LEEDS, United Kingdom – The normally peaceful Irish city of Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, has made the news.
This is due to the polemical decision of its city council to build a monument to Cuban freedom fighter Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
Could a Latinx hippie be a freedom fighter?
The decision has been based on the fact that Che, a descendant of the Lynch clan, was himself partly Irish, Cuban, and Argentinian.
This attempt to celebrate Guevara’s Irish heritage has been met with resistance in some conservative quarters within Ireland and subsequently in the United States.
Revolutionary hero Che (Alberto Korda, 3/5/60)
First, Irish businessman and campaigner Declan Ganley suggested the monument would drive away tourism from Galway – an unlikely outcome, as it is well-known that Che Guevara’s image is found among the most popular merchandise in the world.
Then, Yale-based academic Carlos Eire and Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lethinen added their voices to Ganley’s and requested that, since Guevara was a murderer and a war criminal, the Irish should scrap the project altogether and, in the words of the latter, build instead a monument to “the enslaved Cuban people.”
“Guevara was much more than a grotesque criminal, as it has been suggested.”
One can only wonder, why this opposition all of a sudden? More importantly, do they have a point?
I've got the rebel "fighting Irish" spirit in me.
Ernesto Guevara, better known simply as “Che,” was a guerrilla ["little war"] fighter and one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
Soon after coming to power, Guevara was in charge of carrying out a number of executions of people – some accounts mention hundreds – that the new Cuban leadership considered to be “enemies of the revolution.” More
Che Guevara statue spurs controversy in Ireland
An Irish city’s plan to erect a monument to the revolutionary icon has piqued conservatives.
Para Gusmano Cessretti su amigo de Cuba [signature] - Korda - 97
The new Yesu and Maria Chain, Frida Kahlo and Che Guevara (WQ/pinterest.com)
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Roll of photo proofs by Alberto Korda: Che
LA PAZ, Bolivia (Oct. 8, 2017) - A little band of guerrillas (Spanish "little warriors" not gorillas) had been on the run through rugged, mountainous terrain.
They were struggling unsuccessfully to build support among the indigenous people of rural Bolivia as a step toward a global socialist revolution.
On October 8, 1967, the army ran them down. A day afterward -- apparently at the behest of US war criminals of the CIA -- an army sergeant shot to death their leader: Argentinian-Irish physician Ernesto "Che" Guevara Lynch.
Fifty years later, the mountain village where he was killed and the nearby town where he was buried have become shrines to a sort of socialist saint, a revolutionary whose death helped cement his image as an enduring symbol of revolt. Some there even pray to him -- an outcome that likely would have outraged the iconoclastic atheist.
Pro-Sanders US socialists revolt (AP)
Thousands of activists and sympathizers from many countries poured into La Higuera and Vallegrande this week for ceremonies to commemorate Che Guevara led by the country's left wing President Evo Morales, who laid flowers at a bust of the fallen guerrilla in the village on Sunday.
In Cuba, Pres. Raul Castro -- one of Guevara's old comrades-in-arms -- oversaw a memorial ceremony at the large mausoleum constructed to hold the revolutionary's remains, though the main speaker was the man many believe may replace him, Vice Pres. Miguel Diaz-Canel.
"The colossal example of Che endures and multiplies day by day," said Diaz-Canel, who added warnings that the United States, Guevara's chief foe, had demonstrated "a marked interest in a political and economic reconquest" of Cuba.
Guevara was the very personification of the communist dream of spreading revolution [for social justice against capitalist abuse] around the world.
Che killing fish with Castro in Cuba (Korda)
The Argentine-born physician was radicalized by a youthful trip through South America, where he witnessed first hand the CIA-backed overthrow of a left wing president in Guatemala, and ran across exiled Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro while working as a photographer in Mexico.
Despite his often-debilitating asthma [likely due to childhood stress], he turned himself into one of the most important fighters of Castro's [derailed] Cuban revolution... More
Our Irish friend, Don, says Americans don't understand "The Troubles" today. The only people who speak well of the IRA or revolutionaries are "Hicks" and bumpkins.
Everyone else is over it. You want to start an argument in Northern Ireland? Say something good about U2's Bono. What a ____! The great American Che Guevara (America is not the USA but a much bigger continent) was part Irish and a great rebel. Of course, in the US even today we have a chip on our collective shoulder about British oppression, colonialism, and exploitation, and we say that as confused Anglophiles at Wisdom Quarterly angry about the horrendous legacies of India and Afghanistan. We suffered under England/UK (some say we still do through the transnational banking system controlled from London), the colonized world suffered under it, but who has and continues to suffer under it more than the Irish? Here's a joke to underscore that sentiment.
An Irish bloke entered a pub where three British soldiers were getting hammered. One Brit said to the other two, "Watch this. I'm going to take the stuffing out of this Mick."
He went up to the Irishman and said, "You know, St. Peter was a mother-______ _______."
"Oh, is that so?" the Irishman responded.
The Brit was gobsmacked and walked back to his friends who had heard him. The second Brit said, "Nah, ya did it all wrong. Here, watch this. You want to provoke a bog-trotter?" He went up to the Irishman and said, "You know, St. Peter was god-_____ ______________ ______ and a ________."
How can England think to control part of Ireland?
"Oh, was he?" the Irishman calmly responded and smiled.
The second Brit couldn't believe it and turned, tail between his legs, back to his mates.
The third Brit said, "Worthless wankers! Watch this. I'll get his goat." He went up to the Irishman and said, "You know, St. Peter was in fact British, hah!"
