Part A: Summary and Critical Reflections
In the Nobel Lecture, “The Solitude of Latin America,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez examines Latin America’s unique global position. Also, Marquez (1982) opines that other powers have interfered with Latin America’s affairs for many years. He describes Latin America as a region insulated from the international arena. Marquez further uses the lecture to describe the primary events that have shaped contemporary Latin America. Examples of events he outlines include assassinations, revolutions, civil disturbances, and wars. Moreover, Marquez uses the lecture to urge Latin America to seek its identity instead of relying on European powers. He recognized the need for Latin America to be recognized and appreciated for its unique literature and brand of social justice.
I agree with several points that Marquez outlines in his speech. One point I agree with is that assassinations, revolutions, civil disturbances, and wars have shaped contemporary Latin America. Marquez (1982) argues that Latin America has experienced 17 military coups and five wars. Also, he indicates that the region has experienced its first-ever ethnocide due to the rise of a diabolical dictator. Several atrocities have occurred in Latin America due to these civil disturbances and wars. I also agree that European powers have contributed to Latin America’s insulation from the international arena. These European powers engaged in brutal wars aimed at controlling Latin America’s resources. Consequently, many Latin American citizens died due to these brutal wars’ adverse impacts.
In the reading, “The Resurrections of Che Guevara,” Mike Gonzalez comments on Che Guevara’s present reincarnation. Che Guevara, a military theorist, diplomat, and Marxist revolutionary leader, played a significant role in the Cuban Revolution, which led to the fall of the American-backed dictatorship. His contributions to Cuba have made him a celebrated figure whose face is on various public buildings. Also, Gonzalez notes that Che Guevara reincarnated in the 1990s as urban dwellers rioted against price increases. Similarly, political demonstrations witnessed in Italy in 1995 and 1996 were characterized by Che Guevara’s image (Gonzalez, 1997). In the 1960s, Che was correlated with a series of anti-colonial struggles in Cuba and Vietnam. In addition, Gonzalez asserts that Che’s reincarnation can be attributed to the ideological needs and requirements of the under-siege Cuban government.
I agree with Gonzalez’s views regarding the Cuban Revolution. The revolution compromised the relations between the U.S. and Cuba due to Fidel Castro’s rise to power and the establishment of the communist regime. Gonzalez (1997) highlights that the U.S. used economic and political mechanisms to destroy the New Cuba. Also, I agree with Gonzalez’s views of Che’s contributions to the Cuban Revolution. Gonzalez opines that Che Guevara was influenced by his travels across various Latin American countries. During these travels, he witnessed injustices and poverty, influencing him to create a political ideology based on anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, and communism. Che believed that armed revolution could help overthrow dictatorial and repressive regimes.
Part B: Question 1: Mexican Muralism
As reflected in Mexican Muralism, a positive relationship existed between art and politics after the revolution. Following the Mexican Revolution, Diego Rivera developed a Marxist and revolutionary political art. This political art was an effective revolution language since it inspired workers to support the state and air their issues through democratic channels. Also, it relied on these workers to support Lazaro Cardenas, a populist politician (Villines, 2018). Rivera’s political art was aligned with the principle of Mexican national consciousness. However, he was criticized by many communists due to his focus on creating art pieces that infused elements of traditional Mexican traditions and a promotion of production and industry powers. Despite these criticisms, Rivera’s art pieces allowed him to cooperate with the state in a post-revolutionary project aimed at redefining Mexicanidad. Mexicanidad was a nationalist shared identity prescript among Mexicans. Moreover, the collaboration between the state and some artists sought to strengthen some primary objectives of the Mexican Revolution.
Rivera’s art depicted a democratic state project from the onset. It did not advocate for a true proletarian revolution to dissolve the bourgeoisie. The quest for a Latin American identity, coupled with debates regarding art and politics, emerged following the Mexican Revolution. Consequently, many Mexican artists started to cover public buildings’ ceilings and walls with murals that depicted many scenes from the country’s history and revolution’s allegorical portraits. The muralists preferred walls and ceilings to canvas to make the art pieces the people’s property, not commodities that could be sold to the highest bidders (Green & Branford, 2013). Apart from Rivera, the mural movement was dominated by David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco. They developed revolutionary art that focused on images of bloated capitalists, heroic workers, conquistadores, and indigenous villagers. Thus, the murals and the art pieces enabled the state to form enduring myths and views of New Mexico, which belonged to the indigenous people and the poor mestizos. Wealthy white capitalists did not occupy any place in New Mexico.
The Mexican muralists’ work inspired political street art across Latin American countries. In Nicaragua, the cities’ walls were adorned with political iconography following the 1979 Sandinista Revolution. Several figures, including Zapata, Allende, Sandino, and Che Guevara, joined Bolivar and other individuals in Latin America’s secular saints’ roll call (Green & Branford, 2013). In the following years, the Mexican experience was repeated in many countries in Latin America. Populist governments assumed power in Argentina, Brazil, and America, combining the urge to transition to industrial powers and limited social reforms.
The Mexican government collaborated with artists to educate the public on the need for revolution against recolonization by the United States and Spain. Through this collaboration, the artists created politically charged and epic murals that educated the public on the social ills associated with the Spanish and American recolonization. Also, the artists developed art that depicted indigenous people fighting against the Spanish. Therefore, they created art that enabled Mexicans to have pride in their country and protect it against recolonization (Carter, 2014). Muralists developed a shared understanding with the Mexican government to educate the public on how recolonization would only benefit the white capitalists at the expense of the indigenous people. Their art informed the public that Americans and Spaniards had no critical role in Mexico’s future. It also helped the state to modernize Mexico and promote the values and principles that united the indigenous people.
The art pieces Rivera and other muralists developed inspired most Mexicans to be part of the social change witnessed in their country. They influenced Mexicans to embrace the proletariat spirit and organize themselves to condemn recolonization and overthrow the bourgeoisie. The art pieces created between 1920 and 1930 coincided with the emergence of “the Mexican Communist Party” (Sherman, 2021). The party’s leaders implemented reeducation campaigns that focused on teaching literacy to indigenous communities. Through these campaigns, the party aimed to attain public support for its initiatives, including the need to stop recolonization. During this period, most artists shifted to the ‘Mexican Communist Party.” Consequently, the art they created embodied a “populist political character” that addressed the working class’ interests and plight (Carter, 2014). In addition, Rivera and other artists created murals that depicted the struggles that humanity experienced due to colonization’s adverse impacts.
Overall, a positive relationship existed between art and politics after the Mexican Revolution. Most muralists, such as Rivera, created art that defined Mexican identity and influenced the indigenous people to support the state. They created art pieces to promote the principle of national consciousness within Mexico. The murals created during this period inspired many Mexicans to be part of the social reforms occurring in their country. Consequently, they educated the public on the vices associated with the Spanish and American recolonization.
References
Carter, W. (2014). Painting the revolution: State, politics, and ideology in Mexican muralism.
Third Text, 28(3), 282-291.
Gonzalez, M. (1997). The resurrections of Che Guevera.
https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/gonzalez/1997/xx/guevara.htm
Green, D. & Branford, S. (2013). Faces of Latin America: Fourth Edition. NYU Press.
Marquez, G. (1982). The solitude of Latin America.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1982/marquez/lecture/
Sherman, A. (2021). Murals in motion: Mexican muralism on the silver screen and its place in
culturally sustaining pedagogy. Wayne State University.
Villines, J. (2018). Art, revolution, and social reform: The relationship between artistic vision
and reality in the work of Diego Rivera. Bryn Mawr College.
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