I found this book to be quite dry. I know it is written in the form of a diary, but much of what Che says is very dry and repetitive: talking about ambushes, traveling, meeting local people, recruiting, challenges they faced, etc. Nevertheless unlike the other diary we’ve read, this diary had a purpose behind it which was to keep down all important details, maybe because Che believed that they could be of use sometime later on in the revolution or post-revolution. Therefore, Che already writes his diary in a somewhat more formal way than how most diaries are written, and the way he writes (i.e. his language) reflects that and is detailed and concise. Nevertheless, somethings in this diary are worth noting. For example, how he portrays himself in such great ways. Page 2 where it says “but the respect he inspires and the power of his stony gaze deeply affects and confuses them”. Then on page 7 “Che is transformed into a hardened symbol of resistance, a symbol of the fight for what is just, of passion, of the necessity of being fully human, multiplied infinitely in the ideals and weapons of those who struggle”. This quote besides idolizing Che, also represents what the Cuban Revolution meant to Cubans. For them the revolution was a symbol of resistance, and it was a fight for justice; and when it says “of the necessity of being fully human”, it suggests that fighting for a good cause is natural and nothing to be ashamed of, that having these feelings makes us human. On page 6 it is also interesting how Che says, “A phrase comes to mind, one of those that reduces great truths to a few words “in a revolution, if it’s a true revolution, you win or die”. This quote is interesting because Che is suggesting that certain revolutions are true or not. In other words, in a true revolution there is really only one cause, you fight to win, or you die. Maybe Che does not see or believe in some “middle point” as this means that what was fought for has not yet been achieved. Besides, this quote also shows how much a soldier he is, that when on the field it’s either life or death. I also like this quote on page 19 where he mentions that “he did not see the struggle in Bolivia as an isolated occurrence, rather as part of a revolutionary liberation movement that would soon extend to other countries in South America. This quote shows us that Che’s ultimate goals was to spread the revolution, to free all the people who were enslaved or lost their land, he saw this a global problem, one that required everyone to join in. This global problem he refers to as “being converted into economic colonies of Yankee imperialism” (page 27). Despite his maybe seriousness and dedication to the revolution he is also depicted as a caring man. Page 28 describes him in this manner “Che did his utmost to safeguard the withdrawal of these comrades to a safer place”. This quote seems to want to portray Che as this protector. Lastly, page 31 made me realize of another interesting thing. It says that this book was translated into other languages and sent to different countries thereby to help “spread the revolution” which was Che’s goal, going back to what I mentioned previously, that Che did not want this to stop in Bolivia, he wanted this to expand. The end of the book also has 2-3 interesting things. On page 266 he says, “in publicly announcing the first battle of the war, we are establishing what will be our norm: revolutionary truth”. The part “revolutionary truth” really furthers his cause and the revolution, making the revolution seem more honest, without bad intentions, a revolution based on the true conditions that led to its genesis, and once again goes back to what was mentioned earlier when he seemed to suggest that there are “true and fake” revolutions. I especially found interesting what he said further down the page, “today we make an appeal to workers, peasants, intellectuals, to everyone who feels the time has to come to confront violence with violence….”. At the beginning of the semester we had to come up with what ideas we associate with revolutions, one of which was violence. Here Che not only mentions that reality, but he also seems to justify it implying that the only way to win a revolution is by violence and destroying the enemy. I end with page 276 where he says “a worker has the obligation to struggle with all their strength against the common enemy”. Here once again he seems to be justifying revolution and violence and implying that it is a moral duty, because otherwise you are allowing the enemy to win and continue his oppressive ways of ruling. Then I liked how he says “I invite you to join workers of the underground….”. By saying underground it shows that revolutions start from the lower class, those left at the bottom who are forgotten by the government. And finally, he ends with these words “we await you”, once again showing that his goal was to spread the revolution and await more people to join in his cause. The revolution for him was a global project.

While watching this movie, I noticed a lot of similarities between the movie and the novel we read Guerrilla Warfare. What I particularly liked however, was this narrative shift within the movie from the perspective of Che to the perspective of Fidel while in New York during a UN conference. What this narrative shift accomplishes is it looks at the Cuban Revolution in two, but related, fields. Through the voice of Che we see what the Revolution was like through a local lens, that of the soldiers, recruiting, training, traveling, and fighting. However, the perspective of Fidel in New York offers, or better yet, reminds us of the political implications of the Cuban Revolution. That was something that was not really mentioned in the novel Guerrilla Warfare. The political aspect of the Revolution, I think, is also very important as it addresses other important problems Cuba as a country faced at the time, such as the trade embargo, and the presence of US imperialism. These issues play an important role in the Cuban Revolution as they perpetuated the current problems associated with the Batista regime: mainly hunger, poverty, and agrarian reform.

Now I would like to go deeper and talk about some parts of the movie that I found quite interesting. For example at around the 23:00 minute Che says that he doesn’t plan to retire being a revolutionary, that one can never stop being a revolutionary.  This is quite captivating as I thought that revolutionaries fight a war to bring change, and once the war is over and a new order in in place, the revolution stops. But by affirming that one can never stop being a revolutionary it defies our modern understanding of what a revolution is. Is a revolution simply a war to bring change? This interpretation now seems to be inaccurate since Che believes once a revolutionary, always a revolutionary, there is this sense that a revolution goes on. But what is this “revolution” then? Just before the 23:00 minute Che underlines the importance of the “spirit of the men” in making a revolution successful. And this spirit he claims, is the will to fight and defend one’s values which can never go away. So maybe to Che, a revolution is not about war, or as much about bringing change, but more importantly about the “spirit of the men”; this sense of honor and patriotism, and fighting to protect one’s country and its ideals. Then around the 48:00 minute Che also states that the most fundamental part of a revolutionary is love. And he operationalizes love as love for justice and humanity. Without this quality, a revolutionary cannot exist. In general, I like these quotes about Che because he challenges our notion of revolutions. But I also believe that interpreting revolutions the way Che does, acts as a sort of binding agent. By binding agent I mean he seems to connect people together, creating this sense of fraternity and solidarity. He uses people’s emotions, struggles, to put everyone, no matter social conditions, as equal people undergoing the same problems, and for that reason, this is a collective fight. This collective fight means therefore, that the soldiers are not fighting for themselves, but rather for everyone.

Although there is much more to say I would like to address one more part of the movie I quite liked. Around the 57:00 minute Che finds himself more possible recruits. In front of him is a group, with two young brothers 14, and 16 years of age, 1 women, and the rest men. He says, that a joining a war is not just about shooting and winning but that a nation that cannot read or write is easy to deceive. Here Che brings up another very important topic: education. What is interesting is how only the young boys and the lady knew how to read and write. Many people have already said this, but I repeat, education is a powerful tool. With education one can have the possibility to challenge ideas but also to form new ones. Ideas are also powerful as they can bring change. So by having an education, one can bring change.

This movie has a lot of important themes. But more than anything, it is trying, or better yet, Che is trying to help us look at what a revolution truly is; one about ideals. So in this regard, this movies can also be seen as quite different from the novel Guerrilla Warfare as in that book, there is more of an emphasis on actual tactics, and a guide on how to create a revolution. Maybe this week we can talk more about similarities and differences between the two (movie and novel) to help us better understand more about this term “revolution”, which is ultimately what this course is about.

