Ignacio RamonetRezensionen

I rather like this reworking of the idea of a biography. Instead of an enhanced timeline: George Smith was born on... and ..., this is based upon approximately 100 hours of discussions between the author and the subject.

Hearing Fidel Castro's own views is fascinating. One has to accept that the final text was checked by him before publication, but even so, the person who comes out of this story is a warm hearted man acting for the betterment of the people of Cuba. It is strange that the USA talks so much about freedom, but only gives the freedom to follow its lead. As soon as any person/country wants freedom, they must be exterminated.

For years people have tried to persuade the leader of the Cuban Revolution to tell his own life story. Here, finally, Ignacio Ramonet, well-known activist and editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, has succeeded. For the first time, in a series of probing interviews, Fidel Castro describes his life, from the 1950s all the way up to the present day. He discusses his parents, his earliest influences, the beginnings of the revolution, his relationship with Che Guevara, the Bay of Pigs, the Carter years, Cuban migration to the US. And along the way, Ramonet challenges Castro to discuss his views on a number of controversial questions, from human rights and freedom of the press to the repression of homosexuality and the survival of the death penalty, and he gives his opinion of other leaders, alive and dead, including George Bush and Tony Blair.

I ran into a wall halfway through this. It was very readable and interesting and I think it is very important to get perspectives from outside America on things we accept as black and white as we do Cuba, but I need more context about the country's history before I know what to do with words from someone in power in it.

ce livre traite de la manière dont le numérique a modifié le rapport du lecteur à l'information .

Very surprising book. I'm not a fan of the Cuban politics and not generally a fan of politicians' biographies, but Fidel Castro, regardless of any disagreements I might have with him, is apparently an interesting person. There is much I didn't know about the past and present situation in Cuba, and while of course everything in such a book should be taken with a grain of salt, an important part of a political leader is the way they choose to present themselves to the world. And Fidel Castro turned out to be quite different than I expected from the mainstream media.

I think everyone with an interest in politics who does not know Cuba beyond what western media says, should read this book and get a taste of the other side of the story. It won't "convert" you to the other side, but it will give you a more complete picture.½

Ignacio Ramonet, el director de Le Monde Diplomatique, desvela con su habitual rigor intelectual las claves de la revolución cubana, su deriva actual y su incierto porvenir. Indagando "a dos voces" en la vida del controvertido líder político, el resultado son más de 100 horas de entrevistas que arrojan inéditas revelaciones extraídas de la memoria oral del comandante. Posiblemente, esta Biografía a dos voces es el libro definitivo sobre Fidel Castro. Un libro esencial para comprender el pensamiento de uno de los políticos más importantes del siglo XX.

its funny, i have the feeling this book is already dated.
his insight and opinions arent quite with mine. i would consider myself and anarchist or a primitivist, but his opinions in this book are just that, he uses little facts to back them up and his reasoning and writing style are both missing something. i liked the idea of the book but it was quite the failure in my opinion

The state of the world as seen through the eyes of the main editor of the French monthly Le Monde Diplomatique.

Seven out of ten. A biography of Fidel Castro based on hours of interviews with him. Very interesting in his early life and the start of the revolution. Dwindles toward the end.½

Publié en 1970 mais augmenté en 2001, ce livre s'affirme comme un plaidoyer à l'encontre de nos sociétés qui ont élu la communication comme valeur fondatrice source de démocratie, de progrès, de liberté. Ce n'est pas tant le message qui compte mais l'acte même de communiquer, “ la communication est devenue insensiblement, l’un des paradigmes de notre temps, remplaçant silencieusement le paradigme du progrès. Désormais, ce n’est plus le progrès (critiqué de toutes parts) qui nous est proposé comme pacificateur de nos sociétés et comme ferment de la cohésion sociale, c’est la communication qui en fait sa mission de pacifier et d’exclure la violence. A ce titre, la communication peut être considérée comme un lubrifiant social ». Ignacio Ramonet pointe les dérives de cette idélologie qui incite les sociétés à s'entourer de machines à communiquer d'autant que le développement du numérique, capable d'associer les différents supports de communication, réduit à un ensemble de “bits”, engendre des fusions et concentrations intégrant les différents médias.

Ægte Cubansk charme!