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Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ the brutality and aggressiveness required as the (1928–1967) ‘leader’ of the ‘free world’ (Robinson 2008). Today, as we witness the world’s only superpower Peter McLaren1 and Lilia D. Monzó2 using its divinely ordained pre-emptive power to 1Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA ‘democratise’ rogue countries through the sav- 2College of Educational Studies, Chapman agery of war, symbolically delousing its new University, Orange, CA, USA immigrant populations from the south by highlighting their supposed cultural inferiority, and deploying surveillance and cyber capabilities Synonyms to steal industry secrets and sabotage financial systems in order to advantage its domestic indus- Biography; Che Guevara; Cuban revolution; try and spy on its own citizens and those from Focoism; Guerilla warfare; Marxism countries around the world, we can safely say that while democracy clearly has no historical present in the US, it could possibly have a future should a Definition socialist alternative to capitalism be one day realised. Yet, this seems unlikely in today’s his- This essay explores the life and work of Argentine torical juncture, in a world harrowed by war, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla famine, racism, and ecological destruction. leader, military theorist, and diplomat, Ernesto Any vestiges of social responsibility are tram- ‘Che’ Guevara (1928–1967). pled into dust by a world corporate media system We all appreciate heroes whose actions and that deploys its own ‘heroes’–i.e., Bill Gates, historical stature help enable us to recognise our Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg, the Walton fam- potential as human beings and who give us the ily – to ensure that the capitalist marketplace is impetus to be better than we are – more coura- venerated as the motor force of democracy. geous, more selfless, more committed to making Humanity appears weak and puny in the face of the world a better place. This is especially true the entrenched dominance of the capitalist mode today when our world is on the verge of planetary of production and its billionaire heroes, and alerts catastrophe at the hands of a transnational capital- us to the seemingly insuperable task of emerging ist class and its corporate clientele and a US-led victorious against any and all forces aligned with imperialist order seemingly willing to forsake the interests of capital accumulation. As Peter millions of lives in favour of protecting its corpo- McLaren (2010) notes: rate interests through a shameful complicity with

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 I. Ness, Z. Cope (eds.), The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_299-1 2 Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967)

In a world torn between the oppressed on the one his time and his pedagogy of revolution that was side, and those who esuriently exploit them, on the based on a critical engagement of Marxist- other, there seems little hope today of a grand alter- native for the wretched of the earth. They seem Leninist theory and the philosophy of praxis he forever caught between the jaws of those scrupu- developed from the basis of such an engagement lously respectable people who offer them the slav- (Harris 1998). Through the words with which he ery of wage labour and a lifetime of alienation in agitated, incited, and persuaded men and women exchange for their labour power, and those who fi loathsomely criminalize their very existence, or to ght for a socialist alternative, we witness feel justified to leave them to suffer whatever cruel the honesty, self-reflection, and integrity that he fate the market has in store for them. (102–103) argued were necessary characteristics of the ‘new [wo] man’ and socialist revolutionary (Löwy The unmitigated lie that we are destined to be 2007). His Guevarian pedagogy and socialist passive participants in history and unable to act in imaginary were not the product of some a world of necessity becomes evident when we privileged access to his own internal reflection come to know and recognise the valiant self- but came through a commitment to truth, a strug- fashioning of those who – despite being locked gle for solidarity, a belief in the political efficacy within the prison house of capitalism with its of guerrilla warfare, and a search for a coherence dislocation and disaggregation of person identity – between theory and practice, a coherence that has create spaces of protagonistic agency that enable informed various revolutions since and provides them to act with integrity, valour, and commit- great insights into how we, as critical educators, ment toward a ‘collective struggle’ (Darder can begin to attain proletarian hegemony through 2011). What we need is to learn of and from the a pedagogy of love, revolution, and social justice. heroes who stand among real men and women and who have made profound contributions in our lifetime precisely because of their humanity – because somehow conditions in and around their A Legacy of and for Revolution lives forced them to demand of themselves more Che is revered as an epic symbol of revolutionary than most of us dare to do. The real heroes of our heroism among disenfranchised communities world are those whose disquieting commitment to across the globe and especially in his native resisting the brutalisation of everyday life con- América Latina. His extraordinary willingness to vinces us that we too can be revolutionaries – make the ultimate sacrifice of his life to liberate that in the substantive and aggregative nexus of humanity, his unwavering commitment to his our historical experiences, we all have the capac- Guevarian (Marxist) pedagogy, and his coura- ity for courage, for honouring others, and for geous and unflinching affront to capitalism and revolutionary love. US imperialism support the image of a knight Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was