Business in the name of Che

“Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.” 

“I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.”  -Che

A few months ago a Bollywood movie named Rock On came and it rocked the Indian audience especially the youth. The movie was about a rock band. It evolved around everything how it was made, how it rocked, how the members split and of course how they reunited. The movie was a big hit mainly because of it's music and superb performance by the actors. During those days when the Rock On fever was at it's peak I heard a group of guyz & gals to discuss among them about the photo on Farhan Akhtar's T-shirt. They thought it was a photo of a rock idol. I chuckled and murmured “Hey Che”.

A more funny incident took place a few days back when an Executive Engineer of a renowned company asked one of my friend “Yeh kiska photo hain bhai? Koi filmstar ka kya?” indicating Che's photo on desktop of my friend's computer. My friend was shocked by witnessing the GK domain of his boss.

I know there are lots of people in the world who know nothing about the great Che Guevara. But the more surprising fact is millions of people use T-shirts, jackets, caps, wristbands wearing Che's photo.

Actually communists started to use Che's photo to spread the message of communism and gradually Che became the poster boy of communist movement. But later Che's photos became a medium of business to capitalists. Now-a-days capitalists are using Che's name in order to make money. The are using Che, a great Marxist to build capital after his death.

If people become aware of Che's name and his activities, the fight against capitalism will automatically spread. So, the business made by capitalists may act as boomerang to ruin capitalism.

-Arnab Mandal

New Delhi