Comments (16)

• Current

  One of my friends once met Jim Fitzpatrick and talked to him about his art. He made the two-tone picture of Che that is normally seen on T-shirts. It was taken from a photo by Alberto Korda.

  It was an interesting view into the ethics of those involved in this.

  He described the sale of a painting he did for the famously corrupt Irish leader Charles Haughey. He made Haughey a portrait for his mistress.

  Haughey haggled over the price. He said he would pay in cash and this would help Jim avoid tax. Jim reminded him that he had just signed a law exempting artists from income tax. Haughey replied by saying that he knew that, but that by paying in cash he could evade sales tax. And so the sale was made.
  

  Published: July 6, 2009 9:26 AM

• Artisan

  Thanks!
  The father Mario, is a brilliant writer... (1993 – Lituma en los Andes (Death in the Andes, 1996)) one of my favorites. His political views are interesting and courageous. Now I'm looking forward reading some of his son's work.

  Published: July 6, 2009 9:58 AM

• David Spellman

  Communism for fun and for profit!

  Published: July 6, 2009 10:56 AM

• newson

  it's hard to be optimistic on south american, on balance. the spanish/portughese colonial model was very different to the anglosaxon one, and has left a lasting legacy on the political and business culture.

  where the germans, swiss and british had a strong early influence (chile), things are more hopeful. the sao paolo district of brazil attracted dutch and japanese, and this developed into a very wealthy industrial area. the areas of where italian, spanish and portuguese culture dominated haven't been so lucky. culture counts.

  note that both vargas llosa father and son live outside peru, and that this fact made v.l. senior a less-attractive candidate in his run for peruvian presidency.

  as regards the louse with the beret, who gets the royalties from all the merchandising?
  

  Published: July 6, 2009 11:17 AM

• Tyler

  There's a restaurant in the Dallas area called Ché. It's some trendy bar for hipsters. It's near the dump...

  Published: July 6, 2009 12:13 PM

• G

  Well Rothbard himself had a love affair with Che, so what's the problem?

  Published: July 6, 2009 12:54 PM

• 100% depositary

  I have harped about the worship of Che Guevara for some time now. Living in New York City means walking Time Square without seeing a few morons wearing a shirt with his face boldly exhibited on the front is impossible. Any efforts to unearth his crimes should be lauded.

  Published: July 6, 2009 2:28 PM

• Shane

  Bureaucrash.com's former Crasher in Chief is big on the Che myth, and has come up with some good propoganda to make teens and twenty somethings rethink their idols like Che. While bureaucrash has somewhat shifted focus since Pete left, they still maintain their contraband (merchandise for non-members) section where you can buy t-shirts that very subtly mock the idols and ideas held dear to the nation's youth.

  I love showing up to a leftist campus rally with a shirt depicting Che running around wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Some people are downright indignant, but most are so taken by the creativity that they will listen to a short story about the real Che.

  Published: July 6, 2009 3:13 PM

• Saku

  My favorite Che shirts are the one with the stock image of Che with different slogans underneath:

  "This shirt was brought to you by capitalism."

  and

  "Murderers shouldn't be martyrs."

  Published: July 6, 2009 4:01 PM

• Mike Sproul

  Also:

  "Communists murdered 100 million people, and all I got was this crummy T-shirt."

  Published: July 6, 2009 4:43 PM

• Emil Suric

  The leftist movements in South America may be coming to an end, or at least, stagnating. Honduras just overthrew their former president who attempted to suspend the constitution, and make him self leader for life. The people voted 91% against him, and the supreme court ruled 5-0 to uphold the people's decision. Unfortunately, the socialist leaders around the world have decided to force the newly established Honduran government to reinstate their military thug, Zelaya. But it's still a step in the right direction nonetheless.

  Published: July 6, 2009 6:30 PM

• Patrick

  G: Rothbard liked Che?? Where can I read up on this? I had no idea...

  Published: July 6, 2009 10:14 PM

• Alexander S. Peak

  Mr. "G" writes, "Well Rothbard himself had a love affair with Che, so what's the problem?"

  Rothbard said some positive things about Guevara in the '60s and some positive things about Duke in the '80s.

  In both instances, I believe Rothbard was gravely mistaken to do so, and for more-or-less the same reasons.

  Just because Rothbard was a spectacular thinker doesn't mean that everything that eminated from his fingertips is gold.

  To Mr. Patrick, see Left and Right 3, no. 3.

  Yours,
  Alex Peak

  Published: July 7, 2009 1:09 AM

• newson

  excellent work, alexander peak. it's a real shocker!

  http://mises.org/journals/lar/pdfs/3_3/3_3_1.pdf

  rothbard seems so smitten with the revolutionary spirit per se, that he is blinded to the thuggery of guevara. and what of his ideals, doesn't the blood-soaked ideology prevail over whatever may have been his personality?

  Published: July 7, 2009 2:44 AM

• newson

  it's fitting that che turns over t-shirts, mugs and trinkets, whilst gorbachev flogs louis vuitton. soft and cuddly communists that hollywood can still drool over.

  Published: July 7, 2009 2:47 AM

• Rick

  RE: Newson

  "the sao paolo district of brazil attracted dutch and japanese, and this developed into a very wealthy industrial area. the areas of where italian, spanish and portuguese culture dominated haven't been so lucky. culture counts."

  
  Wouldn't Sao Paulo be considered an industrial area with a very strong Portuguese culture given ties between Brazil and its Portuguese history?

  Published: July 14, 2009 2:35 PM