Draft of a reflection on Che Guevara

I myself wouldn’t chose the term ‘mass murderer’ to describe Guevara, as some on the political right have.——– But hero worship is a problem. —–Guevara played an important role in Cuban history, and was militarily brilliant and ideologically astute.—-But if we on the Left romanticize him, he run into contradictions. —For example, why would many people on the Left who oppose the death penalty and support the rule of law not acknowledge the flaw to be found in Guevara’s and Castro’s numerous executions carried out without due process ?—— Also, an appreciation of what Guevara and Castro achieved reminds us progressives to be more accurate. Are we ‘anti-war’ when it comes to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the US ‘War on Terror’ or are we instead ‘anti-militarism’ and ‘anti-imperialism’? I suggest the latter is more useful and honest. —– Those of us on the Left shouldn’t romanticize Guevara or Castro, just as those on the Right shouldn’t exaggerate by calling Guevara a mass murderer. —–The two men achieved a successful degree of defiance of Western imperialism, which has been a multi-century geopolitical phenomenon resulting in countless murders, tortures, and other injustices. If we’re going to apply to US and other Western leaders your standard with which Guevara is labelled a mass murderer, in what kind of light does that paint US presidents, generals, and industrial titans ? —–So, I suggest we learn from Guevara’s achievements without glossing over his flaws