"Cuba under Siege" continues in the Unison building, Clarendon Street, Derry

derry | anti-capitalism | event notice Saturday September 28, 2013 21:52 by Simon McGuinness - Cuba Support Group Ireland cubasupport at eircom dot net

In the besieged citadel, all dissent is treason, just as it was in Londonderry

Cuba Support Group Ireland is pleased to host a nationwide speaking tour by Canadian academic and author, Keith Bolender, a world expert on the blockade of Cuba.

His talk will be based on his latest book, "Cuba Under Siege: American Policy, the Revolution and Its People".

In it, Bolender explores how Cuban society has been affected by 50 years of ‘non stop hostility from the world’s most powerful nation’. He offers extensive historical analysis, firsthand interviews and expert comment.

Most significantly, perhaps, Bolender puts the blockade of Cuba into the historical military context of the tactic of siege and analyses the psychological impacts of this on the besieged population, with some remarkable insights from historical parallels. Through this contextualisation, the potential of American policy to deliver its stated intentions is evaluated with uncomfortable conclusions for policy makers.

A freelance journalist living in Toronto, Keith Bolender has written extensively on Cuban matters for a number of North American publications and is the expert consulted by the Washington based, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) on Cuban issues.

The US policy of embargo has been applied against Cuba since 1962 and is both the longest and most intense blockade in human history. In that time, it has failed to deliver its stated intentions to ‘starve the population into rising up against its leaders’. Many would argue that it has delivered precisely the opposite. Bolender explains why this might be.

The author will be happy to sign copies of his book which will be on sale at each venue.

______________________________________________________________

Dublin Monday, 30 Sept Connolly Books, Essex Street, D1 5.30pm

Cork Tuesday, 1 Oct Connolly Hall, Lapps Quay 8.00pm

Galway Wednesday, 2 Oct Charlie Byrnes Books, Middle St 6.00pm

Derry Friday, 4 Oct Unison Building, 1 Clarendon Street 7:30pm

Belfast Saturday, 5 Oct Cultúrlann, 216 Falls Road 1:00pm

_______________________________________________________________

Look out for an interview with Pat Kenny on Newstalk Radio (106FM) on Monday, 30 September at 11 am.

Follow the tour on twitter at www.twitter.com/cubasupport or search the hashtag #cubaundersiege

"Cuba under Siege" is available to purchase from Amazon in kindle edition or paperback here: http://amzn.to/1bixwtO

To arrange media interviews contact Simon McGuinness at 087 2360234

Cuba Support Group Ireland gratefully acknowledges the assistance of local groups and enterprises in each venue in facilitating this tour.