ABOVE my desk sits a photograph of Commandante Fidel Castro. It sits nestled against biographies of WEB Dubois, Claudia Jones and Paul Robeson all next to The Price of the Ticket by my favourite writer James Baldwin.

I don’t go in for hero worship, outside of football and jazz music at least, but this comes fairly close. 

But rather than representing any kind of shrine, this, for me, is a place of inspiration. When I am lost for words or feeling down and looking for a lift all I need to do is look up from my desk and draw on the inspiration that these greats have given me for my entire life.

Each of these giants has inhabited the planet during my lifetime. Dubois was the first of these to leave us to enrich the ancestors in August 1963, when I was still a baby in my mother’s arms. 

The latest one of the quintet to join the ancestors was Comandante Fidel who left us on Friday November 25 2016 aged 90.

In the photo above my desk the comandante sits in a suit and tie in front of a sign that says Cuba. It was taken during a plenary session of the United Nations World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.

I attended the conference as the co-ordinator of the British trade union presence on behalf of the TUC as their then race equality officer.

It was a tough 10 days or so of working with trade unionists and activists from across the world to make sure that world leaders treated the issue of institutional racism seriously and placed the need for reparations on the agenda.

When we activists learned that comrade Fidel would be in attendance we knew immediately that we had a collaborator in the room with us. We knew that we had someone who would not flinch from speaking truth to all the “wannabe” leaders from around the world.

So when the United States colonial settler regime engaged in their traditional histrionics by staging a walkout when many at the conference criticised the racist, apartheid regime of Israel, we knew that we had someone in the room prepared to stand with us and the South African government — who we figured knew a little bit about what apartheid looked like. 

Some things really don’t change do they?

On one of the days during the conference we arrived late, because of transport difficulties, to a human rights rally.

Our delegation was keen to attend the rally mainly because we knew that the comandante would be speaking.

It was a very hot day and by the time we arrived we learned that the comandante had already been speaking for around an hour. 

After another hour or so, with interpreters falling by the wayside and other world leaders waiting in the burning sun for their turn to speak, my memory tells me that comrade Fidel said: “And having concluded my opening remarks,” before continuing his denunciation of capitalism and racism for another hour or so.

While my recollection of what comrade Fidel said that day may be somewhat hazy, my feeling when coming away from that speech is as fresh today as it was then. 

I have never been so inspired by anyone in my whole life and when I feel tired or wonder whether the work I am trying to do is worthwhile I think of that day, lift my head to see the photo, straighten my back and go again.

I am not suggesting for a moment that the remarkable achievements of the Cuban revolution of 1959 are just because of any one person.

Many thousands have sacrificed for the amazing achievements in health, education, women’s rights and social justice at home and abroad. All achieved against a brutal and vindictive blockade imposed against a sovereign nation that has only ever advocated peace and socialism.

And now in spite of Cuba being placed arbitrarily on a list created in the US of states who are alleged to be sponsors of terrorism.

But there is no doubt that without the inspiration provided by comrade Fidel and Che Guevara in particular those achievements would have been even more difficult to achieve.

The fact that the spirit of comrade Fidel still inspires so many across the world is a testament to the massive contribution he made on the socialist island but also internationally.

Comrade Fidel led the Cuban support against the apartheid forces in South Africa and trained countless doctors across Latin America.

These are very tangible contributions made by the Cuban revolution led by the comandante but he is also responsible for the “crime” of providing millions of working-class and peasant communities across the world with that dangerous thing called hope.

The fact that so many outside of Cuba still call his name, and, like me, still draw on his legacy as a power source, is a real testament to his legacy.

I also can’t help wondering what the comandante would make of the current events taking place in the world.

I obviously don't have a crystal ball but from our reading of the past we can surmise that he would still be standing next to the Palestinians as he did when he was with us in person.

We can also be pretty confident that comrade Fidel would be at the forefront of those looking to find peace in that conflict and the around 30 others raging across the globe, including those in Ukraine and the Congo.

But we can be confident of something else. Comrade Fidel would be one of the architects of attempts to create a new multipolar world that breaks down the hegemonic power of the settler colonial regime just 90 miles from the shores of Cuba.

You never really die if people still call your name and draw on you to provide inspiration not just to get up every day but to get up and fight.

Comandante Fidel Castro can never really die if we continue to fight for peace and socialism.

He is everywhere. He is always with us. 

On this anniversary of his joining the ancestors I offer a red salute to Comandante Fidel Castro.

Roger McKenzie is Morning Star international editor.