Castro’s dialogical leadership required love and sacrificial witness, not adventurism

Evidence

This sharing in no way diminishes the spirit of struggle, courage, capacity for love, or daring required of the revolutionary leaders. Fidel Castro and his comrades (whom many at the time termed “irresponsible adventurers”), an eminently dialogical leadership group, identified with the people who endured the brutal violence of the Batista dictatorship. This adherence was not easy; it required bravery on the part of the leaders to love the people sufficiently to be willing to sacrifice themselves for them. It required courageous witness by the leaders to recommence after each disaster, moved by undying hope in a future victory which (because forged together with the people) would belong not to the leaders alone, but to the leaders and the people—or to the people, including the leaders. — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 524

Categorization

• CANDY: The redefinition of Castro’s cohort as lovers who recommence after each disaster is a compact, quotable counterpoint to the ‘irresponsible adventurers’ label.