On Tuesday, I was very pleased reading Paul Murty's guest column, "Che is a hero, not a terrorist." This article, the superb cover story on the National Equality March and the report back on Hugo Chavez' health care campaigns in Venezuela made for a very progressive issue that made my day a happy one. In response to Friday's anti-Che Guevara rally, my friends and I hastily organized a counter-demonstration, using a flag with Guevara's portrait and the slogan "Hasta la victoria siempre" scrolled at the bottom.
For the most part, we were received fairly by passersby. There were a few surly characters, including one man who screamed and even threatened us. The Young America's Foundation can protest anyone they want, but they severely misrepresented Che and everything he stood for. On their fliers, they presented Guevara as a psychopathic murderer, who killed indiscriminately.
There was no mention that he fought to free Cuba, with popular support, from the grip of a tyrannical regime that had the full support of the U.S. Similar conflicts, in which the U.S. supports unpopular dictators to bolster its financial interests, can be found all over the world and throughout history, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge. I hope that the truth about figures such as Guevara and the United States' role in foreign policy become more widely known, and that last-ditch, reactionary backlashes such as the one witnessed on Friday will occur less frequently.
