Eugene Robinson
Washington Post Columnist
Friday, September 15, 2006
1:00 PM
Washington Post opinion columnist Eugene Robinson was online Friday, Sept. 15, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the life and work of famed Cuban photographer Alberto Korda.
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Alberto Korda (1928-2001) was born Alberto Diaz Gutierrez in Havana, in the same year as Ernesto Che Guevara. Korda captured the iconic photograph of Che Guevara during his work as chief photographic archivist of the Cuban Revolution. His book, "Cuba by Korda," is being released in the United States for the first time. The book includes rare photos of Fidel Castro and Guevara, as well as the stories behind the photographs in Korda's own words.
Eugene Robinson is the author of "Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution."
He last
Earlier this year, Washington Post staff writer David Segal wrote about Korda and the "Che Cachet."
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Gene Robinson: Hi, everyone. I'll be here for the next hour to talk about Korda, the photographer of the Cuban revolution who captured, among other striking images, the iconic Che Guevara.
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Miami: There's an image of a shirtless Che Guevara on what appears to be a yacht while deep-sea fishing. What are you thoughts on the irony of this photo, 40-some odd years later, where the average Cuban in Cuba is not allowed by the very same government Che helped put in place, to board a yacht much less enjoy it while deep-sea fishing?
Gene Robinson: Hello, Miami. There are ironies aplenty in Cuban history. You're right -- there is a freedom and optimism in Korda's photographs that you don't see in today's Cuba. There are surprises in Cuba, but optimism isn't one of them.
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Seattle: Have you been following the meeting of non-aligned nations in Havana this week? What's your take on the proceedings?
Gene Robinson: There are nations that take the non-aligned movement quite seriously, and I do think there is some interest in the meeting given opinions around the world about current U.S. foreign policy. Beyond that, I think the meeting is one of those occasions the Cuban government loves -- a chance to show Fidel Castro (and now, Hugo Chavez too) as big players on the world scene.
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Los Angeles: Imagine having an online discussion about the work of Heinrich Hoffman, Hitlers personal photographer. Imagine that image on T-shirts, etc. Keep in mind that the "revolution" of Che and Fidel have positioned Cuba on the list at Genocide Watch and international Human Rights organizations, including Amnesty International. The truth can be found at: http://www.cubaarchive.org/
Gene Robinson: I don't make any apologies for the Cuban government and certainly am not here today to defend Castro or his regime. If I were a Cuban journalist, I would either be muzzled or in jail. That said, to compare Castro to Hitler is nonsensical. Not every dictator is Hitler.
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Washington, D.C.: What was the initial connection, or path, that led Korda to be employed by Castro as photographer?
Gene Robinson: Korda, whose real name was Alberto Diaz Gutierrez, started as a fashion photographer. He was caught up in the revolutionary fervor following Castro's takeover in 1959, and he insinuated himself into the new leader's inner circle.
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Newport, Calif.: The pictures in the WAPO article are excellent and they humanize a period that was mainly characterized with hate, anger and fear. Castro outlived almost every key leader in the pictures and is now nearing his end. What do you feel will happen in the immediate months after his death?
Gene Robinson: If you had asked me this question a year ago, I'd have confessed that I didn't have the slightest idea -- the place could blow up, the new leader could crack down, whatever. Now, however, I think we have the answer, and it's "not much." At least initially. Castro's transfer of power to his brother and other officials during his recent surgery clearly seems to have been the beginning of a transition, and from their perspective it went off pretty much without a hitch. So I don't think there will be any huge change from one day to the next, because the transition has already been put in motion.
However, I do think the regime will have great difficulty sustaining Fidelismo without Fidel. The system, in the long run, can't function as it functions now without Fidel at the helm. They will either have to open things up or go to a Chinese model.
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Washington, D.C.: With the IMF re-enforcing it's role as global finance and economic policy advisor to some of the world's poorest nations (and now as some of these nations can afford to ignore policy prescriptions), how do you think Cuba as an example of a success story in health and education policy might influence our thinking on the IMF's role?
Gene Robinson: That's really two questions. First you have to really look at what Cuba did in health and education. Whether you like the regime or not, it's clear that Cuba made great strides in both fields, producing an educated populace with health-care indicators that rival those of the United States and the rest of the developed world. However, both systems clearly fell into steep decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the eastern bloc, and the loss of those subsidies. The communist system is great at redistributing wealth but lousy at creating it.
As for the IMF, the institution does need to rethink its role and the advice it gives, in my view. But I don't think the Cuban model will figure much in this effort.
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Washington, D.C.: Did Korda ever grow to dislike the Castro regime? It seems that the older the revolutionaries got, the less their "experiment" matched their original optimism and ideals.
