Che it Ain't So

There is a character in Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de Souffle who speaks of the path to everlasting fame. "First you become immortal," he instructs, "then you die."

A prime exemplar of the "create a legend/resurrection" method of eternal iconography would be Ernesto (Che) Guevara, the Argentine-born revolutionary who was executed forty years ago today in Bolivia. Death transmogrified him into a symbol of revolution itself. Time has turned him into an empty Warholized emblem that adorns everything from T-shirts to fanny packs to bumper stickers and apparently even a soap with the slogan "Che washes whiter."

In death Guevara has certainly managed to whitewash his image. A cleansing aided by such personality cultisms as the film The Motorcycle Diaries, which portrays Guevara as a young, wide-eyed do-gooder who travels South America looking to right social wrongs. Romanticized and corporate pimped, for most who even know who Guevara was they have no idea what he stood for. They merely accept that he was the South American Martin Luther King.

He was not.

Guevara was a brutal, egotistical killer without the smarts to enact lasting economic reform nor the guile to achieve true insurgent victory. His most significant military achievement -- the taking of Santa Clara during Castro's Cuban revolution -- might have been more a matter of financial bribery than military strategy.

What is in little dispute is the savagery of his tenure as the commander of the La Cabaña Fortress prison. Think of it as Cuba's Abu Ghraib. In a mere five months Guevara oversaw and personally signed off on the execution of as many as 500 people. Men, women, children. Not all merely loyalists to overthrown Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Also executed were political prisoners, dissidents, artist, intellectuals and homosexuals. A representative number of the left the revolution was supposed to be lifting up.

His bloody handiwork should come as no surprise. Before Guvera was a soap pitchman from beyond the grave, he was the "The Butcher of la Cabaña" who preached: "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."

I'm sure Gandhi would have been proud.

As head of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, and President of the National Bank of Cuba, Guevara would institute popular reforms that would eventually lead to economic disaster. From the middle 1960s until the Soviet collapse Cuba was subsistent on their largess to a tune of $65 billion to $100 billion annually.

As a military leader Guevara was hardly more impressive. In the Congo he hooked up with a couple of bloody rebels, failed to inspire the people and accomplished little more than putting his own men through a shredder. It was a misadventure Guevara himself described as a "history of failure."

An expedition into Bolivia proved disastrous. Guevara completely misread the situation on the ground, could not incite a popular uprising, was completely abandoned by the Bolivian communists, their Soviet backers and even the Cubans.

Bolivian Rangers took him prisoner on the 8th of October, 1967. He whimpered as they came: "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead."

The Bolivian's figured otherwise. The next day Guevara was executed.

And thus began his ascendancy from abject failure to high icon. A populist, a revolutionary. A man who turned his back on material gains to give instead to the people.

And if you believe that, consider this: when Guevara was captured in Bolivia he was wearing a Rolex watch on his wrist.

Long live the revolution.

Comments

[jbeach]

One of the best button slogans I've ever read:

"Che killed people, you trendy douchebag."

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6553125

I don't even know the creator. I just so love the sentiment.

[andiammisterbones]

Bush killed Americans, too, Jethro.

[Willard41]

As did Kennedy...and he was an adulterer who cheated on one of the most beautiful and sophisticated women in the world with a blonde, drug-addicted whore. We can do this all day and every hero will bear a stain, but will that ever detract from the myth? Not for believers, but I find all this interesting enough to search for the truth about him now.

[jbeach]

Sure, Bush did that.

So, Che and Bush are both callous killers who were happy killing the powerless once they were in power, and had high ideals to justify it.

Does that make Che better in some way?

PS - Jethro Tull is a great band.

[Annoula]

Bush and Cheney kileed even more people and a lot of Americans are fine with that...
After so many scandals...
At least Che had some ideals. Bush and Cheney only believe in $$$.

[Tobias F.]

What are you, statisticians?

[jbeach]

There's two disagreements i have with your statement.

1) I as an American am **not** fine with it.

I think Bush and Kennedy both were tragically deluded and powermad.

2) ***Bush and Kennedy both had ideals**. That's the entire point.

People can have ideals we love, and say things we find are beautiful and inspiring - and those same people in power can turn out to be callous, ruthless killers.

In fact, these leaders can kill so many people ***because*** they convince others of their ideals. And these people probably even **believe** their ideals, and believe they're being true to them.

So, yes, Bush, Kennedy and Che have all killed many people in pursuit of - and denial of - their beautiful ideals.

[Veronica]

How about this one?

"Of course Che killed people, you presumptuous, sanctimonious, Che-hating asshole."

Even better.

Oh for the love of God, you mean Che killed people? I thought he contributed to the revolution by knitting sweaters for the cause, Betsy Ross style!!

Che KILLED people?! Wow! That really sets him apart from the killers of innocents in Latin America the US deemed friendly to our economic interests.

Some perspective, please. The Che-is-Evil-Incarnate crowd does not have a monopoly on it.

[lunaoscura]

But, but,.. he was so photogenic! Why he could have passed for a handsome white American movie star!
Had he been brown skinned no one would even know his name.
Saintifying people is always a bad idea. Making gods of anyone is a pathetic reflection on those who do it.

[arvo]

Jeebus, you are such a tool!

[Hirnlego]

So he's just like Jesus is to the rightties then, just a symbol.

[Thorn]

To the righties? Are you kidding?

[Hirnlego]

Kidding in what way? It's not like Jesus talking about taking care of the poor and peacemaking would be popular with the people on the right. They'd swiftboat him..

[UltraClassic]

John, thanks for calling it like it is. If I see one more college kid sporting a che t-shirt, I think I'm going to go nuts.

These kids have no idea who this guy was. They simply like the look.

[sorenmeetsdylan]

Thank you sir. Everytime I see some deluded kid (or adult) with a Che t-shirt on, I can't decide whether to scream or vomit.

[Thorn]

I always try to do both. It's surprisingly entertaining.

[jbeach]

With taht kind of skill, have you considered ventriloquism?

[Veronica]

I like your logic.

Che Hatred = Inherent "Truth"

Che T-Shirts = Automatic Idiocy. No actual conversation with the wearer required!

[RaviVesely]

sorenmeetsdylan, every single one of your replies to this post are, at best, superbly doltish--so it doesn't surprise me that you'd have trouble deciding between screaming and vomiting when confronted with a t-shirt. It's unlikely that you understand Kierkegaard, so back and re-read Sartre before you judge whether what he had to say about Che carries any weight.

Be well.

[Thorn]

Another great post from the brightest mind on this site.

[emcurry]

Now now, Mrs. Ridley, let us make up our own minds about John's work.

As an 11th grade Modern World History essay, I give it a B! Solid effort, but next time you need more than one source! :-)

[YellowPanties]

Nope and nope.