Tuesday, July 26, 2011

¡Viva la Revolución Cubana

Fifty-eight years ago today (July 26, 1953) the Cuban revolution began when armed rebels under the leadership of 26 year old Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago and the barracks in Bayamo.

That revolution still stands as one of the most inspiring in the last century.  And it is fitting to remember those who gave their lives for a revolutionary ideal: The emancipation of the oppressed masses (la emancipación de las masas oprimidas).

In posts below I have been talking about love and revolution (el amor y la revolución) and at times it may seem paradoxical to tie these two concepts/terms together.

But as I pay quiet tribute to the s/heroes of the Cuban revolution my mind turns to perhaps one of its most notable and iconic leaders, Che Guevara.

It was Che who best captured what love and revolution means in struggle when he said the following in Socialism and Man:
"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.  It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality ... Our vanguard revolutionaries must idealize this love of the people, the most sacred cause, and make it one and indivisible … one must have a great deal of humanity and a strong sense of justice and truth in order not to fall into extreme dogmatism and cold scholasticism, into an isolation from the masses. We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force."
May the Cuban Revolution live on into the future as the struggle toward the emancipation of all oppressed peoples persists!
  
¡Viva la Revolución Cubana. Que este día nos recuerda que todos lo importante que es para atar el amor a la revolución y la lucha hacia la emancipación!

La lucha continúa, incluso cuando los tiempos parecía más difícil que nunca. La revolución es inevitable, y como dijo Fidel, la historia absolverá a los revolucionarios.

¡Adelante! a la liberación de todos los pueblos oprimidos.


¡Viva la Revolución Cubana

¡Adelante! (Onward!)

PS: El amor es una condición humana universal y sin revoluciones amor están condenados al fracaso. Y sí sé que hay algo más que un tipo de amor. Cualquiera que sea su forma, que todo lo vence. Especialmente el temor de ser amado.

Image Credit

2 comments:

Kweli said...

Viva la Revolucion, indeed.
Did you say it was Malcolm who said, "we don't want a seat at the table, we want the table?"

That's exactly what I thought about after reading this one.

I hope you are well, my brother.

Onward!

Ridwan said...

Hey brother Kweli.

Thanks for looking in on this here blog chief.

Yes it was Malcolm X who said that.

A critique of multiculturalism and its politics of centering whiteness.

I am well my brother and hope you are too.

Can you believe it but it is snowing in South Africa.

It is all snow white :0)

Onward! indeed,
Ridwan