[Marxism] Over the waves of air

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Over the waves of air

Somebody left the radio on this morning.  It was tuned to the local NPR
station.  I happened to catch a couple of incredible stories.  First was
a pundit pronouncing on the political possibilities in Haiti.  This
expert was from the Center for Strategic And International Studies
(CSIS).  I did not hear his name properly, the radio was in another
room.  The meat of the matter, though, is that he declared Haiti was a
country bedeviled by instability.  Its only hope was to become a "UN
colony or a dictatorship."  I heard that distinctly.  I was amazed this
analysis was accepted on the air without comment.

Later, a Russian sociologist wrung his hands over the possibility of a
bad voter turnout in the upcoming election--it could go as low as 60
percent!  He said that maybe in a few years there will be dictatorship,
and maybe that would be good.

SO: I heard two stories in one morning on the very respectable National
Public Radio broadcast that claims to deal in depth with current
events.  As I said I didn't listen from the beginning of the programme,
or to the end, and apart from the two that caught my interest, only
intermittently.  There could have been other stories that slipped by
unheard by me that held even more admiration for the constructive
effects of dictatorship.  Both of those that I did hear definitely
accepted the possibility that the installation of national dictatorships
could be positive developments, which could lead to "stability."  This
goes against everything people have been led to believe about the
American Project in the world.  But we should be happy that they have
stopped being coy, and have bravely come out with it.

What sort of dictatorship are these guys thinking about, a dictatorship
of the proletariat, perchance?  And if not, then they must refer (or
defer) to a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.  A CSIS Press Release,
"HAITI: NEXT STEPS" provides the answer:  "U.S. Marines may go ashore in
Haiti and succeed in temporarily mitigating the violence, but nothing in
the long term will change.  Haiti will always be Haiti until property
rights and the rule of law are truly embraced by Haitian society ?"
<http://csis.org/press/pr04_15.pdf>

A couple of the more *eminent* luminaries with CSIS mentioned on its
website are Henry A. Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski.  And so, as
Doctor Kissinger would surely advise, there are decent democracies,
i.e., those that go along with the international capitalist system
presided over by the United States, and there are democracies that have
"failed."  There are good dictatorships that take over from failed
democracies, and, as Mr. Brzezinski would insist, there are bad
dictatorships that must be overthrown.  In other words, there are
democracies and dictatorships that provide stability for capitalist
ventures, and there are democracies and dictatorships that provide
security for the masses.  Until the bourgeoisie--which will entertain
whatever means necessary to maintain its power--is overthrown, those who
realize the humane potential and human salvation of a new social order
based on socialist principles must utilize any and all means to achieve
that  revolution.

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