a man from whose from Arthurian legend, a secular Christ, or an storied legacy we can glimpse the possibilities of avenging angel wielding a fiery sword promul- an authentic humanity, recognising at the same gated and instructed by divine ordinance to slay time that he was also one of the most important the hydra-headed beast of US imperialism. For socialist revolutionaries of the twentieth century many of us on the left, he inspires and energises and beyond. His accomplishments as an intellec- us to continue to fight for what we know is right tual and a military commander continue to be felt and just, and instils a sense of solidarity and love in the hearts of those who knew him and among that reminds us of our purpose. new generations who continue to discover him Hundreds of books and articles have been writ- anew (Löwy 2007). His gift to his own generation ten about Che, the man who, alongside Fidel and future generations was his refusal to give Castro, spearheaded a socialist revolution that succour to despair, his diligent focus on the brought down the dictatorship of Fulgencio world-historical antagonisms of his day, the clar- Batista in Cuba in 1959 and played a key role in ity he achieved in redressing social injustices of various aspects of Cuba’s transformation into Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967) 3 communism. In 1965, he moved on to develop all, honesty, creativity, voluntary labour, solidar- and support other socialist revolutions in Congo- ity and a sense of community (Löwy 2007). Kinshasa and in Bolivia, where he was eventually The obsessive focus on the self that captured and assassinated by the Bolivian army characterises much of how we engage in the with CIA assistance. He was and continues to be a world, including our explanations for success controversial figure, idolised by poor, indigenous, and failure, is part and parcel of the totalising and otherwise brutalised communities worldwide effect of capitalism that breeds a deep-seated sur- and intensely hated not only by the transnational vival of the fittest attitude that normalises poverty functionaries of the capitalist superstructure and and other forms of human suffering. This individ- the restrictive circle of the ruling class but also by ualism runs throughout all institutions under those of the working class whose enduring capitalism, including education, where the oppor- embourgeoisement positions Che as a determinate tunity to learn is determined through competition threat to their upward mobility (McLaren 2000). for grades and scores as if these were not related to A man who grew up in the so called middle a host of other social factors and in particular class with privilege and opportunity and became a poverty and the availability of material resources. physician, Che renounced what could have been a It is considered a superior human quality to strive lucrative medical profession to bring an end to the to be the best of the best and to leave others unnecessary suffering of people caused by what trailing behind. Given this capture of education he recognised not only as the unconscionable and by individualism, it is not surprising that people gluttonous greed of the capitalist class but more learn early on to see themselves not as part of a importantly as the very system of capitalism itself social group working collaboratively to achieve in which it was impossible to function humanely goals with the benefit of mutual support but in an since it was powered by overaccumulation and the antagonistic relationship to each other. Capitalism expropriation of surplus value from the poor in pits human beings against each other such that order to serve the interests of the rich. Those who ‘man’ becomes ‘man’s’ worst enemy. A central have deeply studied his life, including his writ- aspect of Che’s revolutionary goals was the trans- ings, whether divinising him as a revolutionary formation of (wo)man into human beings who, hierophant or misguided romantic adventurer, through the alchemy of critical consciousness, consistently point to a man who held a deep love could transmute historical experiences of exploi- for humanity and an abiding belief that human tation into a praxis of liberation by embodying the beings could and would change through the devel- values of revolutionary socialism – values that opment of a socialist-humanist consciousness in could only be fully achieved outside of capital’s both immanent and productive ways. He grasped value form. In other words, the problem was not keenly the full extent to which capital expands and only to rid the world of capitalists, but capital as a encroaches upon every aspect of social life, social relation. McLaren (2010) writes: including our social and political values and the The fact that all Washington administrations are ways in which we engage with each other and our populated by a particularly venal cabal of career world. He denounced capitalism and imperialism opportunists, theocratic sociopaths, anti- on the basis of the devastation and unfreedom it Enlightenment activists, pathological liars and vul- pine opponents of democracy should in no way creates for the masses of exploited peoples and the confound us into thinking that the problem of cap- inhumanity that it engenders in individuals and italism is rooted in acts of political malfeasance by society. He argued that capitalism necessarily clever but corrupted politicians. Such acts may be spawns inequality and creates human beings torturously accommodating to capital, and lead to impoverishment, bloodshed, repression, misery, who are motivated by a stygian individualism and eventually to genocide and even to the obliter- that results in the negation of the essential quali- ation of entire nations, but they are not the source of ties of humanity – love of and for our fellow the problem. The problem itself can be traced to ’ human beings, responsibility for the wellbeing of Marx s world-historical discovery: the alienated character of the very act of labouring and the 4 Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967)

