Guerrillero

heroico
Ernesto Che Guevara
by Kapil Arambam

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 Guerrillero
heroico
A tribute to the Guerrilla Hero
by Kapil Arambam
“Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.” Ernesto Che Guevara
T
here are two kinds of people in this
world: those who love Ernesto Che
Guevara and those who hate him.
Previously, the ubiquitous Korda image was
just another piece to adorn my notebooks
and t-shirts, but my fascination for this
rebel took the plunge after writing the
script for a documentary film on his life a
few years ago. He belonged to a school of
thought that the oppressed can overcome
the oppressors, conforming to the leftist
ideologies and armed struggle – and he died
for the ideals he believed in. Apart from
the craze to get the Motorcycle Diaries DVD
when it was released in 2004, it was the
essence of his undefined philosophy to fight
against inequality and injustice that attracts
attention.
People who adore Che, glorifies him;
whilst his detractors liken him to a mere
ruthless executioner. I'd say he was an
intelligent man, with inflexible guts to
serve the downtrodden people. He was a
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rough revolutionary, a voracious reader,
and was adept in diplomatic manouvres in
as much as he was in guerrilla strategies.
What's more, he is the ideal rebel whose
life was fueled by selfless socio-political
impetus rather than by material gains. Any
rebellious individual loves to hear his story
that started off with a motorcycle journey
across South America.
But how did he transform himself from a
medical student to an insurgent and later
to an international icon? Che observed that
Latin America was a hunting ground for the
US with its free-market fanaticism and that
it was the substructure of the widespread
starvation and misery in the continent. His
environment, and what he thought was best
to remedy the malaise created the man we
know today.
With hindsight, his life history is a
testimony to the ideals of social revolution.
However, one of his critics pour scorn on
him, in Guevara's Lamentable Legacy by
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Che observed that Latin America
was a hunting ground for the US
with its free-market fanaticism and
that it was the substructure of the
widespread starvation and misery
in the continent
John Suarez, stating: "They (Guevara and
his 'co-conspirators') had imprisoned tens
of thousands of prisoners of conscience,
attempted to indoctrinate an entire
generation, made Cubans second-class
citizens in their own country. They had
divided families, made political ideology
a litmus test for patriotism, and executed
thousands".
Yet most of these gadflies are hardline
capitalists or Americans, whose brickbats
are often tinged with political overtones.
No wonder, there are only few takers
amongst the commanders of democracy.
They have gone to such an extent that Che
was intoxicated with Maoist thoughts; that
he was hell-bent on using nuclear weapons
(against the US, of course); that he was a
member of the firing squad set up by his
mentor, Fidel Castro; and what not.
Love him or hate him, the cult of Che
Guevara will persist until there is no
inequality between man and man.
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For more,
• time.com/time/magazine/
article/0,9171,838357,00.html
• politicalaffairs.net/article/
articleview/8234/
• news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
americas/7785690.stm
• socialistworker.org/2007-
2/648/648_09_Che.shtml
• socialistworker.co.uk/article.
php?article_id=9024
• independent.co.uk/opinion/
commentators/george-galloway-
should-che-be-an-icon-yes-
396109.html
• independent.co.uk/opinion/
commentators/johann-hari/
johann-hari-should-che-be-an-
icon-no-394336.html
• nytimes.com/2007/10/08/
world/americas/08iht-
journal.4.7806519.html?_r=1
• libcom.org/history/guevara-
ernesto-che-1928-1967
• topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/
timestopics/people/g/ernesto_
guevara/index.html?scp=1-
spot&sq=che%20guevara&st=cse
• 'Revolution in the Revolution' by
Regis Débray
• ‘Che Guevara - A Revolutionary
Life' by Jon Lee Anderson
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