Guy Fawkes – the next Che Guevara?
'Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.'
For over 400 years we have annually burnt Guy Fawkes in effigy on the anniversary of his failed plot to blow up The Palace of Westminster. He has his own legendary place in history, but the view of him has shifted thanks to the comic book and film 'V for Vendetta', where the hero anarchist uses a stylised Guy Fawkes mask as a disguise in his fight against a fascist government. He succeeds where Fawkes failed. With its rosy cheeks, styled facial hair and wide fixed smile, the mask looks both comic and menacing. It's only a symbol, but symbols say a lot. Paul Staines, who blogs under the name Guido Fawkes, says that the mask "signifies a loss of trust in politics – Guy Fawkes is the most anti-political figure you can pick".
In our own world, with its Arab Spring and movements to Occupy Wall Street and the City, Fawkes has reappeared as an anti-authoritarian, one-man-against-the-system, with the mask being used by protestors against politics and banks. Could Fawkes be the next Guerrillero Heroico? It is an irony that this Fawkes is represented by a mask; the anonymity that this affords is something we associate with criminals and terrorists.
The protestors may have chosen the mask for style, but perhaps they should choose their role models more carefully. If Fawkes and his fellow extremists had succeeded in striking a fatal blow on behalf of their fellow persecuted Catholics then the result would have been a Stuart 9/11. Though it failed, the plot set back the cause of tolerance and emancipation for Catholics for decades. How would our Stuart ancestors feel if they saw us wearing Guy Fawkes masks? Probably the same as us if we saw future generations wearing the mask of another anti-political extremist who murderously struck at the heart of a nation.
