Geoff Bottoms
Fr. Geoff Bottoms is a Catholic Priest and member of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign executive committee. He will be leading a study tour to Cuba in November 2018 including visits to El Mejunje.
He lives in Blackpool.
Cuba solidarity fundraiser
Geoff Bottoms Cuba solidarity fundraiser Merseyside.
Revolution Route study tour
In 2011 Geoff Bottoms was on the Cuba Solidarity Campaign Revolution Route study tour.[1]
Cuba speech
Geoff Bottoms, speech at the VIth Colloquium, Holguín, Cuba, 2010. Appeal to President Obama to free the Cuban 5.
Miami 5 British tour
The Miami Fives’ lead attorney Leonard Weinglass has captivated audiences at a string of events across the UK.
The veteran campaigner’s 10-day tour - organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign - included a packed meeting at the House of Commons, where he first addressed MPs and then spoke at a public meeting about the Cubans’ unjust imprisonment.
He addressed lawyers, delegates at the Latin America 2007 Conference, and public meetings in Manchester, Derby and Ireland.
Rob Miller, CSC’s Director, said: “Mr Weinglass was truly inspirational. To hear him calmly spell out the horrifying catalogue of miscarriages of justice involved in the cases of the Miami Five has reinforced our commitment to fight for their release.
“We must pull out all the stops in the campaign to free the five heroes, who remain unbowed even after years in US prisons.”
Mr Weinglass’s first public meeting was at the House of Commons, in an event chaired by Labour MP Ian Gibson, on Thursday, November 29. It included a speech by Father Geoff Bottoms, chair of CSC’s Miami Five Campaign, who has visited two of the Cubans in jail.
The celebrated civil rights lawyer then made a keynote speech at the Latin America 2007 Conference, held in London, which was attended by more than 600 delegates, and gave a talk at the College of Law in central London. The meeting included Michael Seifert, of the UK Lawyers’ Network in support of the Five, and John Hendy QC.
Steve Cottingham, of O.H. Parsons, chaired the meeting, and said: “It was a packed event of more than a hundred people including lawyers and law students, and we all listened with rapt attention as Mr Weinglass and other speakers explained about the case.[2]
CPB executive committee
In 2008 the Communist Party of Britain executive committee consisted of Carol Turner, Ivan Beavis, Geoff Bottoms, Mary Davis, John Foster, Pauline Fraser, Bill Greenshields, Robert Griffiths, Anita Halpin, Kevin Halpin, John Haylett, Joel Heyes, Steve Johnson, Carolyn Jones, Martin Levy, Gawain Little, Alan MacKinnon, Emily Mann, Tommy Morrison, Andrew Murray, Rick Newnham, Ben Stevenson, Graham Stevenson and Anita Wright.[3]
Miami 5
More than a hundred people held a vigil in honour of the Miami 5 outside the United States’ Embassy, in London October 9 2007.
The event, organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign , marked the ninth anniversary of the five’s imprisonment and called for their immediate release.
The vigil was firmly backed by the British trade union movement and representatives from Unite, Unison and the NUJ called for the demonstration to become an annual fixture until the Cubans are cleared.
Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez (the Miami 5) are all serving lengthy jail sentences in the US, but are only ‘guilty’ of trying to stop further terrorist attacks against their country.
Father Geoff Bottoms, chair of CSC’s Miami 5 campaign, said: “I’ve never had any doubt that we shall win and that the Cuban heroes will be released.
“The treatment the brave men are receiving not only punishes their friends and families, but also the whole of Cuba.
“Justice, truth and reason will eventually win out!”
This year the campaign has successfully broken the wall of media silence which has enveloped the Miami Five.
Fr. Bottoms added: “We have had coverage on BBC, CNN, CBS and the New York Times. We are finally getting the message across.”[4]
2005 candidates
In 2005 the Communist Party of Britain fielded 6 candidates: Robert Griffiths (Pontypridd), Glyn Davies (Alyn and Deeside), Martin Levy (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend), Monty Goldman (Hackney South and Shoreditch), Geoff Bottoms (Crosby), Elinor McKenzie (Glasgow Central).
Reopening the debate on Marxism and religion
Geoff Bottoms wrote an article in Communist Review 31 Winter 1999/2000 "Reopening the debate on Marxism and religion".[5]
Parish priest
In 2000 Geoff Bottoms Cuba Solidarity Campaign, was a parish priest in Blackpool.