Legacy of Che Guevara
The legacy of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara (June 14, 1928 – October 9, 1967) is constantly evolving in the collective imagination. As a symbol of counterculture worldwide, Guevara is one of the most recognizable and influential revolutionary figures of the twentieth century. However, during his life, and even more since his death, Che has elicited controversy and wildly divergent opinions on his personal character and actions. He has been both revered and reviled, being characterized as everything from a heroic defender of the poor, to a cold-hearted executioner.
History
Writings
Guevara's extensive written legacy includes intellectual writings on radical
Martyrdom
In 1967, while pictures of Guevara's dead body were being circulated and the circumstances of his death debated, his legend began to spread. Demonstrations in protest against his execution occurred throughout the world, and articles, tributes, songs and poems were written about his life and death.
British politician
This rung true the following year in 1968 when among Italy's emerging new breed of Catholic militants, named the Jacques Maritain Circle, arranged a memorial Mass in Che's honor and Catholic services were held for him in several other countries. In addition, in Brazil, mythmakers began to circulate thousands of photograph copies of a dead Che captioned "A Saint of Our Time".[6] Italian students took up a similar tone and christened Guevara an angela della pace—"angel of peace."[6] Regardless of Che's non-sanctifying failures and contradictions, the potency of his "messianic image", with its "symbolic" and "religious quality", continues to inspire many throughout the world.[7]
Political symbol
"Through the image, the complexities of Che's life and thought are reprocessed into an abstraction that can serve any cause. It has been painted as graffiti in Bethlehem, carried in demonstrations from Palestine to Mexico and borrowed by such artists as Pedro Meyer, Vik Muniz, Martin Parr and Annie Leibovitz. It has been used to represent causes as diverse as world trade, anti-Americanism, teenage rebellion and Latin American identity."
Guevara, who has been variously described as "the rock-hero biker revolutionary", "the martyr to idealism", and "
"That he was shot after capture demonstrates the fear that the Bolivian authorities felt even of an imprisoned Che. They were afraid to bring to him to trial: afraid of the echoes his voice would have aroused from the courtroom: afraid to prove that the man they hated was loved by the world outside. This fear will help to perpetuate his legend, and a legend is impervious to bullets."
— Graham Greene, 1960s playwright [12]
In addition, more
Despite the occasional controversy, Guevara's status as a popular icon has continued throughout the world, leading commentators to speak of a global "cult of Che". Well known Bohemian writers extolled him, while West German playwright Peter Weiss has even compared him to "a Christ taken down from the Cross."[15] A photograph of Guevara taken by photographer Alberto Korda[18] has become one of the century's most ubiquitous images, and the portrait, transformed into a monochrome graphic by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick, is reproduced endlessly on a vast array of merchandise, such as T-shirts, posters, cigarettes, coffee mugs, and baseball caps. This fact led Argentine business analyst Martin Krauze to postulate that "the admiration for El Che no longer extends to his politics and ideology, it’s a romantic idea of one man going to battle against the windmills, he’s a Quixote."[19]
On the 40th anniversary of Guevara's execution in Bolivia the compilation Che in Verse brought together a diverse collection of 135 poems and songs in tribute to Che Guevara.
"Che Guevara - hero of the
freedom fighter, an expert in guerrilla warfare, and a thoughtful philosopher who died young for his cause, Guevara has always been the revolutionaries' revolutionary. Stylish, vehemently anti-American and considerably better looking than Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, he practically invented the image of the bearded, beret-wearing left-wing radical, as adopted by thousands during the 1960s and 70s."