Gene Robinson: He never broke with the regime and remained a true believer.
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Annapolis, Md.: Hi Eugene,
Cue the right wing reactionaries; but I guess you can't have an objective conversation about anything Castro-related without being muzzled or accused as an apologist (as a native of Miami, this much is true). That said, my question is as follows: What is it about Korda's style that created such iconic images -- every one of his photos seems to shine, regardless of context? Secondly, when will the book be available in the U.S.?
Gene Robinson: I think it was Korda's background as a fashion photographer. He had that kind of eye for portraiture, and also a finely developed sense of composition. For example, the full-frame exposure that produced the iconic, dorm-room-wall photo of Che Guevara wouldn't have the same impact -- there's another partial figure on the left, and on the right kind of palm frond intrudes. It looks like just a snapshot. But when he cropped the picture to focus tightly on Che, a really striking portrait emerged.
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Los Angeles: Hi Eugene, just a note to tell you that I completed a full feature documentary on Korda. My film is called "KordaVision" and it's doing the festival and college circuit. I spent the last three years of his life following him around. I think it would give you and your readers would give great insight into the man. Plus I have this rare reunion between Fidel, Korda, Liborio Noval, Raul Corrales and Roberto Salas. They are all talking about the impact of their photography on Cuba. A remarkable moment. The next East Coast screening is at the Harvard Archives Oct. 22 during the Boston Latino Film Festival.
Gene Robinson: Noted, and thanks.
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Richmond, Va.: Do you think that a different approach by the leadership in the United States during the '50s would have prevented Cuba from aligning with the Soviet Union, or was that pretty much inevitable? I am struck by the pictures of Castro at the zoo and the Lincoln Memorial.
Gene Robinson: My honest opinion? I doubt it. I don't believe the notion that Castro was a political naif who could have been seduced by either Cold War camp. His was a leftist revolution from the start, and though there is some debate about when he actually drank the kool-aid of communism, I think he was bound to find his way there sooner or later.
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Alexandria, Va.: Don't you think that normalizing relations with Cuba and the U.S. is the only way to make real changes in Cuba and the Cuban people?
Gene Robinson: I think the policy of banning travel to and commerce with Cuba has helped keep Fidel Castro firmly in power. I don't know why the measures that helped open up other repressive societies wouldn't work in Cuba.
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Albuquerque, N.M.: The Non-Aligned Movement is meeting in Havana at a Summit in which 116 nations are represented. Officially, the US is not attending, nor even observing, the event. While myriad issues regarding third-world development and relations are being discussed, there is little in the press here. Meanwhile, U.S. journalists persist in asking simplistic questions about whether Fidel Castro will appear, or when Raul will speak. As a journalist, how do you view coverage by the U.S. press of Cuba over the past month, and of this important gathering in Havana?
Gene Robinson: I think coverage of Cuba the past month in the U.S. press has been pretty good, considering the circumstances -- those being that the Cuban government wouldn't let most foreign journalists into the country. And I don't think the nonaligned meeting is front-page news.
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Henry Gomez: Why hasn't travel and trade from Canada and England changed Cuba then?
Gene Robinson: To a limited extent, it has. Opening the tourism industry has forced Castro to unleash at least some market forces he would rather have suppressed.
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Right Wing Reactionary?: Since when does someone have to be part of the Right Wing to be completely outraged by the atrocities of Castro and Che? What is reactionary about pointing out the inhumane abuses of communist Cuba?
There is a sense of fawning over this photographs, I believe, by liberals who have a revolutionary leftist spirit in them held over from their college days.
It is comical that we can talk wistfully of the Korda photographs, but how quickly would all of you become apoplectic if some marveled at the majesty of Leni Riefenstahl's TRIUMPH OF THE WILL?
Gene Robinson: If "Triumph of the Will" had been a mediocre piece of filmmaking, no one would remember it. And, as I noted earlier, it really is absurd to compare Castro and Hitler. Not all dictators are Hitler.
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Miami: You mentioned Cuba's advances in health care. Have you ever been to a hospital in Cuba for Cubans? There's a two tier health care system in Cuba, hospitals for the Cubans and hospitals for the foreigners and government personnel.
These "advances" in health care are a moot point from the average Cuban's perspective.
Gene Robinson: I have been to Cuban hospitals, and noted earlier that both the health and education systems have fallen into steep decline. But it's not true that there has been no impact, overall, on the Cuban population.
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Gene Robinson: Thanks, folks. It's been a pleasure, and I hope you all keep following events in Cuba. It's a fascinating place, and I think we can all agree on wishing Cuba a better tomorrow.
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