Re: [Marxism] Aren't the bourgeois democratic taskssubstantiallyaccomplished in the countries of S. American ?

[Paddy Apling <e.c.apling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 18:37 10/01/2006, Charles Brown wrote:

> CB: Indeed. I'm just not expecting much out of bourgeois democracy but fixed
> elections, bought polticians, the whole history of the countries where
> bourgeois democratic tasks were accomplished long ago -  the U.S., England,
> France. The bourgeois democrats are past masters at corruption of the
> election process, so corrupt elections, including barriers to entry of
> "third" parties is not a sign that bourgeois democratic tasks have not been
> accomplished.
>
> In the current mode in South America, I think the elections processes are
> cleaner than the U.S. elections.

How right, and the attempts to undermine that 
democracy in the imperialist countries continues 
- with the threat of a new round of McCarthyism 
as indicated by such episodes in Britain of the 
use of bully-boys to throw out from the "New 
Labour" Part Conference of a delegate who shouted 
"rubbish" at the platform - and his subsequent 
arrest under the "Suppression of Terrorism Act" 
and the arrest of another anti-war activist 
arrested for reading out the names of British 
soldiers in Iraq at the Cenotaph,  and 
subsequently charged under the same act, 
subjected to DNA testing, finger printing, the lot

- and the proposed resolution "against Communism" 
to be discussed at the coming Council of Europe 
meeting about which I have sent the following 
message to the British Parliamentary representatives:

To UK representatives at the Council of Europe,

Dear Parliamentary Representative,

I have read the resolution appearing on the 
Agenda of the coming  Assemblé Parlementaire of 
the Council of Europe entitled "Need for 
international condemnation of crimes of 
totalitarian communist regimes", which, as one 
who served as a lieutenant troop leader in 4th 
Royal Tank Regiment towards the end of WWII, I 
consider obnoxious and dangerous in the extreme.

I am reminded that my first letter to the press, 
to the Ilford Recorder in June or July 1941, at 
age 16, was to argue against Alderman Griggs of 
Ilford Borough Council who was advocating that 
Britain should stand aside from the struggle 
between the Nazis and the Soviet Union so as to 
secure the major role in post-war Europe.

The resolution is obnoxious because it equates 
Communists, who played such a large part 
throughout Europe in the fight against fascism, 
with the Nazis, the main enemy to democracy and 
human rights, who were set on turning Euope, if 
not the whole world into a prison house of 
peoples; and dangerous, because it demands that 
all should agree with the movers of the resolution with their assessment.

I am reminded, too, of those words of Pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Communists,
  and I didn?t speak up,
    because I wasn?t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
  and I didn?t speak up,
    because I wasn?t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
  and I didn?t speak up,
    because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
  and by that time there was no one
    left to speak up for me.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

Accordingly I appeal to you to do all in your 
power to negate this resolution, and would ask 
you, before the meeting, to read and consider the 
letter from the leading Greek anti-fascist 
composer Nikos Theodorakis, which he has posted to his web-site at
<http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/445/1/69/>.

Yours sincerely,
Paddy  [E. C. Apling, Church Cottage, Woodrising, Norwich NR9 4PJ]
http://apling.freeservers.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
E. C. Apling, BSc MChemA CChem FRSC FIFST MRSH
Lecturer in Food Science, University of Reading, 1962-1986
Professional Member, AACC International
Professional Member, Institute of Food Technology (USA)
Member, Society of Chemical Industry
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Paddy
http://apling.freeservers.com

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