Institute News
Study tours return with great success
DVDs of IISC seminars now available
Two of Cuba's leading educationalists speak at IISC
Dr Orestes Valdés Valdés, the National coordinator of environmental education at the Cuban Ministry of Education and Dra. Margarita Quintero López, special advisor to the Ministry of Education spoke on Cuba's education system and the efforts that are being made to include and improve environmental education across the country.
The pair were on a visit to Britain organised by the Cardinal Wiseman School, in Greenford, Middlesex with whom Dra Quintero has collaborated in the writing of a new Geography of Cuba
As part of the ongoing work of linking with other educational initiatives surrounding education in Cuba, the IISC offered to host the meeting.
Full details and powerpoints of the seminar are available HERE
Take part in an education conference in Cuba. Click HERE
UK's leading Cuba economy expert joins the IISC
1 September: Emily Morris, the UK’s foremost expert on the Cuban economy joined LondonMet’s International Institute for the Study of Cuba on Septmeber 1.
Emily, who was the Cuba country analyst for the influential Economist Intelligence Unit for 12 years, started work as a Senior Research Fellow and director of the IISC’s Research Unit.
She has just completed a PhD thesis comparing Cuba’s post-1990 economic adjustment with the process of "transition" in other countries in Europe and Asia, based at London University’s Institute for the Study of the Americas.
At the Economist Intelligence Unit Emily has also covered the Latin American and Caribbean region, and has been responsible for analysis of the economies of Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Her publications in include articles in academic and business journals and she has participated in international conferences in Cuba, the US, Peru, Colombia, Spain, Germany and the UK.
Emily also features regularly on television and radio programmes to discuss aspects of Cuba and its economy.
Among her first tasks at the IISC is to produce a report on Cuba’s low energy economy as part of a project being funded by the Tedworth Charitable Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Trusts.
Says IISC Assistant Director, Dr Stephen Wilkinson: "This appointment is tremendous news for the Institute and the University. Emily is regarded as a leading expert on the Cuban economy not only here in the UK but also worldwide and most importantly in Cuba itself."
Emily will be presenting some of the results of her research at a public seminar at London Met on 9 October.
Above: Mirtha Ibarra (right) with Professor Michael Chanan (left) and Dr Stephen Wilkinson introducing 'Una pelea Cubana contra los demonios' (Pics: T.O.M. Hand)
Mirtha Ibarra shines at London film festival
Cuban actress Mirtha Ibarra, star of the award winning film Fresa y chocolate and wife of its late director, Tomás Guttierréz Alea, was the guest of the IISC at the Cine Cuba film festival held at the Barbican Centre in London from 10-17 July.
Mirtha came to introduce the festival and discuss her work and the work of her husband, and to support a new initiative to raise funds to help restore damaged films in the Cuban film archive in Havana.
Among the presentations she made was before the screening of Alea's 1971 film, Una pelea cubana contra los demonios, an avante garde adaptation of the book by the same name by the great Cuban ethnologist Fernando Ortíz.
The film had been especially restored through the kind donations of Roehampton Univeristy and Pres tech laboratories. Said Mirtha: "This is a very impotant film and one that has been overlooked. I am very grateful for the efforts made to restore it."
Mirtha filmed an introdcution to Fresa y chocolate, which was screened before the show on 16 July and she gave an interview to the Spanish language website of the BBC World Service accessible HERE
Mirtha with Vanessa Redgrave and son Carlo
Among the celebrities whom she met was the British actress Vanessa Redgrave who knew her husband and had visited Cuba in the 1960s with the film director Tony Richardson. She also gave Pres interviews and an interview to the World Service of the BBC.
"I am also very grateful to the Barbican for arranging this festival. I believe that Cuban cinematography is important - not just for Cuba but for the world," said Mirtha.
Picture above shows Dr. Christine Nunn (centre) with a group of her students.
Londonmet delivers in Havana
The International Institute for the Study of Cuba arranged for Dr Christine Nunn of London Metropolitan University to travel to Havana in June and give a series of two one week courses in bioinformatics to a total of 50 students at the Cuban Center for Scientific Investigation (CNIC).
Londonmet gave the students a certificate of attendance and Christine (pictured centre with a group she taught) has been invited back to Cuba to take part in the CNIC congress of 2010.
Says Christine: "Students had travelled from all over Cuba to attend approx 25 students per week. Students were very appreciative of the course and enjoyed learning about the different bioinformatics tools available to them worldwide. I enjoyed my interaction with the students and learning about their lives."
