Che's impact on today's generation

[jcastro]

What do you think is Che's impact on today's generation?
Is he just a pop culture icon to a youth, who have become infatuated with his picture on merchandise
or does he still symbolize the same great ideals he stood for during his lifetime?

Also, since Che was both a man of profound ideas and of great action, how do you as a Che supporter in the 21st Century embrace his ideals and act upon them in your life today?

[mia wallace]

first of all, welcome comrade.

unfortunately, for most of the people che is just a pop icon (in my opinion), although to some he he still symbolizes the ideas he stood for. if there wasn't his famous image, today i wouldn't consider myself a communist and i'm sure i'm not the only one. it depands on does the person who's wearing a t-shirt or whatever with che's image is smart enough to try to find out who was the man on the image. i think it's kinda dum to wear a pic of a man you don't knowanithing about, isn't it?

as a supporter of che's ideas, i try to live as less capitalist as i can and, of course, to spred communism.



el che vive :che:

[SittingBull47]

I agree with Mia about him being "pop culture" for most. The majority of people that sport his image and speak his name are not actual communists/socialists/marxists, etc. This sickens me.

To me, Che is the embodiment of revolution. He has become synonymous with resistance and equality. He is somebody that comes along only very rarely to do what he feels is right. His passion is an inspiration to me.

[God of Imperia]

But you know, we should all be happy that he is so famous, even if they see him like an icon ... They might want to know more about this person and the find that the communists aren't so bad after all ...

[shakermaker]

all i can say now is, that i agree with you guys!


i think it's kinda dum to wear a pic of a man you don't knowanithing about, isn't it?
yep, i know lot's of ppl who do this...and it's...oh well, it makes me mad!

[toastedmonkey]

I totally echo Mia here.

I held the usual misconceptions as my peers do. I was gonna buy a t-shirt of him, but decided to buy and read jon lee andersons book first.

oh and I didnt buy t-shirt, as i thought it was a contradiction.

[Blackguard]

What do you think is Che's impact on today's generation?
He reminds us that the US is a pile of s***... Good enough?
If not, he reminds us that we have to fight for our ideals. And even though the majority of ppl who wear merchandise with his face on, dont really know who is he, there are still some who realise who he really is. and those ppl are the future. Or arnt they?

[AC-Socialist]

Yeah agreed. I saw his face on a tshirt when i was 12, the bloke didnt know who he was so i asked my mum, who told me. I then went on the net an found out a load about him, and last year in zim, i read jon Lees Andersons biography - brilliant.

There are some people who buy his t-shirt and dont know who he is. I remember one guy who i started a debate about socialism with, He was a spoilt rich kid with more money than sense, when i explained che he said i was lying, oh well....

[Hate Is Art]

Che is the face of resistance, his image conjures up thoughts of defiance and revolution. His inspires people and his actions and thoughts still live on.

The Korda image probably has a lot to do with his status as pop icon, but the Korda image makes people interested in him. I can honestly say i became a Communist after getting a Che shirt and trying to find out who he was.

[che's long lost daughter]

I agree with what everybody said. For most people, Che is a pop icon whose face is printed on thousands of t-shirts that people who do not even know who he is wear. But for me and I think for all of us here, yes, he still symbolizes what he stood for during his lifetime. It is such a sad thing that more and more people are wearing Che shirts without having any idea what it is he stood for. Sometimes, I get embarassed to wear my Che shirt for fear that I may be mistaken for a stupid che-shirt wearing individual who is not cognizant of who Che Guevara really is and doesn't know why is there the "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" phrase printed with his face. Sometimes, I get the urge of asking these people who Che Guevara is and my friend tells me, "what if he really knows Che" and I say to him, "Well, I'll say 'Nice to meet you comrade, please shake my hands'" Well, I just wish that if ever I really do that, that is what will happen and I'll be proud and happy to have met someone who deserves to wear a Che shirt.

