On Saturday 14th June, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, had he not been executed by the heros from the CIA, would have celebrated his 75th birthday.
I’m going to have a few drinks with some friends in memory of Che in Bar Cuba. I doubt that many of the regular Saturday night crowd will be aware of the occasion, but each to his own.
Are any other dopers marking the event?
Why, I’ll be celebrating too! I’ll be celebrating that this murdering SOB was first exiled from Cuba, in one of Castro’s only smart moves, and then killed before he helped wreck any more countries. So yes Zorro, I’ll be celebrating the life and mostly the death of “el esqueleto rumbero”, the dancing skeleton as he’s called in Cuba. And if you know the odissey of his remains you’ll know why he’s called that.
May I ask what you’ll be drinking? I plan on a tumbler full of Havana Club Añejo & year old Rum.
WOOHOO!
I should have guessed this would draw you out of the woodwork! How have you been? I’ve been kept horribly busy by my bstrd employer recently and haven’t had much time to argue about politics. I’m currently balancing my sources a bit by reading some stuff by Roger Scruton, more of a right-wing libertarian, who in my opinion isn’t as clever as he thinks he is. When this is over, we can have another argument. Congo is going to be where the action is, so I’ll be watching the situation there.
Anyway, probably Caipirinhas. They make really good ones in Bar Cuba, and I rather enjoy watching the young lady behind the bar energetically crushing ice and mint in the glass with the wooden pestle.
I understand, life in the capitalist belly of the beast, the little beast of course, the US is the BEAST; can be hell at times.
By the way, if you’re having Caipirinhas, then the young lady is crushing limes not mint. If she’s crushing mint then she’s making mojitos, which IMO are much more appropriate since they happen to be a Cuban drink. In any case drink up and Salud!
You’re absolutely right: I was confused about the drinks, as I tend to alternate. Rum, crushed ice, mint, brown sugar: it’s a Mojito. And it makes sense that it should be a Cunban drink, since most of its ingredients are products of the monoculture of sugar cane.
Actually, life in the belly of the capitalist Little Beast (I like the appellation by the way), whilst immeasurably better than life in Cuba for instance, leaves a lot to be desired. Nothing that requires an armed insurrection (the Brits can’t even bring themselves to complain politely about anything most of the time, so forget revolutions), but a good injection of European-style social democracy would do this place and its people a world of good. This little island is the bloody Third World of developed economies in terms of socio-economic equality.
But that would be an entirely separate thread. Possibly a dozen of them. Actually, it probably requires a book or two.
Right, so what did Che Guevara drink then?
I never thought about that, being dead and all Guevara’s worldly habits are not discussed much in Cuban schools. However, since Guevara took up smoking cigars after meeting Castro, I’d bet that he also favored Castro’s predilection for rum. That’s as far as alcoholic beverages go of course, being argentinian he probably drank that mate crap too, but I would not wish that garbage on anyone, even a commie pinko brit.
What exactly is mate? A kind of tea? It sort of makes sense that Castro and Guevara would drink rum and smoke cigars: they’re pretty much the only things that are easily available in Cuba.
“Commie pinko Brit” is an oversimplification. First of all, I’m actually half French. Secondly, according to my extremely British friend Rupert, I am a “pinko fruitloop”. I’m not sure what a pinko fruitloop is exactly, but it has a nice ring to it.
I’m not a Communist. I am preoccupied with social justice though. Too many people are indiscriminately trampled over in the mega-liberal form of capitalism that the UK and the US espouse.
By the way, have a look at this kid:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$OTU0GZK15AMEBQFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2003/06/11/wparis11.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/06/11/ixportaltop.html
There’s hope for Old Europe yet. That’s in the best French revolutionary tradition of Gavroche.
Sorry Zorro, and that’s a tongue twister for a non-native english speaker, but that link was bungled beyond hope.
Mate is a kind of herbal tea that’s the national drink of Argentina. Everything you ever wanted to know here. IMO it tastes awful but YMMV, of course. In fact, now that I think about it maybe you WOULD like mate, it is kinda tea-like.
Shame about that picture. Can’t you copy and paste the URL into your browser? Anyway, it shows our beloved CRS (French riot police: psychos the lot of them) chasing down protestors against planned pension reforms in the traditional manner, through clouds of tear gas, with big heavy truncheons and shields. In the background, most of the protestors have fled, but there is a maybe 10 year-old child wlaking around waving a large red flag.
This is something that you would never see in the UK. It is also something that strikes a chord with us Frogs, because of the popular image of Gavroche. Gavroche was a boy in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, who was shot in a thoroughly romantic way by the Forces of Repression on a barricade during the 1848 revolution. Or was it the 1830 one? I lose count sometimes. Subsequently, Gavroche has become an allegory of French independent spirit, defiance and smoking under the “Défense de fumer” sign. This painting by Delacroix conveys the feeling:
http://www.ngc.peachnet.edu/Academic/Arts_Let/LangLit/french/courses/civ3020/RealistArt/delacroixpage.html
Gavroche is the kid with the pistols.
Anyway, the French may not agree with the politics, but by and large, we love the style. And I suppose that it is partly because of this sort of cultural reference that I find myself celebrating Che’s birthday. The man has lots of fans in France.