Re: [Marxism] CSN Statement on FARC

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear nchama miller - 

Thanks for your response. I claim no particular expertise
regarding Colombia, not to speak of all of Latin America.
Fidel Castro and James Petras know a thousand times more 
about Colombia than I do as does Nestor Gorojowski. Their 
Spanish is far more fluent than mine. 

My Marxmail comments were based on a reading of documents,
Furthermore, I'm not a Latin American political analyst,
but rather a journalist and activist with a primary area
of interest and activity relating to the Cuban Revolution.
I'm not an academic, but direct a electronic news service.

With maybe 97% of the postings on this list being in English, 
you may wish to consider if posting two paragraphs in Spanish 
is the best way for the readers to understand the points. 

From your message I take it that the position of the Colombian
Communist Party today in 2008 remains as it was thirty-five
years ago, in 1973. 

There have been a number of very significant political events
since 1973: The move of many FARC members to legal political
work in the early 1980s, and the subsequent massacre of large
numbers of them. Then there was a period when the Colombian
regime permitted the FARC a demilitarized zone which could be
visited by persons from outside the zone and outside of the
country. 

My question about the position of the Colombian Communist
Party on resolving the nation's armed conflict flowed from
the comments recently made by Fidel Castro after the rescue
of Ingrid Betancourt. He said that the best thing that the
FARC could do was to announce to the Red Cross that it was
willing to unconditionally release its remaining hostages.

At the same time, he urged the FARC in unambiguous terms
NOT to put down their weapons. Considering that Colombia
and Cuba have normal diplomatic relations, and even today,
President Uribe offered to send practical aid to Cuba in
the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav, Fidel's advice to the
citizens of Colombia who belong to the FARC to NOT give 
up their weapons indicates something about the complexity
of Colombia's situation.

It appears to me that despite its many setbacks, the FARC
is not today spent a force in Colombia. Fidel Castro's idea,
it seemed to me, was to try to suggest some way that there
could be a change in the Colombian political equation. 

The FARC and ELN continue to function as revolutionary
organizations carrying on an armed struggle. They're now
still too strong to be defeated, but not strong enough to
win. Breaking out of that stalemate seems to be the main
challenge of the present conjuncture. South Africa and
Northern Ireland have recently found themselves in a
situation somewhat analagous to that in Colombia today.
The results have been less violent, but with considerable
dissatisfaction among the parties. Much remains unresolved.

The class struggle continues in the urban areas of Colombia,
and the Uribe government continues its campaign of violent
repression against working class and leftist forces. Thus,
Colombia's situation is an extraordinarily complex one and,
my only point was to ask out loud what could be done now to
change the existing political equation.

Ingrid Betancourt's call for there to be political space for
the FARC struck me as one of extreme significance, coming 
after her six years as a FARC hostage. It doesn't seem that
her experience has led her to embrace a military solution 
to the Colombian situation.

IPS: Betancourt Wants Political Niche for Guerrillas
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/90981

Your reflections on this would be appreciated.

Thanks again,


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
======================================

From: nchamah miller <nchamah@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sep 5, 2008 9:03 PM
To: walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Marxism] CSN Statement on FARC

Dear Walter Lippmann:

I am a bit surprised by the question given your trajectory as a 
Latin political analyst who appears informed on many circumstances
surrounding the political conjuncture of Colombia and the FARC, a
conclusion I reach by reading your postings. I shall not take offence
at your North American cultural approach although not amused by the
paternalism implied in "claims to be".

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WALTER: I did not say "claims to be". What I did say was:

"You've stated you were a member of the Colombian Communist Party
living abroad. Do you know what is the proposal of the Colombian
CP to resolve the armed conflict in Colombia?"
http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2008w35/msg00220.htm 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There are many aspects of your question which I cannot not address
here but refer to the genealogy of the relations between the
Communist Party and the FARC. Surely, in the face of the recent
events with the Government trying to virtually shut down La Voz, the
party's newspaper, and the series of indictments against Communists
you cannot expect the party to have a "position" with respect to the
FARC. They have a position with respect to the crisis and civil war
in Colombia: 1) resumption of the peace process, 2) humanitarian
accord.

In a speech by Gilberto Vieira, in 1973, (Tribuna Roya No. 10 octubre
de 1973) the then Secretary of the Party articulated this
relationship succinctly, since you read Spanish fluently I shall not
translate it, because I imagine this topic has a very restricted
readership, unless somebody on this list-serve is adamant that I do
so, **

"[...] la liberaciÃn nacional del yugo del imperialismo yanqui, cuya
opresiÃn y saqueo es la cuestiÃn principal de la vida econÃmica 
y polÃtica colombiana. Esta reivindicaciÃn es el centro de todas
nuestras luchas actuales. Y se expresa en todos los aspectos
nacionales. La recuperaciÃn de nuestra riqueza, especialmente el
petrÃleo, que exige una inmediata nacionalizaciÃn. La independencia
econÃmica. La liberaciÃn de la carga del endeudamiento externo 
y de los lazos de la dependencia financiera. La modificaciÃn 
de la polÃtica exterior, subordinada al Departamento de Estado
norteamericano. La expulsiÃn del paÃs de las incontables misiones
militares y seudo-tÃcnicas que pululan en todas las dependencias
oficiales y en todas las escalas. El rescate de nuestra polÃtica de
educaciÃn de la tutela y la penetraciÃn imperialista".

"El programa de la UNO responde nÃtidamente a la cuestiÃn agraria
colombiana, al planteamiento de lucha anti-latifundista que ha
inscrito en sus banderas el Partido Comunista desde que surgià a la
lucha polÃtica en Colombia en 1930. Yo saludo la presencia en la UNO
de los nuevos contingentes de lucha contra el latifundismo que han
venido desde Boyacà y CÃrdoba a reforzar los destacamentos de la
revoluciÃn agraria colombiana que han hecho historia en Sumapaz, en
el Tequendama, en el Huila, en el Tolima, en el Meta!"

Today, the party is articulating its political platform under the
umbrella of the Polo Democratico, a position some of us have decried,
but given the current violence of political persecussions, it may
have been a wise political choice as we weather this storm, and we
may yet stand to be corrected.

nchamah


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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