Che Guevara: The Killing Machine
Che's lust for power had other ways of expressing itself besides murder. The contradiction between his passion for travel--a protest of sorts against the of the nation-state--and his impulse to become himself an enslaving state over others is poignant. In writing about Pedro Valdivia, the conquistador of Chile, Guevara reflected: "He belonged to that special class of men the species produces every so often, in whom a craving for limitless power is so extreme that any suffering to achieve it seems natural." He might have been describing himself.
posted by highsignal
on Jul 12, 2005 -
82 comments
New generation lives to see another Che "Che Guevara is widely remembered as a revolutionary figure, to some a heroic, Christ-like martyr, to others the embodiment of a failed ideology. To still others, he is just a commercialized emblem on a T-shirt.
But for Latin Americans just now coming of age, yet another image of Che is starting to emerge: the romantic and tragic young adventurer who had as much in common with Jack Kerouac or James Dean as with Fidel Castro.
The phenomenon began a decade ago with the publication of his long-suppressed memoir known in English as "The Motorcycle Diaries," which has become a cult favorite among Latin American college students and young intellectuals..."
posted by Postroad
on May 26, 2004 -
24 comments
Revolution or... vodka? The photographer who took the unforgettable (and much imitated) picture of Che Guevara, which still covers the cracks on many a student wall, may have to travel from Cuba to London to prevent an ad agency from using it to sell Smirnoff. "Che was not a drunk," he says. Not the first time that the revolution has been appropriated by the capitalist running dogs...
posted by holgate
on Aug 7, 2000 -
2 comments
