myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (01/01/70)
> > I still disagree, but even if you were right, the issue is much broader. > The question is: will there ever be democracy in Nicaragua? > A marxist-leninist dictatorship, like the Sandinista government, will NEVER > return to democracy by their own will. If you don't agree, then ask yourself > the following question: > Right wing dictatorships always end up falling (with or without violence). > Just look at South America in the last couple of years. Peru, Bolivia, > Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil, etc. have returned to democratic governments. > Name one marxist-leninist regime that has gone back to democracy by their > own will (not by a military coup or by foreign invasion). > Don't look too hard because you won't find any. Isn't this interesting? > -- > Eduardo Krell UCLA Computer Science Department > ekrell@ucla-locus.arpa ..!{sdcrdcf,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!ekrell Like a good mouthpiece of the Reagan Administration's view of the world, Eduardo declares by fiat that the Nicaraguan government is Marxist-Leninist. Not only Marxist-Leninist, but a M-L Dictatorship. The world is neatly divided up into three Kirkpatrian parts: ``totalitarian'' regimes (communist by implication), ``authoritarian'' regimes (US allies whose internal policies are less enlightened than our own), and ``democracies'' (US allies with our without much of a democratic tradition and which aren't military dictatorships). By Marxist-Leninist dictatorship, el sen~or Krell presumably means a country where only one party is legally allowed. Funny, I seem to recall that 5 or 6 parties registered for the November elections, including the FSLN, and that non-FSLN parties control 40% or so of the seats in the legislative assembly. This assembly is charged with writing a new constitution for Nicaragua, so that the form of government itself can be voted upon by the Nicaraguans. It will be interesting to see in what manner this will be handled. I'm getting really sick of anti-historians like Eduardo ranting about lack of democracy as if one can develop a working and equitable democracy by pulling it out of a hat. I guess it's easier to kill what you don't like or understand. ***NOTE*** Every subscriber to net.politics should watch PBS's Frontline program this week (9:00pm Central Time) which is a four-part series on Central America and the US. The Thursday installmant is devoted to Nicaragua. -- Jeff Myers The views above may or may not University of Wisconsin-Madison reflect the views of any other Madison Academic Computing Center person or group at UW-Madison. ARPA: uwmacc!myers@wisc-rsch.ARPA UUCP: ..!{ucbvax,allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!myers
ekrell@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/08/85)
In article <574@whuxl.UUCP> orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) writes: >1)Other *democratic* countries have government owned TV stations. The > fact that the government happens to own the media is not prima facie > evidence that different viewpoints are not represented on the media. True, but add to that the fact that there is heavy censorship and that in any dictatorship (left or right), the government has no incentive to (and they won't) air any opposing viewpoint. Also, do you think the Sandinistas will ever allow the opposition to have their own TV station? >6)The censorship of La Prensa is reprehensible as is all censorship. > The Sandinistas should properly be severely criticized for that. > But the issue at hand was opposition access to TV time, which was > provided. I still disagree, but even if you were right, the issue is much broader. The question is: will there ever be democracy in Nicaragua? A marxist-leninist dictatorship, like the Sandinista government, will NEVER return to democracy by their own will. If you don't agree, then ask yourself the following question: Right wing dictatorships always end up falling (with or without violence). Just look at South America in the last couple of years. Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil, etc. have returned to democratic governments. Name one marxist-leninist regime that has gone back to democracy by their own will (not by a military coup or by foreign invasion). Don't look too hard because you won't find any. Isn't this interesting? -- Eduardo Krell UCLA Computer Science Department ekrell@ucla-locus.arpa ..!{sdcrdcf,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!ekrell