exploitation that is a fundamental part of selling overthrow of Guatemala’s President Jacobo one’s labour-power for a wage. (105) Arbenz with the assistance of the CIA in service Historical conditions set the stage for what to the interests of the United Fruit Company. It is came to be for Che a life of tremendous self believed that his vision of a united América discipline, theoretical clarity, and revolutionary Latina, was beginning to see fruition as he vision invoked through a profound love for moved to support Bolivia’s revolution and humanity and a conviction that a society that planned to follow thereafter with insurgencies callously exploited, bestowed cruelty, and created into his native Argentina. Alas, as the US or accepted barbaric living conditions for any of recognised that his enormous courage, his charm its citizens needed to be radically transformed. and gift of persuasion, and his brilliant socialist Che suffered throughout his life from terrifying pedagogy were a daunting if not indomitable force asthma attacks that may have sensitised him to to be reckoned with, the CIA hunted him down people’s suffering. Indeed, he worked in his youth and put an end to his socialist internationalist with leper communities and was deeply affected agenda. He was captured in Bolivia in 1967 and by the way in which they were treated with dis- summarily executed on the orders of the CIA dain. He was an avid reader of the classics and (McLaren 2000). many revolutionary texts from his early youth A key moment in revolutionary history was the onwards. He was raised in a politicised household fateful meeting of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro with parents who actively took part in dissident in Mexico City when Fidel and his men were political activity. At the age of 23, he embarked on exiled from Cuba after serving 2 years in prison a journey with a close friend that took him through as a result of being captured during their first South America, where he witnessed for himself attack against the dictatorship of Batista in 1951 the abject poverty, hunger, disease, drug addic- (Fidel’s 26 July Movement in Cuba had only a tion, and indignities impoverished peasants and narrow base composed largely of middle-class workers experienced at the hands of those who intellectuals). After training in Mexico City, Che, seemed unable or unwilling to see or feel their Fidel, and other Cuban exiles boarded the suffering. His journaling throughout this time sug- Granma that took them to Cuba and so began gests that these experiences were deeply troubling the Cuban Revolution that toppled the Batista to him and offered the opportunity for reflection Government with a final victorious battle led by that spawned both the desire and commitment to Che and peasant guerrilla forces at Santa Clara in do something meaningful in his life. As Guevara 1959. This historic achievement and the years that (2004) wrote in his now famed Motorcycle followed serve as testament to Che’s extraordi- Diaries: nary bravery and commitment, and to the signifi- cance of a Guevarian pedagogy – a testament that The person who wrote these notes passed away the moment his feet touched Argentine soil again. The lives on today despite an overwhelming campaign person who reorganizes and polishes them, me, is to domesticate Che into yet another superhuman no longer, at least I am not the person I once was. hero of the market in an attempt to mystify his All this wandering around ‘our America with a extraordinary but very real and human revolution- capital A’ has changed me more than I thought. (25–26) ary accomplishments. The commodification of Che’s name and face – The concerns and questions evidenced in these which are now plastered on coffee mugs and diaries ultimately developed into a revolutionary T-shirts and sold to consumers across the world, consciousness that involved a deep capacity for but especially in the US – is a strategic attempt to honest self-reflection and a Guevarian pedagogy diminish Che’s image as a revolutionary and that brought triumph to the Cuban Revolution and attenuate the potential of his dialectical thinking a strong belief that the only way to defeat US in helping today’s youth achieve critical con- imperialism was with a united América Latina. sciousness. The iconisation of Che extracts his This latter antiimperialist and, particularly, anti- humanity and with it the socialist ideals that US position was solidified as he evidenced the he embodied and that gave millions the hope for Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967) 5 a socialist alternative. It serves to turn Che against A Guevarian Pedagogy himself as he becomes the commodified form that he rejected and against which he courageously Che was a man devoted to the revolution, fully fought. We recognise the marketisation of our willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to heroes as strategies of hegemonic control but free humanity from its enslavement to the chil- also note the contested spaces within which Che lingly individualistic and devouring monsters of is made and iconised. As McLaren (2000) states capital. His readings of Marx, Lenin, and other elsewhere: revolutionary theorists began early in his youth – Even though there appears to be more of a willing- but later became sources of study to be analysed, ness by rank-and-file North American commenta- critiqued, and built upon. A brilliant Marxist, Che tors to de-reify Che as saint or sinner and to place believed wholeheartedly that revolution was the him somewhere in between, we must remember that ultimate course in which the world was headed, every encounter with that irrepressible force known as Che occurs in an occupied space. It is a space of that capitalism would suffocate humanity until the reception dense with public signs and personal threat became too much to be endured at which