[NYTr] Viva Che! Upcoming Events - Brecht Forum - Oct 30, Nov 5 - NYC

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB)
451 West Street
New York, New York 10014
(212) 924-1858
e-mail: toplab at toplab.org
web: http://www.toplab.org

Viva Che! Behind and Beyond the Icon (Brecht Forum)

* Che's Legacy in Latin America Today, October 30
* Che in Africa, November 5

Detailed descriptions below

*****

Events at the Brecht Forum
451 West Street *
New York City

* travel directions appended below

For more information call (212) 242-4201 or go to
http://www.brechtforum.org

All events presented by the Brecht Forum with co-sponsorship by the
Center for Cuban Studies (http://www.cubaupdate.org) and
Ocean Press (http://www.oceanbooks.com.au)

Ernesto Che Guevara has become one of the world's greatest symbols of
resistance. But behind the icon is a complex and profound individual--an
innovative political thinker, a shrewd and calculating strategist, a
caring family man, and a dedicated revolutionary.

The Brecht Forum's month-long series of programs, opening on October 9,
will feature an art exhibit or photos, paintings, drawings and
memorabilia, as well as panel discussions with various speakers
including Tariq Ali, Herb Boyd, Elombe Brath, Jane Franklin, Joan
Gibbs, Juan Gonzalez, Jeanette Graulau, Rosemary Mealy, Leonard
Weinglass and others. The panelists--some of whom knew Che Guevara and
worked with him--will take a close look at Che's life and work, the
circumstances of his death, and his legacy in Latin America and Africa
today. The series both celebrates Che's extraordinary achievements and
argues that his stand for international socialist change is as relevant
today as it was during his lifetime.

Special thanks to the Center for Cuban Studies and Ocean Press for their
support of this series.

The Brecht Forum is wheelchair accessible.

***

Tuesday, October 30 at 7:30 pm

Che's Legacy in Latin America Today

Joaquin Mauricio Chavez, Sujatha Fernandes, Forrest Hylton and Jeanette
Graulau

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez once remarked that the nineteenth
century was the century of Europe, the twentieth was the century of the
United States, and the twenty-first is to be the century of Latin
America. When Che Guevara and his guerilla column left for Bolivia the
idea was not to wage an armed revolutionary struggle in that country
alone; rather, the project was seen as part of a cohesive strategy
rooted at once in internationalism yet specific to the developing
liberation movements then taking shape throughout Latin America. Manuel
"Red Beard" Pineiro, the person in charge of Cuba's support work on
behalf of liberation movements throughout the world, emphasizes Che's
basic strategic idea for the advancement of such liberation movements:
"It is not necessary to wait for all the proper conditions to exist
before starting the revolutionary struggle; the struggle itself will
create the conditions as it goes along." Did Che Guevara's work in
Bolivia help create these conditions, did Cuban solidarity with armed
revolutionary movements advance the struggle? Some critics will take
note of the seeming irony that, a generation after the death of Che,
left and progressive governments took state power through the electoral
process and not through armed struggle. These critics, though, fail to
understand that these armed movements of two, three and four decades
ago actually *did* lay the groundwork for and create the conditions
where social change was able to be attained through the ballot box.
None other than Chavez, Venezuela's elected leader, points out that
he--and the ongoing upheavals taking place in his country--are
*precisely* the result of the legacy of Che Guevara. This panel will
examine what Che Guevara has meant to Latin America, and how his
internationalist ideology helped shape that continent as it went into
the twenty-first century.

Suggested donation--sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
Free for Brecht Forum subscribers

***

Monday, November 5 at 7:30 pm

Che in Africa

Herb Boyd, Elombe Brath, Joan Gibbs, Joseph Harris and Rosemary Mealy

Africa was a major arena for Ernesto Guevara's work of the early 1960s.
Not as well-known as his activities in Latin America, Che's actions in
Africa--which culminated in his personal participation in the Congo's
Revolutionary War--forged lasting bonds between the Cuban Revolution and
the African continent.

Che organized and led solidarity missions to many of the
newly-independent states which were at that time fighting both
colonialism and neo-colonialism. Cuban military and political support
to various African countries, especially to the fledgling Algerian
Revolution and the early struggle in Angola, was crucial during those
times of upheaval and revolutionary change.

This panel will explore the major contributions Che made to the African
Revolution and his legacy there--a legacy that continues to this day
with the ongoing medical and humanitarian missions Cuba continues to
sponsor.

Suggested donation--sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
Free for Brecht Forum subscribers

***

Travel Directions

The Brecht Forum is at 451 West Street (West Side Highway) in Manhattan,
between Bank and Bethune Streets, 1-1/2 blocks north of West 11 Street.

IND Eighth Avenue A, C, or E train to 14 Street or BMT Canarsie L train
to 8 Avenue (take a few minutes to look at "Life Underground", Tom
Otterness' series of whimsical bronze sculptures scattered throughout
both sections of the station); walk down 8 Avenue to Bank Street, turn
right, walk west to West Street, turn right.

IRT Seventh Avenue 1, 2, or 3 train to 14 Street; get off at south end
of station, walk west on 12 Street to 8 Avenue, left to Bank Street,
turn right, walk west to West Street, turn right.

New Jersey PATH train to Christopher Street; walk north on Greenwich
Street to Bank Street, left to West Street, turn right.

#8 bus to West Street; walk up West Street to 451.

#11, #14A or #20 bus to Abingdon Square; walk west on Bank Street to
West Street, turn right.

#14D bus to 8 Avenue and 14 Street, walk down 8 Avenue to Bank Street,
turn right, walk west to West Street, turn right.