orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (05/14/85)
> > Re La Prensa in Managua, I've recently had the opportunity to give advice > to a friend who was writing to the Nation in response to some articles > about suppression of human rights in Nicaragua. The points I made to > him apply here too: > > 1. Moralities and protections of human rights can differ from normal, > peaceful times in times of war. > > 2. Two areas they can differ in is in draft mobilizations and protection > of absolute press freedoms (I don't accept, on the other hand, preventive > detentions, for instance). > > 3. Our worries about suppressions of press freedoms, etc., would be > justified if those suppressions were not REVOCABLE. I think that's a > general principle, that those weakenings of human rights protections > applied in warfare must be revocable when the war has ended. > > 4. Hence, if Nicaragua is at war, than we should properly defend the > right of La Prensa to continue to publish and not be shut down, but we > can't reasonably complain if the Sandinistas decide to apply censorship > during wartime. The Israeli government does no less, and it isn't even > in a state of war. > > I believe Nicaragua is at war against the contras and their CIA/Somozista > supporters. The evidence of invasion and death is everywhere within the > country. Hence I question the political motives of those who continually > harp on La Prensa censorship. Let's wait until the war is over before we > apply harsh judgments, please. > > Tony Wuersch I guess that is another one of the reasons to eliminate the institution of War. It provides a convenient justification for all sorts of atrocities, from killing to censorship. I cannot agree with such excuses either for killing or censorship. I doubt that Nicaragua's security would really be threatened by allowing La Prensa to publish freely. tim sevener whuxl!orb p.s. the Sandinistas have announced a halt to the draft