By the way, welcome and enjoy it here. :)

[mysticofthewest]

The image of Che has been cheepened by his mass explotations in pop culture I am sickened by this
As a marxist, as a cuban, and as a humanbeing in genral. I do not approve of the cheeping of Che's image Try seeing it like this.
to the unenlightened masses wearing a Che shirt is only cool but, to true rebels this act is a chance for the for the right to try to kick our legs out from under us. Mass production of Che image for pop culture purposes is an ploy to relegate a great symbol of socal change in to some thing that sickens me to my core. The right is just trying to protect their power bace by degrading The image of Che

[jcastro]

Thank you all for your welcomes and comments.

I am currently doing about a 10 page research topic surrounding what Che has meant to different generations over the years, and if the commercialization of his face has been a major part of the loss of his ideals to the current generation.

To tell you the truth, if his face wasn't such a pop icon, I wouldn't have made the first step to delve deeper into his literature and biography. I simply would have read The Motorcycle Diaries (which was the assigned literature in my class) and have been satisfied with simply that.

It is this great infatuation with his face on anywhere from coffee mugs to keychains to t-shirts, that has garnered my interest and has caused me to really pick up books to understand the man behind the face.

I also agree that he has become just a face on a trendy t-shirt or poster to many of today's youth, but at the same time I believe that the Alberto Korda image of Che's face on merchandise is the cause for many of our first encounters with Che and one of the main reasons we gravitate towards him in the first place...

Just out of curiosity:
What was your first encounter with Che?
Was it in a class, on a t-shirt, or somewhere else?
And what was the driving factor for you to learn more about him?

[che's long lost daughter]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2004, 07:44 PM

Just out of curiosity:
What was your first encounter with Che?
Was it in a class, on a t-shirt, or somewhere else?
And what was the driving factor for you to learn more about him?
I first saw Che's picture in one of Rage Against the Machine's videos but I didn't quite know who he is that time. Then I saw his face again in a T-shirt worn by my friend's ex-boyfriend who I think wears a che shirt because it's cool. But if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have known the name behind that ever so popular face. When I knew what his name is and knowing that one of my favorite bands supports him, I did a little research and Che has been an inspiration to me since then.

[Hate Is Art]

My First Encounter Of Che

An old photo of dad and his best friend on a boat both with Che Shirts! Must have been early 70's.

That's what plucked my curiosity in Che, soon after i searched Che into google, came up with this sight read the brief bio of him.

Next I checked out a small book on Che and afterwards read JL Andersons's book. Haven't looked back since, exept to laugh at the explosion in my rear view mirror!

[mia wallace]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2004, 08:44 PM
It is this great infatuation with his face on anywhere from coffee mugs to keychains to t-shirts, that has garnered my interest and has caused me to really pick up books to understand the man behind the face.
and that is the reason why i think the comermercialization of this face is worth it.
and it is also good for comunism in a way. pple see comunism as evil, and che was a comunist but his face is still on all that shirts and that surely wouldn't have happen if he was a bad guy. i mean - there isn't hitler's face on any t-shirt, or at least as much as i know. and 50% of people who conclude that will defenitely be intrasted in comunism.


I also agree that he has become just a face on a trendy t-shirt or poster to many of today's youth, but at the same time I believe that the Alberto Korda image of Che's face on merchandise is the cause for many of our first encounters with Che and one of the main reasons we gravitate towards him in the first place...
i just fear when the movie about che comes, there will be a loads of fashion stuff with che's image and desends of 10-year-old kids wearing it... :rolleyes:



Just out of curiosity:
What was your first encounter with Che?
Was it in a class, on a t-shirt, or somewhere else?
And what was the driving factor for you to learn more about him?
i've seen his face few times when i was a child, but the first time i can clearly remember is three years ago in my friend's brother's room. he hed a big picture of che on a wall of his room and bellow it, it was written 'hasta la victoria siempre'.
then, a year and a half ago i bought a keyring with che's image so i decided to find out who the man was. i asked my mum ehat's the man's name and later i searched the net and learned a lot bout him and his ideas.
i'm really happy i learned about this man. if it would've been different, i have a feeling i'd be missing so much...

