NOTE: This is the e-mail version of our Jan. 1997 newsletter and
omits a very important article on the CIA and the need for it's
abolition. To see that article send an address label and some
stamps or postal reply coupons and get the full printed version.
Dear Friends,
Cuba is still very much on my mind,
and I'm eager to return. After some weeks
off line, Havana is back on e-mail again.
Mike Fuller read our last newsletter and
confirmed its accuracy. He suggests I see
their independent communal farms which I'm
very eager to do. Land is free to communal
farmers who must sell the state a certain
amount of food at very low cost. With
Sonic Bloom agriculture, growing large
amounts of food should be easy.
I'm hoping to move to So. Florida and
be able to fly to Cuba anytime. We'll
look at communal living in both places.
I've read the U.S. Regulations on Cuba
Travel. Aside from commercial business
with Cuba, the Reg's seem very flexible.
With a few visits I'd make friends with
Key West Customs and should be able to
work out any problems that might arise.
Questions from Washington about our first
visit never came and the Reg's prove we
traveled legally as journalists.
To get your free copy of Cuba Travel
Regs. simply call the U.S. Treasury Dept.,
Office of Assets Control at 202-622-2520.
POLICE ABUSE IN CUBA ?
What happens in Cuba if a cop stops
you and you disagree with him ? Well, my
driver was stopped by three policemen for
passing a stop sign and he argued. They
argued and argued. Then they called in a
higher officer and the argument continued.
They must have spent 20 minutes in very
animated discussion. But no one went for a
club or a gun. No arrest was threatened.
When my driver was convinced he'd broken
the law, he gave in and agreed to go to
court. Have you seen such respect by the
police in our "land of the free" ?
Because our media gives such a totally
false picture of our relationship to Cuba
and what life is really like there, I'm
printing excerpts of a speech by Cuba's
U.N. delegate. But first I want to reprint
an article from War & Peace Digest about
the CIA. The two are closely related.
Though it appears that this nation has
tried to dominate the rest of the Americas
for a long time, with the power grab that
is the CIA, things have gotten a lot worse
and it's time for folks to wake up and
stop the Nazism that created the CIA.
Can we do it ? Not sure. We only know
we are coming to a time of very rapid
change and it is up to us to dare what we
can to make those changes as positive as
possible. We'll write more on that later.
WAR & PEACE DIGEST
This article on pages 3 & 4 is copied from War & Peace
Digest , 32 Union Square East, New York, NY 10003. It's
published 6 times a year and sent out on a donation basis.
Phone Number is: (212) 777-4210, FAX 212-777-2552. Their
e-mail address is: warpeace@interport.net and they have a
web site at: http://www.interport/-warpeace
PEACE IN GUATAMALA
After 36 years of war in which 140,000 died, Guatamala
has finally achieved peace. In the long article about the
signing of accords the following paragraph appeared:
"Guatamala was thrown into turmoil and eventually war
after the CIA sponsored a coup in 1954 that overthrew a
popularly elected left-wing government. It became arguably
the bloodiest of Central America's battlegrounds."
Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/30/96
Is it mistaken to think of the CIA as a Nazi cult ?
continuation of article on CIA & Drugs
(Note this article does not appear in the
e-mail version of our newsletter. Please
send an address label and stamps for the
printed version with this important
article. Aquarian Research, 5620 Morton
St., Philadelphia, PA 19144-1330.)
DRUG COMPANIES KILL FREEDOM
If nations can fall victim to Nazism,
can not also the U.N. ? There's danger
we must be aware of. It appears that large
drug companies have already taken away
people's freedom to produce and buy food
supplements in Europe and they plan the
same worldwide. Here's a summary of a more
detailed account from John Hammell:
In an internet message John Hammell,
political coordinator of the Life Exten-
sion Foundation reports on a meeting in
Germany of the Codex Alimentarius Commis-
sion, a U.N. sponsored body which has the
power to set international standards for
food supplements. He says: "Germany has
been attempting to manipulate the Codex
Committee on Nutrition and Foods for
special Dietary Use to further the inter-
ests of the German pharmaceutical indus-
try, by regulating standards so that only
the big drug companies ... can survive".
