See Updates for 2020 and 2021
— with Medical Collaboration/Saving Lives Options
The Importance of Municipal, State, and Organizational Campaigns and Resolutions
in Ending the Embargo/Blockade
[Click to enlarge.] This opening PowerPoint slide with the logos and official seals of three Bay Area Cities and one Massachusetts town, indicating the birth of a national movement, was used by former Cuban First Secretary Miguel Fraga in his presentations, emphasizing the importance of local campaigns in bringing about a change in U.S. policy.
Local Resolutions and Resources to Help with Your Campaign
The national movement to encourage local resolutions by municipalities began in 2016 with successful campaigns in Richmond, Berkeley, and Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area and then in the town of Brookline in the Boston area. It grew over the next three years to include nine more. In 2017 in Sacramento, Hartford, and Helena; in 2018 in Minneapolis and Pittsburgh; in 2019 in St. Paul, Detroit, Seattle, and Meridian Township, Michigan. By the beginning of 2020, eight more municipalities had campaigns at various stages of development: Chicago, San Diego, New York City, Washington DC, Baltimore, Durham, New Haven, and Oklahoma City.
These campaigns have resulted in an archive of collected material that is useful and encouraging for additional efforts and a pool of experienced organizers and activists who are available to offer support. The Brookline and New York City campaigns have organized tool kits. A packet of the 13 municipal resolutions completed before this year provides a range of models, and folders for all the localities that have successfully completed or in-process campaigns include videos, photos, local news and media coverage offer informative and suggestive additional detail. NACLA has published a guide on the importance and usefulness of “Ending the U.S. Embargo on Cuba at the Grassroots” and how to organize a local campaign that complements and reinforces existing and planned Cuba support programs.
Expanded Grassroots Options with State and Organizational Resolutions
Along with municipal campaigns, efforts to develop state and organizational resolutions are also underway that contribute to the growing expression of grassroots sentiments, and reinforce and bolster leadership on national legislation led by the Latin America Working Group/LAWG and the National Network on Cuba. There have been successful state Senate campaigns in Michigan, Alabama, and Minnesota and organizational resolutions passed by:
• The U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba / (USACC)
• The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW)
• The Washington State Labor Council
• Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance / APALA (Seattle)
• The Troy (NY) Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO
The online pages of this material were developed and organized to supplement the panel session on “Multiplying Our Voices: National, City, and State Legislative Achievements and Possibilities ” being planned for the International Conference on U.S.-Cuba Normalization. An expanded list of local campaign leaders and activists and additional material are being gathered for helping campaigns make the most of all these resources and experience. For more information and/or to help with these efforts, contact conference organizers at http://www.us-cubanormalization.org/viva-cuba/contact/ or the National Network on Cuba at http://nnoc.info/contact-us/ —
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* Green text indicates the presence of additional folder/file resources at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/32looi14h701twb/AACLx3NOt55dDUhmyJGB_cC-a?dl=0
july26.org 