:che:

[toastedmonkey]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2004, 07:44 PM
Just out of curiosity:
What was your first encounter with Che?
Was it in a class, on a t-shirt, or somewhere else?
And what was the driving factor for you to learn more about him?
It started Spetember last year, i was thinking about my future and what i wanted to do, i wasnt keen on the idea of university, so i decided to take a gap year, after discussing it with a friend or two. The idea of traveling across russia for the year, came up and sounded great. Did a little research and set my heart on it.
I was looking for some t-shirts to do with russia and one site i went on was Sporting kicks, i was gonna by a badge (Click Here) (http://www.sportingkicks.co.uk/shop.php3?f=t&catid=6&teamid=317) a CCCP shirt (Click Here) (http://www.sportingkicks.co.uk/shop.php3?f=t&catid=2&teamid=317&searchterm=&offset=&prodid=523) and a Guevara shirt (Click Here) (http://www.sportingkicks.co.uk/shop.php3?f=t&catid=2&teamid=317&searchterm=&offset=10&prodid=960).
I got the first two but decided to research guevara first, his image looked familiar, not least because of football365 copying the style. I decided against buying it as i felt (and still do feel) its a contradiction.

[Pedro Alonso Lopez]

I actually cant remember the first time I would have say the image of Che. Personally I have a t-shirt, a large flag (a nifty rare one from Spain) and a Cuban flag as well as a poster so I'm not ashamed of it.

Why would I be? Just because he has been abused dosent mean you cant wear the damn t-shirt? If you endorse any kind of counter-establishment stance or even some kind of moderate reforms his image can inspire. Certainly rather have him than a lot of other people every where I go.

Its ironic that he is used for capitalism but its more ironic that capitalism relies on somebody who would have wiped them out to make money, it exposes their shallowness and thats an insight for the left.

[pandora]

I first heard about Che Guevara through a friend who had spent a lot of time in Nicarqua, she always said if you think you're bad ass go down to Nicarqua and spray a wall. She was great really balls out, and used to jump skinheads for sport, quite a bruiser, enjoyed her immensely; as I enjoy all of those with real courage and admire them.

This was back in the punk rock days and she said he was The most punk rock of them all and explained his social philosophies how he wanted to really help the people and put his life on the line and how the CIA murdered him, then she showed me pictures and his beauty blew me away, I couldn't believe I hadn't had a lot of contact with him before, this was before they started spraypainting him all over NYC in the 90's.

When I was in Mexico and New Mexico there was a lot of hero worship of Che with the Zapatista uprising, this led me to motorcycle diaries, I had to write my thesis for undergrad and picked up on the Embargo, took time out to be a Buddhist, and was deterred by his killing of prisoners to keep them from fighting against him later, which they did, so stopped following him for a while, but now he's back in my life.

Being a Rebel he is a good inspiration for his later moral discipline, but also because he wandered a bit like me finding his inspiration and clarifying his ideas. I think there is a lot of depth to Che in his philosophies and how he formed them by roaming around and speaking to people that is really overlooked in the US and other countries that popularize Che, because he really dropped out of the economy for intellectual pursuits, and took a chance on doing something different, that's not easy to do.

In fact when the sit. got mundane in Cuba he kind of checked out, he was a bit of a vagabond, and didn't feel comfortable in "normal society" preferring to read and think. That image has great power!

[shakermaker]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2004, 07:44 PM
Just out of curiosity:
What was your first encounter with Che?
Was it in a class, on a t-shirt, or somewhere else?
And what was the driving factor for you to learn more about him?
i saw Che first time in Tom Morello's amp...if i remember right...
but when i heard about him was history lesson when we talked about latin-america...then i got intrested and when to library and borrow every book about Che i could find...

[Wiesty]

Well it depends, CHes mercahndise can be worn by people who are just looking for a nice shirt, Like that band Rage Against the Machine, They use his icon on one of their shirts because there into all the revolution stuff. And they were so kind to include his name, date of birth-Death and a quote by him on the back.

