Symbolic t-shirts offer a simple way to make a statement with maximum impact. As the saying goes, ?a picture tells a thousand words? and these days there are far more than a thousand different t-shirts emblazoned with iconographic art that can help you say it. One classic t shirt that appears to be making a comeback is that of Ernesto ?Che? Guevara, Argentinean revolutionary and right hand man of Fidel Castro. He has been a poster boy for the radical left for the last 50 years and he's now more visible than ever due to the ?Motorcycle Diaries?, a film depicting his formative years. One effect of iconography is that once something has been elevated to the position of ?icon? it can often lose its original identity and context. This isn't always a problem however in Guevara's case it's important to look at his life as a whole and his legacy, especially in Cuba.



It is easy to identify with the Che depicted in the film. As a young medical student, Guevara spent time working in a leper colony as he travelled through Chile, Peru and Venezuela with his friend Alberto Granado on a clapped out Norton 500. As well as seeing first hand the detached compassion displayed by the carers in the colony the young Guevara was also exposed to the reality of worker exploitation and political oppression present in Central and South America in the 1950's. However the image of this young idealist is totally at odds with the Guevara that helped Castro overthrow the Batista regime in Cuba in 1959. Once in power, Guevara controlled the La Caba prison in Havana where he ordered the execution of hundreds of prisoners by firing squad without trial and when asked about this displays himself as somebody driven more by pure hate than the desire to change an oppressive regime. ?This is a revolution!? he said. ?And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate." Guevara ended up being killed in Bolivia, chasing another revolution.

The regime which he helped create continues to violate human rights. There are many dissidents in Cuba who in recent times have been jailed and remain in jail for speaking out against the current regime. There is also a growing unease among well known and influential political activists that Western democracies are turning a blind eye to these ?prisoners of conscience?. Vaclav Havel, playwright and ex president of the Czech Republic has been vocal in condemning the European Union's public promise of crafting the guest lists of their embassies in accordance with the Cuban Government's wishes. Havel believes that by doing so, another avenue used by the dissidents to generate change has been closed. Havel calls this ?diplomatic apartheid? and he should know. From the late 1960's up to the fall of the Soviet Union Havel spoke out many times against the communist Czech government and was imprisoned for many years. It's hard to compare a gun to the head with a cocktail party invitation however the spirit of Che still remains. Hatred and the persecution of ideas. Havel looks at things differently. He once said that ?the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.? The dissidents in Cuba want a real, lasting change for their country and they're choosing to do this in a peaceful way. The image of Che Guevara with his beret on a designer t-shirt may still represent revolutionary change and ?sticking it to the man? but it's also in poor taste when looking at his past actions and the current situation in Cuba.

Josef Grgas, March 2005.