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Why indymedia should have ongoing reports on Colombia's civil war

Paola Ponce | 27.08.2001 16:51

This is a comment I posted in response to the article "The FARC faces the empire" by Latin Americanist, James Petras
 http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=60492

As a Latin American, I loved the article. I think, ultimately, the problem is an ideological one, it is the strength of anti-communism in the US and in Western countries.

If indymedia has had ongoing reports on the Zapatistas in Mexico, the Middle East crisis and other places, why not have one of, at least, Colombia's Civil War? Surely, by now, they would have got the message on how important it is.

I do not think indymedia is completely independent, because I do not beleive Western countries have yet recovered from decades of anti-communist indoctrination and ideological attacks from political influences, including anarchist ones.

Furthermore, there is also a great deal of ignorance in Western countries of the Latin American left and its long history of fighting US imperialism. As anyone with good knowledge of it will know, Marxism in Simon Bolivar's America, and Latin American politics in general, is truly an autonomous phenomenon, and cannot, and does not, mirror the European experience.

I call upon everyone and anyone, who is true to the class struggle, to unite and fight, a disease in western society called anti-communism, whether one is sincerely conscious of it, or not, because; our class enemies surely are.

"All the world's peoples who
have fought for liberty have,
in the end, eliminated their
tyrants..."

Simon Bolivar
San Mateo, March 1814

Paola Ponce

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

ViVa ELN

27.08.2001 18:23

I do have big respect for the Compatriotas resisting American expansionism and wholesale "globalisation" in Colombia not forgeting the foreign volunteers.

About coverage of the ELN insurgency on this Site; several communiques have been published in the past and more are on there way.
VIVa ELN

joram
mail e-mail: joram@geek.com


FARC full of fart

27.08.2001 21:11

FARC and the ELN are top-down military organisations which have murdered and kidnapped unarmed civilians. They operate as governments in their 'demilitarised zones', taking taxes, imposing road-blocks and generally trying to control the local population. While they may claim to have the support of the local population, the peasants hardly have a choice in the matter. Anyway, we don't really know what any might think - I don't think the poor are really being listened to by any of the armed groups, especially the US-backed fascist death squads.

Anyway, don't Marxist moan that Bolívar was a bourgeois liberal?

Dan Brett
mail e-mail: dan@danielbrett.co.uk


as bad as each other?

27.08.2001 23:19

as in any conflict, neither the 'rebels' or government are saints. There should be a lot more coverage of what's happening over there, the US involvment/tactics are partic. worrying, from the spraying of crops to the outsourcing of the war to military businesses.

kkev


More coverage -is key, yeah -:-)

30.08.2001 00:38

In order for us in the EU to create effective alliances and develop support with autonomist activists in South Americas we need to develop our understandings.
We need more & diverse postings on the UK indymedia site by people from North and South especially in relation to the war in Columbia. Also us on the UK thread show maybes check out:

 http://colombia.indymedia.org/

- a bit more often,

ingobernable