Under the "Proposed Draft Guidelines
for Dietary Supplements", they could not
be sold for preventative or therapeutic
use nor could they exceed the potency
set by the commission. Codex standards
would become reference international stan-
dards under GATT and NAFTA. The current
trend is for countries to adopt the inter-
national standards either individually or
in regional compacts. Hammell says: "If
that happened in the U.S., all new dietary
supplements would automatically be banned
unless they conform to Codex Standards,
which would require a very expensive
drug-like approval process. The Delancy
Clause which used to protect us against
carcinogens in our food supply, has al-
ready been "harmonized to codex standards
which favors pesticide manufacturers and
not a single member of Congress protested
against this."
The Codex Executive Committee may also
allocate funds in June for the creation of
an "expert panel" on herbs which might
create a negative list that could limit
consumer access to herbal products
internationally.
The end result of passage of these
measures, which could occur at the next
Codex meeting in two years would be
enormous increases in the prices of food
supplements sold as patented over-
the-counter and prescription drugs, as is
the case in Germany today. -Hammell.
We have checked with German friends
and found that it really is no longer pos-
sible to obtain food supplements there as
it is here. We want to send this info. to
AARP and others hoping that when Congress
is asked for a billion dollar payment of
back dues owed the U.N. they will require
the U.N. to abandon this fascist control.
If you have any other means of effecting
this do what you can. For more info.,
contact: John Hammell, Political Coordina-
tor, The Life Extension Foundation, 305-
929-2905 or 800-333-2553, FAX: 305-929-
0507: E-mail:
www.lef.org/ ***FREE Copy Life Extension
Mag available upon request***
REAL FACTS ON CUBA
Though it may be that a kind of Nazi
influence developed in the U.S. ever since
we took in those Nazis at the end of WW 2,
and though it may well be that the CIA had
a hand in killing JFK, and has been a
powerful influence in our country ever
since, it is perfectly evident that this
country has oppressed weaker peoples (like
the native Americans and Blacks) for cen-
turies. Cuba is clearly another example:
Excerpts from: UN Speech by CUBAN
Carlos Lage Davila:
"American interferences in Cuban affairs,
dat[es] from 28 years before Fidel Castro
was born. US troops intervened in our
country, snatching success from the Cuban
forces, who had fought against Spanish
domination for three Centuries.
"The Resolutions, that on four previous
occasions have been passed in this General
Assembly by an increasing majority of its
members, underscore the need to put an end
to the US economic, trade and financial
blockade against Cuba. Nevertheless, the
US Congress and Administration recently
decided to promulgate legislation known as
the Helms-Burton Act, which, given its
extra-territorial, unilateral, and coer-
cive nature, violates International Law
and the UN Charter.
"This policy of Blockade and aggressions
pursued against (our) Revolution, right
from its inception, was established before
its socialist orientation had been
declared. The US cut off Cuba's sugar
quota, enforced embargoes of all sorts on
goods earmarked to Cuba and ordered its
companies in Cuba not to process Soviet
crude oil. Light aircraft from the United
States strafed cities and burnt our cane
fields. The US openly supported and
encouraged terrorist groups, designed and
implemented assassination plans against
the leaders of the Revolution, severed
diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961,
and financed and trained the mercenary
troops that invaded our territory at Bay
of Pigs that year. President J.F.Kennedy
imposed the blockade on Feb.3, 1962.
"Economic espionage is practiced against
Cuba to hamper our trade operations and
prevent our foreign debt re-scheduling
and over 200 radio hours a day are beamed
into Cuba to slander its government and
authorities and instigate disobedience
and terrorism.
