-DATE- 19711129 -YEAR- 1971 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- WOMEN'S RALLY -PLACE- SANA LAURA STADIUM -SOURCE- SANTIAGO CHILE RADIO -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19711201 -TEXT- Addresses Women's Rally Santiago Chile Radio Corporacion in Spanish 2123 GMT 29 Nov 71 P [Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Castro at up women's rally in Santa Laura Stadium--live] [Text] Dear Chilean comrades: [applause] With your cooperation we can talk a few minutes. In the first place, I want to say something. We have had many ceremonies in this country, we have had many meetings, but I tell you frankly, that this is really one of the most important. This is one of the most humane events. This is one of the most emotional events. If we are to speak, after the effort you have made to meet here, we will try to speak of points we believe are most essential. First of all, Chile is experiencing a revolutionary process, and that has a special significance. Chile is not living just any moment of its history. Chile is going through a special chapter of its history. That was borne out here in the words spoken by Mireya and Maria Elena [first names of the two women deputies who preceded Castro]. They stated that they were ready to defend this process. They stated that they were ready to resist any attempt to crush that process. They stated that the momios [scornful term applied to those opposing the revolution] shall not pass, [applause] which is like saying that the reactionaries shall not pass. It is like saying that the fascists shall not pass. Now then, women have a decisive role in this struggle. We have to bear in mind the efforts made by the reactionary forces in this country to deceive women, to perplex women. We have to bear in mind the tricks, the lies, and all the measures they have used to try to prevent women from joining the revolutionary process. Why? Why? Because they know that women in a force, a true force, and the revolution's potential force. But in addition, because they know that in the revolutionary social transformation women are the most prized, the most exalted, the most meaningful. [applause] And that has been the story in our country, and that is why women are so sensitive to revolutionary ideas. That is why women are so sensitive to the revolutionary cause. That is why women are so passionate when they defend the revolutionary case. [applause] If women stand side by side with the revolution, the minios shall not pass. The reactionaries shall not pass. The fascists shall not pass. What was women's role in past societies? One of the comrades gave the answer: the role of a mannequin. What regard and respect did women command in past societies? What did women possess as a women in past societies? As a citizen? As a worker? And as a mother? Nothing. [applause] The revolution starts by placing woman in her rightful place in human society, and we have said in our country that the revolution is firmly supported by women. Women are a decisive force. Our explanation for this is that we liberated women twice: as workers and as a sector of society that was mistreated and discriminated against. What do exploiters do with women? What future do they reserve for women? A role as worker in society? No. A role in society as a mother? No. A role in society as a human being? No. You have seen what the reactionaries are: hypocrites, sanctimonious in regard to human rights. [applause] What place have they reserved for women in society? To the reactionaries, the exploiters, to the fascists, a woman is simply an instrument for pleasure, [applause] an ornament, an object to be mistreated, to be humbled, to be offended, and often [word indistinct]. Let us not be fooled by their apparent esteem for women. It is in no way human, social or revolutionary esteem. What role do they reserve for the working mothers, peasant mothers, poor mothers? What role do they reserve for their children? The role of poverty, ignorance, disease, misery and corruption, which is even more pitiful. Reactionary, capitalistic society, which has no use for human values, does not care about children's morals or dignity. Capitalist society does not care about women's morals and dignity. This whole system is based on profit, on private interests, on exploitation. If they can make money on a move that is corrupt and misleading to children, they do not care. They go ahead and show it. They only care about making money. If they want to start a business they do not care if they prostitute women. One of the saddest aspects of capitalist society is that the jobless woman, the woman discriminated against, the despised women, is often led onto the road to prostitution. We recall in our country how tens of thousands of women had to go through this painful situation. If a mother had a child and she was abandoned and without work and she had to feed her child, she had to take up the horrible profession of prostitution. Social prejudices and discrimination led women along the worst paths. She had to work in the worst jobs: in bordellos, in bars, in casinos, as streetwalkers, simply with the worst vulgar commercial concept, with the most inhuman concept. And yet they spoke of human rights. Women were discriminated against in technical careers, in their jobs. And women, as mothers, suffer the most when there is unemployment, when their children are ill, when there is exploitation. Women suffer silently and are resigned. Women suffer poverty the most, and in our societies women have traditionally had a subordinated role, a degraded role, and that is why we ask, what do reactionary forces offer women? What does fascism offer women? What does capitalism offer women? Nothing, Nothing. [applause] The revolution offers women a humane role. It offers them all the opportunities according to their talent, energy, enthusiasm, spirit, and their noblest sentiments. The revolution dignifies women. The revolution gives women truly humane treatment. The revolution that works for the future works for children, for the young, for a respectable future, for a [word indistinct] future. Reactionary, capitalist society corrupts not only women but also men, children and youngsters. It does not have any moral principles. Do you know what their moral, or rather immoral principle is? Do you know what that society's principle is? Interest, selfishness, profit. You know that, do you not? [shouts of "yes"] They do not mind selling. They do not mind making money on anything. They do