Che Guevara and Osama Bin Laden: Terrorist to some, Revolutionary to others
History is written by the victors, or sometimes by the victims of terrorist attacks. Both are true, but how can you differentiate between a liberator and just an outlaw leading a group of maniacs? Let’s look at two personalities from the 20th century who are perfect for this thought experiment. Che Guevara and Osama Bin Laden, if you’re an westerner or specifically an American then you might not see the difference but I hope I can give you a different point of view after you finish reading this, bear in mind this is coming from a 23 year old south asian who barely reads but still I have my opinions, in future these opinions may change but the facts are facts, I’ll try to be as factual as possible.
So, Who is a revolutionary? A person leaving everything behind to fight for a greater cause against a common oppressor. If this definition is acceptable enough, then Che Guevara is a revolutionary, that is a fact. Let me give you 4 reasons.
1. He risked his life: He was a physician living a comfortable life in Argentina, a young adult from a relatively well off family, the one ideology that grabbed his attention just like any young adult was Marxism, and you might not like leftist ideologies, that’s great but you shouldn’t undermine the plight of the people at that time and it was unlikely that things would get better. And so with Fidel Castro, Che joined the revolutionary force and participated in guerilla warfare, In short guerilla warfare means fighting a war without actually having an organised armed forces head on, rather taking a hide and seek approach.
2. He fought against the Batista Regime: A physician turned guerilla soldier showed incredible bravery and with the help of his fellow fighters they toppled the Batista Regime. A regime that was backed by the mighty United States and who was equipped with every proper asset needed to squash the revolutionaries. Despite all of this Batista failed and the toppling of a dictator paved the way for another socialist dictator to take his place, Fidel Castro.
3. He motivated an entire population: This monumental win could never have been possible without the support of the entire population, they were poorly equipped with weapons, resources, manpower but still they succeeded, This could not have been possible without the support from people in extreme poverty living in rural parts of Cuba.
4. Most importantly he won: Winning is a massive factor, history looks at winners with a kinder eye, and even though a large portion of the west views Che as a terrorist but to most of the world Che is a hero, there’s a reason that T shirt is popular with young people. This could have easily been just another whiny revolutionary acting out of irrationality and the stable power prevailed.
These factors are necessary, having gone through all this Che is now considered as a revolutionary.
Now, let’s look at something controversial, the reason you clicked on the title, Who is a terrorist? A terrorist kills innocent people showing the excuse of innocence or self defense or attack on faith etc. By this definition, Osama is clearly a terrorist, We all know in detail the atrocities he caused. I’m not here to defend him. But let me give you 5 reasons why to some people he is a revolutionary who succeeded to some extent.
1. He came out of an environment with a clear oppressor: Osama’s father was a wealthy contractor making his fortunes serving the all evil USA, his father made his fortune during the oil boom of the 50s and 60s and Osama was one of his 52 children. The sentiment in the general Saudi public was not in favour of the Americans, they saw themselves as outsiders and specially after the wars that occurred between Egypt, Israel and Iraq the population became more angry towards the US.
2. His believes his people were taken advantage of: The motive for the US bases in Saudi was clear as night and day, oil. And the Saudi royal family were the clear beneficiaries of this trade. As a young adult Osama saw his father as a traitor to his faith as he as well as the royal family were shaking hands and making deals with the devil and getting rich out of it.
3. He motivated a group of people: Once you have a clear enemy and once there is a clear divide between classes who benefits from the regime that is deemed satanic, then it’s easy to find people within the oppressor class who are willing to fight back, and that is what he did, just like Che, He mobilised people and made a group, and it is known as Al Qaeda.
4. He risked his life: There’s no question of his leadership, he was in the front lines fighting in the caves of Afghanistan, people of his group spread out around the middle east and the other Muslim majority countries and the rhetoric to fight against the infidels were becoming more and more popular, The US inclusion in middle eastern issues further escalated the matter.
5. He didn’t win, but still to some he did more than enough: After committing the horrible atrocity, he was the most wanted man on earth and eventually the US caught up to him and brought him to justice.
Lets contrast these scenarios, Che was most wanted because he liberated the people that were not meant to be liberated, Osama was most wanted because he committed a clear crime, but both of their origin stories bear similarities, both of them were influential, and both of them can be asserted are a creation of their surroundings.
