Globalization? Ch� !

At every antiglobalization parade or protest, one can always see the mandatory Ch� Guevara banners and T-shirts. Ch� Guevara has for long captured the imagination of those who will fight the markets; now he captures the imagination of those who profit from them. So, when Smirnoff used Ch�'s "Korda" image (above) to promote their elixir, Alberto Diaz Gutierrez, the photographer who took what became Ch�'s most famous picture, sued Smirnoff's advertising agents and won. The change of millennium bode well for Ch�.

A couple of years later, a company called Fashion Victim bought the rights to Ch�'s "Korda" image. Now, for every T-shit and sticker, banner or poster sold, some capitalist pig is making a little royalty money each time. Considering the globalizing presence of Ch�'s image, it amounts to mucho, mucho money. The antiglobals do not seem to be informed of market developments concerning Ch�, as they diligently continue to don the image as uniform. Now, the globalizing trend in Hollywood seems once again to be working against Ch�.

It seems that the Academy could not find a way to nominate The Motorcycle Diaries, a rendition of Ch�'s autobiographical book, for the foreign film Oscar this year. The culprit is that the rules have not been changed to reflect the globalizing, international outsourcing in which Hollywood now engages. The Claremont Institute reports:

No, the problem for the Academy is not the subject matter of the film; it is simply that the Academy has not kept up with "globalization." Academy rules for the best foreign-language category require that a film be submitted by the country in which it originated. Motorcycle Diaries, however, was filmed in five different countries with international financial backing and an international cast and crew, and is thus ineligible for consideration. How Oscar's heart must break. The quality of the production alone should certainly qualify the film for serious consideration for any cinematographic award, while its content earns it honorable mention in the growing catalogue of leftist Hollywood propaganda.

One needs to savor this paradox: the very forces of globalization that gave impetus to the production of Ch�'s movie now turn against it, just like all those years ago the globalizing forces of socialism turned against him in Cuba, in Congo, and, ultimately, in Bolivia.


PS. I have made some editing changes (1 February 2005) to clarify points about which image and which company. My thanks to the anonymnous writer who brought the lack of clarity to my attention.