by Anindya Sen
Frontier | 05 January, 2017
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz passed away at the age of 90 on November 25, 2016 in Santiago de Cuba. The world has lost one of the rare breed of incorrigibly optimistic leader, who pursued a dream of not only changing the world for the better but also has live through it. For last six decades, Cuba and Castro were almost interchangeable words to the world. His death most certainly has created a void in his own country, but perhaps more so in the socialist camp. Even after fall of Berlin wall, he didn’t give up the spirit of socialist internationalism and had always been the spearhead in all the struggles waged against imperialism in any and all corner of the globe in his lifetime.
However, voids are never left voids; it is filled almost by law of nature. But in order to fill them the posterity must be appreciative of the legacy of leaders like Castro. The lessons of his struggles, both political and personal, the creative motif that made him walk on thorny road life-long must be understood in proper perspective. They are perhaps the only silver-linings in the narcissistic, self-centered and self-destructive life around us, bequeathed by capitalism.
For more reasons than one Cuba, Che and Fidel are more in acquaintance among the people in India and particularly the eastern part of the country. Che is remembered and will be remembered for any foreseeable future as a leader of the youth, as an emblem of revolutionary romanticism, an ultimate protagonist of freedom and fearlessness, a hero who embraced all the earthly odds for fighting for justice and human dignity with effortless ease. The imagery built around his personality will continue to inspire many hapless, many frustrated lot back into the optimism of life. We will see many more generations of youth sporting t-shirts and caps with Che emblem.Read More »