"While US aircraft use our corridors, our
airplanes cannot use the US international
air corridors, thus they have to take
round-about routes, thereby increasing
their operating costs. U.S. ambassadors
and other officials exert pressure on and
require individuals, institutions and
governments to refrain from investing in
or trading with Cuba, and this persecution
has become a priority in the diplomatic
agenda of its embassies throughout the
world. The Cuban people are barred from
normalizing relations with the Cuban
community in the United States. "Direct
flights between our two countries are
banned, and we are deprived of hundreds of
thousands of US tourists, who would
otherwise travel to our country.
"Armed groups that plan and execute
terrorist acts against Cuba train in the
US. Thieves and murderers freely walk the
streets of Florida, such as the Barbados
saboteurs who bombed a Cuban airliner with
73 persons aboard.
"If the Cold War has been over for 5
years, how can a continued open war
against our country be explained? If
the Pentagon itself has agreed that Cuba
is not a threat to the US national
security, how can this constant stubborn
war mongering attitude be justified? What
then are the pretexts used today?"
"Blaming Cuba because US companies did not
receive compensation for the nationaliza-
tions enforced at the triumph of the
Revolution simply bears no foundation at
all. All the other parties who were affec-
ted have been, or are being compensated,
as can be attested by France, Switzerland,
Canada, UK and others. It is also well
known that at the end of WW2, the US sign-
ed compensation agreements with several of
the then socialist countries; however, it
refused and continues to refuse, to reach
agreements with Cuba. In 1964, the US Su-
preme Court ruled that those nationaliza-
tions were legal. Legalizing Cuban-Ameri-
cans' rights to file claims with US courts
for alleged properties nationalized more
than 30 years ago is a mockery of inter-
nat'l Law. Would US citizens of Russian
origin, for instance have that right?
"The total Cuban population has access to
free health-care services. We have one
doctor for every 193 persons and one nurse
for 142. In addition, more than 23,000
Cuban doctors have rendered services in 45
different countries around the world.
"Our infant mortality rate is 8 per 1000
live births. If Latin America had Cuba's
current infant mortality rate, 500,000
children who might have otherwise enjoyed
human rights but are dying a few months
after birth, would be saved each year. And
Cuba is not rich. It is a poor country
under blockade.
"In Cuba, access to all levels of educa-
tion is free. Illiteracy is gone; Cuba's
overall education level is 6 grades, and
50% of the total Cuban labor force has a
senior highschool education or above.
"We have a teacher for every 42 persons.
Today, 200 million children in the world
sleep in the streets. None of them is
Cuban. One hundred million children below
the age of 13 are forced to work to
survive. None of them is Cuban. 25,000
children in the world die every day from
measles, malaria, diphtheria, pneumonia
and malnutrition. None of them is Cuban.
More than a million children are forced
into prostitution, and tens to thousands
have fallen victims of the traffic in
human organs. None of them is Cuban.
[ UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 (IPS) - At least
one child out of every four in the develo-
ping world is toiling under conditions
resembling slavery, according to the U.N.
Children's Fund (UNICEF). Although child
labor is commonly thought of as a problem
of the developing world ... it is by no
means a thing of the past in the rich
countries of the industrialized North, ac-
cording to the agency... says UNICEF Exec-
utive Director Carol Bellamy. An estimated
250 million children aged 5-14 years are
engaged in hazardous work, prostitution,
and bonded labor, according to the 1997
'State of the World's Children' report,
released here Wednesday.] -from Internet.
"In Cuba, drug trafficking, organized
crime and terrorism are non-existent.
Cuban leaders do not misappropriate the
wealth of the nation. Not one single
person is sentenced without trial, and ...
legal rights are equally guaranteed.
"We are accused by the US of not being
democratic, and for our single-party
system. There is much we could say here,
if we compare the true exercise of
democracy in the world. But we do not
attempt to claim the sole TRUTH, let alone
criticize anyone. We simply defend our
right to choose our own path. ... It is
absurd and inconvenient to have a single
model imposed like a straight jacket on
all nations, under any circumstances, in
disregard for their economic and social
development, history and culture.
