...Che Guevara: The Man and The Myth Many will call me an adventurer- and that I am, only one of a different sort; one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes. ---Che Guevara. Who was Ernesto “Che” Guevara and why did he chose to live the life of a revolutionary when he could have been an affluent doctor in Buenos Aires? Why was he to always be a “foreigner” when he loved his Argentina? What motivated him to leave his opportune life in an aristocratic family to attempt to achieve a better world for others? Che was a man with a lust for battle. No matter what he attempted, he went for it with everything he could possible give. But, what did he accomplish in that life? When his life is examined and his endeavors looked at closely, did he really make a difference in helping others to have a better life? Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina on June 14, 1928. His father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch and his mother Celia de la Serna y Llosa were both blue-blooded aristocrats. His father’s family had lived in Argentina for over twelve generations and his mother’s family had land, both signs of money in this land of immigrants. Che’s father was “a cultivated man, very intelligent, he was active in the ranks of the Radical Party” (page 4, Compañero). Che’s mother who with her sister’s influence, would become a”socialist, anticlerical feminist” (page 4, Compañero). This heritage, especially his mother’s influence, was Ernesto’s foundation to his revolutionary...
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...Ernesto Guevara was born on June 14, 1928, in Rosario, Argentina. He suffered from asthma. At an early age he read history and sociology books and was influenced by the writings of the Chilean Communist poet Pablo Neruda. At 19 Guevara entered the medical school of the University of Buenos Aires. In 1952 "Che" Guevara ("Che" is an Argentine equivalent of "pal") broke off his studies in order to set out with a friend on a transcontinental trip which included motorcycling to Chile, riding a raft on the Amazon, and taking a plane to Florida. He returned to Argentina to resume his studies, graduating with a degree of doctor of medicine and surgery in 1953. Late in 1953 Guevara left Argentina, this time for good. He moved to Guatemala, where he had his first experience of a country at war. He supported the Jacobo Arbenz regime, and when it was overthrown in 1954 Guevara sought asylum in the Argentine embassy, remaining there until he could travel to Mexico. It was here that Guevara met the Castro brothers. At the time Fidel Castro was planning an expedition against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and Guevara agreed to go along as a doctor. On Dec. 2, 1956, the expeditionaries landed in eastern Cuba, becoming the nucleus of a guerrilla force which operated in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. The guerrillas contributed to the crumbling of the Batista regime on Dec. 31, 1958. In January 1959 Guevara was one of the first rebel commanders to enter Havana and take control of the capital...
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...ideas together everywhere. Many songs are written with peaceful meanings; some people decide to make peaceful strikes, and some believe in their hearts for a better future. We can also see how peace can come from revolutions: in Greece people are striking against their government because Greece is now bankrupt; in Libya, the rebels killed the dictator Qaddafi; the Syrian revolution; the Cuban revolution, where Fidel Castro with Che Guevara’s help overthrew Batista’s dictatorship; and many other revolutions. All these revolutions happened, some are happening, and some are going to happen for a better and peaceful future. We can also see those two ideas together in the picture above. In this picture, on the left is John Lennon and on the right is Ernesto Che Guevara, both playing guitar. Music in this picture also plays a big role. In the background of the picture seems to be a container on the left. The background of the picture was taken in Chicago on August 11th 1966 when John Lennon was there. This picture is fake, because Che Guevara on August 11th 1966 was travelling to Bolivia. However, the meaning of this picture is huge and that’s why I chose this picture to write about. John Lennon was an English musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member of ‘’The Beatles’’. He is a symbol of peace, who lived and loved. He believed everyone should be equal: men, women, black, white, gay, and straight. Also, he wrote some of the best songs of all time and he used...
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...lead to renewed and intensely meaningful understandings of ourselves and the world around us. This is depicted in Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s bildungsroman memoir ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ which details the adventures that feed Guevara’s thirst for knowledge and adventure, which subsequently shaped his perspective of the lower class proletariat. The memoir accentuates the notion that the catalyst for ideological discoveries, is the exposure to a different environment or context. Likewise, in pondering upon his childhood tendency to wander from home, the protagonist...