not mind corrupting. So we ask Chilean women, as we asked Cuban women: what do reactionary forces have to offer you? [shouts of "nothing"] What does fascism have to offer you? [shouts of "nothing"] Oppression, contempts, discrimination. They say that revolutionaries preach violence, that is a lie! They are the ones who preach violence. They have oppressed the workers and the peasants. They have murdered students and youths. To defend their miserable interests they have not hesitated to shed the people's workers', students' and peasants' generous blood. [applause] They are now threatening. They do not accept the people's change, a legal, peaceful change. They are trying to halt the process. They are seeking violence. They are attempting to halt the people's progress. They resort to all tactics and lies. We can never forget what they did at the beginning of the revolution. How unscrupulously, how cynically, they spread one of the most dastardly, base and infamous lies. They thought up the most devilish things, because you can expect the most incredible, the most devilish things from reactionaries. They spread the stupid, absurd, ridiculous, inconceivable idea that the revolution was going to take women's citizenship from them. [applause] How unscrupulously they harped on that charge. Some peasants even deceived some women. In our country we had cases of women who sent their children to the United States. Because of that dastardly propaganda thousands of women sent their children to the United States. What future did they plan for their children? While in Cuba youngsters study, work, grow up with a sense of duty and morals. What happened to those other children? What happened when they went to that monstrously selfish society? Many of them were led into vices, others were transformed into gangsters, real gangsters. Many girls were put into prostitution while still in their teens. It is deplorable that the reactionaries did not have the least consideration with those girls. In our country, the revolution has decided all its attention to young girls, and what the revolution regrets is that it does not have enough resources yet, that it does not have good enough schools for all. It will take us about 10 years [word indistinct] more to have enough schools for all elementary and high school students. Today, in our country there is a teacher for every student, but often classes are given in huts, or in an inferior building which does not meet all the standards, in laboratories, in all the teaching facilities, and in all the sports facilities. In our country there were 800,000 children without schools. In our country today, there are more than one and one-half million children in elementary schools. In my country we are simultaneously building more than 40 high schools with a capacity of 500 students each, with modern laboratories, sports facilities, cultural activities and scientific experimentation. [words indistinct] studies and work. We are impressed by the qualities that our youngsters and acquiring. A revolution is not made merely for immediate results. Our immediate results are struggle and effort. A revolution is made for the future. Our revolution had child welfare programs, it gives assistance to women who work. The situation in our country now is such that women are constantly asking for more schools and more nurseries to be built so that they can be given opportunities to work. In our country there is no longer any vice, there is no more gambling. In our country prostitution was stamped out years ago. In our country all those sad, horrible things found in a society that exploits, no longer exist. [applause] In our country, mothers and children are protected. The revolution has wiped out many diseases. For example, in our country every year thousands of children died or were crippled by polio. For years there has not been one case of polio in Cuba. Hundreds of children died of tetanus because there was no preventive medicine. An anti-tetanus vaccination campaign was launched and the disease has been reduced to a minimum. In our country thousands of children died of gastroenteritis every year. The revolution has brought this figure to a minimum. Typhus and malaria have been wiped out. In our country, when the revolution won, there were [figure indistinct] of tuberculosis hospitals, tens of thousands of men, women and children were suffering from tuberculosis. Now we can tell you that in our country tuberculosis has been practically wiped out. It is disappearing and we will eliminate it completely. [applause] Many hospitals formerly used for tuberculosis patients are now being used for clinics and other uses. In our country, most women used to give birth at home, without any help. Many of them or their children died, or suffered all kinds of infections and problems. Now almost 100 percent of the women give birth in hospitals, with a maximum of safety for them and their children. [applause] Women's opportunities in employment formerly were limited. Their possibilities of higher learning were also limited. Now we can say that in our school of medicine there are almost as many women as men. In medicine, in engineering and in the study of many careers this is so. Who suffered hunger, repression and crime? Who mourned and wept? Mothers, women. [applause] In our country women are organized and they participate actively in social problems, in revolutionary problems. They take interest in everything pertaining to the family, children, education, welfare, health and fighting diseases. That is why women in our country are a powerful force in the revolution. And we believe that it is fitting and proper, apart from all sectarianism, for Chilean leftist women to unite into an organization and for them to organize Chilean revolutionary women's committees. It is an ever-developing organization, an organization which has an ever-increasing membership [words indistinct]. We have found in this people a great virtue. You have undertaken the path of change. This path is not easy. It is hard and difficult path. You must organize, you must become aware, you must call on the Chilean women, you must win the Chilean women to the cause of the revolution. [applause] You must wage an ideological battle, a political battle. You must stop the demagogs, the liars, the impostors, those who have tried to (?confuse) the women, trying to attract them with little tricks, little lies, little favors. You must say: We do not need little favors. What we need is the liberation of