(Dan Chudzinski)
Adolf Hitler tube socks, Benito Mussolini coffee mugs, Saddam Hussein throw pillows, Kim Jong Il bumper stickers and Joseph Stalin key chains. An alternative universe where consumer products such as those became popular would understandably be considered strange and mostly offensive. Anybody walking down the street in clothing that shows Benito Mussolini as a fashion symbol would be summarily laughed at or frowned upon in disgust. No one remotely considers the Italian dictator and Hitler's No. 1 pal to be chic or fashionably cool. But another murderous thug, Che Guevara, is constantly revered in hippie fashion circles for his resistance to authority and unbending fight for communism. Che Guevara's bearded face is an omnipresent symbol on college campuses today. It has become difficult to enter a typical college dorm and not find a Guevara poster donning a college first-year's wall, adjacent to a Coldplay or Beatles poster. Hollywood has even gotten in on the Che lovefest with 2004's The Motorcycle Diaries, which depicts Che's early life as a romantic adventure through Latin America where he views economic inequality firsthand and does his best to right the wrongs of capitalism.
A week before Christmas 2006, at the height of the holiday shopping season, Target stores were forced to pull Che Guevara CD cases from their shelves after the Cuban-American community became enraged with the glorification of a man who left a bloody and violent scar on their native land. The CD case showed the now infamous portrait of Che in his black-starred beret. But this Che portrait had one obvious modification - Che was listening to headphones that closely resembled the standard white headphones that come with the purchase of an iPod. While the Cuban-American outrage is certainly understandable, one can hardly blame Target for trying to market Che Guevara products. They are a hot sell to a cult of followers who idolize Che and do so for reasons they cannot articulate.
This "Cult of Che," as those who follow his iconic fashion status have come to be called, is nearly impossible to understand. When openly challenging members of this retro trendy group, one will be hard pressed to find a logical explanation as to why they wear the Che T-shirts and hang Che posters on their walls. Like any cult of personality, no follower seems able to describe Che's historical significance or place in the world. Che's portrait just seems "cool" or "fashionably trendy" like a lava lamp found at a garage sale.
In fact, this cool and trendy guy's only occupation in life was as a bloody communist soldier. Guevara first aided Fidel Castro in securing communism's stronghold in Cuba, where, after the successful communist invasion, Guevara became the head of a communist prison where possibly thousands of innocent people were executed under his authority. None of those executed were offered fair trials or the right to prove their innocence. The exact number of lives lost under Guevara's command will never be known, but he admitted to sending several thousand to the firing squad in the early days of the Castro regime. With the ultimate goal of communism becoming the dominant economic system in the world, Guevara attempted to create communist uprisings in Africa and then again in his native South America. His uprisings were never well received and his usurping of sovereign nations led to his execution in Bolivia in 1967.
Before shedding a tear at Che's death and running to the nearest hemp store to purchase all the various Che collectibles, it may useful in reading Guevara describe his favorite pastime - killing anyone in his way.
"Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!" Che remarked in his own writings. The enemy in this case is greedy capitalists - better known as Americans. Che's surviving family members have filed lawsuits that object to the capitalist marketing of his portrait because they believe it goes directly against his ideological views. Che's ideology, however, seems to be nothing more than indiscriminately killing people. Such sentiment is worlds apart from the privileged college student driving around in daddy's Land Rover with a wallet full of cash, wearing a Che T-shirt purchased at last summer's Warped Tour and looking for the cheapest place to buy Natty Light.
Aside from the stunning ignorance displayed by the Cult of Che, the thought of an ultra-communist happily listening to an iPod financed by a corporate computer giant like Apple would be amusing if not for all the people Guevara carelessly butchered. As a self-described coldblooded killing machine, there is no room in urban clothing boutiques for Che Guevara, even if his portrait fits well into some retro fashion style. Hopefully one day a Che Guevara T-shirt will be treated with the same feelings of disgust as an Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini T-shirt would be today.
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