Re: democracy & imperialism

[HANLY@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Peru and Haiti both show that democracy is allowed only insofar as it is
in accord with the demands of international capital. The interesting state
dept document that has been posted shows that when challenged as by the PCP
the "democratic" state of Fujimori suspends democratic rights, massacres
prisoners and gives amnesty to those who commit atrocities. It is interesting
that the document consistently refers to the revolutionaries as "terrorists".
Of course as other documents shows the sell-off of Peruvian assets continues
apace. International capital is convinced that Fujimori will win and meanwhile
the disruption makes Peruvian assets cheap. Human and democratic rights
don't matter--any more than they do in trade with China.
Of course it is the PCP struggling
against an army and counter-insurgency force unrestrained by democratic
laws that are alleged to commit the most "heinous" crimes. In spite of the
matter of fact tone of the document and the useful information it gives it is
still ideologically loaded and I expect much of the info is incomplete or
misleading.
  Haiti is a triumph of imperialism. After supporting reactionary regimes for
decades imperialism was faced with the triumph of a popular mass movement led
by Aristide. After the military coup, a public relations embarassment was
created. This was successfully solved by putting pressure on the junta and
eventually providing safe flights (and a golden handshake?) as they did
for Papa Doc and putting
Aristide back in power with his hands tied. Now Preval is in power and
the mass movement is on the back burner while Haiti is sold out and subject
to neo-liberal discipline in return for capital investment.
   Cheers, Ken Hanly



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