But then their is other people like me and others who where his shirts to advertise che, So that other people come up to you and ask who that is.

Me myself, I pass on che or his ideals today not by trying to be more communist, im 13 and its hard to become one in todays capatilist society.
I try to tell people that dont know of him about che, And i tell them his main story and they usually go on and get into all of that stuff.

Im like a converter lol

:che: Hasta La Victoria Siempre! :che:

[mysticofthewest]

I guess u could say ive grown up with Che being cuban I was regaled with stories of Che for the time i was a young boy

[mysticofthewest]

Compañero Wiesty as an ardent Marxist in the most money obsessed country in the world I know it is hard to be any where on the left in this country. People will shun you however if you stay true to our ideals and you are resolute you well be fine. The U.S.A is the Bastion of Captolism but even the strongest fortress can be brought down remember Ches message and ideals and you will be fine.

[che's long lost daughter]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2004, 11:09 PM

Its ironic that he is used for capitalism but its more ironic that capitalism relies on somebody who would have wiped them out to make money, it exposes their shallowness and thats an insight for the left.

There's no better way it would have been said Geist, no better way.

Ok, I get embarassed, but that's just a thought in my mind. I still wear my Che-shirt and it will always be my favorite shirt in the world.

[SittingBull47]

Originally posted by [email protected] 31 2004, 06:48 PM
Compañero Wiesty as an ardent Marxist in the most money obsessed country in the world I know it is hard to be any where on the left in this country. People will shun you however if you stay true to our ideals and you are resolute you well be fine. The U.S.A is the Bastion of Captolism but even the strongest fortress can be brought down remember Ches message and ideals and you will be fine.
true that. You wouldn't believe how much shit i get just for being on the left. In actuality, i consider myself a leftist. I agree with Communism, Socialism, and some anarchy. This may be confusing but it makes sense to me. I get all this shit for protesting, for having anti-bush posters on my binder, etc. etc. Even the books i read, they get stolen. (still haven't found my copy of Das Kapital, those fuckers). People just don't understand why i believe in Communism.

[Essential Insignificance]

People just don't understand why i believe in Communism

It’s an effectively comparative straightforward answer, why, they don’t. The Bourgeoisie media...idiots generally believe, tenets, what their told day in and day out.

[Eastside Revolt]

I'm sure most people would agree he is a symbol for revolutionary action. To me it goes a little further, because I grew up in a "liberal democracy". Those in the spotlight speaking of change for the better (the NDP), are too afraid of right-wing backlash to really get anything done. It's like they figure, that all they have to do is claim to be social democrat, meanwhile hopping in bed with the liberals, and the left will continue to support them. Che (mostly for his critisisms of the soviets) has inspired me, not to be afraid to assume I am the one that's right. And not to be afraid to speak so if I feel that way.

Edit: also he has helped me never go for excepting the lesser of two evils.

[Take the Power back]

I first saw the reversed Korda picture on a poster for RATM, the Bombtrack poster. I saw the red picture on Tom Morello's amplifier sometime afterward. I began to wonder at that point...until I was reading a book in our school library, "The 100 most inluential photographs" and it happened to have the Korda picture! So I googled Che, and now I am here, comrades. I am 50/50 on buying a Che t-shirt. If I do, it will be from this site, to help support the site. I might out of the irony that deceased communist revolutionary makes money for large clothing corporations., like was already mentioned.

