*“*It’s partly because it draws in so many threads – the Cold War intrigue over Cuba; the intensifying Black freedom struggle; the emerging counterculture; and the activism and ideas of the white New Left <https://www.aaihs.org/cuban-revolution-in-america-a-new-book-on-cuba-and-the-u-s-left/> – that define the coming decade.
During his stay in New York, Fidel promoted the politics of anti-imperialism <https://www.aaihs.org/anti-imperialism-knowledge-production-and-political-economy/>, racial equality and leftist revolution with a fervour and an audacity that helped to make him a Sixties icon. Meanwhile, his valorizing of Black freedom fighters, celebration of “Third World” revolutionaries and association with “radical chic” offer us an early glimpse of the kind of cultural politics – the fêting of Black Power activists, open support for the Viet Cong and an instinctive condemnation of American “empire” – that would soon become de rigueur for a generation of young leftists across the United States and Western Europe. I think it’s also worth pointing out that these ten days have a slightly anarchic, rip-it-up quality that makes for a striking contrast with the supposed conformity and drabness of Eisenhower’s America. So, stylistically, the trip helps to usher in a new era of political, social and cultural tumult in a suitably irreverent and rebellious manner. But, whether they agreed with Fidel’s radical politics or not, many Black Harlemites simply took pride in the fact that the Cuban prime minister had paid them the compliment of staying in their community – an area of the city that was usually hidden away from public view, and viewed as a definite no-go area for international statesmen. There was particular satisfaction that, by moving uptown and causing such controversy, Fidel had stuck it to “The Man”: the rumour (sadly untrue) that the U.S. government had been so desperate to prevent the Cubans from moving to Harlem that they had offered to put the delegation up, for free, in midtown, was a source of much delight among the crowds that milled around outside the Theresa.” https://www.aaihs.org/ten-days-in-harlem-an-interview-with-historian-simon-hall/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#1246): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/1246 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76689815/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES<br />#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.<br />#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.<br />#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
