mjm@rruxo.UUCP (M Muller) (10/10/85)
Several people have been cheerfully condemning state terrorism as practiced by their favorite "others." I'd like to point out that there is also our own brand of state terrorism. I'd also like to ask that flames be postponed until the end of this note. (Apologies to the non-U.S. readers of this note: I am addressing the strongly U.S.-chauvinistic comments which have appeared here.) State terrorism is practiced daily by our client states, such as El Salvador. We supply significant portions of the military budget which makes the terrorism possible. State terrorism is practiced daily by our ally Turkey. And by many other client governments. Some may quibble with this definition, but I would maintain that we are also responsible for the terrorism practiced by the Nicaraguan contras against the civilian population of that country. How is this state terrorism? Our state provides funds and -- as in the disclosures of CIA training manuals -- instructions on how to carry out attacks against non-military, mostly-agricultural targets. Agriculture is, of course, practiced by people, and usually by people who are carrying heavy loads which make poor weapons compared with M16s (or whatever we are distributing these days). So why am I telling you this? To point out that our hands are not clean. And that U.S. citizens can have a voice in the policies that have so far permitted our government: to fund (and partially to direct) these activities, and to channel government and private money into them. The U.S. is still a democracy: we can reject anti-democratic practices if we set our minds to it. If we decry those practices in others, we should surely avoid them ourselves. I do not minimize the evils of state terrorism as practiced by what some readers consider the "other side." I am not condoning Eastern Bloc atrocities by referring to Western Bloc ones. I would just like to urge that we clean up our own act -- live by our own principles -- while we excoriate others for failing to live up to our lip service. Our case will be strengthened when we no longer support that which we oppose. Michael Muller Bell Communications Research ..!ihnp4!rruxo!mjm (my opinions should not be attributed to my employer)
robinson@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jim Robinson) (10/12/85)
In article <339@rruxo.UUCP> mjm@rruxo.UUCP (M Muller) writes: >State terrorism is practiced daily by our client states, such as >El Salvador. We supply significant portions of the military budget >which makes the terrorism possible. A small point, but I was under the impression that the Salvadoran government, as personified by president Napolean Duarte, enjoys the support of the populace (as does, it would appear, the Nicaraguan government). J.B. Robinson
michaelf@ISM780.UUCP (10/15/85)
Don't spew capsule rationale about "trashing
Iranians" until you think how the U.S.' Shah trashed the
Iranians for years and years. If you were an Iranian who
had grown up in Iran while the Shah was demo-ing the
latest in US torture technology, what would you have done?
This same principle applies to the Pinochets, the
Samozas and all the other military chumps willing to rape their
own land and people.
Arm the poor.djs@nbires.UUCP (Diana Spalding) (10/17/85)
> A small point, but I was under the impression that the Salvadoran > government, as personified by president Napolean Duarte, enjoys > the support of the populace (as does, it would appear, the Nicaraguan > government). > > J.B. Robinson No, no, no!!! In El Salvador we are supporting the government and military which are killing the rest of the people. The U.S. main stream media has tried to tell us that the U.S. is supporting a moderate government, and that the people there have to deal with violence from both the right and the left. This would be a good joke if it weren't for the fact that we're talking about tens of thousands of innocent human lives. The truth is that the government we support down there is very right-wing, extremely brutal and repressive. Go down to El Salvador and ask the common folk if they are afraid of the left. They will laugh at you. The people ARE the left because they are united against their government which mercilessly terrorizes, tortures, and murders it's citizens without cause (except to "beat them into submission" I suppose). In Nicaragua the situation is very different, as the people and the government are united, and the only thing stopping them from gaining the fullest extent of social and political justice and human rights is U.S. terrorism from the outside. Diana Spalding {allegra, hao, ucbvax}!nbires!djs