I have been seeing pictures of Che Guevara for what feels like forever. I remember walking into a dorm room with my older sister when I was in ninth grade and seeing a HUGE poster of this guy and wondering who he was. Later I saw numerous individuals on campus with his pic on their tee shirts. There was even fabric with his image made into scarves, bathing suits, or other types of clothing and these items still are sold in 2010.
When I was in ninth grade there was no google and needless to say I didn't rush right to the library to read up on Cuban history and find out who this Che was. So I came away from my first encounter believing this must a great guy....after all I saw the posters and students wearing his pic. So I believed these highly educated people should know what is what and he must be quite a hero!
A few years later I encountered Che in my college experience. Professors were seen wearing Che tees. So I began asking questions. He was tauted as a freedom fighter and a person trying to help the little guy. A populist? A martyr? A Hero? Che's ideology demonized successful business as oppressive and cruel. Over time I bought it hook, line, and sinker and next thing I knew I believed that capitalists were evil people and socialists and communists were compassionate. It was the zeitgeist. I have no doubt if someone would have handed me a Che tee I wouldn't thought twice before donning it. Heck, I was a charter subscriber to Mother Jones magazine.
Now I do find it bizarre I never stopped to think the very reason my education was being paid for was capitalism. As a small business owner, my step father, was a capitalist ,(even if I didn't realize it) an employer who provided health care and disability insurance for his small printing operation. I remember periods when times were rough and he paid his employees and he didn't get a pay check due to a bad month, yet he worked hard and kept going even when business was slow. Yeah, sounds pretty evil doesn't it.
FYI.....Marx thought there was a natural evolution for governments: Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism, Communism....with Communism being the superior form of govt. I don't remember, but I bet in 1975 I thought that made perfect sense. Now I am appalled I was so easily swayed.
But back to Che. I have noticed his image has never gone away and neither has what this image represents. Carlos Santana wore a Che tee shirt to an awards show a few years back. Obviously he didn't know Che's Cuban govt. banned the listening to jazz or rock in roll. It was a crimanal offense to the Cuban state. Crazy! The Cuban government banned personal expression...art and music of all kinds. Why would Carlos want to wear this man on his shirt?!
Luckily I got to find out who Che Guevera was up close and personal by visiting Cuba. I know that to Cubans Che represented fear. He was a killing machine, a terrorist, a sadist, and a racist. There was rape, torture, and human mutilation under his direction. He set up the first forced labor camps in Cuba. We know this is the truth by reading his own words. Can you imagine Cubans who came to the United States seeking refuge from this man and his ideology....refuge from those who killed their relatives and seized their properties and belongings in the name of "freedom".... seeing college students sporting this image of this murderer.
Let us look at words spoken by Che Guevera:
"If in doubt of a person's loyalty--kill them."-Che Guevera
( He writes in his diary about shooting people in the head and describes it in detail. He was called the "butcher of LaCabana Prison".)
"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolustion! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate". --Che Guevera
"The negro is lazy and indolent and spends all his money on frivolities and booze."--Che Guevera
"The USA is a great enemy of mankind. Against those hyenas there is no option by extermination. --Che Guevera
"If I had nuclear weapons I would use them including in the very heart of NYC." --Che Guevera
I think some of those quotes should be written under his photo on the all tee shirts so people understand what they are promoting when they wear these shirts!
Hopefully, those folks walking around with Che tees on have no idea what they are wearing. They wouldn't be caught dead wearing a tee shirt with Hitler's image, but essentially it would be the same thing. I believe Che would have killed the huge numbers of people Hitler killed in order to promote his ideology, but thankfully he never got the opportunity for his killing to reach into the millions.
So.....knowing what I have learned about Che Guevera....these tee shirts are not only offensive and repugnant they represent an icidious evil ideology which not only has finally slowly and methodically wormed its way into the concisousness of many of our most educated, but also into those who are at the highest levels of power.
More on that at a later date.
