Lest you think that I am condemning George
Washington, I will add that Washington had the presence of mind and
the strength of character to stay in the fight. He understood well
that he was the lynch pin of the struggle. If he had run or abandoned
his post, the American Revolution would have been over. He also
understood that had he run away, the British would have hunted him
down and hung him as a traitor.
Che Guevara was a doctor. He could have lived a quiet sedate life growing wealthy and raising a family. Instead, he lived in jungle camps eating bad food risking his life fighting for an idea not unlike our own George Washington, but George was a man of the seventeenth century. George believed that people with brown skin or black skin or red skin were inferior to him. He believed that these people were chattel to be used by him like farm animals or beasts of burden to be bought and sold for profit. He believed that if these people had something that he wanted, it was acceptable for him to take it from them, because he saw them as a lower order of being.
Che burned with an idea that people should not be exploited, that we all share a common dignity and common humanity. He also understood that the entrenched powers would do anything to preserve their inhuman system of exploitation. Che understood that these powers were so steeped in their own barbarity that they could not be reasoned with or made to understand the evil nature of their own crimes.
"In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche, would not hesitate to squish him like a worm." Che Guevara
When Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba, he left with over one hundred million dollars that did not belong to him. He robbed the people, he didn't care if or how they would suffer. He didn't care if the children were denied an education or if the elderly were denied health care. He was motivated only by greed; he worked only for those who paid him. Law was for sale, exploitation was for sale and the lives of the Cuban people mattered to him only for the coins they would put in his pocket.
So how was Batista any different from say, Paul Ryan or Eric Cantor? How is he any different from Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf or Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein? How are their policies and beliefs any different from the beliefs of George Washington or even from Barack Obama? They carry on the legacy of a lower order of being with the policies of exploiter and exploited, anything for a buck. Tax cuts for the rich while cutting Medicare and Social Security for the elderly.
I guess that is why Che said, "If any person has a good word for the previous government that is good enough for me to have him shot."
I don't agree with everything that Che said. I do. however, understand the motivations that made him say them. I don't own nor would I wear a Che Guevara tee shirt because to do so would dishonor his memory. I don't like the idea of Capitalist sweatshops making a buck off of his likeness, selling his image while forgetting his ideals.
Che was murdered while fighting in Bolivia; he gave his life for a cause. He traded upper class comforts to become a revolutionary, and that is not something to be remembered on a tee shirt but in your heart. I have seen with my own eyes the suffering and I have heard the tears of women crying, I've seen them put out of their homes and I understand well that the definition of murderer or revolutionary depends only upon which way the rifles are pointing. Che died for the idea that people should not be exploited for profit or by their governments.
I will never disavow that idea.
"Many will call me an adventurer - and that I am, only one of a different sort: one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes."
"I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."
Che Guevara
http://www.ihatethemedia.com/10-che-guevara-quotes-the-left-would-rather-not-talk-about
Che Guevara was a doctor. He could have lived a quiet sedate life growing wealthy and raising a family. Instead, he lived in jungle camps eating bad food risking his life fighting for an idea not unlike our own George Washington, but George was a man of the seventeenth century. George believed that people with brown skin or black skin or red skin were inferior to him. He believed that these people were chattel to be used by him like farm animals or beasts of burden to be bought and sold for profit. He believed that if these people had something that he wanted, it was acceptable for him to take it from them, because he saw them as a lower order of being.
Che burned with an idea that people should not be exploited, that we all share a common dignity and common humanity. He also understood that the entrenched powers would do anything to preserve their inhuman system of exploitation. Che understood that these powers were so steeped in their own barbarity that they could not be reasoned with or made to understand the evil nature of their own crimes.
"In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche, would not hesitate to squish him like a worm." Che Guevara
When Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba, he left with over one hundred million dollars that did not belong to him. He robbed the people, he didn't care if or how they would suffer. He didn't care if the children were denied an education or if the elderly were denied health care. He was motivated only by greed; he worked only for those who paid him. Law was for sale, exploitation was for sale and the lives of the Cuban people mattered to him only for the coins they would put in his pocket.
So how was Batista any different from say, Paul Ryan or Eric Cantor? How is he any different from Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf or Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein? How are their policies and beliefs any different from the beliefs of George Washington or even from Barack Obama? They carry on the legacy of a lower order of being with the policies of exploiter and exploited, anything for a buck. Tax cuts for the rich while cutting Medicare and Social Security for the elderly.
I guess that is why Che said, "If any person has a good word for the previous government that is good enough for me to have him shot."
I don't agree with everything that Che said. I do. however, understand the motivations that made him say them. I don't own nor would I wear a Che Guevara tee shirt because to do so would dishonor his memory. I don't like the idea of Capitalist sweatshops making a buck off of his likeness, selling his image while forgetting his ideals.
Che was murdered while fighting in Bolivia; he gave his life for a cause. He traded upper class comforts to become a revolutionary, and that is not something to be remembered on a tee shirt but in your heart. I have seen with my own eyes the suffering and I have heard the tears of women crying, I've seen them put out of their homes and I understand well that the definition of murderer or revolutionary depends only upon which way the rifles are pointing. Che died for the idea that people should not be exploited for profit or by their governments.
I will never disavow that idea.
"Many will call me an adventurer - and that I am, only one of a different sort: one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes."
"I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."
Che Guevara
http://www.ihatethemedia.com/10-che-guevara-quotes-the-left-would-rather-not-talk-about
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
4
4