Before I read the book, my eyes see a picture of a grenade, on the top right hand corner of it appears to be a point eye range, and beneath both these images is the title “Guerrilla Warfare, and Introduction”. Already I am questioning myself whether this book is actually going to teach me what it means to be in a war and how to go about it. Like, even the fact that someone could write a book about it makes it seem not only revolutionary in our standards, but also part of the Cuban revolution where the main goal was to recruit people, join masses, and fight against the oppressors. And yet, as I read this book my doubts turn into reality and this book goes into great length, very much in detail, and one could tell, with lots of time, dedication, careful choice of words, and cause. I will say somethings that grabbed my attention while trying to understand and accept how someone could really have gone so far as to write a book on how to do war and win. What first struck me was how he clearly states that war is a science (page 9), that it follows laws and influenced by variables, such that if you do not follow the “scientific method”, in this case “the way of the war”, then you will end up losing (page 9). And we see how this strong affirmation is present in the way he writes his whole book and the language he uses. It is all very detailed, and carefully chosen, and he always gives us different scenarios and that every scenario requires different tactics. But the main idea of war as a science is really interesting. What purpose or effect does treating war like science have on our understanding of revolutions, or our lives in general, I don’t know. Changing the subject, I also like how he describes guerrilla soldiers as social reformers and also agrarian revolutionaries, both of which are true in the context of the Cuban Revolution and he argues, true in all cases of revolutions. Even more interesting, is how he also describes guerrilla warfare as an “embryo” (page 12) in which he describes guerrilla warfare as a prelude to other bigger and significant wars. I can understand this comparison, but I find that it also devalues guerrilla warfare, suggesting that it is ultimately not the one that will lead to victory, the one that will lead to victory is a more advanced stage of guerrilla warfare maybe a civil war. Throughout the book his language is quite metaphorical. For example on page 17 he describes one phase of guerilla warfare as like a queen bee with other bees taking over another beehive. Other things he mentions are ammunitions, food, travel kit, geography, the use of animals, hunting tools, tools to make other tools, a diary to keep notes on, tactical strategies such as destroying enemies’ infrastructure, communication, food supply, etc. Like this is a truly a book intended to teach someone who wants to go to war and learn what it takes. I must though point out what he says about terrorism. On page 21 he clearly distinguishes sabotage which for him is “a revolutionary and highly effective method of warfare” with terrorism which he say is “ineffective and indiscriminate in its results” that it only kills unnecessary people. Although I agree with him on that point, I would also like to see how he views his vision of guerrilla warfare no less different. In the end, innocent people die, regardless of them being the enemy or not, and both are forms of violence created by a group of people who use an ideology or goal as there source of inspiration and justification. Nevertheless, I just found it very interesting how he clearly demarcates guerrilla warfare with terrorism, and on numerous occasions throughout the book. There is also a sense of iconizing guerrilla soldiers, where he describes them as strong, disciplined, teachers, messengers of revolutions, and willing to die without fear. Also interesting to add to these descriptions, is how on page 33 he says that “in Cuban war of liberation, to abandon a weapon is a grave offence”. There is this further sense of cult and macho solider like attitude, that the war encompasses honor and dignity. One other interesting topic to discuss his view of women in guerrilla warfare. On page 92 he starts off by saying that women play a vital role, but then further down contradicts himself saying they play a “minor role”, and furthermore, says their only role in the guerrilla warfare is to cook for men and help with the technical stuff. I just find this interesting as for someone who is fighting for a noble cause which is agrarian reforms, and against an oppressive enemy who is hurting the people, he still has this gender stereotype problem where in his view women should occupy less significant jobs. There are just 5 more things I would very briefly like to say. I like how on page 121 he says “revolutionary indoctrination is the basis of national security”. He is really making it clear that revolutions, and teaching about it, serve in the interest of the people who are oppressed and need to fight back in order to live. Also on page 127 he says “Cuba is the symbol of nationality renewed” and “Fidel Castro is the symbol of liberation”. These quotes are now starting to idealize these concepts of the revolution further. Now on a more important issue, Che at the end of the book leaves us with a very good reflection question, “is guerrilla warfare the only formula for seizing power in Latin America?” I appreciate this quote because it makes us think that there may be other alternatives, not just violence. At least, this is how I interpreted his reasons to be. Then 2 pages later, on page 145 he says that “revolutions are inevitable because of the conditions under which they are made”. This is true, and he further goes on by saying “he who wages war in a country when he can avoid it, is a criminal, just as he who fails to promote war which cannot be avoided is a criminal”. Once again showing that revolutions are necessary and at times inevitable. At the end of reading this novel we obviously see that to him, guerrilla warfare is the only and best means of winning, and which is why he went to great lengths to write this book. He has in this book brought up good points, and one has to admire his determination and cause. But still, after reading this book, I still find it hard to comprehend how someone could have the “audacity” to write a book that promotes and encourages people to take arms and tell them how to successfully do it. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read.