On July 26, we celebrated, with the Cuban people, one of the most remarkable achievements of bravery and commitment to justice in our time.
It is an achievement that in spite of all the hardship inflicted on them for so many years by an unrelenting and overwhelming power, is all the more remarkable for the passion and commitment to an ideal it represents for so many others throughout the world.
It is the embodiment of an ideal to create a society based, not on self-interest and personal ambition, but one in which there is a real commitment to the mutual development of others. Where a higher value is placed on the health, education, culture and social improvement of so many, than on the wealth, expression of power and opulence of those who scramble over the weak, in whatever corner of the world they may lie.
To loyal Cubans and their supporters throughout the world, July 26, 1953, represents a commitment to the principle that the struggle for social justice for the vast majority is an indispensable responsibility for all concerned with truly protecting the interests of each and every one of us.
This Cuban story is told in the lyrics I am sharing with you below — a story that we celebrating 50 years later, to mark the triumph of persistence over five years, five months and five full days of struggle against unrivalled terror.
Their story fired a revolution. Their resistance inspires us all.
50 years after the original Moncada uprising, they will stand, fired by the victory of spirit and passion for justice — fired to hold on against the tyranny of capitalism and neoliberal globalisation.
But even as they pause to celebrate this amazing victory, the Cuban people must endure the threat of ever-lurking aggression. They must endure unchecked terrorism and economic oppression in the name of the "interests" of global domination. They must endure the slurs of hypocrisy from a menacing and malevolent neighbour, ever-threatening to destroy a system that represents a fundamental challenge to their right to world domination and exploitation.
And as capitalism's military state instruments marshal their weapons of mass oppression against them, against us all, we know that as true socialists united, we will be stronger.
Burn fiercely, burn bright from the spark of Moncada's Fire ...
Moncada's Fire
The day they launched the Cuban Revolution From darkest ashes rose, The fire, the spark that lit ten thousand evenings, Against their mortal foes they rose.
The dark was filled by Batista's brand of terror, His dungeons dank and cold. Exploiting workers, farmers and their women. For the gringo rich, you did as you were told.
While others cowered at machine-gun fire repression, They marshalled loyalty. Against Moncada Barracks Santiago, The armoury to fuel democracy.
They rose against the tyranny, Beyond the fear and misery, And shone a light for history, And cast that light to me.
One-twenty-five men and women under thirty, July 26, 1953. Raul said "They'd loose a tempest in the seizure", But for the fledgling revolutionaries.
At the storming of, the barracks few had perished, So many more at the hands of brutality. But from that selfless act of human courage, There rose the fire that fuelled our victory.
They rose against the tyranny, Beyond the fear and misery, And shone a light for history, And cast that light to me.
Five years, five months and five full days that courage, Inspired the Granma's exiled company. Unto Havana's open arms they rallied, Moncada's fire had burned a legacy.
They rose against the tyranny, Beyond the fear and misery, And shone a light for history, And cast that light to me.
Ernesto Presente
From Green Left Weekly, July 30, 2003.
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