Cultural Policy and Cultural Politics in Revolutionary Cuba: Re-reading the Palabras a los intelectuales (Words to the Intellectuals)

This article re-reads Fidel Castro's speech to Cuban artists and intellectuals at the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí (National Library) in June 1961. Despite extensive discussion of its famous extract, the speech has rarely been examined in depth. This article thus analyses the entire speech, situating it within its co-text and its context and examining its multiple functions, offering as it does an insight into the social and educational implications of cultural revolution in Cuba and the inevitable tensions inherent in these. The article evaluates the negotiations in the text in the light of their relevance to contemporary cultural debates in Cuba.     

El Ejercicio de Pensar: The Rise and Fall of Pensamiento Crítico

In 'El ejercicio de pensar'(the exercise of thinking), Fernando Martínez Heredia ( El Caimán Barbudo 1967: 2–5) made reference to the words of Enrique Varona to describe what, in his view, was the appropriate role of the intellectual in the Cuban Revolution. Varona had argued that thinking was a rare human trait as it went against basic desires that preferred dogmas to ideas. Martínez Heredia's position on the role of the intellectual would have a prophetic character, for, soon after, given responsibility for the direction of the newly created Department of Philosophy at the University of Havana, he led a young group of academics gathered around the journal Pensamiento Crítico . In their heyday, both the group and their publication came to be identified with the concept of the revolutionary (and the Revolution's) intellectual. This article examines the formative process of this new, politically committed, intellectual in the Revolution and explores the role played by this group in the intervening years, including the special relationship it established with the European New Left.     

也谈俄罗斯知识分子的发轫

俄罗斯知识分子问世的问题关系到如何看待俄罗斯知识分子的本质和特征,怎样评价知识分子在民族文化中的作用,知识分子的民族特征、类型及其内在规律和发展趋势等问题.俄学界之所以对此争论不休,很大程度上与其对知识分子界定标准的多元化有关:或以社会结构为依据,或以知识分子的特点为出发点,或从知识分子的功能角度.实际上上述种种观点互为补充,应加以综合分析研究.     

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and the Art of Revolutionary Cinema

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea has been widely acclaimed for his cinematic production and for his role as a key figure in the elaboration of a distinctively Cuban aesthetic. Drawing on notions such as Martín-Barbero's mediations, Billig's banal nationalism, and Gutiérrez Alea's own viewer's dialectic, consideration is given here to the mutual influences of the Revolution's cultural policies on cinema, and of cinema on the Revolution. Analysis will focus on the films Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968), Hasta cierto punto (1983), Fresa y chocolate (1993) and Guantanamera (1995), which will allow for discussion of some of the director's key themes, including gender issues, the place and role of intellectuals and artists in relation to the Revolution, and the defence of a critical space in which to explore such issues.     

The Illusion of Equality: Machismo and Cuban Cinema of the Revolution

This article attempts to show how certain Cuban films both reflect and construct behaviour concerning male–female relations. In so doing, they illustrate how Cuban cinema provided a mainstream cultural forum for controversial and contradictory debates on gender relations. At times, films that attempt to produce images of gender equality, or at least the possibility of this, merely provide the illusion of equality while maintaining the status quo of patriarchy. That is, the images they present of male–female relations appear on the surface to represent an increasing desire to achieve absolute equality between men and women. However, close analysis of these films, using various tools of feminist and feminist film theory, reveals a continuation of certain patriarchal tendencies that the films themselves are attempting to criticise. The films to be discussed are: De cierta manera (Sara Gómez, 1974–1978), Retrato de Teresa (Pastor Vega, 1979) and Hasta cierto punto (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1983).     

The Veterans' Movements and the Early Republican State in Cuba

This article analyses the Cuban Association of Veterans and Patriots of 1923–1924. This was one among many of such organisations in the early republican period in Cuba. Its formation was motivated by a need to put political pressure on the incumbent administration of the nation for political, social and economic demands. Of particular interest is the insight an analysis of this movement gives us into early state formation in the early republican period, and how ties of loyalty from the wars of independence helped shape the politics and political party formation of post‐independence Cuba.     

