Viva La Revolucion

I received this in the email today. Monica has a way of waking me up with her emails, and today, I'm going to be lazy and rip off the whole email verbatim:

"Forthwith, link to article written by cousins for Nepali youth magazine which I think is really good though I admit to being very biased.

All my male younger cousins are strangely obssessed with Che Guevara but I guess he is better than say Mao Tse Tung. I have also attached a link to another article in the same magazine not written by cousins as proof that I can appreciate works of journalism not produced by people related to me."



Article written by Mon's cousins:
Resurrecting Rebellion by Alok and Tiku

Article written by some other guy:
A Study in Micro Financial Economic Development (or MiFED)

Excerpts from "Resurrecting Rebellion":

"The face once had a real history of stirring romance, because of what it stood for and who it stood against. It was a history of unyielding struggle against enemies, real and powerful. His life was inspiring because his cause was large and beautiful. His death was tragic because it was done in the name of democratic virtue and the freedom of mankind. His resurrection is a farce because it used to peddle the wares of all that he stood against, from bottled drinks to branded underwear.

***

... His life and his vision have a permanent appeal because that is the stuff of adolescent daydreams. Occasionally the adolescent fantasy becomes real and another revolutionary is born. But more often than not, the dreams of justice and equality for all dissipate and are replaced by the icon who lived and died for it. The icon becomes the revolution and the shell becomes the substance.

There was a time when Che inspired a politics. Today it inspires a fashion. What peculiar and perverted twist of history has made the most potent symbol of rebellion against capitalism and imperialism into the very symbols of capitalism and imperialism.

***

... The legend of Che lives in its most empty form because the legacy of Che has been squandered. The peasant in the mountains, the worker in the factory, the dying hoards of the impoverished mean nothing anymore. The market has deemed them irrelevant because there is no money to be made from them. Fighting on their behalf is passé because it is no longer in fashion. You are more in sync with the times by listening to Rage Against The Machine, and wearing the profile with the beret in the comfort of familiar haunts. Besides, it is a lot easier to do than standing up for someone else’s rights."

{Go read the article. It's beautiful. So beautiful, I think I copy pasted half of it!}