| y"> | | | | become a cold killing machine motivated by pure |
| Symbolic t-shirts offer a simple way to make a | | | | hate." Guevara ended up being killed in Bolivia, chasing |
| statement with maximum impact. As the saying | | | | another revolution. |
| goes, "a picture tells a thousand words" and these | | | | The regime which he helped create continues to |
| days there are far more than a thousand different | | | | violate human rights. There are many dissidents in |
| t-shirts emblazoned with iconographic art that can | | | | Cuba who in recent times have been jailed and |
| help you say it. One classic t shirt that appears to be | | | | remain in jail for speaking out against the current |
| making a comeback is that of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, | | | | regime. There is also a growing unease among well |
| Argentinean revolutionary and right hand man of Fidel | | | | known and influential political activists that Western |
| Castro. He has been a poster boy for the radical left | | | | democracies are turning a blind eye to these |
| for the last 50 years and he's now more visible than | | | | 'prisoners of conscience'. Vaclav Havel, playwright and |
| ever due to the "Motorcycle Diaries", a film depicting | | | | ex president of the Czech Republic has been vocal in |
| his formative years. One effect of iconography is | | | | condemning the European Union's public promise of |
| that once something has been elevated to the | | | | crafting the guest lists of their embassies in |
| position of 'icon' it can often lose its original identity | | | | accordance with the Cuban Government's wishes. |
| and context. This isn't always a problem however in | | | | Havel believes that by doing so, another avenue used |
| Guevara's case it's important to look at his life as a | | | | by the dissidents to generate change has been |
| whole and his legacy, especially in Cuba. | | | | closed. Havel calls this "diplomatic apartheid" and he |
| It is easy to identify with the Che depicted in the | | | | should know. |
| film. As a young medical student, Guevara spent time | | | | From the late 1960's up to the fall of the Soviet |
| working in a leper colony as he travelled through | | | | Union Havel spoke out many times against the |
| Chile, Peru and Venezuela with his friend Alberto | | | | communist Czech government and was imprisoned |
| Granado on a clapped out Norton 500. As well as | | | | for many years. It's hard to compare a gun to the |
| seeing first hand the detached compassion displayed | | | | head with a cocktail party invitation however the |
| by the carers in the colony the young Guevara was | | | | spirit of Che still remains. Hatred and the persecution |
| also exposed to the reality of worker exploitation | | | | of ideas. Havel looks at things differently. He once |
| and political oppression present in Central and South | | | | said that "the salvation of this human world lies |
| America in the 1950's. However the image of this | | | | nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human |
| young idealist is totally at odds with the Guevara that | | | | power to reflect, in human meekness and human |
| helped Castro overthrow the Batista regime in Cuba | | | | responsibility." The dissidents in Cuba want a real, |
| in 1959. Once in power, Guevara controlled the La | | | | lasting change for their country and they're choosing |
| Caba prison in Havana where he ordered the | | | | to do this in a peaceful way. The image of Che |
| execution of hundreds of prisoners by firing squad | | | | Guevara with his beret on a designer t-shirt may still |
| without trial and when asked about this displays | | | | represent revolutionary change and 'sticking it to the |
| himself as somebody driven more by pure hate than | | | | man' but it's also in poor taste when looking at his |
| the desire to change an oppressive regime. "This is a | | | | past actions and the current situation in Cuba. |
| revolution!" he said. "And a revolutionary must | | | | |