[NYTr] Viva Che! October Is Che Guevara Month in New York City Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 02:38:18 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [We've put out announcements of some of these events several times, but they all look wonderful. -NY Transfer] The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB) 451 West Street New York, New York 10014 (212) 924-1858 e-mail: toplab@toplab.org web: http://www.toplab.org Mailing list: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/toplab-announce Viva Che! October is Che Guevara Month! October 8, 2007 marks the fortieth anniversary of the capture in Bolivia of Che Guevara by the CIA with the collaboration of the Bolivian army. The next day, he was murdered. Several events will be held during the month of October to commemorate the death of Che and celebrate his life and political work. 1. Celebration of Che Guevara's Life (July 26 Coalition), October 6 2. Viva Che! Behind and Beyond the Icon (Brecht Forum) a. Viva Che! Behind and Beyond the Icon; exhibit opening/reception/films/forum, October 9 b. Che's Life and Work, October 17 c. Who Killed Che?, October 25 d. Che's Legacy in Latin America Today, October 30 e. Che in Africa, November 5 Detailed descriptions below ***** Celebrate the Life of Che Guevara! Join the Fight to Free the Cuban Five! Sponsored by the July 26 Coalition Saturday October 6, 2007 6:00 pm: doors open/music 7:00 pm: program Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center 310 West 43 Street (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues) New York City Forty years after the murder of Ernesto Che Guevara under the orders of the US government, join a public conversation and discussion. Featured Presentation: --Speaker from the Cuban Mission to the United Nations --Short film presentation --Music and poetry inspired by Che Wheelchair accessible Travel Directions: IND A, B, C, D, E, F or V trains to 42 Street; BMT N, Q, R, or W trains and IRT 1, 2, 3 or 7 trains to Times Square/42 Street. Walk west (with the traffic) on 43 Street to 310 West 43 Street. ***** 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 9, 2007 at 6:30 pm Viva Che! Behind and Beyond the Icon exhibit opening/reception/films/forum Tariq Ali, Greg Grandin, Juan Gonzalez, Chesa Boudin and others TBA; moderated by Sujatha Fernandez Che Guevara, the Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary was murdered in Bolivia, with the backing of the CIA, forty years ago this October. A leader of enormous courage and charisma, Che has become a symbol of resistance around the world. This evening the Brecht Forum opens a series of events that both celebrate Che's extraordinary achievements and argues that his stand for international socialist change is as relevant today as it was during his lifetime. Suggested donation--sliding scale: $6/$10/$15 Free for Brecht Forum subscribers *** Wednesday, October 17 at 7:30 pm Che's Life and Work Reggie Boorstein, Joseph Harris and others TBA When the photographer Alberto Diaz, known more popularly as Korda, aimed his Leica at Ernesto Guevara in March 1960 he had no idea that the resulting shot would quickly become the most renowned and most reproduced picture in the history of photography, nor did he foresee that it would become a famous and instantly recognizable iconographic image of one man, appearing the world over on t-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains, record album covers, lapel buttons, and even Halloween masks. Forty years after his death, this image of Che the Heroic Guerilla endures, but what has too often been obscured in the piles of fabric and ceramic junk is the *person* of Che Guevara. True: because of who he was and what he did, Che's natural place in revolutionary history ultimately lies in the mountains of the Sierra Maestra, or the plains of Congo, or the altiplano of Bolivia. But beyond the Heroic Guerilla, behind the icon was a complex and profound individual: an innovative political thinker, a caring family man, a shrewd and calculating strategist, a dedicated revolutionary who cast his own unique mold. This panel, some of whose members knew Che Guevara and worked with him, will take a close look at his life and work is all its facets, paying attention especially to Che's contributions to communist political theory. Suggested donation--sliding scale: $6/$10/$15 Free for Brecht Forum subscribers *** Thursday, October 25 at 7:30 pm Who Killed Che? Jane Franklin, Michael Smith and Leonard Weinglass This panel will lay out the specifics of what is known about the CIA's involvement in the murder of Che Guevara and trace the links between the CIA's actions and continuing attacks on the Cuban Revolution. Suggested donation--sliding scale: $6/$10/$15 Free for Brecht Forum subscribers *** 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. === The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB) toplab@toplab.org http://www.toplab.org "My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." --George W. Bush, May 1, 2003 "...I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult, and that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult--and we are prevailing." --George W. Bush, June 28, 2005 "Our cause in Iraq is noble and necessary....America is engaged in a new struggle that will set the course for a new century. We can and we will prevail." --George W. Bush, January 10, 2007 "Prevailing in Iraq is not going to be easy." --George W. Bush, March 19, 2007 "[My son] Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives." --Cindy Sheehan, May 28, 2007 +U.S. military fatalities through May 1, 2003: 140 +U.S. military fatalities through June 28, 2005: 1743 +U.S. military fatalities through January 10, 2007: 3017 +U.S. military fatalities through March 19, 2007: 3217 +U.S. military fatalities as of October 4, 2007: 3808 (this figure exceeds the number of people killed in all of the incidents that occurred on September 11, 2001) +Iraqi civilian fatalities through May 1, 2003: 1982 +Iraqi civilian fatalities through June 28, 2005 (estimated by IraqBodyCount.net): 22,563 B 25,560* +Iraqi civilian fatalities through January 10, 2007 (estimated by IraqBodyCount.net): 53,101 B 58,704* +Iraqi civilian fatalities through March 19, 2007 (estimated by IraqBodyCount.net): 59,326 B 65,160* +Iraqi civilian fatalities as of October 4, 2007 (estimated by IraqBodyCount.net): 74,528 B 81,222* +Iraqi civilian fatalities as of July 2006 (estimated by The Lancet): 654,965 *These figures are based on the number of fatalities cited in various news reports and have been criticized, with much justification, for not giving an accurate assessment of the real civilian death count. A much more rigorous and statistically-reliable study, conducted by teams from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and Al-Mustansiriya University, and published in The Lancet (the British medical journal) in the Fall of 2004, put the figure at around 100,000 civilians dead. However, that data had been based on "conservative assumptions", according to research team leader Les Roberts, and the actual count at that time was credibly assumed to be significantly higher. For example, The Lancet study's data greatly underestimated fatalities in Fallujah due to the surveying problems encountered there at that time. Most recently, a second Lancet study, released on October 10, 2006, now indicates that 654,965 "excess" deaths of Iraqi civilians have occurred since the outbreak of the aggression and genocide committed by the United States against the people of Iraq. Sources: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/ http://icasualties.org/oif/ http://www.zmag.org/lancet.pdf http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1338749,00.html http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/Iraq_war.html http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6271 http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20041025/008279.html http://www.thelancet.com/webfiles/images/journals/lancet/s0140673606694919.pdf _______________________________________________ * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================