Week 7 – Che: Part 1

This week we watched Che – part 1. In my opinion, it brought to life some of what the book Guerrilla Warfare outlined. It showed the growth of the revolution, from dinner table talk to small groups marching for days, to taking Santa Clara. Some of their base camps were more developed than I would have imagined them. The movie also showed women among the ranks, and had somewhat of a female supporting character.

Taking a look at Che’s character, he is depicted as a charismatic speaker, who never has outbursts of rage – he is always collected. He delivers punishment to those who do not follow the revolutionary code. This can be seen when someone forgets to assure relief to the night watch, and when some men harass a peasant family. In general the movie helps to create the view of Che as a symbol of revolution. He fights alongside his men, even when he injures his arm. This movie also showed me that Che had bad asthma. Yet he did not complain, marched on, as if it were just a small inconvenience. Amusingly, he still chose to smoke cigars.

Again, in agreement with the book, Che gives the peasants respect. He only allows people to join if they can read or write, and sets up a school to teach the guerrillas, since “a country that can not read or write can easily be deceived.” He even made his men take back a car that they had taken from Santa Clara.

Che held fast to most of the rules, and at first wouldn’t let those join who were too young. This of course was challenged by two boys who were very stubborn and are eventually let in due to their spirit. Some parts of guerrilla warfare I didn’t catch in the movie, one of them being sabotage. No communications seemed to be cut,  although there was some dialogue about blowing up a bridge.

It still blows my mind that Cuba has been fighting for the five points Che mentions in his U.N. for so long, and not much has changed. If any of the points were happening to the U.S. I’m certain that there would be swift military action taken by the States. I’ll link the speech below for anyone interested. One part that absolutely disgusts me is the behaviour of the U.S. around the Cuban boundary line. Che states that there was “commission[s] of acts of sexual exhibitionism by U.S. personnel of both sexes, and verbal insults. It includes others that are more serious, such as shooting off small caliber weapons, aiming weapons at our territory, and offenses against our national flag.” Again, were this to happen to the States, it wouldn’t last long. But Che claims that “only a perfectly disciplined army with a morale such as ours could resist so many hostile acts without losing its self-control.”

 

https://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/1964/12/11.htm