memories, a space de-limited by the discourses time the people would rise up against it. However, ‘ ’ and ways of telling that are most available to he did not believe in uncritical idolatry or teleo- society, most overdetermined within society, and carrying the most currency within today’s economy logical accounts of historical victory over capital- of ideas – especially in the public media. (7) ism but rather argued that a revolutionary philosophy of praxis must be adapted to specific Yet people are not always duped by the socio-historical contexts (McLaren 2000). As anesthetising impact of shopping mall politics. such, he recognised and denounced the enormous Che stands, among other human heroes in history, and growing power of US imperialism and its to remind us that even within the totalising system inextricable link to capital interests. of capital that aims to eclipse the virtues inherent Che, however, was also a brilliant guerrilla in our existence, there are essential aspects to our warfare strategist who was not content to merely humanity that remain, perhaps buried deep within wait for conditions to be ripe for revolution. He the interstices of our self-and-social transforma- argued that conditions for revolution could and tion, that can be nurtured, recovered, and brought should be accelerated to liberate the millions of forward to create new revolutionary heroes people that at the time faced poverty and other among us and in future generations until we can inhumanities. His Guevarian pedagogy involved finally find ourselves in the moment of true vic- the idea that revolution required a short period of tory, when humanity is vindicated from the treach- preparation, to ensure sufficient support among erous workings of capital and its attendant the people, and then a hard strike against those antagonisms and we can move into the light of who would support the state apparatus, specifi- our secular salvation. cally against the state military. Indeed the extraordinary – some would say Although he believed that armed struggle was miraculous – reappearance of Che’s body on and should always be a last resort, he was con- 28 June 1997, near the airstrip where it had been vinced that a socialist revolution was synonymous discarded thirty years earlier, seems a prophetic with armed conflict, and that it must be thus since reminder and admonition to the world that a mar- the capitalist class and the imperialist powers tyr was made of Che to liberate humanity, such would never give up their presumed right to that we may find the fortitude to rise toward this exploit under a mantra of false ideologies that most fearsome of goals, lest his execution be in serve their interests. According to Löwy (2007, vain (McLaren 2010). p. 79), ‘the principle of the inevitability of armed struggle was [for Che] derived precisely from the sociology of the revolution: because the revolu- tion is socialist it can be victorious only through revolutionary war’ (79). 6 Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967)

For Che, a socialist revolution could only sur- corrected in the next opportunity. (cited in vive under conditions of profound love – a love Anderson 1997, p. 327) that was deeper than the romantic version used to With this profound love and respect for human- commodify feelings and to turn people into pos- ity, Che was clear that a true revolutionary must sessions under capitalism. In Che’s now famous necessarily harbour a deep hatred toward any who words: would destroy the opportunity to liberate Let me say, with the risk of appearing ridiculous, humanity. that the true revolutionary is guided by strong feel- Hatred is an element of struggle; relentless hatred of ings of love. It is impossible to think of an authentic the enemy that impels us over and beyond the revolutionary without this quality. This is perhaps natural limitations of man and transforms us into one of the greatest dramas of a leader; he must effective, violent, selective, and cold killing combine an impassioned spirit with a cold mind machines. Our soldiers must be thus; a people with- and make painful decisions without flinching one out hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy. muscle. Our vanguard revolutionaries must idealize (Guevara 1999) their love for the people, for the most sacred of causes, and make it one and indivisible. They can- And yet he showed profound empathy for his not descend, with small doses of daily affection, to the places where ordinary men put their love into captured enemies and afforded them the dignity practice. (Anderson 1997, pp. 636–637) he perceived the right of every human being. Rooted firmly within the Latin American human- Che was a man of love and his love for human- ist tradition, for Che, the ‘standard of dignity’ to ity reached the ultimate crescendo as he trans- which all revolutionaries should adhere is cended the presumed natural state of self- reflected in the words of José Martí: ‘A real man preservation engendered through capitalism and should feel on his own cheek the blow inflected on embraced a socialist consciousness that included a any other man’s’ (cited in Löwy 2007, p. 24). vision for something far greater than one individ- Those who wish to discredit his name and ual’s needs – the struggle for humanity’s libera- destroy his legacy of bravery that was built upon tion. Thus, within this socialist framing, we can his love take a righteous moralising position that recognise his now famous words uttered proudly his statements and actions regarding armed strug- and unflinchingly moments before his execution gle reflect a dark and murderous side. These cap- to reflect this revolutionary vision: ‘Shoot, italist moralists who direct massacres without coward, you are only going to kill a man’ (cited bloodying their own hands suggest that love and in Kunzle 1997). hate as claimed by Che are contradictory. Löwy And although these courageous words impel (2007) argues otherwise: an image of an heroic being beyond what