I KEEP THINKING OF YOU CHE GUEVERA

It’s been 40 years since the revolutionary Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, otherwise famously known as Che Guevera, was executed by the Bolivian army that was supported by the CIA and the U.S. Army Special Forces. After his death, Guevara became an icon of socialist revolutionary movements and a key figure of modern pop culture worldwide. An Alberto Korda photo of him (shown) has received wide distribution and modification, appearing on t-shirts, protest banners, and in many other formats. The Maryland Institute College of Art called this picture "the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century.” We asked Zenzile Khoisan, a famed journalist and poet, to usher a few words in commemoration of Che:



I keep thinking of you Che Guevara

I keep thinking of you, Che Guevara,
as we walk the perilous path of transition.

I keep thinking of you, Che, every time I pass a school,
every time I look at the progeny of the passive resistant fifties, the
conspiratorial sixties, the fiery seventies, the ferocious eighties, the
really crimson early nineties, and the dawning of a new dawn with our
reconciled miracle.

I keep thinking of you Che, every time I pass a Cuba cafe, your picture
adorned on restaurants I cannot afford, your image, like Coca Cola,
globalised.

I keep thinking of you Che, every time another war breaks out and the body
count grows without a major internationalist campaign, to stop the crimson
tide.

I keep thinking of you Che, thinking of the ease with which those crafted
in your image rose to the challenge of Addis Ababa, Hargeesa, Ho Chi Mihn
City, the long fight to challenge the excesses of the Latin Oligarch.

I keep thinking of you Che, every time, my asthma acts up, every time I am
astounded at the idiocy of television commercials, do they really think we
are all five years old.

I keep thinking of you Che, every time I am reminded that we are just past
first base because of bombs rained on Zimbabwe, sacrifices of Zambian
peasants, Ruth first succumbing to the evil schemes of Botha's emissaries.

I keep thinking of you Che, every time America tortures another Iraqi, to
show who is the real guardian of a negotiated morality.

I keep thinking of you Che, every time I remember that the cages on Robben
Island were unlocked by Cuban sacrifice at Cuito Carnivale.

I keep thinking of you Che, every time I buy an overpriced cigar, or watch
a human reaching for breath in a damp squatter camp because of TB

I keep thinking of you Che, and wondering ...

Are you really the international symbol of our spirit of never surrendering
to the IMF, the World Bank, the temples of capital and human sacrifice..

Are you a face on a T shirt, like the fading, drug fatigued stars that help
the punch drunk keep the rhythm alive.

Are you still ready to go to Bolivia, Kinshasa, the West Bank, Harare.

I keep thinking of you Che, and wondering if tomorrow can really really
help us through our present quandary, guide us through the travel scam, the
devoured pieces of our idealism, help us raise that tattered flag of those
who still believe.

I am listening, Che, if you are on line...

Could you please log on, with your revolutionary salutation, and, ag man,
just a small bit of advice on how to really braai a fish.

Zenzile.