IISC launches the International Journal of Cuban Studies
First cohort of Kings' students successfully complete research study module
Picture above shows Kings' College medical students on completion of their study module provided by the IISC. L-R: students Rishabh Sing and Oliver Johnson; IISC Director Professor Patrick Pietroni; Honorary Fellow and tutor Dr Judith Harvey and student Nadia Saad.
April 18: The first cohort of medical students from Kings' College who have been following a study/research module in Cuban medical care provided by the IISC successfully completed their course this week.
Rishabh Sing, Oliver Johnson and Nadia Saad all completed a written assignment into an aspect of Cuban medical care based on their own research. They are third year Medical students from Kings College London and the module goes towards completion of their general medical degree.
Kings' tutor, Dr Ann Wylie,who contracted the IISC to provide the course, says she is happy with the outcome and will continue the collaboration next year.
Ann says: "It is important that medical students have the opportunities to explore the global, political and economical factors that influence health and this Module on Cuban Health offers such a unique opportunity."
The students were tutored by experts who regularly visit Cuba and have engaged with international agencies involved in practical and political aspects of Cuban Health.
Ann adds: "Through this partnership King's medical students have access to the library at London Metropolitan University and the IISC collection, enabling them to source some rare, interesting and relevant material for their work. The standard of student for this first module was impressive."
A big vote of thanks should go to IISC fellow Fedelma Winkler who also worked on the course.
IISC contributes to major US think-tank report on Cuba relations
In her article, Professor Blunden traces the history of recent UK-Cuba relations and suggests that more can be done to engage with island in a meaningful way. As part of her research, Professor Blunden interviewed past ambassadors and oher political figures involved in UK-Cuba relations.
IISC arranges for LondonMet specialist to teach in Cuba
Dr Christine Nunn, (right) an expert in bioinformatics from LondonMet’s
School of Human Sciences is to go to Havana in June to help train Cuban biochemistry PhDs.
Dr Nunn will spend two weeks at the world famous CNIC Cuban Centre of Scientific Investigation from June 8-22 this year. The programme has been organised through the IISC at the request of CNIC.
London Metropolitan University to open office in Havana
London Metropolitan University is to have an office in Havana to coordinate and develop its work in Cuba, following the signing of a formal agreement in Havana on Friday 15 February.
London Met Vice-Chancellor Brian Roper and the Rector of Havana University Dr Rubén Zardoya Loureda signed the agreement at a special session held during the Universidad 2008 conference in Havana.
It is hoped that the office will be in a newly refurbished building in Old Havana and will be fully functioning by September. The IISC and LondonMet already count on the servcies of Havana University's Dept. of International Relations but will have a full-time worker eventually dedicated to helping develop the growing ties between Cuba and the university.
The Universidad 2008 conference held at the Palacio de Convenciones in Havana from 11-15 February attracted more than 3,000 delegates from all over the world, but LondonMet had the biggest delegation from the developed world with 23 participants.
While there, the University developed links in Architecture, Biotech, Chemistry, History, Tourism and Hopsitality, IT, Business Studies and Education.
Collaborative module with King's College begins
17 January, 2008
The first seminar in a special study module provided by the IISC for King's College, London's School of Medicine started on Thursday 17 March.
Students from Kings, who are in the Department of General Practice and Primary Care, are coming to London Metropolitan for a short module aimed at building their study skills through investigating a project on the Cuban Medical system.
More details are to be found in the Academic Centre
IISC brings leading Cuban medical specialist to summit conference on future of the NHS
29 November
The IISC was the host in November for the visit of Dr Nidia Marquez Morales of the Cuban Health Ministry who came to Britain to participate in a major policy conference aimed at reforming the NHS.
Picture right: Professor Pietroni, Dra. Morales and Stephen Wilkinson
The conference 'Our NHS Our Future' was held over two days on November 21-22 at the Excel Centre London and organised by the Health Minister, Lord Darzi, an advocate of the polyclinic system of health delivery that forms the basis of the Cuban primary health care model.
Dra Morales, a fomer family doctor and Polyclinic director, is now one of the leading specialists in primary health care in Cuba. She addressed a plenary session of the conference on the polyclinic system in Cuba and later a break out group on the methods of prevention and health promotion used in Cuba.
