GREETINGS TO OLAS
(The following is a translation of an article which appeared in the June 20 issue of Prensa Latina, the Latin-American news agency. ]
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NEW YORK, USA, June 19 (PRENSA LATINA) -- Numerous progressive figures and organizations in this city have issued statements supporting the First Conference of the OrganizaciOén Latinoamerica de Solidaridad [OLAS -- the Latin-American Organization of Solidarity], which is scheduled to take place in Havana in July.
The texts of the declarations include the following:
Paul Sweezy and Leo Huberman, of the Monthly Review, said that "As longtime friends of the Cuban Revolution and coauthors of Cuba: Anatomy of a Revolution, which we are proud to say was one of the first books to recognize the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution, the editors of Monthly Review send warmest fraternal greetings to the First Conference of the Solidarity of the Peoples of Latin America."
Sweezy and Huberman added that "as North Americans who are convinced that United States imperialism is the number one enemy of the peoples of the world today, we wish all success to the peoples of Latin America in their just struggle for national liberation and social revolution."
The declaration of the two prestigious intellectuals states finally that it is "only through this struggle and that of oppressed peoples in all other continents that imperialism can be destroyed and the peace and progress of mankind can be assured."
John Gerassi -- writer and journalist: In his message, the author, journalist and teacher of journalism at New York University stated that "For the sake of Latin America, as well as for the sake of the American people, I wish with all my heart that you do defeat American imperialism soon."
He also said that he is "Firmly convinced that the only way for the peoples of Latin America to defeat American imperialism is by binding together as one." And therefore "I salute the First Conference of the OLAS and wish it success. Grace Mora [Newman]: "There will be bloodshed. That is inevitable. That is the price of freedom. We need not look far to see courage and unity in all its glory: The people of Vietnam! There will be other Vietnams -- we must be prepared to support them both in words and deeds!" said the sister of Dennis Mora, the Fort Hood soldier imprisoned for refusing to go and fight in Vietnan.
Referring to the recent events in the Middle East, Grace Mora said that "we are once more reminded of imperialism's line of action."
"The answer," she added, "to the war profiteers in our country is made clear by the Tricontinental." She also pointed out that even in the United States there are people who solidarize with the struggle of the colonial peoples for socialism. She stressed that "the struggles of the peoples of Venezuela, Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, Cuba and all the other struggles in Latin America have served to inspire our own struggle."
Grace Mora outlined the struggle of the American people against the war in Vietnam and pointed out how this "in one way or another stimulates your struggle against the ruling class which exploits us all.
She ended her statement with an appeal to the peoples of the world to unite because "The time is now! Forgetting our petty differences and devoting our efforts to this struggle."
Walter Teague, chairman of the Committee to Aid the FNL [National Liberation Front of South Vietnam], USCANLFSV, expressed his support and "wish for the success of the First Conference in building the unity of the American Revolutionary Movements in the battle against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism in Latin America."
Teague added that "we are in complete solidarity with your struggles against the same enemy and offer our assistance in whatever way we may be of service."
Finally, Teague said that his organization is one of the groups "which has recently made known its program to recruit American radicals with relevant skills to participate in the liberation struggles of Latin America and Africa."
Eugene D. Genovese, president of the 1967 Socialist Scholars Conference in the United States: "Your conference must mark a new departure and rally our forces in the developed as well as the underdeveloped countries. We eagerly look forward to its outcome," said the professor of history at Sir George Williams University, Montréal.
He added that it is clear that "The demand for movements based on the ideology of socialist revolution can no longer be viewed as extremist or adventurist." "Recent events," he concluded, "demonstrate that nothing else can mobilize the masses and that without such mobilization, imperialism will always prevail."
Peter Seidman, chairman of the Columbia University Committee to End the War in Vietnam, said that "Today you are meeting to discuss the issues confronting the revolutionary movements in the Latin- American countries. While the brave men and women of Vietnam struggle against American imperialism's most vicious weapons in order to achieve for themselves self-determination and the right to use their labor as they wish to build their own country, you meet to discuss in what ways you too will create the Vietnams of the future. I salute you as you continue this important struggle against the American imperialists."
Joseph Hansen, editor of the weekly The Militant, pledged in his message that "we will do everything possible to bring to our readers the truth about the Latin-American anti-imperialist struggle and about your very significant conference. He likewise said that "For us and our readers the struggle of the Latin- American people against Yankee imperialism has been a source of great inspiration and admiration. We fully appreciate that every blow struck against the U.S. rulers by the revolutionary fighters of Latin America advances our struggle here."
of the weekly World Outlook, which has offices in Paris and New York, declared that "For the oppressed everywhere, the Cuban Revolution provided a new and timely example of the possibility of winning against the greatest odds. For revolutionary Marxists in all lands, including inside the United States itself, it has been a constant source of inspiration in their difficult and hazardous battles."
"The Cuban Revolution," she added, "has now made possible the holding of the first continental-scale revolutionary conference."
Reba Hansen went on to express her best wishes to the conference, stressing that its "work may well prove decisive in opening a new series of revolutions that will finally bring the prolonged death agony of capitalism to a close."
The Young Socialist Alliance issued a statement in which they sent revolutionary greetings to the First Conference of the OLAS and pledged "our full support and solidarity to the Latin-American revolution.
They said that the "victory of the socialist revolution in Cuba has been a great inspiration to our generation of radicalizing youth in the United States."
In conclusion they said that "The victory of the socialist revolution here in the heart of world imperialism is inseparably linked to revolutionary advances around the globe."
The Revolutionary Contingent stated in a written declaration that "The Revolutionary Contingent salutes and supports OLAS and its membership in its fight against American imperialism. This struggle is the major thrust of revolution in our lifetimes -- it is the struggle of all revolutionaries everywhere."
Personal expressions of solidarity with the OLAS conference were also made by Fred Halstead of the Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee; Frank Gillette, Sharon Krebs and Allen Krebs, of the faculty of the Free University of New York; Kipp Dawson, national coordinator of the Student Mobilization Committee, and the writer José Yglesias.
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