Celebrating 100 Years of Fidel in the Greater Toronto Area

On a scorching August afternoon in Mississauga, the Consul general of Cuba in Toronto welcomed friends of the Cuban revolution to celebrate the 100th anniversary of comrade Fidel Castro.

The gathering included delegates from the Juan Gualberto Gómez Association of Cuban Residents in Toronto, the Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, the Canadian Network on Cuba, the Young Communist League, the Communist Party of Canada, as well as other longtime solidarity groups and friends.

The Cuban residents of Toronto performed music and spoke to Fidel’s personal importance to the revolution that shaped the very fabric of their lives. The consul general spoke to the deep connection Fidel had with the Cuban people. A documentary related anecdotes of the many various Cuban workers who personally knew Fidel.

The reason Cubans honour Fidel are personal and immediate. For Cuban workers, the revolution transformed the most basic reality of life in a single generation. The resolve that Cubans feel to dream and fight for one another is something unfathomable to working Canadians, who accept the harshening struggle to survive as an eternal fact of life. This revolutionary excitement is born from knowing a lifetime of utter dispossession one decade to being free to read, go to university, and own land regardless of your background in the next.

As the speaker from the Canadian Network on Cuba told the delegation, the struggle of the Cuban people and the Canadian working class are essential to each other. When we call for free public education, housing, expanded universal healthcare, or a livable wage, the victories of the Cuban people are a permanent reminder that those things already exist. Cuba is a source of hope for all Canadians who dream of a better future, a reminder that this dream is already in our hands. That is why fighting for the self-determination of the Cuban people and an end to the US Blockade means fighting for our own future. Cuba’s greatest defense against the jaws of the US empire is solidarity and friendship.

Fidel’s utter faith in the Cuban people – one of his qualities most repeated during the program – is a reminder for all of us: trust the Canadian working class in the same way. The basic material need for workers to unite and fight is what makes our victory certain.

The Canadian people already stand with Cuba. So too must our government. We demand Carney openly condemn this genocidal US blockade! End the travel advisories on Cuba and resume direct flights! Send oil to Cuba now! Our solidarity is for us to decide, not Washington!

Long live Fidel and long live the revolution. No war on Cuba!