Experience the Cuban Revolution: the Che Brigade turns 25

Special to RY

For the last 24 years, a group of people from across Canada have gone to Cuba together. Not as tourists, but as solidarity activists and people interested in learning about Cuba from Cubans themselves. The annual “Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade”, a two-week solidarity tour of the island, is organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba. It’s purpose: to build Canada-Cuba friendship and solidarity, and celebrate the gains of the Revolution, now in its 57th year.

Che Guevara & the struggle of young Communists in Canada

Today, October 9th, marks the 49th anniversary of Che Guevara's assassination by the CIA. The following is an interview conducted by TeleSur with the Young Communist League of Canada's General Secretary Drew Garvie about what Che's legacy means for young Communists today. The written interview was conducted in June of 2016 and contributed to the article Beyond the T-Shirt: What Che Actually Stood For.

Can you tell me about your experience going to Cuba on the Che Guevara Work Brigade? Why did you decide to go, what did you you there and what did you think of your overall experience?

The Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade has been running annually for 24 years. It is a solidarity Brigade where between 30-50 people of all ages, from across Canada, visit and tour Cuba for a couple weeks.

Cuba: a happy country

2016 May Day march in Havana - photo: M. Ahmad

Haley Bjornsgaard Shaw

Sometimes I have doubts. Society wears me down. I wonder if my ideologies are simply nice stories I tell myself, ones that I know deep down, no matter how much I argue in YouTube comments, could never be possible. That everyone’s right, human nature is greed and nastiness, that socialism can’t and won’t ever happen.

Recently, I learned about bonobos, a type of ape. The species most similar to humans, they live in peaceful, matriarchal societies in the Congo, where all disagreements are settled with sex. Unlike most matriarchal animals, the females are smaller than the males. How this works is that if a male bonobo starts acting out, all the females band together to kick him from their group.

Reading this restored my faith in feminism. Stupid, I know.

This article is about spending May Day in Cuba. Like bonobos, it gives me hope.

A Taste of the Ernesto Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade

By Peter Miller 

The Ernesto Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade is a highly recommended trip for workers, students and progressive-minded people in Canada.

The trip is organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba, that represents organizations throughout Canada that do Cuban Solidarity work, and also organized by ICAP, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the People, that puts together a very well organized trip for the "Brigadistas".  The trip often helps motivate Canadians to continue work as Cuban solidarity activists, and makes many realize the importance of fighting for socialist revolution in Canada.

Last year, I attended the Brigade and it exceeded my expectations.  Brigadistas get the opportunity to work some mornings on cooperative farms and urban farms, along with other volunteer work. The work is modest and not too strenuous but important to show that Brigadistas do not come to Cuba as tourists but as activists fighting to support the Cuban revolution.