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...Joey Palmer Oct. 18th, 2015 Essay # 2 Prof. Roliz Throughout history, there has always been situations where an individual or group has rebelled against their government or religion. An individual is justified to rebel against his government when there's an excess of police brutality, that individual can be living in a nation where the government is not an ideal government, or unjust treatment of an ethnicity. There are many ways to rebel against ones government and/or religious institution, in the past rebelling has varied from protesting to a world wide revolution. Revolutionary leaders such as Che Guevara and Martin Luther King Jr. both lead groups which allowed people who rebelled against their government to obtain justice. Two philosophers who spoke on rebelling against their government or religion were Friedrich Nietzsche in “Morality as Anti-Nature” and Henry Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience.” A situation that occurred to justify an individuals rebellion against their government is the act of excess police brutality. A perfect example of excessive police brutality is the Eric Garner case. In this case Eric Garner was put in a choke hold by a New York City Police Department officer named Daniel Pantaleo, he ended up killing him and did not get indicted. This decision came nearly a week after a cop killed an unarmed African American, Michael Brown. This caused many people to walk and protest in Time Square chanting “This Stops Today” and “I Can't Breathe,” which were...
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...Che Guevara Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, but the exact date of his birth is unknown. He was the eldest of five children in a family of mixed Spanish and Irish descent; both his father and mother were of Basque ancestry. Guevara's family was an upper-class family with some leftist views. He became known for his dynamic personality and radical perspective even as a boy. While a student, Guevara spent long periods traveling around Latin America. Through his first-hand observations of poverty, oppression, and powerlessness of the masses, Guevara soon became highly influenced by his informal Marxist studies. He concluded that the only solution for Latin America's economic and social inequities lay in revolution. His travels also inspired him to look upon Latin America not as a collection of separate nations but as a single entity, the liberation of which would require a continent-wide strategy; he began to imagine the possibility of a united Ibero-America without borders, bound together by a common 'mestizo' culture, an idea that would figure prominently in his later revolutionary activities. After completion of his formal studies, Guevara traveled to Guatemala. Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán headed a populist government that through various programs, particularly land reform, would attempt to bring about a social revolution. Explaining his motive for settling down for a time in Guatemala, Guevara wrote, "In Guatemala I will perfect...
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...April 18, 2013 History Extra Credit The Motorcycle Diaries Che Guevara describes how two young men travel to South America without money or a car, they travel in motorcycle! They both leave their family members and girlfriends behind. They left their college that they were currently attending and went to tour around! They go through good and bad times. Jumping around from being bad guys in a town to really "good experts" in other towns. Che writes his whole way to South America, during, and his way back. Him and his friend both change in many ways at then end of the book. While his visit to South America, they realize who is there for them and who isn't. Guevara's coming of age story. In many Native American cultures they used to practice a ritual "walk-about" sending off their young men into the wild to survive and live on their own for a couple of months. The idea being that when they came back they would be changed by that experience and have discovered some truths about themselves, and making them more mature. What started off simply as a spontaneous adventure ended up becoming a tale of relationships that one after another began to shape Guevara's perceptions of Latin American politics. Seeing the Native Americans persecuted and treated like objects no different from cattle, talking with many of the mine workers who sacrificed their health and some their lives for meager wages. Being inspired by the Incan ruins and the former greatness of that...
