In Honor of Che - YCL Guelph

October 9th, 2009 – 42nd Anniversary of the assassination of Che Guevara (by orders from the CIA)

This morning some anti-Che Guevara posters popped up in the University Center on the University of Guelph Campus. It seems that the Campus Conservatives have recognized that many people are waking up after 60+ years of cold war rhetoric and that the word “socialism” isn’t as scary as it once was, particularly in the context of the global “recession” and as the failures of capitalist production and exploitation become obvious to everyone. We at the Guelph Young Communist League "salute" [middle-finger salute? - RY eds] the Campus Conservatives for their accurate analysis in understanding that the socialist movement is a real challenge to their right-wing agenda. 

In a way we are honored to have our ideas come under fire by the reactionary right and Mr Harper’s minions. They realize that the symbol of Che Guevara, a figure that represents giving everything to the struggle against oppression, holds a very relevant message for today’s youth and students.

Youth and students know what Mr Harper and capitalism in general has brought them; sky-rocketing tuition fees, massive student debt, classist accessibility to education, 20% student unemployment (the highest in recorded history), 70% of students being ineligible for EI, friends being brought home in body bags from the imperialist war in Afghanistan (which now looks like it will be extended past 2011), attacks on migrants (US-syle raids), on women (equity payments), homophobic MP’s, etc, etc…

A direct result of this awakening is the move toward rebellion and an increasing interest in a model that actually promise systemic change and solutions; socialism! In Latin America a wave of change is taking place. Many in this movement (including some of the region’s Presidents) see Che as a martyr and an inspiration towards the new, more egalitarian societies they are now creating. Che’s dream was a united, socialist Latin America, and today this seems more realistic than ever before in history.

Evo Morales and Che stencils in Bolivia today

Again, the Campus Conservatives have correctly understood this and have taken (re)action. They are doing their duty to the federal Conservative government that has recently been apologizing for the military coup in Honduras and has sstated that “it is not the right time” for the democratically elected President to return. The Harper Tories continue to publicly attacked Venezuela and Cuba, despite the fact that they are leading the fight against poverty in Latin America. We are united with the Campus Conservatives over our interest in the developments in the region. What differentiates us is which side we’re on. They’re on the side of the hacienda owner, the corrupt state official, the fascist elements in the military, the death-squads, the oligarchy and the lackeys of US imperialism. We’re on the side of the people. A people that has 25% of of it’s population living on under 2 dollars a day (according to the World Bank), and who live in the most unequal society (in terms of concentration of wealth/relative poverty) on the planet.

But hey, here’s some quotes to help you decide which side you’re on:

“In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don’t feel particularly bad for many of these people.”

-Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

“If you tremble indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.”

-Ernesto “Che” Guevara

And that’s why Che Guevara sells more t-shirts than Stephen Harper…