any mere mortal can presume to emulate, we learn To hold life in profound respect and to be ready to take up arms and, if need be, to kill, is contradictory that this was not an instinct held deep within him only in the eyes of Christian or pacifist humanism. but something that was fostered during his youth For revolutionary humanism, for Che, the people’s when he was said to be a risk-taker – something war is the necessary answer, the only possible that allowed him to push himself to the limits of answer, of the exploited and oppressed to the crimes and the institutionalized violence of the oppressors what a young man could endure as he played .... (24) rugby despite his life-threatening asthmatic con- dition. We see his vigilance of character enacted Zizek (2008) talks about the ultimate cause of through self-reflection as he wrote during a battle violence as the fear of the neighbour. But he also in Cuba’s Altos de Merino: describes what he calls ‘divine violence’. He sees divine violence as an infusion of justice beyond Upon arriving I found that the guards were already advancing. A little combat broke out in which we the law. It is extra-moral but not immoral. It is not retreated very quickly. The position was bad and a divine licence to kill. It is divine only in a they were encircling us, but we put up little resis- subjective sense, in the eye of the beholder, or in tance. Personally, I noted something that I had never the mind of the person enacting such violence. It is felt before: the need to live. That had better be Walter Benjamin’s Angel of History looking Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967) 7 forward as he/she moves backwards, slaying the Che was known to always carry books with masters of progress, restoring the balance to the him and to spend time reading them to the men history of the world. It is a violence that refuses a who fought alongside him, often in addition to deeper meaning; it is the logic of rage, a refusal to providing literacy instruction since many of the normalise crimes against humanity, either by rec- men who fought the Cuban Revolution were poor onciliation or revenge; it is, in other words, a peasants who had never had the opportunity for refusal to compromise with injustice. Zizek schooling. In Che’s words we hear a vision that describes divine violence as pure power over all can readily map into the ideas set forth a decade of life for the sake of the living, it is a type of sign later by Paulo Freire (1970)inPedagogy of the that the world is unjust. It is not the return of the Oppressed and which spawned the Critical Peda- repressed, or the underside of the authoritarian gogy movement. Specifically, Che recognised that legal order. Nor is it the intervention of some a revolutionary praxis would bring a socialist omnipotent God. Rather, it is the sign of the impo- consciousness and would engender the unequivo- tency of God. There is no objective criterion with cal demand for justice and restore the necessary which to judge divine violence. Zizek claims that sense of agency to lead their struggle. ’ ’ Che s comments are united in Che s motto: Hay The first step to educate the people is to introduce que endurecerse sin perder jamas la ternura. them to the revolution. Never pretend you can help (One must endure [become hard, toughen oneself] them conquer their rights by education alone, while without losing tenderness). they must endure a despotic government. First and foremost, teach them to conquer their rights and, as The legal monopoly of violence in capitalist they gain representation in the government, they society is embodied in the institutions of the state, will learn whatever they are taught and much or political society, and clearly the social forces more: with no great effort they shall soon become that constitute state formations are not static but the teachers, towering above the rest. (cited in Löwy 2007) historically contingent. While it is clear that the state is both an instrument of coercion as well as Through his words, we recognise, as McLaren the production of consent, it is a matter of debate (2000) notes, that he was not only ‘a teacher of the whether contemporary developments in civil soci- revolution but a revolutionary teacher’ who saw ety can result in an augmentation of state violence. the emancipatory nature of teaching and rejected Suffice it to say that, given his analyses of state traditional teaching pedagogy that is characterised formations, international relations and the politi- by oppressive teacher/student relations in which cal economy of his day, Che was committed to the the teacher holds all the knowledge and doles it inevitability of armed conflict in the struggle for out at will while simultaneously discrediting the socialism. knowledge of the oppressed. We can see how this Che argued that fundamental to revolution was traditional teaching approach sustains the status the making of the ‘new (wo)man’. Not only was quo as the oppressed are led to feel grateful for the the development of characteristics and values opportunity to learn without the opportunity to among the people that would support the revolu- question and transform the existing social rela- tion essential to its success but it was also at the tions that oppressed them in the first place. Che’s heart of the goals of a socialist revolution. revolutionary pedagogy was an affirmation to the Liberating humanity was not merely about redis- ontologies and epistemologies of the workers and tribution of resources but about changing the ways peasants to which only the oppressed are privy by in which human beings related to each other and virtue of their social and historical positioning. As to their world. This required a pedagogy of Che indicated, in the tradition of Marx before him revolution – the critical understanding of what and Freire after him, a revolution must be a peo- the revolution was ultimately about, beyond the ple’s revolution, even though it may be initiated initial desire for bringing justice and greater by a vanguard which fights not for them but resources to the suffering masses. whose actions ultimately should reflect the peo- ple’s decisions. 8 Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967)

