rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo) (01/31/85)
A book has been written on the subject of "guided tours" for visitors to Marxist countries: Paul Hollander, POLITICAL PILGRIMS: TRAVELS OF WESTERN INTELLECTUALS TO THE SOVIET UNION, CHINA, AND CUBA, 1928-1978 (Ox- ford University Press, 1981) According to a Letter in the 1/26/85 Gay Community News (Boston), the book relates the systematic deception of travelers and their eager- ness to believe smiling, glad-handing officials who peddle a beguiling optimistic line. The subject remains relevant. China is still an object of myopia among many Americans, including those not at all left-of-center (even society matrons seem to have kind thoughts about the PRC). Complete hypocrisy often prevails in the publicity that revolutionary Marxist regimes issue. For example, as the GCN letter-writer states: The Cuban government will tell liberals that it is trying to educate the public to tolerate gays while its official weekly BOHEMIA runs an article on homosexuality in the United States that for its lies and hostility makes the radical right look fairly tame. As for Nicaragua, The notion that the Communist Party [in Nicaragua] represents a powerless extreme while the Sandinistas are moderates is a sham too palpable to take many people in, one hopes; the speeches & documents of the Sandinistas show that their goal is a regimented, Cuba-like state. I'm not in a position to comment on this last remark; I'll remind netters that the main opposition candidate & party, the only ones with a realistic chance of outpolling the Sandinistas in an election, were physically coerced out of the campaign last summer. The Sandinistas armed bands of youths with clubs and metal pipes. The youths followed and surrounded the rival candidates whenever they tried to campaign in the countryside, physically preventing them from making contact with voters. After this happened repeatedly, the candidates and their party withdrew from the campaign & election: the situation was impossible. Thus, the November election was open, orderly, without compulsion or corruption, but it was an utter sham. A visit to Nicaragua by gay Boston City Councilor David Scondras was marked by the only gay person whom Scondras met trying to tell the councilor that things weren't good. See the 12/1/85 GCN for details. Regards, Ron Rizzo "The people united will never be defeated. The truth shall make you free. Is there a conflict here?"