I am a 20th Century Escaped Slave

Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur, CounterPunch

My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government’s policy towards people of color. I am an ex-political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984.

SA must see its talents in midst of its dysfunction

Nomalanga Mkhize, Business Day

ABOUT a decade ago, one of my childhood friends, Michael, called me to tell me he had made it into the SA-Cuba medical training programme. Finally he could ditch his job at a Nelspruit mall, where he worked as a low-paid casual behind a shop counter.

He should never have been behind that counter in the first place. Michael was smart, gifted but had no money to get to university and, in the adverse conditions of his rural high school, produced competent but not outstanding matric results. When he left for Cuba, it felt like he had escaped the social dead-end that was our Mpumalanga village by the skin of his teeth.

Bravo Estela

Nelson Mandela & Fidel Castro

Vashna Jagarnath, The Con

Living in Grahamstown, a small settler town that began its life as a fort on the colonial frontier, is often hard work.

On most days it seems that the spirit of John Graham, the British soldier sent to drive the Xhosa across the Fish River in 1811, would feel more at home in this town today than that of Makhanda Nxele, who, seven years later in 1818, led an attack on the colonial fort.

But here and there daily life throws up sometimes surprising moments of inspiration. And every now and then we are richly indulged by visits from remarkable people.

In recent years Tariq Ali, Jacques Depelchin, Lewis Gordon, Silvia Federici, Nomboniso Gasa, John Holloway, Achille Mbembe, VY Mudimbe and Raymond Suttner have all shared their gifts and strength with us.

An Evening With Film Maker Estele Bravo

MANDELA AND FIDEL / SOUTH AFRICA AND CUBA: AN EVENING WITH FILM MAKER ESTELA BRAVO (Wed, 26 February, 6.30pm - Barratt One)

The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), School of Journalism and Media Studies, and the International Office cordially invite you to a screening of two documentaries by acclaimed American documentary film-maker Estela Bravo.  We are privileged to have Estela Bravo introduce and discuss the documentaries with us at the screening.

"MANDELA AND FIDEL" (2013, 30 min) recounts the friendship of ex-president Nelson Mandela with Fidel Castro of Cuba. Based on the unique access Estela Bravo gained to both men, she explores the source of their friendship in the context of the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.

"AFTER THE BATTLE" (1991, 58 min) movingly recounts the stories of Cuban, South African, and Angolan soldiers who participated in the epic battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola in 1987. What was the motivation, and what was the outcome, for the ones who took part in the conflict, and for their families? Those who fought answer these questions. Filmed on location in South Africa, Angola, Namibia and Cuba, Bravo's documentary examines the politics and human consequences of the war from all sides. It features remarkable footage, archival material, and interviews with Cuban and South African soldiers, as well as the grieving families of those who were killed in the war.

The Secret History of How Cuba Helped End Apartheid in South Africa

Guerrilla Warfare

by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, 1961

Click here to download this book.

The fundamental characteristic of a guerrilla band is mobility. This permits it in a few minutes to move far from a specific theatre and in a few hours far even from the region, if that becomes necessary; permits it constantly to change front and avoid any type of encirclement. As the circumstances of the war require, the guerrilla band can dedicate itself exclusively to fleeing from an encirclement which is the enemy's only way of forcing the band into a decisive fight that could be unfavorable; it can also change the battle into a counter- encirclement (small bands of men are presumably surrounded by the enemy when suddenly the enemy is surrounded by stronger contingents; or men located in a safe place serve as a lure, leading to the encirclement and annihilation of the entire troops and supply of an attacking force).

Havana’s Casa de las Americas to Honor Legacy of Martinican Frantz Fanon

Radio Cadena Agramonte

Havana, Cuba, Oct 20.- The life and work of Martinican intellectual Frantz Fanon (Black skin, white masks) will be the focus of a colloquium to be held at Havana’s Casa de las Americas cultural institution, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death.

Che Guevara: Speech at United Nations (1964)

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life

He became a myth in his own lifetime and an international martyr-figure upon his death; he was a revolutionary fighter, a military strategist, a social philosopher, an economist, a medical doctor, and a friend and confidant of Fidel Castro. Che Guevara’s dream was an epic one – to unite Latin America and the rest of the developing world through armed revolution, and to end once and for all the poverty, injustice and petty nationalisms that had bled it for centuries. In the end Che failed in his quest but he is recognized as that one-in-a-million personality who just might have pulled it off.

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life shuttles between the revolutionary capitals of Havana and Algiers to the battlegrounds of Bolivia and the Congo; from the halls of power in Moscow and Washington to the exile havens of Miami, Mexico and Guatemala, in a gripping tale of revolution, international intrigue and covert operations. It has an epic sweep as it evokes an era of tumultuous change, describing major events like the Bay of Pigs invasion, the October Missile crisis and Kennedy’s assassination. Among its cast of characters are scores of historic personalities including Castro, Kennedy, Kruschev, Mao Tse-tung, Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, to name but a few.

Che - a film directed by Steven Soderbergh

Writings and Speeches by Che Guevara

From Che Lives!

· Man and Socialism in Cuba
Che summarizes his views on socialism in this writing. Highly recommended if you want to know more about Che's ideals and theories.
· General Principles of Guerrilla Warfare
The first chapter of Che's book "Guerrilla Warfare".
· At the United Nations
Che's speech to the UN on December 11, 1964.