Che,Chevys, and Hemingway's Daiquiris: Cuban Tourism in a Time of Globalisation

In Cuba over the past two decades, diverse and apparently contradictory aspects of tourism have emerged along with state‐led development and market‐driven initiatives. This ethnographic account examines the complex ways in which Cubans and international visitors experience tourism as an economic and cultural force. Despite the unintended consequences of tourism, which has produced growing social inequality and illicit trade, tourism has met surprising success in appealing to desires for both pre‐revolutionary pleasures and enduring revolutionary culture and politics.     

Jail-house Rock: Cuba, AIDS, and the Incorporation of Dissent in Bengt Norborg's Socialism or Death

Abstract — The demerits and merits of Cuba's quarantine facilities for AIDS patients and seropositives have been widely debated. This article expands the debate by referring to the phenomenon of HIV self-injection in Cuba, as documented in the 1995 film, Socialism or Death. There is an assessment of the economic, medical, and educational context which informed the events depicted by the film. HIV self-injection is discussed alongside reference to the development in Cuba of a counter-cultural youth movement based around a common interest in rock music. The testimony of self-injected patients and their families, and the reactions of Cuban medical officials are summarised. Comparisons are made between Cuban policy and radical queer theory.     

Cultural Policy,Literature and Readership in Revolutionary Cuba: The View from the 21st Century

This article presents a fresh perspective on cultural policy in revolutionary Cuba, focusing specifically on the centrality of dialogue with the general readership to the production, reception and regulation of literature. It first summarises the positions regarding revolutionary literature that have been asserted and essayed at various points along the sometimes chaotic trajectory of revolution in Cuba. It then examines reading-related policies and recent attempts within Cuba to re-orient reading practices in the aftermath of the Período Especial [Special Period], and ends by presenting current Cuban debates on the need to mitigate dialogic breakdown between literary text and readership.     

The Disappeared and the Mesa de Diálogo in Chile 1999–2001: Searching for Those Who Never Grew Old

This paper describes steps taken in order to deal with information regarding human rights abuses in Chile during the Pinochet regime, focusing on the most recent initiative, the Mesa de Diálogo (1999–2001) whose final report was given to president Lagos in January 2001. Two national initiatives, i.e. the establishment and reports of the Comisión de Verdad y Reconciliación (1991) and the following-up of this inquiry by the Corporación Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación (1996) preceded La Mesa and are discussed in this paper. The paper concludes by suggesting that the Chilean transition to democracy will remain incomplete if the fate of the disappeared is not fully known and legally investigated.     

俄国知识分子与社会革命党政治恐怖主义路线

知识分子是俄国社会革命党领导阶层的重要组织部分,他们以极大的热情投身革命事业,但由于认识上的局限性和政治思维出现的偏差,他们片面而偏激地宣传政治恐怖主义.正是这种政治思维所导致的错误惯性断送了社会革命党的政治生命.     

‘Let's Win this Game Together’: Children's Rights Violations,Macro‐Securitisation and the Transformative Potential of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Sport's transformative potential is known to support marginalised children, to deal with traumatic experiences and instil positive values; yet hosting mega sporting events (MSEs) can have negative impacts. Drawing on participatory research with favela‐based children during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, this article argues that MSEs bring a macro‐securitisation of urban life, which causes considerable harm. This paper also suggests that the inclusion of children's voices in advocacy debates can challenge top‐down securitisation and might allow MSEs to foster further positive social transformation. Therefore, juxtaposed with causing harm, macro‐securitisations can open opportunities for children to take action and have their voices heard.     

From Sarmiento to Borges: The Construction of an Intellectual Lineage in the Magazine Punto de vista under the Argentine Dictatorship

This article analyses the revision of the Argentine intellectual tradition demonstrated in the magazine Punto de vista throughout its first nineteen issues, published during the last Argentine dictatorship (1976–1983). From Sarmiento and the generation of 1837 to Borges and the Sur generation, the reassessment of Argentine intellectuals' legacies set out by editors of Punto de vista was an explicit attempt to insert the magazine into a recognised intellectual lineage. At the same time, it responded to a search for identity prompted by the critical and repressive context in which the magazine was first published.     

