VIVA CUBA!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2016 :: RMTnews 18 WE climb up onto the old soviet-looking truck heading out of camp. Packed together are bodies tired from lack of sleep, the open air washes away the effects of last night’s rum. A cold trickle of rain scatters away resting lizards and frogs, washes away the night sweat of humid dormitories. The morning sun gently heats as the merciful rushing wind cools. We drive past farmers waving with one hand as the other controls their horse and carts, old people playing cubilete in shaded porches and smiling waving children running alongside. A comrade’s hat is blown off and the truck stops and reverses to retrieve it, solidarity — that basic human instinct — features heavily in life here. It is drilled into the work we do. Large spiders and small scorpions flee the curving sweeps of our machetes as we clear the banana groves of weeds. Twenty-eight young trade unionists took part in this year’s May 1 solidarity brigade from Unite, Unison, GMB, RMT, CWU and Usdaw, organised by Cuba Solidarity Campaign. We were international guests at the May Day rally in Havana and the International Solidarity with Cuba conference the following day. We stayed at the Julio Antonio Mella camp in Caimito, 25 miles south-west of Havana, the largest contingent among 240 delegates from 34 countries, including Canada, South Africa, Palestine, Chile, Ukraine, Korea and Japan. We slept in bunk beds in dormitories without air- conditioning. Showers and toilets were basic with limited privacy and the water supply regularly failed. The food on the camp was always rice with either beans or plantain and meat — generally chicken or beef. There was salad and fruit available although it took some time for delegates to get used to waving away flies. The morning alarm consisted of a cockerel crowing, followed by a Cuban folk song and ending with a clip of a speech by Fidel Castro. By the time Fidel had finished his speech you were expected to be ready. Brigadistas undertook a programme of early morning agricultural and manual work, VIVA CUBA! RMT member George Waterhouse reports from an inspirational work brigade organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign