Radio Havana Cuba-13 September 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 13 September 2001 . *NIGHTLY ROUNDTABLE EXAMINES ATTACKS IN UNITED STATES *WAVE OF APPREHENSION AND FEAR SWEEPS THROUGH US ARAB AND MUSLIM COMMUNITIES *ATTACKS SPARK DEBATE ON TRUE NATURE OF US NATIONAL INTERESTS AND SECURITY *US ACTIVISTS MARK 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF ATTICA PRISON UPRISING *PRESIDENT OF MALI CONTINUES OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA *VISITING U.S. DOCTORS CONDEMN WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE OF THE ISLAND *MORE THAN 7000 STUDENTS IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA PICK COFFEE *Viewpoint: A CALL FOR REFLECTION, RESTRAINT AND RESPONSIBILITY . *NIGHTLY ROUNDTABLE EXAMINES ATTACKS IN UNITED STATES Havana, September 13 (RHC)--Cuban media are giving maximum coverage to the events that took place in the United States on Tuesday. During the nightly news and information roundtable -- broadcast live on Cuban radio and television -- journalists and experts in international affairs examined the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington. Taking reports from news cables and showing video images from U.S. and European television transmissions, the panellists examined the situation following the attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Eduardo Dimas, a commentator on both Cuban radio and television, noted that U.S. authorities are calling for a massive, military response to the attacks. He recalled the warning issued by Cuban President Fidel Castro on Tuesday, emphasizing that a violent response to the terrorist attacks will only generate more violence. Dimas pointed out that a commitment to international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and an end to State-sponsored terrorism is the only way to restore peace. Panellists on Wednesday's special roundtable discussion unanimously echoed the sentiment of the Cuban government and people to offer any assistance possible to the victims of the terrorist actions inside the United States. *WAVE OF APPREHENSION AND FEAR SWEEPS THROUGH US ARAB AND MUSLIM COMMUNITIES Washington, September 13 (RHC)--A wave of apprehension and fear is sweeping through the Arab and Muslim communities in the United States in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Members of the Arab-American and Muslim communities have already received death threats and several have been attacked as Americans lash out in anger against those they see as responsible. Four bricks were launched Wednesday though the windows of an Islamic bookstore owned by Hazim Barakat in Alexandria, Virginia. Barakat told local media outlets that from his heart he is "really sorry for the American people for what happened. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, Wednesday faxed a letter to all members of Congress asking them to support the American Muslim community as reports of an anti-Muslim backlash begin to surface. In the letter, the organization's Chairman, Omar Ahmad, and Executive Director, Nihad Awad, said that American Muslims, along with all other Americans, share the sense of grief and loss resulting from the horrible attacks on innocent civilians in New York and Washington. In addition, continued the letter, members of Arab and Muslim communities are taking part in the recovery efforts through volunteering medical expertise, donating funds to relevant relief organizations and providing their life's blood to help those in need. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said that Muslim women are forced to remain in their homes because of widespread reports of harassment against those who wear Islamic attire, Muslim children and students are facing taunts by classmates and teachers and Islamic institutions are receiving threatening calls and e-mail messages. Following the terrorist bomb against a federal building in Oklahoma by American terrorist Timothy McVeigh, some 200 attacks against Arabs and Muslims were reported in the United States. *ATTACKS SPARK DEBATE ON TRUE NATURE OF US NATIONAL INTERESTS AND SECURITY Washington, September 13 (RHC)--The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington have led to debate on the true nature of US national interests and security. Saul Landau, Director of the Digital Media and International Outreach Programs for the California State Polytechnic University's College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, has asserted that before voting for more military and missile shield funds - which would not have prevented the low tech terrorist operation -- the Senate should debate the nature of US national interest. Landau said that debate is missing since the onset of the Cold War. Landau, a well-known writer, said that Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah and California Democrat Diane Feinstein demanded more defense money and immediate retaliation against Osama Bin Laden. Senior officials of the administration, he said, referred to the terrorist acts as acts of war, likened to Pearl Harbor, but didn't say what the enemy wanted. Terrorism, said Landau, produces an absence of clear thinking. He recalled that 28 years ago US officials conspired to overthrow the socialist government of Chile, that over five plus decades the United States has backed Israel almost unconditionally in wars against its neighbors and the Palestinians, that from the mid 1960s until 1974 the US defined as national security threats the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, who had done nothing to the United