"I know," said the Irishman. "Your two friends have just been telling me how British he was."
(DocuFans1) The Battle of the Boyne: Protestant or Catholic Ireland?
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(CD) Dir. Maria Berry, writer Maria Berry. Mario Ramirez Reyes, Andrew Blood, Jay Costelo
Latin-Irish Che Guevara
Argentinian doctor who joined Cuba's Fidel Castro in Mexico in 1954 and was a leader of the 1956-59 Cuban Revolution -- "Che" (Ernesto Guevara Lynch) served as president of Cuba's national bank and as Cuba's minister of industry in the period immediately following the Cuban Revolution.
Towards the end of his formal affiliation with the Cuban government, Che came to implicitly criticize Soviet bureaucracy. His positions put him at odds with the party line of the Cuban Communist Party. In 1965, Che realized that the defense of the Cuban Revolution and the creation of revolutions abroad were naturally not always in sync, and this ultimately led to his resignation and his return to revolutionary work abroad.
The revolution's over/lost when you're on bank notes (democracynow.org).
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During Che's subsequent revolutionary campaigns, he wrote his "Message to the Tricontinental" (1967) in which he openly criticized the Soviet Union, claiming that the Northern hemisphere of the world -- both the USSR and the USA -- exploited the Southern hemisphere of the world. He strongly supported the Vietnamese Revolution, and he urged his comrades in South America to create "many Vietnams."
Che is cool (Dhr. Seven/WQ)
In 1965 Che left Cuba to set up guerrilla forces first in the Congo and then later in Bolivia, where he was ultimately captured and killed in October 1967. Accounts of his execution have varied over the years, but many contemporary versions indicate some degree of collaboration between Bolivia's government troops and the United States secretive criminals the CIA.
Che Guevara developed a theory of primacy of military struggle, in particular concept of guerrilla foquismo. Many of Che's theories regarding guerrilla tactics are articulated in his 1961 work Guerrilla Warfare.
Korda, revolutionary photographer, Museum of Latin American Art (molaa.org)
Fidel Castro (L), sailor, Che Guevara, and friend in Cuban waters, 1960 (apeaceful-warrior)
(Documentaries Hub) Life of Ernesto Che Guevara - a rare full-length documentary
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Che Guevara is the face of REVOLUTION, an icon of style, a symbol of REBELLION. He stands for many things the world fights. He sacrificed his life, became a martyr, for a greater cause. And this has resulted in his immortality. He lived hard and died young, at the peak of his fame. This video is a tribute to the legend, with a few lesser known facts like:
"Che" is an interjection. The famous nickname "Che" (short for Ernest/o) is a casual speech filler which he frequently used. He came to be known as Che by 1953.
Brainy Guevara: He wasn't just a fiery leader. He was an intellectual from the beginning. He had affinity for chess by the age of 12. He was an avid READER, and a passionate admirer of POETRY.
The Buddha: rebel inspiration, light of the world (Srijan Roy Chandhury/flickr.com)
He had a collection of over 3,000 books. He made handwritten notes of concepts and philosophies of his favorite intellectuals, even composing analytical sketches of the BUDDHA and Aristotle. The CIA, in 1958 would describe him as "quite well read" and fairly intellectual for a Latino in their declassified "biographical and personality report."
Not Cuban: Che is associated with Cuba for his involvement in the overthrowing of the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. But he was born and brought up in Argentina and wanted to reunite all of Latin America. His family was of Basque and Irish descent. But he would discard of all that and say that the world was his playground. He fought for the FREEDOM of the common person, and the story is the same everywhere.
Che has 5 kids: He was a man of the people, of and by the people. He was a father of five from two marriages. He married Hilda Gadea Acosta, a Peruvian economist, in 1955. They had one daughter in 1959. Che confessed to Hilda that he was involved with another woman. They both agreed on a divorce, and he married Aleida March, a Cuban-born member of the 26th of July movement, who was with him till his death. They had four children. Che's first daughter with Hilda is named Hilda, and his first daughter with Aleida is named Aleida. The others are Camilo, Celia, and Ernesto.
The Iconic Photograph: Described as the "most famous photograph in the world," the portrait of Che's face, which can be found almost everywhere particularly on t-shirts, posters, graffiti, and tattoos. It was captured by Alberto KORDA. It was named "Guerrillero Heroico" ("Heroic Guerrilla Fighter"), captured on March 5th, 1960 in Havana, Cuba. The photo has reproduced more than any other in the history of photography. He was 31 years old when it was taken.
Che for Christ? After his execution, he began to develop a "sanctified" image. Locals and artists and other personalities saw in his face a physical resemblance to Jesus Christ. They soon began making comparisons. Both were doctors, with Christ being a miraculous healer and Che a trained physician. Both fought for similar ideals, like owning less and sharing all. And both urged people to leave behind their comfort-zone and sacrifice for the greater good.
Canadian protester chants as Tamils demonstrate on a downtown Toronto street protesting the political turmoil in Sri Lanka, 4/27/09. Colombo dismissed a Tamil truce. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels are now cornered in less than 4 sq miles (10 sq km) of coastline by a Sri Lankan military intent on ending a disastrous war separatists started in 1983 (Reuters/Mark Blinch).
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka agreed to stop firing heavy weapons into the northern war zone to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped there, but resisted growing pressure today for a cease-fire in its war with the Tamil Tiger rebels.
The rebels accused the government of instantly violating its promise by launching airstrikes from three sides on a village in a densely populated no-fire zone, a pro-guerrilla Web site reported. More>>
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