"Cuba is not the only country with a
single party. What's more, there are
governments in the world in which power is
wielded by a monarchy, without any party
at all, without a constitution, but they
are not blockaded (nor should they be)
and, quite the opposite they are close
allies of the United States.
"Attempts are made to accuse us because we
sentence (only in cases of violations of
the country's Laws) members of small
counter-revolutionary groups, financed and
organized by a foreign power that attacks
the nation. It is true, we admit it. ...
Our people ... defend their independence
and their achievements at all costs.
"Cuba has no offensive weapons or nuclear
missiles. Cuba has no military bases in US
territory. It is the US that keeps a
military base in Cuban territory against
the will of our country. There is no
reason at all to blockade Cuba. No one has
the right to impose a blockade, and the US
lacks the moral authority to require
others to respect human rights, for that
country is quite far from being a model to
emulate in this field.
"The recent presidential election cost the
US $800 million, three times as much as in
1992, and showed the lowest voting turnout
in the past 72 years of US history.
"In the US, over $700 million are spent
every day on the military to defend the
country from an unknown aggressor. By
1997, these expenditures will be 53 times
greater than the budget for technical
assistance to the UN funds and programs
combined. Such squandering is an insult to
the over 800 million people in the world
who have nothing to eat, the over 1.5
Billion human beings who have no access to
health services.
"The most aggressive racism and the most
rampant consumerism, increasing inequali-
ty, attacks against social security, the
discredit of institutions, these are some
of the evils present in US society today.
How can US even think of governing the
world when it is finding it increasingly
difficult to govern itself?..."
WHAT DOES OUR FUTURE HOLD ?
I do have visions of the future, but
they are not perfectly clear. They can't
be because the future is changeable. It
depends on what each of us does.
But I do have leadings that the next
step for us might be Florida. So I'm
looking for people there that would like
to form a community to work on the future
of the planet. We'd then be near enough to
Cuba that we can "bi-locate" as it were.
Eventually we might be part of a commune
in So. Florida and another commune in Cuba
and use Birdie for easy travel between the
two. That way we can transfer information
back and forth and keep well-supplied with
whatever we need from the U.S. which is
easy for an American pilot. Though no
airlines will fly you directly from here
to Cuba, with our own plane it's simple.
Cuba Travel regulations are much laxer
than I expected. I may spend $100/ day
there (if I have it) and bring in $100
worth of Cuban goods each time I return !
Anyone working full time for Aquarian
can be a co-publisher of our newsletter
and so automatically has a general license
to travel to Cuba anytime. Others can slip
through some other loophole (Some look big
enough to fly through), and if you're not
doing big business there I don't think
they really want to bother about you.
Carlos Collazo has been fascinated by
Cuba. He's in the U.S. and would like to
come to Cuba on my next trip which could
be as early as February but more likely in
May. We can't go in February, a snow time,
unless there's a really reliable friend
staying here with Judy to help care for
things. Carlos is not only bilingual which
can help a lot, but is also very
interested in agriculture and the Sonic
Bloom system which I plan to introduce in
Cuba. Perhaps we could start a model Sonic
Bloom farm.
CUBA GOING TOTALLY ORGANIC
After Soviet aid failed, Cuba could no
longer afford fertilizer and poisons for
their agriculture, They had to look at
other farming methods. They turned to
organic farming and found it so much
better that it is now national policy to
return to organic methods, the first
country in the world to be doing that. It
makes good sense, therefore to work hard
to introduce the Sonic Bloom system as
they also have access to all the seaweed
they could ever need. Sonic Bloom uses
sound (like bird song) to help plants
breathe freely and with seaweed as a fine
source for all the planet's minerals,
produces the most nutritions, healthy
plants ever.
I recently learned of a delegation
from Cuba that visited Food First in
California last August to learn about
organic agriculture. I'll try to contact
Food First and through them the Cuban
specialists who were here.
JOURNALISM CONFERENCE IN CUBA
Jose Marti Inst. of Journalism will
host an interdisciplinary conference on
changes in world journalism this century.
