by Kunle Wizeman Ajayi
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have both organized solidarity conferences and rallies in defence of Cuba. As part of their other political campaigns, both unions have also included the demand to “LIFT THE ECONOMIC BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA”.
At its last picketing and protest actions against casualization outsourcing and for decent work, the trade union activists carried placards that expressed solidarity with Cuba over her travails at the hands of the imperialist US.
This was in addition to the press conference that was addressed later by the NLC president, Ayubba Wabba and the Cuban Ambassador, Rojo Santos. The NLC openly called on the Presidency of Nigeria to identify with the Cuban cause and demand and support the vote for the lifting of the economic embargo by US since 1960. Every year since 1962 the UN General Assembly has called for this embargo to be lifted.
In the same vein, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in conjunction with the Nigeria-Cuba Friendship Business & Cultural Association held an International Solidarity Conference For Cuba on the 21st of October at the Ikeja Airport Hotel. The conference had a wide range of attendance from the youth to the civil society. They called on President Buhari to include Cuba with Palestine and Western Sahara as the countries that Nigeria openly campaigns for political and economic freedom.
Socialist Workers League believes in freedom for the poor people of Cuba. We call on the Federal Government to heed the call of workers to campaign for the lifting of the economic blockade against Cuba. This is just as we declare for the freedom of all oppressed peoples like Western Sahara here in Africa and Palestine.
This freedom, we understand cannot fully come when there is dictatorship of any party. Freedom must not be bound by any power. Its livelihood must be tied to all tenets of social democracy. In addition, the poor need real economic freedom.
The US and other major powers must stop their imperialist campaigns. Better still, the working class of the world, that constitute the majority, must fight on and stop the global exploitation by the rich minority everywhere. The poor in all countries need political and economic freedom. As Karl Marx wrote: “The workers have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working People of All Countries, Unite!”
