Newsletter 4th quarter 2005

The management of Commietravel congratulates the tribes of the Kiowa, the Apache, the Comanche, the Arapaho and the Cheyenne with the signing of the Medicine Lodge-treaty on October the 21^st  1867, which reduced their living space to a small number of reservations.

N.B. The picture shows a painting by John Gast from ca. 1872 with the title “American Progress”. It represents the “Manifest Destiny” of the white American. The angelic lady, symbol of the USA, carries in co-operation with the pioneers the light of American civilisation to the West, driving the native population and the wild animals into the darkness.

The Beach of Santa Monica is too small for Iraq war casualties.

(from our foreign correspondent in Los Angeles, comrade Arnold)

Not every citizen of the USA is happy about the way the “Manifest Destiny” nowadays works out in Iraq. Especially seniors in their fifties who once tried to enforce this holy mission in Vietnam, now are warning their country to be very cautious in the process of organising reservations for the Kurds, the Sunni and the Shiite in Iraq. Since a couple of months every single Sunday they erect a monument on the beach of Santa Monica in Los Angeles to confront the guileless sun-worshippers with the consequences of the “Manifest Destiny”. Next to the famous jetty of Santa Monica they place thousands of wooden crosses, one for every fallen American soldier in the war against Iraq. Asked for crosses for fallen members of ‘coalition armies’ and ‘private security forces’ and other killed mercenaries and – last but not least – the murdered Iraqi’s themselves, their answer was: "The beach of Santa Monica is too small for that!”

Commiefood (2)

Everybody visiting Amsterdam has the opportunity to have a revolutionary meal. On a cosy spot on the Nassaukade (number 122) you’ll find a Tapas Bar who understands from which way the wind blows and therefore named itself after a great and inspiring communist.

Tapas Bar El Comandante honours the memory of El Comandante Che Guevara by serving high quality Spanish food in a chummy atmosphere. The menu may look kind of neutral at first glance, but the ‘Patatas Bravas’ without any doubt refer to the so well-known ‘Bravura’ of Che. And of course you can have an excellent ‘Cuba Libre’. When you’re in town, you’d be a fool to miss it. Reservations: 020-4868137

Commieshop

KBB Maoshop

In Memoriam (7)

De revolutionary poet Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna, later predominantly known under the name ‘Che’, was born on the 14^th of June 1928 in the township Rosario in Argentina. He was the eldest in a family that had five children. Only two years old he caught a rare form of asthma that would torture him the rest of his life. This however didn’t keep him from leading an active life. As a young man he travelled through the whole of the continent of South America and as an adult he emerged in diverging countries as Cuba, Congo and Bolivia. He was always on the look-out for inspiration for new poems. He always had his pencil ready. Besides his poems he also published a diary and some political texts. While seeking inspiration in the nature of Bolivia, he was cowardly murdered on the 8^th of October by the CIA. This organisation appears to have not only a deep loathing for democratically elected presidents (Salvador Allende is a case in point) but also for poets.

In the memory of the poet Che, Commietravel here presents a fragment of the poetic text of the song that the famous Cuban community singer Carlos Pueblo wrote about him while he was still alive, the beautiful Hasta Siempre from 1965.

Aprendimos a quererte desde la historia altura

Donde el sol de tu bravura le puso cerco a la muerte

Aqui se queda la clara, la entranable transparencia

De tu querida presencia, comandante Che Guevara.

We learned to love you since the youngest history

Where the sun of your bravery brought you close the death

Here is the clarity, the longed for transparency

Of your beloved presence, commander Che Guevara.

© comic Comrade Bernard

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