It is held April 14-18. Registration is
only $60. I do not yet have exact figures
for other expenses which my experience
suggests might be around $200 plus travel.
Topics will include:
- The social and historical development of
journalism as a commercial business.
monopolies and editorial organization of
the mainstream press. The journalist as a
salaried worker.
- Journalism in the formation of public
opinion. The role of the press in the con-
struction of values and hegemonic ideas.
- The Scientific-Technical Revolution and
its incidence on communications develop-
ment and the rise of press agencies. ...
[- and much more. Presentations by guests
are welcome. For more information contact
Michael Fuller, Instituto Internacional de
Periodismo Jose Marti, c. G %21 Y 23 La
Habana, Cuba tel 537 32 29 65 fax 537 33
30 79 or 537 32 55 32 ext. 0803 e-mail:
I know Michael Fuller personally and
I'm sure the conference will be well-run
with complete English translation. E-mail
is by far the best way to reach him. I do
not plan to be in Cuba at that time, as I
must come when Mike is freer to help me
with visits to Cuba's Communal farms and
scientific institutions I must learn from.
WHAT ABOUT JUDY IN ALL THIS ?
Judy does have some misgivings, but
that's not surprising as she's never seen
Cuba. But she is learning Spanish. She's
good at French, and Spanish is easier, so
I guess she'll learn very fast.
We're already using e-mail to find
friends in Florida we might form a
community with. I'm already in touch with
one couple and we spent an hour on the
phone with them recently. We're trading
other information back and forth by
e-mail, audio and videotapes, so when I do
get down there we'll already know each
other's interests pretty well.
OUR NATIONAL FUTURE
Clearly our own plans are connected
with what we see for the future of our
nation and the world. We've been working
on that over 26 years and we won't stop
now. I'm seeing three major possibilities.
1) There could certainly be a financial
collapse at any time. It could be a
gradual thing, or sudden, and if sudden
very dangerous. The serious danger of a
sudden collapse is that highly skilled
people needed to maintain modern hi-tech
systems that run our utilities and commun-
ications will leave as crime rises. They
can get work anywhere. If they do, we may
see major systems failures and very
serious chaos might result. We don't know
how bad that might get, but I'd rather be
elsewhere if it happens. I'd want to be in
a cooperative country instead, and from
there possibly be able to find ways to
help people here get it back together
cooperatively.
2) There could also be a continuing
cultural collapse. Many people probably
sense, as I do, that the competition of
our times is ever increasing, and with it,
the tension people are under. Many are on
tranquilizers or suffering illnesses due
to tension. Some say most of our health
problems come from that cause, and surely
many accidents are caused by tension.
There is a limit to the amount of tension
people can handle. It's not easy to
measure, but we've probably been exceeding
healthy limits for a long time and that
may be a cause for major failures in our
nation. News media always talking about
crime increases tension also. Who is
looking at the overall effects of tension?
3) The third possibility is reversing
that trend and starting to get it together
cooperatively. Certainly the cooperative
movement is growing with many people going
to visit or join cooperative communities
of many kinds. High sales and frequent re-
printing of the COMMUNITIES DIRECTORY
(available from Aquarian) prove that, but
movement growth is not fast enough to
significantly reverse our cultural demise.
PEOPLE'S FM RADIO STATIONS
Back in 1967 and 1968 there was a
sudden increase in peace movement folks
running their own printing presses to stop
the V/N war. It happened because of need.
In 1966 only three or four printers were
working full time for peace. So, I went
on the road for two years setting up over
a dozen movement printing shops and teach-
ing younger folks how to do it. In a short
time there were movement printing shops
across the nation, and anti-war printing
could not be stopped.
I want to do the same thing with free
radio stations that operate with about 20
watts; just enough to cover a neighborhood
and organize local folks into various
kinds of cooperative communities. I'm
looking for the best way to make it easy
to do that by overcoming restrictions that
allow the sale of kits, but prohibit the
sale of finished working stations. I want
to develop a "standard station" that is
easy to assemble and operate and teach as
many as I can just how to do it. Folks
could travel to where the station is need-
ed and set it up, make sure it is working
right and go on, meanwhile showing others
how to do that work. Low power stations
like this cannot be licensed, and may not
be allowed to interfere with other
stations, but their right to operate is in
the courts as a "freedom of speech issue"
If the neighbors do not complain there
should be no legal problem at this time.