Professor Patrick Pietroni, Executive Director of the IISC introduced her and Dr Stephen Wilkinson, IISC Assistant Dircetor provided the interpretation.
The conference was attended by more than 1,000 health officials and local government representatives from across the UK.
A video of the session from the conference at which she spoke is available for download on the Our NHS website HERE
Or can be viewed directly by clicking on the link below (Session 2. Towards the end of the film).
US has its feet 'set in concrete' over Cuba, says IISC guest expert
15 November
The US has its "feet set in concrete" as far as Cuba policy is concerned and while others get on with adapting to changes on the island, the administration of George Bush letting opportunities slip by.
That was the message that Cuba expert Philip Peters, Vice president of the Lexington Institute in Washington gave to a 70 strong audience of academics, students, former ambassadors and business people at London Metropolitan Univeristy on the evening of 14 November.
Philip, a former staffer in the State departments of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Snr., was speaking at the second public seminar organised by the International Institute for the Study of Cuba.
In an hour long talk, he explained current US policy and made some predictions as to how things might change in the future.
Inparticular, he forecast that there would be some economic reforms in Cuba under the leadership of Raúl Castro. "He has raised expectations among the population and is a known reformer and a pragmatist," he said.
A lively question and answer session followed.The event, was filmed and a full transcript of the talk will be made available soon on the IISC website HERE.
The next event in the IISC seminar series is in the Henry Thomas Room on 12 December.
Leading Scientist Luis Montero of Havana University will be speaking on Cuba's Scientific advances in the last 50 years and looking at its prospects for the future. Full details HERE
Bush isolated on Cuba, says IISC guest expert
25 October, 2007
Current US policy towards Cuba has made it powerless in trying to influence events in the island and recent statements by George Bush only serve to underline that fact, according to a leading Washington Think-Tank expert who will speak at the IISC in November.
Commenting upon a hard-hitting speech by George Bush yesterday, Phil Peters, vice-president of the Washington-based Lexington Institute, said the US Government has found itself isolated and is trying to claw its way back into the Cuba debate.
"I think the rest of the world is engaged with Cuba, probing to see what's going on there, to figure out the big question of the day, which is how is Raúl Castro going to govern the island.
"And the administration has really been sidelined, expecting that some kind of political change would have occurred, first when Fidel Castro left power, and then looking ahead to when he would die."
Peters, a former state department aide in the Reagan and Bush senior administrations, is to give a public seminar as guest of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba at London Metropolitan University on November 14th.
He argues that current US policy has now been proved a failure and the remarks by President Bush yesterday are a tacit recognition of the fact.
"I think the administration is looking for a more active posture, rather something more than simply waiting for Fidel Castro to die," he says.
Mr Peters says he does not expect Fidel Castro to ever take back the reigns of power.
"I would think that Raúl Castro is going to reform the economy," he said.
"He's done so much to raise expectations in Cuba, through his words and through some initial steps, and also by forcing a debate about the economy and economic change, all the way to the grassroots.
"It just seems to me that he'd be crazy to raise expectations to the degree that he has if he did not plan to deliver."
Peters argues that a policy of engagement with Cuba would be more productive than the current embargo in the context of the changes taking place on the island.
Phil Peters' full length comment on the Bush speech click on the icon below:
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Peters 25/10/07 |
His blog on Cuba issues is HERE
After Castro: An American perspective
To reserve a seat please write to admin@cubastudies.org
Ignacio Ramonet: Author of Fidel Castro: My life speaks at the IISC
11 October, 2007
Celebrated left-wing intellectual Ignacio Ramonet launched the newly established International Institute for the Study of Cuba at London Metropolitan University to a packed audience on October 10th.
In the first in a series of IISC public seminars entitled Cuba: Revolution in Flux, Msr. Ramonet, the director of Le Monde Diplomatique and the author for the forthcoming book: Fidel: Castro My Life (Allen Lane, £25) spoke about his experience of spending more than 100 hours interviewing the Cuban leader.
130 people attended the seminar held in the Henry Thomas Room, of the Tower Building in North Campus.
"Fidel Castro is the last superstar of international politics," said Msr. Ramonet, "he is one of the few men who have known the glory to enter history and legend in their own lifetime."
Msr. Ramonet, whose book has already been a best seller in Cuba and Spain, added that he was of the opinion that the Revolution would survive the demise of its leader. "Those who think that it will collapse like the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, are mistaken," he said, explaining that the Cuban revolution was founded upon a nationalism and struggle against the imperialist ambitions of the United States.
