Impacts of the Cuban Revolution

MJLC Study Group Week 8

MJLC Overview

• Abolitionist magazine and study group
• Semester theme: Revolution
• Engage with abolitionist ideas

Agenda

• Introductions
• Icebreaker, guiding questions
• Background of Cuban Revolution
• “History will absolve me”
• P.M. short film and discussion
• Impacts of Cuban Revolution
• General impact discussion

Icebreaker!

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what is an album or some music that you have been listening to/liking recently

Guiding Questions

• How did the Cuban revolution start? How was victory gained?
• What was the impact of the Cuban Revolution? Did history absolve Castro?
• Do the negative/imperfect parts of the aftermath of a revolution outweigh the positive components?

Brief history of the Cuban Revolution

• 1952: Fulgencio Batista seizes power through a coup, cancels elections–U.S. supports his regime
• Fidel Castro and comrades attack Moncada military base
• Castro gives a 2 hour long speech called “History will absolve me”
• Castro gains amnesty and joins with Che Guevara, defeats Batista-U.S. regime by 1959 using guerrilla tactics
• Castro establishes new government, supported by USSR
• U.S. places embargo on Cuba

Fulgencio Batista

Che Guevara and Fidel Castro

“History will absolve me”

• While on trial after being arrested during Moncada attack, Castro gave a two hour speech in defense of his actions
• Spread throughout Cuba as a revolutionary manifesto

Fidel Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack, 1953

“History will absolve me”

• For most of this excerpt of the end of Castro’s speech, he justifies his revolutionary actions with many examples of “rebellion against tyranny,” across time and space
• Why does Castro take this much time to go over this? What point is he trying to make here?
• How do you think the everyday Cuban reacted to Castro’s speech in 1953?

P.M. by Sabá Cabrera Infante and Orlando Jiménez Leal (1960)

P.M. by Sabá Cabrera Infante and Orlando Jiménez Leal (1960)

• Experimental film of Havana nightlife recorded on a handheld camera the year after the Cuban Revolution
• Catalyst for first crisis after Cuban Revolution
• Considered counter-revolutionary: sex workers, homosexuality, decadence of Batista regime, American tourism

Impacts of Cuban Revolution

• Acted as the front of the fight against U.S. imperialism, inspired many revolutions afterwards
• Extended food and housing essentials to everyone, instead of just the the cities
• Wage inequality increased and discrimination persisted
• Famine in Cuba after USSR collapse
• U.S. embargo
• Caused displacement

Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior, located at the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana, bears a large image of revolutionary Che Guevara

Impacts of Cuban Revolution Discussion

• Did history absolve Castro? Will history eventually mostly absolve him?
• Do the negative/imperfect parts of the aftermath of a revolution outweigh the positive components?

MJLC Opportunities!

Podcast/Online Features

Study group members and magazine staff can pitch and write their own online feature (any genre, any length) and podcast episodes during the semester that aligns with social justice and/or literary criticism (not necessarily tied to the theme).

How to pitch an online feature/podcast episode:

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1. Talk to Quinn or Landis with an idea, and we will show you how to pitch!
2. You will receive feedback from who you pitched it to, letting you know if you have been selected to be featured
3. If staff submit → Landis or Quinn will edit it; if study group submits then any editor can edit it

Next week preview!

Necessity of violence in political activism; combatting capitalism and colonialism

meeting review!