民族国家意识的培育与廉政文化建设——西方和亚洲国家廉政文化建设经验研究

廉政文化建设与民族国家意识的培育之间存在较高的关联度。领导层热爱祖国,通常会拥有高尚的道德情操,廉洁奉公。国民富有民族国家意识,有益于形成以符合国家利益为尺度衡量的善恶价值观念,形成公平、公正、诚实、向善的道德风尚。引导经济社会快速发展,加强对爱国主义的宣传教育,是提升民族国家意识的重要途径。     

一劳永逸净化俄罗斯——1922年俄共(布)驱逐知识分子运动

1922年,俄共(布)经过精心准备,发起了一场驱逐旧知识分子的运动.这场运动是布尔什维克党镇压反对派行动的必然延续,是苏维埃意识形态建设的组成部分,对布尔什维克党与知识分子正常关系的建立产生巨大的消极影响.驱逐运动以人文和社会科学学者为主要打击对象,70余名俄罗斯传统思想和文化的优秀代表被迫离开祖国,而俄共(布)期望的知识分子无产阶级化并没有出现.政治上的不信任和长期的意识形态钳制,制造了苏联特有的"夜间人"现象.     

On the Ruins of the Democratic Transition: Human Rights as an Agenda Item in Abeyance for the Brazilian Democracy

This article discusses one of the main controversies in Brazilian society at this moment: the development of a national policy of human rights and the return of the debate on political crimes committed under the military dictatorship from 1964 onwards. The main hypothesis associates the barriers imposed on that human rights policy to the way in which democracy was retaken in the country and the model on which important segments related to the authoritarian government occupied strategic roles. Even today, this presents a real difficulty in terms of recovery and, if necessary, punishment for the crimes committed by the government during the dictatorship, which in turn makes the development of human rights policies more complicated.     

Student Protest and the Nueva Mayoría Reforms in Chile

Chile's Nueva Mayoría government (2014–2018) responded more forcefully to student demands for a more assertive public role in education than any of its post‐authoritarian predecessors. Existing scholarship suggests that this change reflected the success of the 2011 student protests in tapping into latent public discontent with neoliberalism and the politics of consensus. This article argues that it is also crucial to understand how the wave of protest interacted with the dynamics of party politics at the elite level. Public support translated into substantive policy and institutional changes because it contributed to a coalition and platform shift that favoured more extensive reform.     

The Social Function of Carlos Fuentes: A Critical Intellectual or in the ‘Shadow of the State’?

This article seeks to raise meaningful questions about the role, or wider social function, of the intellectual within state–civil society relations in Latin America characterised by conditions of socio–economic modernisation. It does so by pursuing such questions through a detailed examination of the social function of Carlos Fuentes as an intellectual in Mexico. Through a focus on the social function of Carlos Fuentes, it is possible to distinguish the role intellectual activity can play in the construction and contestation of hegemony in Mexico. Most crucially, the article prompts consideration of the social basis of hegemony and the agency of intellectuals organically tied to particular social forces functioning through state–civil society relations in the struggle over hegemony. Put differently, it is possible to grant due regard to the mixture of critical opposition and accommodation that has often confronted the intellectual within Latin America.     

The State Duty to Support the Poor in Kant's Doctrine of Right

Recent works of Weinrib and Ripstein argue in favour of the state duty to support the poor found in Kant's 'Doctrine of Right'. The argument is not Kant's own, but is said to flow from the most basic precepts of that work. It is, roughly, the following: because the institution of property rights can lead to the situation whereby, there being nothing left to appropriate, persons could become dependent upon others for their very existence, the validity of property rights (and private rights in general) in the civil condition depends upon the state's supporting the poor so as to ensure that such relations of dependence do not arise. This article argues that this welfarist state duty is incompatible with the structure of the Doctrine of Right, and independently implausible.