What's up with this Che Guevara - ah, stuff?

[kat]

I've been in every state in the U.S. and I believe there's a bit of racism everywhere.. in the deep south it's more open Ithink, Mississippi was probably the most racist state I've seen. That may have been because I was in Buloxi. Maine has plenty of racism, less overt though...and in Massachusetts during the short period of time I lived on the south shore and saw plenty of reverse racism when packs of black (majority) children would hunt down the young white (minority) kids on their way home from school. I"ve seen plenty of Arab racism against Blacks and Jews, Jewish racism against arabs and WASP. As well as plenty of racism against Arabs from whites, long before 9-11 or the 1st gulf war.

 

[wasteofo2]

More irony involving Che shirts:

Today I was in a mall, and me and the person I was with were accosted by someone in a Che Guevara shirt trying to get us to come and try out/buy this random product. We said no, and kept walking, but he followed us for a few paces, pushily telling us about how great this product was and that we should try it before we brushed it off. I somehow thought aggressive marketing of goods and Che Guevara didn't mix, but I didn't feel like telling the guy, lest he talk to me more about this amazing piece of junk he was selling.

 

[Tigers2B1]

Here’s a link to a related article at Slate –

…The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster. Many of the early leaders of the Cuban Revolution favored a democratic or democratic-socialist direction for the new Cuba. But Che was a mainstay of the hardline pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won. Che presided over the Cuban Revolution's first firing squads. He founded Cuba's "labor camp" system …

…he also spoke about martyrdom and managed to compose a number of chilling phrases: "Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2107100/

Here’s what our friend, Wikipedia, has to say about Che –

…In 1959, Che Guevara was appointed commander of the La Cabana Fortress prison. During his term as commander of the fortress from 1959–1963, he oversaw the executions of hundreds of political prisoners and regime opponents (estimates range from 500 to 1700). Many individuals imprisoned at La Cabana, such as poet and human rights activist Armando Valladares, allege that Guevara took particular and personal interest in the interrogation, torture, and execution of some prisoners….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara

We all know the Batista regime was corrupt. It seems however, that we all don’t know about the crimes against humanity committed by Guevara. In fact, supporters of Guevara like to quote the words of the follow Marxist, Jean Paul Sartre. Sartre said Guevara was the "most complete human being" he ever met --- that was, of course, before all of the murder – and, as I understand, Sartre soon came to regret the remark.

Anyway, I understand that there's an even NEWER movie in the works that will be titled Che. But - I suppose it's all about catching the wave and making a buck – or at least I hope that's it. The movie supposedly ends with Guevara's death, stoic to the end, at the hands of the CIA (it never actually occurred that way -- but it does add to the Che appeal).

 

[the number 42]

I understand that there's an even NEWER movie in the works that will be titled Che. But - I suppose it's all about catching the wave and making a buck – or at least I hope that's it.

Capitalism's ultimate weapon: "Turning rebellion into money".

 

[fisipavia]

Is that new? In my country I'm seeing those shirts since always...but I'm with Shahil: Che is very important to all Latin-Americans and I think that he is also important in Africa; especially in Congo. He fought against the oppression of latinamerica, that's the bottom line...
But it is true. I consider that it's extremely ironic all the business that have been made around him (considering HIS IDEAS and BELIEFS). And what make it worse is that 75% of the people who wears his shirts or have a sticker in the car with his face don't have a clue of who was he.
This is a funny thing: Like a month ago I gas in a gas station and one man enter with one of these shirts...the guy that was working at the station asked him who was El Che. And this was the answer: "He was a revolutionary man from Argentina who went to Cuba to free the country from the Castro regime but he failed. Then Fidel order his assassination and killed him"...When I heard that I was in shock...(although the US government at one point made the rumor that Fidel killed Che; that was proven to be false when Che appeared alive...but anyway...El Che never fought against Fidel!) That is a perfect example of how some people speak without knowing nothing about what they are talking about. And, yeap…many of the people that buy these shirts buy them just for the image that they want to project, not for the ideal that represent el Che persé.