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...of that environment their beliefs and ideas are challenged. The Motorcycle Diaries, a memoir written by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Sweet Phoebe, a play by Michael Gow and Isnis, a short story composed by Tim Richards are three texts that support the concept of naturalised ideas and beliefs being challenged and the protagonists’ values and beliefs being transformed as a result. The Motorcycle Diaries composed by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is a memoir of his journey through South America during the 1950’s. “So we understand each other” is a self-reflexive, proleptic opening, written by Guevara after the journey. This prologue acknowledges the changes and discoveries Che experienced. The use of prolepsis focuses the reader’s attention on the character development of the protagonist throughout the text. Guevara discusses how he constantly changed throughout the journey and now he is not the same person as he was when he set of on this journey, “The person who wrote these notes passed away the moment his feet touched Argentine soil again” “Our America with a capital A has changed me more than anything.” Guevara makes a strong line between the man in the diaries and the man he had now become “But ill leave you now, with myself, the man I used to be” Guevara addresses his former self, the man who had not yet ventured on a transformative discovery. Initially Che is a young medical student from middle class bourgeois society, with “the spirit of a dreamer”. He and his friend...
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...Year 11 Preliminary English Assessment Task Task: Motorcycle Diaries Question Two: Define Communism. Discuss its origins and how and where it was spread. In your discussion you must refer to at least 3 countries, which have adopted communism and examine its success and failures and the reason behind both. You must also examine the role Marxism plays in Communist ideology. Communism is an economic and social system in which all, or nearly all, property and resources are collectively owned by a classless society and not by individual citizens. It’s an ideology theory of government where all wealth is shared equally so there is no class system, that is, no poor class and no wealthy class. Everything is shared and everyone is equal, whether you’re a doctor or a factory worker. In such a communist society, the wealth and resources were to be regulated according to the needs, abilities and contribution of the people. Differences between manual and intellectual labour and between rural and urban life were to disappear, opening up the way for unlimited development of human potential. Based on the 1848 publication ‘Communist Manifesto’ by two German political philosophers, Karl Max and his close associate Friedrich Engels, it envisaged common ownership of all land and wealth and the withering away of the power of the state. Max and Engels believed that capitalism (private ownership of all property) should be diminished and that uneven distribution of wealth and resources should...
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...Michael Collins: Terrorist or Patriot? By Carlos E. Ayub Excelsior College CJ350 Kevin Henry Michael Collins: Terrorist or Patriot? Michael Collins was a revolutionary Irishman, a patriot and a dissident, a man whose actions are considered by some to be bravely heroic and others as unsettlingly terrorist. Collins orchestrated much of the political and militaristic provocation that led to the violent escalation of the Anglo-Irish war for independence, and eventually was one of the principal supporters and signers of the treaty that lead to the establishment of the Irish Free State and de-escalation of violence in the region. The widespread characterization of Collins as terrorist is principally derived of his actions and association with the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) which later became the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Fein. Collins significant political and demonstrative participation in the battle for Irish independence began with the former group when he participated as a volunteer during the Easter Uprising, an action planned to foster support for the Irish cause. These actions comprised the first portion of Collins’ life as a dissident and insurgent. It would be his subsequent involvement in Sinn Fein that would characterize him as a terrorist. Collins participated financially and by procuring weapons to help the organization’s efforts at rebellion. Though these actions alone are not enough to characterize...
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...bring her mouth into a smile. Some might say that a blending of cultures is good, but this is one example of how difficult it can be for children. Additionally, the author could have used guns as a backdrop for the veil, but instead she chooses a beautiful ivy pattern. There is beauty in tradition, and there is difficulty. Ivy can be confining as well as beautiful. The tools are practical, but they are not beautiful. | 2 The panel where she is saying she feels guilty towards God (panel 43, 687) | I feel this is a big point in the story because this is where you really see Marjane start to communicate with God and she starts becoming a prophet like she said she would. | 3 The panel where Marjane and her friends dressed up as Fidel, Che Guevara, and Trotsky (panel 47, 688) | This is important and stood out to me because this is where her desire to demonstrate really showed. And it leads up to when she asks her parents to demonstrate in real life. | 4 Where God throws the rock at Karl Marx and starts laughing....