Controversy
In North America, Western Europe and many regions outside Latin America, the image has been likened to a global brand, long since shedding its ideological or political connotations. Conversely, the obsession with Guevara has also been dismissed by critics as merely "adolescent revolutionary romanticism."[10]
American, Latin American and European writers,
It was difficult to recall that this man had once been one of the great figures of Latin America. It was not just that he was a great guerrilla leader; he had been a friend of Presidents as well as revolutionaries. His voice had been heard and appreciated in inter-American councils as well as in the jungle. He was a doctor, an amateur economist, once Minister of Industries in revolutionary Cuba, and Castro's right-hand man. He may well go down in history as the greatest continental figure since Bolivar. Legends will be created around his name.[24]
British journalist
Conceptions
Cuba
Cuba has promoted Che as a "symbol of revolutionary virtues, sacrifice and internationalism" inside and outside the country since his death.[28] Guevara remains a "beloved national hero" in Cuba (almost a secular saint, to many on the Caribbean island),[29] where he is remembered for promoting unpaid voluntary work by working shirtless on building sites or hauling sacks of sugar. To this day, he appears on a Cuban banknote cutting sugar cane with a machete in the fields.[30]
The Cuban state has continued to cultivate Guevara’s appreciation, constructing numerous statues and artworks in his honor throughout the land; adorning school rooms, workplaces, public buildings, billboards, and money with his image.[31] His visage is also on postage stamps and the 3-peso coin beneath the words "Patria o Muerte" (Homeland or Death).[29] Moreover, children across the country begin each school day with the chant "Pioneers for Communism, We will be like Che!"[citation needed]. The University of Havana also possesses an academic concentration in "Che."[citation needed] Guevara's mausoleum in Santa Clara has also become a site of almost religious significance to many Cubans,[10] while the nation’s burgeoning tourist industry has benefited greatly from the ongoing international interest in Guevara's life. For example, some 205,832 people visited the mausoleum during 2004, of whom 127,597 were foreigners. However, Argentine psychoanalyst Pacho O'Donnell regrets the formal rigidity of Che's state-crafted image, opining that "The Cubans have excluded everything about the younger Che that is not heroic, including that which is most deliciously human about him. Personal doubts, the sexual escapades, the moments when he and (Alberto) Granado were drunk, none of that fits with the immortal warrior they want to project."[32]
Despite the formal adulation, Guevara's legacy is less pronounced on a national policy front. In Cuba, Guevara's death precipitated the abandonment of guerrilla warfare as an instrument of foreign policy, ushering in a rapprochement with the
Cuban exiles
Many
Latin American left
In Latin America, the perceived failures of the liberal reforms of the 1990s intensified ideological antagonism towards the United States,[36][37] leading to a resurgence in support for many of Guevara’s political beliefs: including Pan-Americanism, support for popular movements in the region, the nationalization of key industries and centralization of government.[38] In nearly every upsurge of revolutionary movements in Latin America over the last forty years, from Argentina to Chile, from Nicaragua to El Salvador, from Guatemala to Mexico and Chiapas, there are traces of "Guevarismo" – sometimes clear, sometimes faint.[39] In the view of the indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchú, "In these present times, when for many, ethics and other profound moral values are seen to be so easily bought and sold, the example of Che Guevara takes on an even greater dimension."[40]
In Nicaragua, the
Amongst the youth of Latin America, Guevara's memoir The Motorcycle Diaries has become a cult favorite with college students and young intellectuals.[32] This has allowed Guevara to emerge as "a romantic and tragic young adventurer, who has as much in common with Jack Kerouac or James Dean as with Fidel Castro."[32] Speaking on this phenomenon, biographer Jon Lee Anderson, has theorized that Che is "a figure who can constantly be examined and re-examined, to the younger, post-cold-war generation of Latin Americans, Che stands up as the perennial Icarus, a self-immolating figure who represents the romantic tragedy of youth. Their Che is not just a potent figure of protest, but the idealistic, questioning kid who exists in every society and every time."[32]
Critics
The U.S. State Department was advised that his death would come as a relief to non-leftist Latin Americans, who had feared possible insurgencies in their own countries.
References
- ^ Commandante Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928–1967) by The Mostly Water Collective
- ^ Carlos Puebla: "Hasta Siempre, Comandante"
- ^ U.S. Department of State: Guevara's Death, The Meaning for Latin America pg 6. October 12, 1967: Thomas Hughes, the Latin America specialist at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research providing an interpretive report for Secretary of State Dean Rusk.
- ^ George Galloway "Should Che be an icon? Yes", The Independent, October 6, 2007
- ^ Che Guevara: Modern Saint and Sinner" by The Economist, Oct 11, 2007
- ^ a b The Cult of Che by Time, May 17, 1968
- ^ a b c d Still a Messiah? by Isabel Hilton, New Statesman, October 4, 2007
- ^ Che Family Album Presents New Image of Revolutionary by Gary Younge, The Guardian, July 24, 2004
- ISBN 0750943106, p. 124
- ^ a b c d Just a Pretty Face ? by The Guardian, July 11, 2004
- ^ Michael Moynihan, "Neutering Sartre at Dagens Nyheter"
- ISBN 0750943106, p. 82
- ^ Trento, Angelo. Castro and Cuba : From the revolution to the present. p.64. Arris books. 2005.
