Another American commentator has put the boot into Irish plans to commemorate Marxist activist and South American born Cuban rebel Che Guevara.
Lawrence J. Haas, a Communications Director and Press Secretary for Vice President Al Gore, has joined the condemnation of plans to honor Guevara in the West of Ireland.
Writing on the website thecommentator.com, Haas has criticised the proposal to hold a festival commemorating Guevara in the County Clare resort of Kilkee.
He has even quoted IrishCentral in his piece which also mentions the plan to erect a statue in honor of Guevara in Galway.
“The West has long had a thing for Che Guevara, a doctrinaire Marxist and homicidal maniac of particular note,” writes Haas.
“In the more than four decades since his death, his iconic countenance has adorned tee shirts, caps, and mugs, and companies have used his face to sell their products.
“Still, the news that a town in Ireland – a land better known for shamrocks and Saint Patrick – has fallen victim to Che’s ghoulish appeal reminds us just how much historical ignorance and moral confusion plague the West, and it should prompt sober-minded people of all stripes to voice their displeasure.
“At the seaside resort of Kilkee, in the city of Galway, planning is underway for a festival in September that will celebrate the life and times of Che, whose grandmother was born in Galway and who spent time there in 1961, according to reports from IrishCentral.com and other outlets.
“Che’s eldest daughter will be the guest of honor and Galway plans to unveil a statue in his honor. The embassies of Cuba and Argentina, where Che was born, have offered financial help to build the statue.”
Haas then quotes a spokesman for the Clare event from an article on IrishCentral.
The spokesman said: “The Che Guevara image created by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick has become as famous as the Coca Cola logo and is recognized as one of [the] enduring images of the 20th Century. We are proud to say that this image was the product of that fateful meeting between Guevara and Mr. Fitzpatrick in Kilkee.”
Haas then added: “True, Fitzpatrick has done as much as anyone to make Che a figure of enduring Western fascination. But, that’s hardly a reason for Che-worship by the good people of Kilkee or Galway or Ireland – or anywhere else.
“For those who need a refresher, Che Guevara was born in Argentina, radicalized by the poverty he witnessed during his early travels across Latin America, joined Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement, and rose to second-in-command in the effort to topple Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
“He was ruthless and cold-blooded, one who glorified violence, killed and ordered others to kill without hesitation, and opted for murder even if merely suspecting that someone might oppose him.
“Che put words to action most forcefully when Castro put him in charge of La Cabana prison. There, he presided over quick trials of former Batista officials, businessmen, journalists, and others. The revolutionary tribunal ruled, the appellate court (over which Che presided) confirmed the rulings, and the executions proceeded – anywhere from a few hundred to perhaps a thousand or more.
“When not approving death sentences, Che was sending the revolution’s purported enemies to camps for years of hard labor. Labor camps evolved into concentration camps for the unfit – Catholics, dissidents, AIDS victims, and others – who were raped, beaten, mutilated, or otherwise traumatized.
“A fan of the Soviet Union, he played a key role in creating a secret police to subjugate the Cuban people and enforce the revolution.”
Haas also notes that, “Galway’s upcoming celebration has drawn a strong rebuke from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who was born in Havana and fled Cuba when she was eight to escape the horror that Che helped to create.”
He added: “That Ros-Lehtinen probably won’t get her way says something profoundly disturbing about the West’s moral compass.”
12 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.realcatholic | Apr 06, 2012, 07:29 PM EDT
just because chi's last name was a spanish composite last name (un apellido compuesto), guevara-lynch doesn't mean that ireland should be stupid enuf to honor the evil communist who murdered thousands of innocent cubans after combat was over--by the way Lynch is my last name but i won't honor Evil----che's father came from the famous argentine politically powerful 19th century Lynch family
IrelandNorth | Apr 02, 2012, 08:52 AM EDT
Guys! It's up to Connacht (western Ireland) and County Galway what to do. As a Dubliner, I wouldn't even presume to interfere. And all this conditional diplomacy. If you don't do what we say we won't come to visit. I've yet to hear any Irish person imposing such preconditions before visiting America. Such control and manipulation is un-American. It only goes to show how political ideology and human subjectivity can refract objectivity. To some Irish-Americans, even Saint Francis of Assissi would have been a terrorist. And Mathatma Ghandi a suicide bomber. Grow up!
seanomelb | Mar 31, 2012, 08:33 PM EDT
jgeorgia2000 I will gladly build a monument to you and put it in a public toilet so it can be pi@@ed on.
jgeorgia2000 | Mar 31, 2012, 02:41 AM EDT
God I dislike all Gore supporters, but this I agree with. But really you Irish love Che? Just because he has ancestors in Galway? Jeeze I have ancestors in Northern Ireland, how about a monument to me AND I didn't murder anyone just because they didn't agree with my political beliefs. WOW what a commentary on Ireland.
seanomelb | Mar 30, 2012, 11:37 PM EDT
Lawrence haas to mind his own business the turd.
jamthecat | Mar 30, 2012, 07:53 PM EDT
Yap, yap, yap, just like an excited Chihuahua. It's none of our damned business what Galway does with its money and space. Period. End of the nonsense, please.
warrenpoint00 | Mar 30, 2012, 07:23 PM EDT
Next thing you know there will be U.S marines invading Co Galway.A U.S news anchor man will explain that the Irish freedom movement requested assistance from this brutal dictatorship in County Galway and democracy must be restored.What do you say to that you big Connemara and Athenrye girls are you gonna stick up this statue or not.
hughaed | Mar 30, 2012, 03:19 PM EDT
Why even pay attention to lawrence haas, whose views are the standard rhetoric for an establishment government position that perceives the world in black & white terms. Che Guevara's role in Cuba was as a physician, a policy maker, and someone dedicated to the betterment of a society that had been kept in destitution by a wealthy elite. Guevara lived his ideals rather than blathering on from the safety of an academic desk. He should be honored in Galway where one of his ancestors came from. Who cares whether it was his gg grandfather or his gg grandmother except those who like to trivialize genealogical connections. His ancestor's name was Lynch, one of the famed O'Loingsigh (seafarer) of the West of Ireland.
slainte9 | Mar 30, 2012, 12:10 PM EDT
Haas works for Yale University, which was founded by Oliver Cromwell sympathizers. A school that honors a war criminal responsible for half a million deaths in Ireland shouldn't complain about Galway.
slainte9 | Mar 30, 2012, 12:07 PM EDT
Haas works for Yale University, which was founded by Oliver Cromwell sympathizers. A school that honors a war criminal responsible for half a million deaths in Ireland shouldn't complain about what Galway's up to.
Murph46 | Mar 30, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT
Well of course he does Che is god to these leftists.
GeorgeDillon | Mar 30, 2012, 08:35 AM EDT
"He has even quoted IrishCentral". Yes, he has uncritically accepted the absurd Irish Central claim that Che's "grandmother was born in Galway". See how an error gets repeated, Irish Central? Can't you be more careful in the future?