The revolution will not be accessorised
Saturday November 08 2008
One man's freedom fighter can be another's murderous tyrant. And some anarchist groups or individuals have achieved a notoriety, or worse, 'cool' with the passing of time...
CHE GUEVARA
Anti-capitalist Che would be horrified to see his face plastered across mass-produced t-shirts, mugs, teatowels, babygros and even bikinis. That stylised portrait -- based on a famous photograph by Alberto Korda -- was designed by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick in 1967.
The largely sympathetic consensus on Guevara is that he was a countercultural revolutionary, inspired to battle imperialism by the endemic poverty he witnessed as a young doctor in South America.
However, many Cuban exiles insist that Guevara became a ruthless killer and Fidel Castro's main henchman, and his part in overseeing executions after the revolution at a fortress in Havana earned him the moniker of "the butcher of La Cabana".
WHO THINKS CHE WAS COOL: Jay-Z (rapped: "I'm like Che Guevara with bling"), Johnny Depp, Carlos Santana (seen wearing Che t-shirts); Madonna ('borrowed' his image for the front of American Life); Mike Tyson, Diego Maradona (both have tattoos of Che's face).
MAO TSE TUNG
The famous portrait of Chairman Mao with receding hairline and party uniform is instantly recognisable. Students with Marxist leanings have been known to carry his Little Red Book of political and philosophical musings in their pocket.
Mao started out with the intention of leading impoverished peasants in a war to overturn the imperialistic and feudal legacy of China and create a communist utopia.
But Mao's legacy is highly controversial. Anywhere between two to five million people were killed as 'counter-revolutionaries', and later during his 'Cultural Revolution'. One and a half million were sent to 'reform through labour' camps. Tens of millions died in the world's worst famine between 1959 and 1962, largely as a result of his economic policies.
Tellingly, Shanghai high school history books now omit reference to Mao, although students still learn about him in junior school.
WHO THINKS MAO WAS COOL: Cameron Diaz (carried a bag with Maoist slogans, but apologised later), Lost star Matthew Fox (tattoo featuring a Mao poem), Mike Tyson (Mao tattoo), Andy Warhol (made Mao into pop art).
RED ARMY FACTION, GERMANY
Reacting to the Vietnam War, capitalism and the German government's authoritarian policies, the Red Army Faction was looked upon sympathetically by many extreme leftists in the 1970s.
Known often as the Baader-Meinhof gang, at the height of its popularity around a quarter of young West Germans expressed sympathy for its cause. Its bombing, kidnapping, murder and robbery campaign soon changed that.
WHO THINKS THE RED ARMY FACTION WAS COOL: On-the-run RAF members found some assistance in communist East Germany, but the group was pretty much disowned after its biggest murderous spree in the late 1970s. Nonetheless, 'Prada Meinhof' t-shirts became a fashionista choice in Berlin two years ago.
SYMBIONESE LIBERATION ARMY
The SLA saw prisons as a tool to oppress African-Americans, believing most black inmates to be political prisoners. Although a proponent of Black Power ideology, the SLA had only one black founder, Donald DeFreeze.
The group gained notoriety when it kidnapped 19-year-old heiress Patty Hearst and -- she later claimed -- brainwashed and raped her into submission. The image of Hearst as 'Tania' (named after Che Guevara's girlfriend) toting a gun during an armed bank robbery and wearing a beret and an AK47 for an SLA publicity photo is iconic.
WHO THINKS (or thought) THE SLA WAS COOL: Patty Hearst has become more iconic than the SLA, who imploded in a safehouse siege in LA. Director John Waters used Hearst as an actress in several films, including Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Cecil B Demented, A Dirty Shame and Pecker. The Misfits wrote a song called 'She' and Oingo Boingo wrote 'You Got Your Baby Back' about Hearst. Bill Clinton gave Hearst a presidential pardon for armed robbery on the final day of his presidency in 2001.
WEATHER UNDERGROUND
Growing out of a student radical group in the US, the Weatherman organisation later became The Weather Underground group after its members were wanted for a string of bombings and violent riots. One of its most prominent members, Bill Ayers (Barack Obama's 'acquaintance'), was quoted in an interview as saying: "I don't regret setting bombs" but later claimed he was misquoted.
WHO THINKS WEATHER UNDERGROUND WAS COOL: Plenty of disaffected American young people in the 1960s, who felt non-violent protest against the Vietnam War and in the civil rights movement was not working. Books like Dan Berger's Outlaws In America, claimed that the group "purposefully and successfully avoided injuring anyone... its war against property by definition means that the WUO was not a terrorist organisation".
REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA (FARC): Nearly 40 years of fighting against the prevailing government has made FARC one of Latin America's oldest insurgent groups. It claims to defend the poor against the wealthy and opposes American influence in Colombia.
But its drug-funding, hostage-taking and mistreatment of women and child soldiers has brought it huge criticism. WHO THINKS FARC IS COOL: Alleged IRA supporters aside, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wants people to stop calling FARC "terrorists". Film-maker Oliver Stone said FARC were "heroic to fight for what they believe in and die for it, as was Castro in the hills of Cuba". A famous photograph of a beautiful female FARC guerrilla romanticised the presence of women in FARC.