The new (wo)man would be a product of a new ecological holocaust, including the mass extinction society within which education would play a vital of species; the impending collapse of agriculture in major producing areas; the meltdown of polar ice role. Socialism, Che believed, would engender caps; the phenomena of global warming, and the individuals that were responsive to the needs of contamination of the oceans, food stock, water sup- the whole group and who held a deep commitment ply, and air. Social inequalities have spiraled out of to the development of humanity and the revolu- control, and the gap between the global rich and the global poor has never been as acute as it is in the tionary cause. Socialism requires a different set of early twenty-first century. Driven by the impera- values, the value for social justice, for communal tives of over accumulation and transnational global efforts, for sacrifice, for equally supporting others, control, global elites have increasingly turned to for labour as a creative endeavour, and shared authoritarianism, militarisation, and war to sustain the system. Many political economists concur that a responsibility for those tasks that a society global economic collapse is possible, even proba- deems necessary but that no one really wants to ble. (vii–viii) do, a responsibility that helps individuals develop ’ in community (Martí 1999). Indeed this is Marx s prophetic critique of cap- ’ His actions and personal testimonies about him ital restated in the context of today s crisis of reveal a man who did not stand above the rest but capitalism; yet it is still uncertain if capitalism lived to the best of his ability through the values will bring about its own demise as a result of that he professed. He was said to hold enormously workers rising up in response to their destitute high expectations of others and to be even more conditions. demanding of himself. He lived, to the best of his The ideological marriage of democracy to cap- ability, his Guevarian politics but he was quick to italism that sustains the image of the US as a ‘ ’ point out his own deficits as a socialist revolution- benevolent protector of the developing world ary, recognising the imprint of capital’s seemingly serves to conceal its treacherous dealings against intransigent stranglehold on every aspect of our any socialist alternative, even when this is the lives. In Cuba, where an 82- foot statue of Che popular will of the people, in service to transna- stands, marking his mausoleum in Santa Clara tional capital. Evidence of US-sponsored massa- (often called ‘the City of Che’), children are cres can be found across the globe, but encouraged to be like el Che – to develop the particularly in América Latina, which has served fi fi characteristics that he espoused and exemplified for centuries as a killing eld for US pro t and as a revolutionary (Martí 1999). power. Indeed, the massacres of greed and hatred can be traced to the infamously historic year of 1492, when a colonial power matrix was instituted that placed wealth and power in the hands of Che in the Context of World Capitalism white, able-bodied, Christian men through a mur- derous war waged materially and ideologically Our current transnational capitalist world has against indigenous communities. According to reached a level of destruction unprecedented in decolonial theorists Ramon Grosfoguel, Enrique the history of humanity. Famine, war, racism, Dussel, Anibal Quijano, and others, the continual sexism, hatred are all implicated to various violence enacted upon the peoples of the global degrees in the incessant necessity for capital accu- South is a founding aspect of Cartesian Western mulation underwritten by an imperialist creed that epistemology, instituted as the universal truth on legitimises US exceptionalism and the quest for the basis of the ego cogito (I think, therefore I am) power beyond what the imagination can condone. that rises out of the historic and epistemic condi- William Robinson (2008) makes a clarion call for tions of possibility developed through the ego action as he relates the disastrous fate capital has conquiro (I conquer, therefore I am) and the link procured: between the two is the ego exterminus The system of global capitalism that now engulfs (I exterminate you, therefore I am) (Grosfoguel the entire planet is in crisis. There is consensus 2013). The genocide perpetuated by Western among scientists that we are on the precipice of Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967) 9 imperialists on the indigenous populations of the Yet, at the time, the guerrilla warfare deployed New World and African slave populations of the by Fidel and Che and the promise of a future free Middle Passage was followed by epistemicide – from the jackboots of imperialism helped secure a the demonisation and disappearance of indige- socialist alternative for Cuba, and thus it was nous knowledges that accompanied the expansion believed that the same victory could be realised of the US settler-colonial state. Today we search by other national liberation movements. In today’s for the wisdom of the autochthonous societies of transnational capitalism, the accumulation of our lost ancestros – the Arawaks, the Caribes, the wealth by the largest transnational corporations Chibchas of the Antillean coastline, the Tapuyas, is based on the hyper-exploitation of the peoples the Arucanos, the Incas, the Patagones, and count- of the ‘developing’ world, particularly exacer- less other tribes massacred, tortured and enslaved bated through the North American Free Trade by the European invaders. Agreement. The concentration of the transna- Che was far ahead of his time in his under- tional capitalist class’s wealth and power enables standings