Dear comrades,

The Women’s Committee of the Communist Party of Ireland wishes to express its solidarity with our sister comrades in Cuba and the heroic women of the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade on International Working Women’s Day. 

Our party has been supportive of Henry Reeve Medical Brigade’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize this year, as well as hosting events last year on the anniversary of el Movimiento 26 de Julio to highlight the significant role of women during and following the Cuban revolution. These women continue to be an inspiration to so many of us. 

We are also very pleased to hear that the final trials for two Cuban COVID-19 vaccines are underway, with hopes for two more. Cuba’s response both at home and internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic has been beyond commendable. Unlike the capitalist nations, Cubans did not seek to exploit or abandon others, but provided much needed medical aid worldwide in true internationalist spirit. Cuba selflessly looked beyond the actions of the capitalist classes in nations that are apathetic, if not hostile, to the Cuban revolution, and sought to reach out and aid the workers, abandoned in their own countries to the pandemic. 

It was with joy that we watched Cuban medical brigades flying into Europe. Italy, a country much like our own, where the working-class has been abandoned by the establishment political parties, misled by the right-wing, punished with deep austerity, homelessness, unemployment and debt and one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic in Europe, got to witness first hand the heroism and collective spirit of the revolution. 

We are thankful that despite the inhumanity and cruelty of the continued imperialist blockade, that the ideals of the Cuban revolution are exemplified in the courageous and humanitarian actions of the brigade. We draw inspiration particularly from the women of the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, who see beyond shallow western liberal feminism that outsources oppression to our sisters in the global south. We believe that any movement to liberate women from patriarchal oppression must be anti-colonial, anti-racist and centred in the broader class struggle. 

We continue to learn so much from the advancement of women’s rights in Cuba after the revolution and aspire to realise these same achievements in our own homeland. We are grateful to learn from the exceptional work that has been done by the Federación de Mujeres Cubanas, the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade and all the women of Cuba.

Once again, we would like to extend warm wishes to all comrades on this important day, reaffirm our support for revolutionary Cuba and wish a victory to the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade in their nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

¡Hasta la victoria siempre!

From the women of the Communist Party of Ireland.