King of Helview
Banned
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2005
- Messages
- 25
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2006
Che Guevara is undeniably a figure now for freedom and revolution. He is revered by many the world over for his attacks on the establishment. He was utterly non-mainstream and was a person of the pleb.
Or was he?
I believe that only now is he seen as this freedom figure because of hopeless romantics who missed out on vital and small details of his campaigns. These same romantics will openly criticise Adolf Hitler for his enprisonment and killing of innocent people.
Let me get this out of the way first. Adolf Hitlers actions occurred on a much larger, more demonstrative scale than Che, however a comparison can still be made here.
Now, why was Che not a freedom fighter?
Firstly, I will adress an odd contradiction. In one of Che's many psuedo-documentaries The Motor Cycle Diaries Che is painted as someone who cared for the sick and cripples. This is especially illustrated when he stayed in Peru at a leper colony for a long period of time to help the lepers. He was portrayed to love these sick people like one would love a brother. Now I will bring you into reality and away from a silly little movie. In Cuba, where Che helped the Castro brothers get into power, Che was responsible for manual labour camps that somewhat resembled the concentration camps of WWII. These camps, although less killing took place, was the home to law breakers, supposed dissidents and even the ill and crippled. Wow, now that certainly goes against the Motor Cycle Diaries, doesnt it?
The imprisonment of the sick, hmm, that doesnt sound like an advocate of freedom, like Nelson Mandela, but more like a iron fisted dictator, oh say, Adolf Hitler.
Not only did he imprison dissidents but he also killed them by a firing squad, the favoured technique of those friendly Indonesian chaps across the way. Now, to use a rather crude form of execution (Heck, any isn't an action of an advocate of freedom) that the freedom loving nation of Indonesia employs on its WORST CRIMINALS on someone who merely shows a disagreement of beliefs to the party! Crikey, thats a real act of a freedom lover, call those that disagree with you instead of giving them a say. Now of course some of the dissenters did more than disagree with the partyline but the point here is that Che introduced the firing squad to be used on these people.
A firing squad, used by the Indonesians, and labour camps, used by the Nazi's. Somewhere along the line here I have lost the freedom part, so I will move on to find a central focus point in the arguements of these Che supporters.
A claim often extolled by Che supporters is his affect on political awareness in Universities in Sth. America. This is suprising considering that Che's legacy in Sth. American universities boils down to that he was partially responsible for the decrease in the education rate and overall standard of living of these people, at that present stage and in their future. Che inspired thousands of these students to leave uni and start their own Guerilla fighting group, to fight for freedom against the government of their respective country. What happened henceforth was that government military and militia groups would lose huge numbers in a pointless struggle. The govt. would invariably not be toppled and the militia would invariably never run out of soldiers. The process of Guerilla fighting has delayed Sth. American democracy by decades and only now are some of its countries beginning to see brighter days, eg. Chile is now a stable democracy. The dropping out of the students lowered the education rate, increased crime and decreased standard of living. Che really inspired some freedom for the people here!
And finally in his last campaign for freedom Che led 26 fighters in Bolivia to fight Guerilla warfare. Although he still maintained it was to fight for freedom he led middle to upper class fighters for freedom, not the hero of the Marxist, the proletariat. Among his men were a doctor, a dentist and an artist, men who would have been more useful to the proles giving them check-ups, fixing teeth and well, painting. Che and his band of fighters failed miserably and were captured and executed.
This man who stood for freedom was nothing but a phony in this regard. He may have inspired people to fight for freedom, however he cetainly did not practice as he preached, which is important for a figure head of an ideology to do.
To the admin, if this isnt in the right board please correct me as to where it should be located and I will post it there instead. I figured it didnt fit under News or Current Affairs but as Che was a political figure it was good for Politics.
Or was he?
I believe that only now is he seen as this freedom figure because of hopeless romantics who missed out on vital and small details of his campaigns. These same romantics will openly criticise Adolf Hitler for his enprisonment and killing of innocent people.
Let me get this out of the way first. Adolf Hitlers actions occurred on a much larger, more demonstrative scale than Che, however a comparison can still be made here.
Now, why was Che not a freedom fighter?
Firstly, I will adress an odd contradiction. In one of Che's many psuedo-documentaries The Motor Cycle Diaries Che is painted as someone who cared for the sick and cripples. This is especially illustrated when he stayed in Peru at a leper colony for a long period of time to help the lepers. He was portrayed to love these sick people like one would love a brother. Now I will bring you into reality and away from a silly little movie. In Cuba, where Che helped the Castro brothers get into power, Che was responsible for manual labour camps that somewhat resembled the concentration camps of WWII. These camps, although less killing took place, was the home to law breakers, supposed dissidents and even the ill and crippled. Wow, now that certainly goes against the Motor Cycle Diaries, doesnt it?
The imprisonment of the sick, hmm, that doesnt sound like an advocate of freedom, like Nelson Mandela, but more like a iron fisted dictator, oh say, Adolf Hitler.
Not only did he imprison dissidents but he also killed them by a firing squad, the favoured technique of those friendly Indonesian chaps across the way. Now, to use a rather crude form of execution (Heck, any isn't an action of an advocate of freedom) that the freedom loving nation of Indonesia employs on its WORST CRIMINALS on someone who merely shows a disagreement of beliefs to the party! Crikey, thats a real act of a freedom lover, call those that disagree with you instead of giving them a say. Now of course some of the dissenters did more than disagree with the partyline but the point here is that Che introduced the firing squad to be used on these people.
A firing squad, used by the Indonesians, and labour camps, used by the Nazi's. Somewhere along the line here I have lost the freedom part, so I will move on to find a central focus point in the arguements of these Che supporters.
A claim often extolled by Che supporters is his affect on political awareness in Universities in Sth. America. This is suprising considering that Che's legacy in Sth. American universities boils down to that he was partially responsible for the decrease in the education rate and overall standard of living of these people, at that present stage and in their future. Che inspired thousands of these students to leave uni and start their own Guerilla fighting group, to fight for freedom against the government of their respective country. What happened henceforth was that government military and militia groups would lose huge numbers in a pointless struggle. The govt. would invariably not be toppled and the militia would invariably never run out of soldiers. The process of Guerilla fighting has delayed Sth. American democracy by decades and only now are some of its countries beginning to see brighter days, eg. Chile is now a stable democracy. The dropping out of the students lowered the education rate, increased crime and decreased standard of living. Che really inspired some freedom for the people here!
And finally in his last campaign for freedom Che led 26 fighters in Bolivia to fight Guerilla warfare. Although he still maintained it was to fight for freedom he led middle to upper class fighters for freedom, not the hero of the Marxist, the proletariat. Among his men were a doctor, a dentist and an artist, men who would have been more useful to the proles giving them check-ups, fixing teeth and well, painting. Che and his band of fighters failed miserably and were captured and executed.
This man who stood for freedom was nothing but a phony in this regard. He may have inspired people to fight for freedom, however he cetainly did not practice as he preached, which is important for a figure head of an ideology to do.
To the admin, if this isnt in the right board please correct me as to where it should be located and I will post it there instead. I figured it didnt fit under News or Current Affairs but as Che was a political figure it was good for Politics.
