CHE’S CHILDREN: THE CHE GENERATION

Ernesto Che Guevara, the Argentine-born revolutionary leader, has been dead more than 30 years, killed in an ill-fated attempt to spread the Revolution. He is buried in his adopted country, Cuba, but his spirit still stalks the streets of the US and other Capitalist countries. First in Seattle, then Washington, the UK, France, Switzerland, and now Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Melbourne, his spirit has animated the street protestors in rejection of a system they abhor. The difference is that these protestors are not mounting an assault on the barricades, but are using the very tools of Capitalism to bring about its demise. They are attempting to mask their rejection by stating acceptance of the Capitalist system and that they are just trying to make a few changes to make it less destructive.
Their view, and Che’s, is that Capitalism perpetrates violence against the innocent and powerless to maintain its hold. This is inherent within Capitalism and not the result of its misapplication. Capitalism must be replaced by a system that protects and uplifts the weak and poor. A system where people put society’s good first to raise everyone up so no one is left behind. The goals of the new society and the perceived violence of Capitalism were used by Che, and now his ideological heirs, to justify whatever means it takes to replace Capitalism. For Che this meant educating the masses to foment rebellion and, when that was not sufficient, to take up arms and create the rebellion. His efforts bring new meaning to the current mantra of business to “do whatever it takes” to be successful.
To be sure, Che’s heirs will not withdraw to the Appalachians to mount a guerilla assault on our economic and political systems, but the havoc in the streets will continue and increase in scale and, possibly, violence. The current generation of rejectionists is different than Che in other ways. They, like Che, are young, well educated, and middle- to upper-class, but the romance of radical chic is gone and they do not engage in many of its trappings. Gone is the incendiary revolutionary rhetoric, the guerilla lifestyle, the total rejection of the system, the all-out assault on its every aspect. Instead, Che’s heirs couch their rejection in terms and words familiar to any Capitalist. They state acceptance of the system, just not now or not in the developing world. They state their support for free trade, just so long as no one is hurt by it. They pick out firms or individuals as the enemy and attack them, not the system as a whole. They have learned that, to attack the system, a frontal assault is not going to work. Wrapping themselves in free market clothing can be more effective and less threatening.
Che’s heirs will argue they are genuinely committed to free markets, but they either have not thought out the consequences of their proposals or are being disingenuous as to their true beliefs. At worst, they are cloaking their true aims in a non-threatening posture to gain the needed advantage to install their programs. Many, it seems, have not fully thought out their proposed solutions, their analysis has been superficial and biased. Were they to delve deeper or follow the trail of actions needed to produce their changes, they would discover how anti-market they really are. Others already know this and pointing out the flaws will make no difference.
The unfortunate, and potentially disastrous, part of their approach is it is based on faulty assumptions and will not work. They believe a society can be created on political and social structures alone. The basis for human action is political in nature. If politics is the foundation on which human behavior is based, then behavior is susceptible to political manipulation. By creating the proper set of political structures, it is possible to shape whatever society desired. Their goal is to create a society with no poor, displaced, or downtrodden. There are also no large corporations, corporate elite, or governing economic class.
A society cannot be built on political and social structures alone, however. If that were the case, then the Soviet Union and Communist China would still stand astride the international arena, counting down the days to Capitalism’s demise. The founders of these systems, and their brethren on the streets today, ignored the fundamental role economics plays in a society. The basis for human behavior is economic, not political, except in short periods when political forces may overwhelm economic desires. Playing politics is easier, faster, and more enjoyable than playing economics. It is also cheaper. Economics is hard work, takes time, and has deferred rewards. It takes capital. It is easier to impose a political solution on a problem than to work on the underlying economic factors. These quick fixes don’t last, however.
The new demonstrators, Capitalist bashers, and revolutionaries are more sophisticated, better organized, and better financed than their counterparts of 30 years ago, but there is no doubt that those who now lead the charge are the inheritors of their legacy. It is true they represent a bewildering array of causes and agendas, often opposing, but at root they are all in accordance with the rejection of the Capitalist model. They have learned much from their elders – what works and what doesn’t – and have put this knowledge to work. They are organized and coordinated on a global scale that the earlier movement only dreamed of. The Worldwide Movement against Globalization. It is ironic that these new protestors have taken for their use the very instruments of the globalization they so oppose. Far more than their predecessors, they are using the system to tear down the system rather than attack it from without. Che Guevara would be very much at home within this movement and as an elder statesman accorded the respect due his position. He in turn would recognize this new generation for what it is, the spiritual and moral heirs to his legacy. His progeny, Che’s Children. The Che Generation.