[truthaddict11]

What was your first encounter with Che?
when i first came to this website 2 years ago

[VukBZ2005]

Originally posted by SittingBull47+Mar 31 2004, 08:43 PM--> (SittingBull47 @ Mar 31 2004, 08:43 PM)
[email protected] 31 2004, 06:48 PM
Compañero Wiesty as an ardent Marxist in the most money obsessed country in the world I know it is hard to be any where on the left in this country. People will shun you however if you stay true to our ideals and you are resolute you well be fine. The U.S.A is the Bastion of Captolism but even the strongest fortress can be brought down remember Ches message and ideals and you will be fine.
true that. You wouldn't believe how much shit i get just for being on the left. In actuality, i consider myself a leftist. I agree with Communism, Socialism, and some anarchy. This may be confusing but it makes sense to me. I get all this shit for protesting, for having anti-bush posters on my binder, etc. etc. Even the books i read, they get stolen. (still haven't found my copy of Das Kapital, those fuckers). People just don't understand why i believe in Communism. [/b]
Those capitalists never will.... :angry:

Down with Capitalism!

[Nas]

im only 16 and im from NY , USA, and my 1st encounter with Che was from watching Mike "Iron" Tyson fight , he has a tattoo of Che on him , is he a leftist? , so i asked my dad (who is not communist but rather pro-socialist ) and he told me that Che was an Argentinian revolutionary and around that time i remembered hearing Che Guevaras name being mention in rap (underground too) songs too , so i thought it was cool because Che is included in 2 things i love the most: hip hop and politics + i like Mike Tyson in boxing too

and i tried searching for more info on him ( by this time i knew a lot about left politics but still i wanted to learn MORE ) i went to a book store (i always go to book stores to steal some left politc goodies :) or other stuff) and glanced through some books on Che and from then on Che Guevara has been up there as one of my idols - (i dont have any books of him because i dont think right now is my time to read his books , just wait till i get to college)

[EneME]

What was your first encounter with Che?
Was it in a class, on a t-shirt, or somewhere else?
And what was the driving factor for you to learn more about him?

Well, ironically, I always saw his image around on posters and books, but since I always pushed my leftist values on a back burner as a teen...I didn't really know who he was until I went to El Salvador in 98' and my cousin had a quote of his up in her room so I finally asked about him. She told me about him, and I was interested in his revolutionary ways since my family was heavily involved in politics as well....

[mysticofthewest]

My comrades the U.S.A belittles the left because it is a threat to their power. consider the masess working just to live from day to day can not see how bad they really are because their focuses soley on survival the dont mind the rich having every thing because they don't know what its like to have to have anything thats why most revolutionary leader are from the upper middle class because they can see the how big a gap there really is. Comrade Weisy if your ever need someone to talk to u can E-mail me at [email protected]

[mambo tango]

I think that Che Guevara is a pop icon for a lot of people around the world especially young people, but for me, he was a man with a very strong will, and I really believe in equality, but with today's sickening capitalism it is very difficult, almost impossible to create a world, where everyone would be equal in every walks of life, i'm trying to learn as much as I can from Che Guevara and also try to spread his ideas to others...

[Essential Insignificance]

ut with today's sickening capitalism it is very difficult, almost impossible to create a world, where everyone would be equal in every walks of life

As "sicking" as capitalism is, it is only a solitary, ephemeral stage of mass exploitation… a "better" world is far from impossible, it is in reality just "over the horizon"…equality will soon flush in good time.

Keeping on learning.

[MiniOswald]

hey mysticofthewest you are so right I found a website about terrorist:questions and answers made by the yanks and half the groups there were marxist i.e. Farc, elm, tupac amaru and I think the palestinians were in there too.

Anyway I want to see a T shirt with castro on it, ha I'd be the only one wearing one, I could get one with him fatigue clad then people would have to question who he was.

my dad bought me a che shirt for me to wear in germany, not exactly a great idea considering there were a few neos in the area I was, but anyways only 1 girl in our english group of about 40 kids knew who he was but most guessed he was a commie from the fact that im always talking about communism!

[Rasta Sapian]

to me Che represents the strength of socialism! And the hope of the revoltuionaries in the fight against capitalism and impirialism!

when i see a red star in the nights sky i think of che and his vision for the future!

[FriedFrog]

I'm a recently converted commie and i think what he and the rest of the cuban revolutionaries did was a great thing. I just hope i'm old enough to go to Cuba when Castro is still around...