women. We need womens' rights. We do not need charity. We do not beg for alms. You must tell them: What we need is dignity, human consideration. What we need is a place of our own in society. What we need is a future for our children; the future our our children. We must stop the tricks and the lies of the fascists and of the reactionaries. We must fight as Mireya, as Maria Elena said, we must organize. A conscience must be formed. We must gather forces, because if the reactionaries believe the people are not united, or if they believe they are weak, or that the people are ignorant, they become bold, they become daring, they [word indistinct], they organize and try to use all difficulties, any difficulty. The women must stand firm; they must not allow themselves to be confused, deceived, by arguments, lies, insolence, insults. Why? Because [words indistinct] they have forgotten when there was no money to buy anything, they have forgotten the past, the fate of the workers yesterday, of the peasants, of the children, and they invent tricks, any kind of pretext [words indistinct]. This is why they have that freedom of the press they talk about, which they talk so much about--to deceive, to lie. [applause] In this same place we have suffered similar insults--incredible lies. We went to the mountains, to the mountain training school to watch the maneuvers of mountain troops and as we passed through a little village in the Andes [words indistinct] a visit, there were thousands of persons. We all thought we would arrive late. [words indistinct] Finally, when we arrived, we stopped for a few minutes to talk with the people. [words indistinct] fascist (?newspaper) said: Women of (?Andes) boo Castro. Liars, Hypocrites, Pharisees. I have the full right to defend myself from their insolence and their [words indistinct] the exploiters, those who sacked this country, the guilty are those who took billions of pesos, billions of dollars from this country. They are the ones who stole everything, who pillaged everything, exploiting this people. Now they come to offer this insolence, these insults, this discourtesy to a visitor. Those who robbed this country were the monopolies. From copper along they tool out billions of dollars. The colonialists and the imperialists took out of this country much more than they left here. They took the sweat and the blood of the Chilean people. They took the nitrate, [words indistinct], the copper and [words indistinct] and its resources and they never wrote a little word against this, no. Against those who spent the money of the Chilean people in New York, against those who shared the dividends, those who spent millions of pesos which came from where? From where did all thee dividends come? From the workers, from the men and women of this country. About this they said not a word. Now when the process is beginning, when copper is recovered, when nitrate is recovered, when the banks are recovered, when coal is recovered, when the basic resources are recovered, they have lost their [words indistinct], they have lost control, they are desperate. Because of this, all Chileans must be aware of these truths. At first they presented themselves as being very generous, but they are like Pharisees. They are lying cowards who have lost control. They began to insult and insult and insult--all the time they have no reason for this. They are morally and ideologically unarmed. They cannot point to anything but lies, infamy, and this fort of things. [question indistinct] [audience responds to question] Who for so long exploited and controlled the land, and what did they leave when they left? Nothing. Did they leave you rich? [audience responds "No"] They left you poor. Now the people have to suffer the consequences,and when they come with other ideas, send them to the devil for they are to blame for the problems. [applause] They can go to the devil. Now we are going to control our future. They can go to the devil. Now we shall develop our [word indistinct] iron, nitrate, our basic industries, and the basic industries which we lack. You must say: Do not come to this humble people with your siren songs. Do not come telling stories to the workers, to the exploited, because the workers and others are united and are not ever going to be deceived again. [applause] This is the way it is. With truth, with truth, with truth, with justice, with justice, with justice, with morality, with morality, with morality. [cheers, applause] Lift up your spirits in good conscience, because this way we will gain control of our fatherland. A small country against the powerful colossus of the north. The powerful colossus of the north has used all the tricks, all the lies, all the blockades, all the aggressions, but it could not beat us despite its power because the revolution is stronger. We have a [word indistinct] people, we have an aware people. We have a people who have acquired a great political culture, who want to lift up their banner and their cause and to defend their ideas to the last drop of blood. [applause] Our country is strong and our revolution will maintain the firmness of our people, the heroism of our [word indistinct] counting on the international solidarity, counting on our revolutionary friends of other countries in the world. We have been able to resist the effects of the blockade, the aggression, the fruit of the lies, and have continued along the road of the revolution, and at least, thanks to the victory of the Popular Unity, we have been able to survive [word indistinct] with the Chileans, [applause] Other people will follow the example. Other people will follow our road. One day we will form a part of a great community of Latin American people. We will become brothers and we will have achieved our final independence for which our forefathers--Bolivar, San Martin, Sucre, O'Higgins, Hidalgo, Morelos, Marti, Maceo--fought. Independence which [words indistinct] our riches, our natural resources. Requiring the people to work for the interests of the monopolies. We are in the phase of final independence from the monopolies, in the phase of achieving a just society, a humane society. We lift up our banner. We continue forward and we will be finally free. On this road we are sure--in Chile as in Cuba--the women will fulfill their role. [applause] The women will know how to use their energy, their strength, and their dedication in the revolutionary cause. In Chile and in Cuba the united women will be in the forefront of the revolutionary struggle. -END-