Who is Che Gevara?? more stuff

Who was the real Che Guevara?

Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 11:00

By Ash Pemberton

Almost everyone has seen the iconic photo of Ernesto Che Guevara taken in 1960 by photographer Alberto Korda. In the decades since it was taken, it has been reproduced countless times, including on towels, lunchboxes, cigarette packets and especially T-shirts.
In the process, the real legacy of Guevara's life has been obscured and diluted, especially in First World countries.
This symbol of socialist revolution has been watered-down and commercialised — turned into a symbol of vague rebellion. While people are familiar with the image of Che, many probably couldn't say who it is, let alone describe the politics of the man.
In recent years, the films The Motorcycle Diaries and Che have helped to popularise some aspects of his life, but there is still much confusion in popular consciousness about what he actually did and stood for.
Che is most famous for his role in the Cuban Revolution and his part in guerrilla insurrections in Latin America and Africa.
However, it is the period preceding this that shaped his thinking the most. As a young man on his famous motorcycle trip across South America, he witnessed the gross inequalities imposed upon people and the brutality used to maintain this system.
He identified imperialism as the main enemy of the people of the world. He saw the struggle for human freedom as global, which necessarily had to transcend borders to defeat the exploitative system imposed by the big capitalist powers.
He travelled to Guatemala to learn about and work with the progressive forces backing the leftist government of Jacobo Arbenz, who had introduced a series of land reforms and pro-poor policies.
Guevara could see the US was preparing to invade to protect its assets, as it had done many times before.
As the US began to destabilise the Arbenz government in preparation for a military coup, Guevara observed a number of mistakes made by the progressive forces which, influenced his thinking on how to make a successful revolution. He identified the most crucial mistake being an unwillingness to arm the people to allow them to defend — and extend — their gains.
A US-backed coup, combined with US airforce bombings, overthrew Arbenz and destroyed popular hopes for change.
From Guatamala, Che linked up with Fidel Castro's group of exiled Cuban revolutionaries in Mexico, and joined them in the struggle against the Batista dictatorship in Cuba. He understood the necessity of acting to create change and was able to put this into practice in Cuba, both before and after the triumph of the revolution. "The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall", he said.
Che insisted that "there is no valid definition of socialism other than the abolition of the exploitation of one human being by another". Human liberation was central to Che's thinking.
"The ultimate and most important revolutionary aspiration is to see human beings liberated from their alienation."
At a time when brutal and undemocratic Stalinist regimes were the main form of "socialism" in the world, Guevara's vision focused on the well-being of individuals in the context of broader society.
He speculated about the potential for the transformation of people and culture under socialism, where petty desires would be put aside and where people would be motivated to act for the common good.
The legacy of Che can be found today in the unfolding revolutions across Latin America, and in a wide variety of progressive struggles throughout the world. Fidel Castro once explained that "political work isn't reciting a catechism about Marx and Lenin to people every day, but rather being able to awaken human motivation and morality".
Powerful people today would love to see Che's legacy reduced to the level of a T-shirt, which they could then sell to people and call it "rebellion". But Che did not simply rebel ways harmless to those with power. He aimed to overthrow the corrupt old system and build a new one based on human needs and solidarity.
The fact that millions all over the world have seen through the commercialisation of Che's image and still embrace the real spirit of what he stood for is testament to the fundamental desire of people all over the world to live with dignity and freedom.