A full text of the whole of his presentation in English and Spanish is available here.
The next seminar in the series is to be held on 14th November with Phillip Peters from the Lexington Institute in Washington. For more details click here. To reserve a seat (recommended) write to admin@cubastudies .org
My Life
Fidel Castro
With Ignacio Ramonet
Published by Allen Lane, 1st November, 2007, £25
Mr Ramonet is to give the inaugural lecture at the New Internatinal Insitute for the Study of Cuba on 10th October.
Full details here‘I warn you, I am just beginning! ... I know that the regime will try to suppress the truth by all possible means; I know that there will be a conspiracy to bury me in oblivion. But my voice will not be stifled - it will rise from my breast even when I feel most alone, and my heart will give it all the fire that callous cowards deny it ... Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.’ Fidel Castro, 1953
Fidel Castro’s life began on a sugar plantation 80 years ago. He went on to graduate as a lawyer, lead a failed revolution against the Batista regime, be tried and imprisoned, flee to Mexico, return to start a guerrilla war and, in 1959, at the age of 32, march triumphantly on Havana. He soon became Prime Minister and has remained in power ever since, surviving nine US presidents and countless assassination attempts along the way. In this book, Castro describes his life from the 1950s all the way up to the present day.
He discusses everything: his parents, his earliest influences, the beginnings of the revolution, his relationship with Che Guevara, the Bay of Pigs, the Carter years, Cuban migration to the US. Ignacio Ramonet also challenges Castro to discuss his views on a number of controversial questions, from human rights and freedom of the press to the repression of homosexuality and the survival of the death penalty, and asks Castro to give his frank opinion of other leaders, alive and dead, including George Bush and Tony Blair. This is an opportunity for both supporters and opponents alike to read, in his own words, the life story of one of the most controversial figures of the 20th Century. His position in history is guaranteed - this is his perspective.
Ignacio Ramonet is a specialist on geopolitics, economics and the history of culture and a professor of communication theory at the University Denis Diderot in Paris. He is the long-time editor of the French magazine, Le Monde Diplomatique, one of the founders of ATTAC international and a key player in organizing the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. In addition, Ramonet also founded the NGO Media Watch Global. Ramonet also frequently contributes to El País and participates in an advisory council to the television network TeleSUR.A medical lesson from Cuba
IISC in the news
The International Institute for the Study of Cuba published a letter in the UK daily newspaper, The Guardian, on 13 September on the subject of Cuba's health care system. You can read the letter here
Fidel Castro: Life and legacyAward-winning French author of new book on Fidel Castro to speak in first of IISC public seminar series14 August, 2007 Award-winning French author Ignacio Ramonet is to speak at the International Institute for the Study of Cuba in the first in its series of ground-breaking public seminars this autumn. Ignacio, the director of the word famous newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique, has made the longest and most exhaustive interview by any journalist with Fidel Castro. He will speak on the subject of the Cuban leader's life and legacy at London Metropolitan University on 10 October. The interview, published in Cuba under the title Cien horas con Fidel (A hundred hours with Fidel) is to be published in Britain by Allan Lane in November under the title My Life co-authored by the Cuban President and Ignacio. Ignacio, a globally famous intellectual who is currently the president of the NGO Media Watch Global and the board of Telesur, the new TV channel for Latin America, makes few visits to Britain, so this is very much a coup for the newly-formed Institute. IISC assistant director, Dr Stephen Wilkinson, says: "Ignacio's book on Castro has been a huge best-seller in both Cuba and Spain and is sure to make a huge impact in the English-speaking world. There is no person alive who has had the privilege of speaking as frankly with the Cuban leader. This will be a tremendous launch for our Institute and we are very excited at the prospect." The IISC public seminar series will continue through the winter. Further events include Philip Peters of the Lexington Insitute in Washington, who will speak on US policy towards Cuba (14 Nov.), and Professor Luis Montero of Havana Univeristy - a ground-breaking quantum chemist, who will speak on Cuba's scientific research achievements and the prospect of future developments (12 Dec.). |
Fidel Castro: Life and Legacywith Ignacio Ramonet 10 October, 2007
To reserve a seat for the seminars contact the IISC administrator at: Entrance is free but please note seating is limited. So please contact us to ensure entry. Download the poster:
Full details at: Events
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