Maybe such a movement will build like
the printing movement did, and if so might
have a major effect. I'm not sure if it
will make a big difference, but it's worth
a try and we hope to have a model unit
running in just a few days. Then we hope
to have a second one to sell and that a
lot of people will see how the station can
work for their neighborhood and buy one
for their own organizing.
ANY OTHER OPTIONS ?
Those are the three options I can see
for the future of our country. I know that
there are also serious ecological and pop-
ulation disasters on the world horizon. I
know some claim to have proof that Nazi
type thinking in the military of Capital-
ist regimes has created diseases like AIDS
and Ebola in order to cut population by
killing as many poor people as possible.
Nazism can be incredibly evil.
BLAME NOT THE VICTIMS
But most people doing such things
actually believe they are doing right,
just as Inquisition leaders believed they
were doing God's work. I can't blame
folks for even such horrible atrocities
because they are themselves the victims of
educational and cultural systems created
by kings and emperors centuries ago, so
they may not be truly responsible for the
way they think and act. Don't blame
victims for a whole culture gone wrong;
nor expect minor corrections like new
laws, no matter how good, to cure it. We
need to return to a healthy cooperative
culture and if you have other ways to
bring that about I'd like to hear of them
- especially ways that are actually
working now. Mondragon is a fine example,
and we need more information about it.
"WE ARE NOT HUMANITY"
That seems to be the special theme of
Dan Quinn's latest book, THE STORY OF B.
I've not had a chance to read it all, but
Judy has. I've read only the last part:
"The Teachings of B" that exposes our
self-deceit; the horrendous illusion that
our culture, which has dominated the world
for millennia represents ALL HUMANITY !
Humanity consists of many cultures,
perhaps hundreds, but our culture, which
has by violence destroyed and abused so
many others carries on as if it is "The
only RIGHT WAY". Yet its dominance is
creating major problems for all the world.
THE STORY OF B (Published by Bantam,
$22.95) doesn't offer a workable solution
at this time. Rather, it's a wake-up call
leading people to think in new ways.
ISHMAEL, Dan's prize novel did likewise.
We need waking up. That's an emergency !
But we also need solutions; real alterna-
tives we can put into practice now.
Waking up to a failing culture can be
traumatic. Few dare split to another life-
style as I did when I left the U.S. for
the Bruderhof Community in Paraguay at 20.
Nor can many shift to a tribal or communal
culture. But for the people of Latin
America there seems to be a real answer in
the Cuban example. They're watching. Some
North Americans, Certainly the people of
Chiapas and Tupac Amaru are watching also.
Perhaps our economic collapse will
make it hard for U.S. Capitalists to hold
back a massive cooperative movement across
the planet. Mondragon Cooperatives from
Spain are spreading across borders and I
hope soon also to Cuba. We'd like to
publish an up to date report on that if we
can get it. So brightens the future ahead.
NEW MILLENNIUM ALREADY HERE !
EXPECT CHANGES IN 1997
Shaun Smith writes in London Daily Ex-
press: "... Back in the 6th century, Dion-
ysius Exiguus, in what is literally one of
the biggest clerical errors in history,
miscalculated the date of Jesus' birth by
approximately four years, and no one ever
got around to putting things right !"
In short, the Christian Era actually
started 2,000 years ago already, THIS year
(since there was no year "0"). Believe me,
the changes we expect in the new millen-
nium are already in the works ! Open your
hearts and minds to a world based on love!
Love & Peace,
Art & Judy Rosenblum
P.S. April (17) did not contribute to this
newsletter. She's in Florida speaking at a
Youth Liberation conference at New College
which paid all costs for her and a friend.