Imperialism, revolution and the Chinese in America were key topics last night, as four lecture panelists discussed the publication of the new book "Our History is Still Being Written," a story of three Cuban-Chinese revolutionaries who fought the American-backed Batista regime in the 1950s.

The event was held in Smith Hall and sponsored by the Department of American Ethnic Studies, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, the Latin American Studies Program, Movimiento Estudantil Chicano de Azlan and BAYAN USA, an alliance of anti-imperialist Filipino organizations.

"The book is a real introduction to the Cuban revolution, what a socialist revolution is and where [the Chinese revolutionaries] came from," said panelist Martin Koppel, who traveled to Cuba to meet the three Cuban-Chinese generals.

Koppel was the key-note speaker of the evening, and he made a point to describe his admiration of the Cuban socialist model.

"Cubans refused to accept the brutality of the U.S.-backed regime," he said.

They also refused colonization of the country by the United Fruit Company and Hershey, he said.

Koppel noted the change in women's rights since the fall of the Batista regime, and the fact that all Cubans were guaranteed free health care, education and full employment.

All panelists embraced Marxist views concerning global affairs. The passionate remarks of UW communication and international studies professor Tony Chan, a self described "American-Canadian" of Chinese ancestry, as well as an author and filmmaker, were especially concerned with race-discrimination in Cuba.

"If [the Cuban generals'] mothers weren't Cuban, how would they have been treated? If they were pure Chinese, could they have done it?" Chan asked the audience.

BAYAN USA's Political Education Officer Freedom Allah Siyam, the youngest panelist, spoke of his desire for a "better future," one not dictated by imperialist governments like the United States.

Several lecturers maintained that Americans were responsible for the kidnapping and transporting of Chinese to the Caribbean, where they were forced to work as indentured laborers, side by side with African slaves, for eight years.

Aside from the Chinese who died during the journey across the Pacific, many died from the cruel conditions of their Spanish employers in Cuba.

Reach reporter Jake Sommer at news@thedaily.wasahington.edu.