of the social conditions in América it to wield tremendous influence in national and Latina. His conviction that only a united Latin international policy. Not surprisingly, it is fiercely America could emerge victorious against US opposed to large-scale socialist developments imperialism seems prophetic in our age of (such as Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution) that financialisation, monetarism, hedge-fund huck- may upset the ‘democratic’ stability of the nations sterism and fictitious capital. From his socio- that procure their profits. A massive military historical and political location in the global industrial complex and a narco-terror war that South, Che’s epistemology challenged and has militarised the US-Mexican border serves to extended Marxist thought. For Che, imperialism bolster US surveillance and intimidation of all was not an extension of capitalism as Marx would Latin America in the service of transnational cor- have it but intricately imbricated in its conditions porate interests (Monzó et al. 2014). of possibility. As Robinson (2008) explains, col- Yet even under this hyper-capitalist world onisation was the first of multiple stages in the order, Che’s heroic legacy continues to inspire development of capitalism that has continually and hold promise for the marginalised communi- expanded in subsequent waves to reach today’s ties of América Latina and to spur and inform new totalising formation. Che’s revolutionary ontol- socialist movements. Revolutionary struggles that ogy was forged out of the converging and wors- have come to bear Che’s foundational signature ening crises of capitalism, society, and include the Cuban Revolution, the Sandinista civilisation, the dictatorship of ownership, first- Revolution, the Zapatistas indigenous movement hand experience of the coloniality of power in Chiapas, Mexico, which is explicitly inspired (patron de poder colonial), the brute force US by Che’s teachings, and the Bolivarian Revolution capitalists were able to wield through the led by Hugo Chavez that began in 2007. However, military-industrial complex, and the privileged these are small-scale movements in comparison to geopolitical positioning of the US and its proxim- the large-scale socialist alternative that Che ity to Latin America that had correspondingly envisioned. undermined the dignity and livelihood of count- less populations throughout Las Américas. As he witnessed Cuba’s professional class flee the coun- A Guevarian-Informed Critical Pedagogy try in droves after the victory of the revolution, he came to recognise that the bourgeoisie would Although Che recognised, as Marx did, the rather sell their soul to the highest bidder, side totalising and self-reproducing aspects of capital, with the imperialist ambitions of the US, and and although his vision of socialism transcended take refuge in the certainties of the past than give nationalised boundaries of identity (although not up their perceived right to lands in favour of gender ones), he did not come to see the extent to agrarian reform. which capitalism would persevere nor the 10 Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967) magnitude of destruction and human suffering it are no completed socialist revolutions to serve as a would engender. Today’s globalised world and living model for the world, only those that have been ceaselessly and violently interrupted, or the unyielding and supreme power of the US those that, following in the intrepid footsteps of make localised guerrilla warfare politically Simon Bolivar, are being tested in the barrios of unserviceable. While we support social move- Caracas or los alto-planos of Venezuela. (103) ments in which the oppressed masses extol their A revolutionary critical pedagogy is a philos- collective power to fight for justice, emancipation, ophy of praxis that interrogates the ideological and freedom from oppression and exploitation in conditions and contradictions that sustain societal Latin America and across the world, we believe structures as if such were natural or the best pos- that a different type of war must be simulta- sible democratic options available. A host of neously waged within the imperialist powers institutionalised structures are in place in the US themselves; an ideological war or, in Gramscian that serve to keep the masses of workers terms, a ‘war of position’. This is a concerted anesthetised to the suffering of others and duped epistemological challenge to US cultural hege- into believing that our capitalist system is the best mony, the ideological underpinnings that hold of all possible worlds, including the corporate the capitalist system together. According to media and our increasingly privatised school sys- Gramsci, a war of position is a necessary precur- tem. Normalised ideologies about human sor to a ‘war of manoeuvre’ in which social move- ‘nature’, including individualism and competition ments collectively attempt through a united front are so culturally embedded in the way society to topple the state apparatus. Che recognised this functions that people find it difficult to conceive ideological war must be waged through education within the lineaments of their technocratic ratio- and the creation of the revolutionary conscious- nality that individuals could thrive within a set of ness in the new (wo) man. There is no blueprint values that emphasise overcoming necessity for available today for the road to socialism, only every person through collectivist cooperation. those with the courage to remake history using Closely associated with individualism are ideolo- the insights gleaned from a very unreliable gies that serve to create and sustain discourses attempts to control the social production of labour necessary for identity construction, such as those power by the workers. As McLaren (2010) associated with race, class, gender, and sexuality. remarks: However, as important as identity construction The stages of liberation that were to follow lock- has