History

Photo: Chang'an avenue in Beijing. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

On 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics' – or Problem of Epochal Social Transformation

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the first of a four-part series.

ROME (IDN) – The "peaceful rise" or "peaceful development" of China is one of the most remarkable processes marking the world economy between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries ... and perhaps the most important.

Over four decades of the era of economic reforms, per capita product growth, industrial production and export rates have been impressive. The Chinese government can proudly show that since 1978 its gross domestic product has multiplied, that China's share in world production has increased fourfold, that China is the number one exporter in the world and that it is the country with the largest currency reserves (mostly in dollars).

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 06 October 2018

Photo: Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, built between 1970 and 1973, was a gift from the People’s Republic of China in memory of Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike who was Prime Minister from 1956 to 1959. CC BY-SA 2.0

China and Sri Lanka: A History that Stretches Back into the Mists of Time – Trade, Religion and Diplomacy - 2

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer of this 2-part series is former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, former Foreign Secretary and former Head of the UN Treaty Section. The articles are based on a talk on 'China and Sri Lanka: A History that Stretches Back into the Mists of Time – Trade, Religion and Diplomacy' given in Sydney on August 26, 2018. Read Part 1 here. – The Editor

COLOMBO (IDN) – In this second part of the series on China and Sri Lanka giving a sweeping overview of the pivotal role of Sri Lanka throughout history, the author looks at latter-day international relations.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 05 September 2018

Photo: The landmark Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre is one of symbols of China-Sri Lanka Friendship. CC BY-SA 3.0

China and Sri Lanka: A History that Stretches Back into the Mists of Time – Trade, Religion and Diplomacy - 1

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

COLOMBO (IDN) – Sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean at the southern tip of India and the meeting point of the monsoon winds, and swirling ocean currents, Sri Lanka occupies an enviable strategic geographical position.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 05 September 2018

Photo: Mass rally in Cuba marked ‘Che’ Guevara’s 50th death anniversary on October 9, 2017. Credit: CubaSi

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 9

By Roberto Massari*

This is the ninth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – FADE-OUT … Scene 9[ Vallegrande, October 9, 2017]

The scene is composite, polychrome and multi-sound. On the large clearing for what in the past was to become the Vallegrande airport in Bolivia, some thousands of people convened by the government of President Evo Morales are gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Che’s fall in combat.

There are many multi-coloured flags, but mostly red with the silhouette of Korda’s famous photo, Andean and Caribbean music, and the banners of political, trade union and cultural associations of various Latin American origins. In the days that proceeded, scholars of Guevarism from various parts of the world had spoken: the author came from Italy but, incredibly, was the only one from Europe.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 27 August 2018

Image: Countries Che Guevara visited (red) and those in which he participated in armed revolution (green). Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 8

By Roberto Massari*

This is the eighth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – MARXIST STORY: Scene 8 [Prague, 1966]

At this point we must devote attention to this polemic, trying first of all to imagine the scene: after the lengthy confinement in the Cuban ambassador’s house in Dar es Salaam, there is a drastic change of continent – from Africa to the heart of old Europe; a large villa on the outskirts of Prague; the semi-clandestine coexistence (Cuban-Czechoslovak “Operation Manuel”) with some of the closest companions (“Pombo” [b. 1940] and “Tuma” [1940-1967]); chess games; study and writing.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; History; 26 August 2018

Photo: Guevara meeting with French existentialist philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir at his office in Havana, March 1960. Sartre later wrote that Che was "the most complete human being of our time". In addition to Spanish, Guevara was fluent in French. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 7

By Roberto Massari*

This is the seventh of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – HERESY STORY: Scene 7 [from Moscow to Havana, 1963-65]

The starting scene for describing this intellectual revival of Guevara’s Marxism is set in Moscow and he described it himself in one of the stenographic recordings of the bi-monthly conversations he held at the Ministry of Industry from 1962 to 1964. Here we are especially interested in some of the recordings of Che’s last year in Cuba as a minister. They are informal but precious materials; even more precious because they have not been re-elaborated or reviewed thus, reflecting Che’s immediate – and by no means diplomatic – thoughts.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 25 August 2018

Photo: Che Guevara Statue, Santa Clara, Cuba (CC0 Public Domain).

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 6

By Roberto Massari*

This is the sixth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – With regard to the “Marxism” of Marx there is not much more, because the rest of the article launches itself into a very imaginative analysis of the progress of the Cuban revolution which I leave out here without remorse.

In the past, however, I have devoted some attention to the hasty manner in which Che had dismissed some statements in that text from the two founding fathers related to Mexico and Bolivar. Here I limit myself to mentioning the piece by Guevara, but for my comment I refer to the detailed analysis I made in Che Guevara. Pensamiento y política de la utopía (pp. 54-9).

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 22 August 2018

Photo: Speaking at the UN General Assembly on December 11, 1964 on behalf of Cuba, Argentinean-born Ernesto "Che" Guevara responds to questions regarding his accent, affirming he is Cuban and willing to die for the liberation of any Latin American country. Credit: UN

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 5

By Roberto Massari*

This is the fifth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – Second half: ORTHODOXY STORY: Scene 6 [from Havana to Moscow, 1959-63]

As is well known, the revolutionary government assigned commander Guevara with tasks of great importance, but all within the economic sphere as president of the Banco Nacional de Cuba, in a first phase, and then as Minister of Industry (at the time unified in a single ministry) until the day of his resignation became operational between the end of 1964 and the spring of 1965.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 21 August 2018

Photo (Public Domain): Cuban photographer Alberto Korda taking a picture of Che Guevara walking through a throng of cameramen down the streets in Havana, Cuba, with arms linked to his wife Aleida March in 1960.

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 4

By Roberto Massari*

This is the fourth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2 and 3.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – Everything that happened between Guatemala and Mexico is now a known story, recounted in the main biographies; but in the late 1960s Hilda was the only direct and reliable source of Che’s Marxist training, given that she had been his “teacher”: this was able to happen because she was more prepared than Ernesto, having a degree in economics, and above all because she had an anti-orthodox Marxist training with roots in APRA (therefore more genuinely Latin American) and not Sovietic (that is, Stalinist and dogmatic).

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 19 August 2018

Photo: Hilda Gadea Acosta (21 March 1925 – February 1974) – a Peruvian economist, Communist leader, author, and the first female Secretary of the Economy of the Executive National Committee for APRA, American Popular Revolutionary Alliance – was Che Guevara's first wife. She married Guevara in Mexico in September 1955, after learning she was pregnant. The marriage ended in a divorce in May 1959. They had a daughter named Hilda Beatriz "Hildita" Guevara Gadea (February 1956 – died 1995). Source: alchetron.com

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 3

By Roberto Massari*

This is the third of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1 and 2.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – FLASHBACK: Scene 3 [Lima, 1952]

To answer, it is necessary to step back in time to the first encounter with Marxism that the young Ernesto had personally experienced in Lima, Peru, during a period of his life in which he had already decided to engage in the search for his own path outside Argentina.

That is, outside of a great country where, in the early 1950s, the ideological alternative for a young radical who wanted to fight for ideals of social emancipation risked being crushed between two main poles: anti-communist Peronism or Stalinist anti-imperialism.