- ISBN 1555468357, p. 101
- ^ Time MagazineOctober 12, 1970
- The Huffington Post, April 21, 2008
- ^ a b Comrade Che Keeps an Eye on British Workers by Owen Booth, BBC News, October 24, 2002
- ^ Che Guevara Photographer Dies by BBC News, May 26, 2001
- ^ Che Guevara: An Image that Keeps the Spirit of Revolution Alive by the Socialist Worker, Issue 2005, June 17, 2006
- ^ A Radiant Face Driven Mad with a Rifle: Che in Verse by The Latin American Review of Books Archived November 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-9552339-5-X
- ^ Poems Guevara Lived and Died by, by Javier Espinoza, The Observer, September 9, 2007
- Slate magazine, September 2004
- ^ The Final Triumph of Saint Che The Guardian, September 23, 2007. Retrieved: 12 October 2011.
- ^ Che Guevara: An Image that Keeps the Spirit of Revolution Alive 2005 Issue of The Socialist Worker
- ^ Che Guevara: Revolutionary & Icon, by Trisha Ziff, Abrams Image, 2006, pg 76
- ^ Discussion about Che Guevara, by CBC Radio One
- ^ Cuba Honours Comrade Che by BBC News, June 15, 2003
- ^ People's Weekly World, October 2, 2004
- ^ Cuba remembers Che Guevara 40 years after his fall Archived 2008-02-13 at the Wayback Machine by Rosa Tania Valdes, Reuters, October 8, 2007
- ^ Cuba's Face, by Stanford University Germanic Collections
- ^ a b c d Letter from the Americas; Che Today? More Easy Rider Than Revolutionary by Larry Rohter, The New York Times, May 26, 2004
- ^ Hugh Thomas. Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom. p. 1,007.
- ^ Don’t Let This Movie Get Lost Archived 2009-01-13 at the Wayback Machine by Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review
- ^ Sympathizers Mark 40th anniversary of Che Guevara's Death, by the Associated Press, October 8, 2007
- ^ How the US 'Lost' Latin America by BBC News
- ^ Anti-U.S. Protests Flare at Summit by The Washington Post
- ^ Latin America's Left Turn Archived 2008-03-02 at the Wayback Machine by Foreign Affairs
- ^ The Spark that does not Die by Michael Löwy, International Viewpoint, July 1997
- ^ Latin America: Awakening of a Continent: Synopses & Reviews by Powell Books
- ^ Photograph of Sandinista election victory parade
- ^ a b Cuba pays tribute to Che Guevara, by BBC News, Oct 9, 2007
- ^ Evo Morales 'Padlocked' in Palace by BBC News
- ^ Capitalism Has Only Hurt Latin America by Der Spiegel
- ^ President Evo Morales pays tribute to Che Guevara by The Latin American and Caribbean Information Center of the Florida International University
- ^ Hugo Chavez Superstar by The Guardian
- ^ Castro, Chavez Tour Che Guevara’s Home by NBC News
- ^ Chavez: Venezuela and the New Latin America by Aleida Guevara
- Leeds University
- ^ Profile: The Zapatistas' Mysterious Leader by BBC News
- ^ The Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
- ^ Anderson, Jon Lee. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, New York: 1997, Grove Press, p. 567.
- ^ Ernesto "Che" Guevara, 1928–1967 at LibCom
- ^ Guevara has been heavily idolized by people in the music industry. Particularly rock and hip-hop. Despite this, some see Che as more champion of political and ideological conformity. Cuban jazz legend Paquito D'Rivera stated in interview "Che hated artists, so how is it possible that artists still today support the image of Che Guevara?" The Killing Machine: Che Guevara, from Communist Firebrand to Capitalist Brand by The Independent Institute
External links
- BBC: Che's Spirit Burns on in Latin America by Daniel Schweimler, January 3, 2009
- Daily Observer: Che Remembered: on 80th Birthday June 12, 2008
- Der Spiegel: Photo Gallery – Latin America Commemorates Che Guevara
- Harpers Magazine: Six Questions for Greg Grandin on Che’s Legacy September 30, 2007
- PBS Forum: The Legacy of Che Guevara with biographer Jon Lee Anderson November 20, 1997
- Socialist Worker: The Legacy of A Revolutionary – Who was Che? October 12, 2007
- The Observer: The Final Triumph of Saint Che September 23, 2007
- TIME 100: Che Guevara June 14, 1999
- Wall Street Journal: In Argentina, Che Guevara Finally Gets More Than a Lousy T-Shirt by Michael Casey, June 14, 2008
Multimedia
- BBC Radio: Witness: Che Guevara October 8, 2010
- BBC Video: Che Remembered 40 Years On October 8, 2007
- NPR Audio Report: Thirty Years After His Death, Che Guevara Still an Icon
- Video: Does Che Guevara Still Matter? interview with biographer Jorge Castañeda