In the West, Che is only a successful way to make money - his face sells all types of merchandise - but the notion that his ideas are remembered, understood or (LOL) taught is laughable. For the West Che merely symbolises romance, not revolution, politics or morality.
And that's where this article moves on from placing Soleimani in his proper historical context.
If Iranians think that continuing their revolution is just romance and posing - instead of a necessary self-sacrifice, which is undertaken with no expectation of earthly reward (and in fact more likely to produce quite the contrary), in order to prevent brutality and hate ruining the lives of tens of millions of Iranians - then their revolution will fail. Revolutions often fail: ask the French. They still celebrate it every Bastille Day, but that is more romance and posing.
For those non-Iranians who think the Iranian revolution is not needed globally, and especially regionally, urgently - just go ask an Iraqi, Syrian or Palestinian if they agree. Other countries will be included one day, and I am first thinking of those areas which are so deeply vital to Islamic culture, such as Egypt, Morocco and Arabia. One day the sons and daughters of Che and Soleimani will unite in countries which are neither Muslim nor Latin, Inshallah.
For those who think Soleimani will be the last atrocious slaying it is necessary to recall that the death of Che was only the first - Sukarno, Nkrumah, Ben Bella, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy soon followed.
However, we should not forget they were preceded domestically by Malcolm X and John Kennedy - assassination is not at all a new policy for the US, and we should not imagine that it suddenly is now. The goal of such assassinations is clear: to discourage future revolutionaries, and also to retard ongoing anti-imperialist movements.
However, I am not worried that the Iranian Revolution will fall with Soleimani, and I mean that with reverence for his sacrifice and achievements: the idea that a popular revolution can (or should) rest on the work of one man alone" this is not revolution, nor popular, but the "great man-ism" of Western capitalism-imperialism. This is Macron, Rhodesia, Louis XIV, Churchill, and, of course, Trump. A successful revolutionary culture produces a system which is able to produce moral and capable leaders over and over and over until the revolution is truly secure - Iranians have more than 40 years of successful revolution upon which to justifiably base their faith in the future, despite these sad days.
Trump has committed an act of war, but a quick, hasty revenge will almost certainly be detrimental to the many just causes Soleimani and others have sacrificed so much for. Soleimani did not become the Muslim Che Guevara and repeatedly triumph over a brutal enemy by placing the good of one person over the good of the nation and the good of the struggle.
Angola provides the best example of how Che's death should have been dealt with: they launched an anti-imperialist offensive called "Che is not dead", which proved to be the beginning of the end of Portuguese control over Guinea-Bissau and then of the entire Portuguese empire by 1974.
Thanks in large part to Soleimani's efforts, after so many decades of Western-led corruption, hate and brutality, Iraq now appears strong enough that they may be able to expel the US immediately and even peacefully. I don't think Soleimani would ask for any greater legacy than that - this is what he died for.
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