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...Organization & Leadership - Assignment Fidel Castro is one of the most recognizable leaders in world history. He led Cuba as Prime Minister and, subsequently, as President for almost fifty years. He was born and raised upper-middle class as his father was a very successful farmer and did quite well for himself and his family. There were several key events that led to Castro’s rise as a powerful leader and shaped him into the man who successfully led the Cuban revolution. First of all, although he benefited from a decent education and was exposed to the upper echelon of society at times, he also played with and grew up around the children of the migrant workers of the farm. He maintains that this conservative upbringing helped him to stay grounded and to develop empathy for the working class. Consequently, Fidel rebelled against what he perceived to be classism. While in law school in Havana, he became intertwined with the student protest movement. The government of the time decided to crack down on student protesters and a lot of student leaders were being killed. Instead of fighting against the governmental regime, however, the student protesters began turning on one another and becoming involved in crime. Being surrounded by this, Fidel decided to focus on political goals where he became enthralled by anti-imperialism and the opposition of U.S. involvement in Cuban (and Caribbean) politics. Law school exposed Castro to several student leftist groups and...
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...This took place in December 1958 and became known as the Battle of Santa Clara. One of the most notable events of this battle was when Guevara used tractors from a nearby school to derail an armored train carrying soldiers and weapons. After this, the soldiers in Santa Clara quickly surrendered. Early in the day, on January 1, 1959, Castro launched another attack against Havana, this time with more success, causing President Batista had fled to the Dominican Republic. Within 12 hours of Guevara’s success, Fidel Castro took control of the country despite Manuel Urrutia Lleó being appointed the official president. Castro announced his success from the balcony of Santiago’s city hall. On February 16, 1959, Castro took the oath of office and became one of the youngest leaders in the Western...
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...However, the corrupt Batista seized power of Cuba, again, through government coup and therefore prohibiting any possibility of legitimate national elections (Crain, 2013). Infuriated, Castro began the Cuban revolution in 1953 with a botched attempt to overthrow Batista’s regime (Chomsky, 2011). He was sentenced to prison for short duration, then exiled to Mexico where he established a group of revolutionaries and a strategy to overthrow Batista permanently (The Documentary, 2016). It was in Mexico that Castro met Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an Argentinian-born doctor who was likewise inspired to banish imperial powers from Latin America (Crain, 2013). By 1959 Castro and his band of revolutionaries had effectively fought Batista’s army, over a period of three years using propaganda techniques and guerrilla warfare, and forced the dictator to flee Cuba (The Documentary, 2016). Castro and Che began a mass persecution, execution, and imprisonment of Batista supporters (Gorman, 2013). Thus, after much bloodshed, the Cuban Revolution had been completed, and Castro’s socialist regime officially began its reign over the...
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...In my life, I have taken many journeys without which I would not have experienced important truths. My father started us off early, taking us on many journeys to help us understand that true knowledge comes only from experience. We took trips every winter break to Madrid, Mexico, Costa Rica, and to Jamaica and Trinidad, my parents’ homeland for Christmas. Silly things I remember from those trips include the mango chili sauce on the pork in Maui, the names of the women who gave out the towels by the pools in Selva Verde, Costa Rica, eating dinner at 10 p.m. in Spain. These were all tourist experiences that I, at first, found spellbinding. My truths were the truths of the tourist brochures: beautiful hotels, beaches, and cities. I did not see the blindfolds. I did not appreciate how being held hostage by the beauty of the surface—the beaches and cities—blinded me to the absence of Puerto Rican natives on the streets of San Juan; I did not understand how the prevalence and familiarity of English conspired to veil the beauty of the Spanish language beneath volumes of English translations. I learned more about these truths in my sophomore year of high school, when I was among a group of students selected to visit Cuba. My grandmother was born in Cuba, yet I had never thought to research my own heritage. I have remained the naïve American who saw Castro as some distant enemy of my country, accepting this as fact because this seemed to be the accepted wisdom. I soon became intrigued...
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