States but whom Washington bombed and napalmed. Landau also recalled that US planes regularly bomb Iraq, they have hit Yugoslavia, Sudan and Afghanistan, and Washington formally and informally sponsored terrorist campaigns against Cuba for some four decades - adding that all this had been defined as US national security. In moral terms, he continued, Americans have only memorized the first three words of the Christian adage "Do unto others", adding that now sensitive Americans can understand, thanks to the barrage of TV horror images, what the victims of Baghdad and Belgrade suffered from US bombs. *US ACTIVISTS MARK 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF ATTICA PRISON UPRISING New York, September 13 (RHC)--Activists around the United State today held numerous activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising in New York, four days of rebellion by one thousand 281 prisoners demanding humane treatment. More than 500 state troopers assaulted the prison compound under orders from then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The troopers' gunfire killed 29 inmates as well as 10 guards being held hostage. In a recent interview, one of the prominent participants in the rebellion - Frank Smith - stated that the problem isn't just with Attica or with prisons. He said it's with the foundation the prisons are built on: selective prosecution, selective arrest, class and racism. Smith was among the prisoners who underwent torture. After his release from prison, he became a paralegal and litigant in the lawsuit that resulted in a 12 million dollar settlement with prisoners after a 26-year legal battle. According to Elizabeth Fink, the lead counsel for Attica prisoners in their civil rights case, conditions in US prisons today are worse than they were at the time of Attica. Fink noted that at that time there were 11 prisons in New York State; today there are 90. She said there were 11 thousand inmates in the state; today there are 90 thousand. The attorney said the vast majority of inmates do not belong in prison, but rather, in some form of rehabilitation - most in drug rehabilitation. She added that the potential for another Attica looms large today. On September 9th, Court TV aired the documentary "The Ghosts of Attica", produced and directed by David Van Taylor and Brad Lichtenstein. Taylor and Lichtenstein said they had an incredible opportunity to tell some truth about a story that continues to produce archival evidence that had never been available before the court settlement with the former inmates. They said there was graphic evidence of the assaults and torture committed by the state against inmates, and that the footage demonstrated the depravity of state officials who went to great lengths to cover up the brutality. *PRESIDENT OF MALI CONTINUES OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA Havana, September 13 (RHC)-- The president of the African nation of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, continues his official visit to the island at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro. The visiting African leader was formally welcomed Wednesday morning at the Palace of the Revolution by Fidel Castro. Following the ceremony, the two presidents led their country's delegations in official bilateral talks. During his visit, which will run through Saturday, the president of Mali and his accompanying delegation will visit areas of economic, scientific and historic interest. Mali President Konare will also hold talks with the island's Minister of Education and visit Havana's Latin American School of Medicine. *VISITING U.S. DOCTORS CONDEMN WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE OF THE ISLAND Havana, September 13 (RHC)-- Five U.S. doctors who are currently visiting Cuba to evaluate the impact of Washington's blockade on health care have strongly condemned their country's policies toward the island. Calling the blockade "an immoral and shameful policy," the medical specialists said they were pleasantly surprised to find that there were tremendous results in health care, despite Washington's policy. The group is sponsored by Disarm Education Fund, a non-governmental group that sends humanitarian aid to the island. Doctor Jocelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon General during the early days of the Clinton administration, told reporters in Havana that she was impressed by the system of preventive medicine in Cuba. She stated that there was a great deal of work being done in the area of health care in spite of the lack of modern equipment and advanced medicines. Another visiting physician, Doctor Julius Richmond, said that upon his return to the United States, he would work to inform the American people about the negative impact of the blockade on health in Cuba. Julius Richmond is a professor at the Harvard University School of Medicine. Rodney Hood, President of the American Medical Association and coordinator of the program that has allowed young U.S. medical students to study in Cuba, told journalists that he was impressed by the efforts made over the past 40 years by the Cuban Revolution in the areas of health care and education. He expressed his confidence that the young people from the United States studying medicine in Cuba would receive excellent training. *MORE THAN 7000 STUDENTS IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA PICK COFFEE Santiago de Cuba, September 13 (RHC)-- More than 7000 high school students along with their professors have been mobilized in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba to work in the coffee harvest. This season's coffee crop is considered to be better than last year's. For that reason, a total of 53,000 students will eventually be incorporated into agricultural brigades related to the coffee harvest. *Viewpoint: A CALL FOR REFLECTION, RESTRAINT AND RESPONSIBILITY There is no joy here in Cuba at the events of Tuesday. No one is cheering or holding impromptu block parties to celebrate the most astonishing act of terrorism in history against what has been for Cuba an implacable enemy for 40 years. There is, instead, a profound feeling of shock, revulsion and compassion and very real apprehension about the cries for vengeance that emanate from every corner of the White House and the US Congress. The most powerful nation on earth has been put on a war footing and history has taught us all what to expect when Washington starts waving the cudgel self-righteously. The families of almost a million Japanese, four million Koreans, three million Vietnamese, and thousands of Iraqis and Yugoslavians can all attest to what occurs when the Oval Office scrambles its bombers. It is hard to avoid the obvious accusation that an editorial such as this will be viewed as a cheap shot against a weakened United States, but there is an urgent need to respond to staggering and inconceivable statements from US politicians and people calling for the use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in an almost triumphal assertion that this is their first war of the 21st century. The sabre rattling is deafening and very frightening to us all. US mainstream media is stirring the hatred by airing statements from people "on the street" calling for an immediate strike, an immediate all-out war against the "enemy." But who is the "enemy?" The enemy are successive Washington administrations that have for more than five decades promoted terrorism on an enormous scale across the globe. Administrations that have trained international military personnel in techniques of torture and terrorism in its meek-sounding School of the Americas. Administrations that have for 40 years permitted and supported terrorist attacks against its island neighbor whose only crime was to advocate a different socio-political system. Administrations that introduced the world to nuclear holocaust, to carpet bombing, to horrendous use of phosphorous and napalm bombs. Administrations that maintain an economic blockade that is directly responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children's lives. Administrations that support one of the most repressive, brutal and racist regimes on earth with massive flows of money and weapons to use against the Palestinian people. Administrations that financed the Latin American dictatorships of the eighties and then later "apologized" for some of the unspeakable crimes they committed in the name of "democracy." Tuesday was the anniversary of the US sponsored coup in Chile in which a legitimately elected government was brought down with extreme violence. The man behind this event and the covert wars within Cambodia and Argentina, Henry Kissinger, is one of those that today clamour for a "tough and decisive" response to the attacks in New York and Washington, who clamours for a blind war against an invisible enemy. Few doubt that Washington has just suffered the consequences of its actions across the globe. Even if Osama Bin Laden is found to be responsible, the people of the US should know that he was previously trained and used by the CIA in its war against the former government of Afghanistan. George W. Bush will seek to take the war to another part of the globe where more civilians can pay for the death of US civilians without their blood and disfigured bodies being shown on CNN. No solution will be forthcoming in the destruction of those deemed responsible. The enemy will still be there because the enemy comes from within. The CIA supported Noriega, Marcos, Sukarno, the Shah, Idi Amin, Mobuto, the Contra, Pinochet, the Argentinian generals, d'Aubuison, Somoza, Batista, Stroessner et al - the list is long and represents the obliteration of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives. In Panama 2,000, in Nicaragua 30,000, in El Salvador 75,000, in Guatemala over 150,000, in Indonesia 300,000. The people of the US can surely no longer remain immune from the terrorism their governments provoke, promote and tolerate in their name. After the rage, the hatred, and the clamouring for vengeance have subsided, the time for reflection must come. War should be declared on the real threats to humanity: AIDS, racism, neo-colonialism, ruthless free market profiteering and Washington's "democracy" of domination. That way the poverty and desperation that creates the kind of hatred of the US that leads to such unspeakable acts of terrorism will be avoided. The security and welfare of the United States clearly depends on social justice for all. There must be a change in this US psyche of isolation and pre-eminence or we shall all be brought to the brink of disaster once more. The people of Cuba indeed share in the pain and distress of their neighbors, but at the same time they are reminded of the fact that five of their own were recently found guilty in a Florida court for combating this very same kind of despicable terrorism that has so stupefied the world after its use against the US. The chickens have come home to roost and there is no smugness or satisfaction in saying it -- just very sincere anxiety for what may follow. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= rhc-eng-25990 2001-Sep-14 03:51:16