became in today’s culture of racism, homo- step from the contradiction between the forces and phobia, patriarchy and ableism, the formation of the relations of production – the accumulation of evolution powered by a law of dialectical develop- these identities is often used by the transnational ment that would inevitably lead from the economic capitalist class to divide workers against each contradictions of capitalism to the establishment of other by administering a specific image of what a classless society under ‘the dictatorship of the ‘ ’ ’– it means to be American , and in doing so proletariat did not follow in the wake of the ‘ quixotic predictions of the dogmatists (a condition masking the role of capital as an equal opportu- into which a great many fundamentalist Marxisms nity’ exploiter and effectively circumventing class fall), ensuring the final victory of socialism over the struggle and the construction of protagonistic cut-throat capitalists, the end of alienated labour political agency. and the flourishing of human culture. What young radicals such as Che had discovered in the interim A Guevarian informed revolutionary critical was that it was not history that should drive the pedagogy re-inserts the values of freedom from revolution but the other way around – the peasants necessity, provides spaces for self-and-social cri- and the workers should direct their own fate, mak- tique, encourages self-reflection and sacrifice for ing economic decisions and deciding which share of production is to be assigned to accumulation and the good of humanity, promotes anti-racist, anti- which share to consumption .... But today, nearly sexist, and anti-homophobic curricula and peda- forty years after Che’s death, when the contradic- gogical practices, and encourages an informed tions at the heart of the market economy are more public to learn from and with those whose episte- exacerbated than they were in Che’s day (even in the industrialized capitalism of Marx’s day!), there mologies are rooted in the histories and struggles Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967) 11 of the global South. Within a Guevarian informed a commitment to the well-being of others. It is a revolutionary pedagogy, education is not only feeling that honours the dignity of human beings freely available to all but carries with it a respon- above all else. It is a love willing to sacrifice for sibility for each person to meet the needs of humanity and its freedoms. It is a love that will society’s most aggrieved populations. Within spawn new revolutionary heroes in our lifetime such a framing, teachers are viewed as committed and generations to come until we finally achieve intellectuals who create the conditions of possi- the most fearsome of victories – a socialist alter- bility for the development of a socialist conscious- native in which all of humanity can live and love ness so that they may actualise their own power freely. and recognise this as an inherent human capacity, leading to a renewed sense of agency and the will to act toward the creation of a new sociality. Cross-References For the youth of our nations, Che offers an alternative to the individualistic and greed-based ▶ Castro, Fidel (1926–2016) consumer logic to which they are socialised, and ▶ Cuba: A Historical Context to Anti- offers opportunities for students to create a pro- Imperialism, Nineteenth Century to the Present tagonistic political agency. The feeling that we are powerless to change the world’s suffering is not an accident – it is a strategic aspect of class relations. Hope is the first step that must be taken to enable References us to act towards something bigger and better than the world we have constructed. In Joel Kovel’s Anderson, J. L. (1997). Che Guevara: A revolutionary life. New York: Grove Press. (1997) words: Darder, A. (2011). A dissident voice. New York: Peter Therefore capital must go if we are to survive as a Lang. civilization and, indeed, a species; and all partial Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: measures and reforms should be taken in the spirit Continuum. of bringing about capital’s downfall. Nothing could Grosfoguel, R. (2013). The structure of knowledge in seem more daunting than this, indeed in the current Westernized universities: Epistemic racism/sexism balance of forces, it seems inconceivable. Therefore and the four genocides/epistemicides of the long 16th the first job must be to conceive it as a possibility, century. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology and not to succumb passively to the given situation. of Self-Knowledge, XI(1), 73–90. Capital expresses no law of nature; it has been the Guevara, E. (1999). Message to the tricontinental. result of choice, and there is no essential reason to Retrieved from http://www.marxists.org/archive/gue assume it cannot be un-chosen. Conceiving things vara/1967/04/16.htm this way is scarcely sufficient. But it is necessary, in Guevara, E. (2004). Diarios de motorciclet [Motorcycle both a moral and a practical sense. (14) Diaries]. Mexico: Ocean Sur. Harris, R. (1998). Reflections on Che Guevara’s legacy. Far from being an ambivalent space that defies Latin American Perspectives, 25(4), 19–32. categorisation, love is a foundational element in a Kovel, J. (1997). The enemy of nature. The Monthly Review, 49(6), 6–14. Guevarian informed revolutionary pedagogy. The Kunzle, D. (1997). Che Guevara: Icon, myth, and legend. media exalts a capitalist-based love in which peo- Los Angeles: University of California, Fowler Museum ple become the possession of others in the name of of Cultural History. love. A revolutionary love is one that does not Löwy, M. (2007). The Marxism of Che Guevara: Philosophy, economics, revolutionary warfare encounter state boundaries or colour lines and (2nd ed.). Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. one that encourages freedom of spirit and 12 Guevara, Ernesto ‘Che’ (1928–1967)

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