invited to celebratory drinks and toasts
WHEN: this Saturday, December 20 from 7pm
WHERE: Bank Hotel beer garden, 324 King Street Newtown (very close to Newtown train station)
Long live socialist Cuba!
End the US blockade now!
Hope to see you on Saturday night,
Marce Cameron
President, Sydney ACFS

Dear ACFS members and supporters,
please note these upcoming events.

In solidarity,
Marce Cameron
President, ACFS (Sydney)

**********************
CUBAN FIVE SOLIDARITY SPEAK-OUT
International Month of Solidarity with the Cuban Five
Saturday September 13
12 noon Town Hall, Sydney
Organised by the ACFS (Sydney)
Contact Maria Hilario on 0431 275 434

***********************
ACFS FILM SCREENING
"The Trial: The Untold Story of the Cuban Five"
Thursday September 25
7pm (Venue to be confirmed)
Contact Maria Voukelatos 0432 710 123

***********************
ACFS MONTHLY MEETING
Thursday October 2
6.30 - 8.30pm
NSW Teachers Federation, Level 1
33 Mary Street Surry Hills
Contact Marce Cameron 0413 158 480

************************
VENEZUELA: THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES
Solidarity Conference
Monday October 6
9am-6pm Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt Street Sydney
Organised by the Venezuelan Embassy and solidarity groups
Supported by the ACFS (Sydney)
Contact Ana Cecelia Mendez (02) 6290 2967

********************************

DON'T MISS THIS SPECIAL CUBA SOLIDARITY EVENT IN SYNDEY

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER AILI LABANINO, DAUGHTER OF RAMON LABANINO, ON OF THE "CUBAN FIVE" POLITICAL PRISONERS IN THE US

SATURDAY EVENING AUGUST 16 - CLICK ON THESE JPEG FILES FOR DETAILS

Esta Vida Cubana - This Cuban Life

Art Est. Art School and Gallery in conjunction with 2014 Head On Photo Festival is pleased to present Esta Vida Cubana | This Cuban Life featuring photographs by Ralf Hesse and Louise Walpole.

“Cuba is a melting pot of music, soul, colour and heart!”

Ralf and Louise spent a month in Cuba over December 2013 / January 2014. They travelled across Cuba from Havana to Santiago de Cuba and back - by road, and visited Trinidad, Cienfuegos, Camagüey, Sancti Spiritus and Viñales. For Esta Vida Cubana, they present their photographic survey of the people, the places and the soul of Cuba.

Join Louise and Ralf for a Cuban themed opening event on Saturday 17 May 3-5pm featuring a demonstration by Moro from Buena Vista Dance Cuban Academy. All welcome. Free Entry.

ACFS Art Exhibition and Auction to raise money for project in Cuba

The ACFS is holding an art exhibition and auction to raise money for a gestational diabetes project in Cuba! The exhibition will run from 9 to 11 May 2014 at the Stirrup Gallery, Addison Road Community Centre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville.

Art:

Art from the Red Centre - Aboriginal paintings donated to the ACFS from a personal collection. These will be sold by silent auction from the opening event from 6:30 pm on Friday 9 May til 3pm on Sunday 11 May. 

I Will Die as I Have Lived - 15 prison paintings for 15 years in US Gaols for the Cuban 5 by Antonio Guerrero - Reproductions of Antonio's paintings from behind bars to raise awareness of the plight of the Cuban 5.

Events:

Opening event -  Friday 9 May 2013 - 6:30 pm - Special guests include:

• Cuban Ambassador to Australia, Pedro Monzón, 
• Professor Jack Beetson, Executive Director and National Campaign Coordinator, Literacy for Life Foundation. 
• Papalote will entertain us with live Latin music

The opening event will highlight the Literacy for Life Campaign in Australia, which has been established to address very low literacy levels in Aboriginal Adults in Western NSW. It is based on the ‘Yes I Can’ model established in Cuba and expanded to teach more than 6 million people to read in 28 countries around the world.

'Maestra' - Film Screening and Q&A - Saturday 10 May 2013 - 2:00 pm - 'Maestra ' tells the story of 9 Cuban women who, as young girls, participated in the massive Cuban literacy campaign of 1961.

See you there!

Sydney Supports the Cuban 5!

Sydney Supports the Cuban 5 - Saturday 14 September

One week to go until the fundraising dinner to celebrate Cuban Internationalism and to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Moncada assault. 

Bookings are essential - RSVP no later than 31 July 2013. 

Please distribute as widely as possible to support the event and our projects in Cuba!

Speakers: 

Pedro Monzón, Cuban Ambassador

Dr Tim Anderson, Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney

Ron Poulsen, Communist League candidate for the Federal Senate (NSW)

And featuring: the Music of PAPALOTE

Buy tickets online now to reserve your place!

Tickets - $30 (standard) / $50 (solidarity)

Buy online at: http://www.trybooking.com/53061

Celebrating Cuban Internationalism - 60 years since Moncada - 6pm, Sunday 4 August 2013

Politics, dinner and music in solidarity with Cuba’s internationalist mission.

All money raised will go towards funding projects in Cuba.

Tickets - $30 (standard) / $50 (solidarity)

Buy online at: http://www.trybooking.com/53061

For information, contact:

Chela 0422 665 099 – president@sydney-acfs.org

Hugo 0408 964 953 & 9822 5891

Dario 0405 621 986

Australia Cuba Friendship Society Sydney and Committee in Solidarity with Cuba Western Suburbs

www.sydney-acfs.org