Originally posted by comrade_mufasa+--> (comrade_mufasa)I was reading an article on them and the towns/villages in FARC land are very clean, orderly, everyone is cared for, crime is lower then in non-FARC land, and drug use is prohibited.[/b]
Unlikely. People have been chewing coca leaves in that part of South America for a long time. The FARC does not have the strength to stop that and would look foolish if it tried.
Originally posted by Clenched Fist+--> (Clenched Fist)Red Star, so you support kidnappings and drug smuggling?[/b]
In what circumstances?
Those acts, like a great many others, have no "abstract right or wrong" about them.
Kidnapping reactionary enemies of the people and even killing them has been practiced in various revolutions. So the question you should be asking is: is the FARC kidnapping the right people?
I don't know the answer...but I'll bet there is one.
As to "drug smuggling", since I support the right of individuals to use any chemical form of recreation or "enhancement" that appeals to them (as long as they don't endanger others)...naturally I support "drug smuggling".
I think the "war on drugs" is a war on ordinary working people...both inside the U.S. and in Latin America.
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The FARC, if it had a really revolutionary perspectives, should be trying to ween the agricultural community off cash crops IN GENERAL and have production based on need; i.e. less coca, less coffee, more food that people can actually eat and use.
Disputable. Without cash, you can't purchase the things you need from the "first world" or its representatives in the "third world".
I still haven't met any Colombians that have had anything positive to say about the FARC and some of these people describe themselves as Marxists.
I knew some people from the Philippines during the Marcos dictatorship when I lived in San Francisco...they were very "closed mouth" about politics in their homeland.
If I were Colombian, I'd be extremely careful about who I spoke freely with. Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could have catastrophic consequences (Marcos actually had opposition Philippinos murdered in California).
Due to the kidnappings and "narco-terrorism" that the FARC engages in, they do not have any real support system inside Colombia.
Well, they must be doing something right...they've been around for decades and show no signs of just withering away.
Of course, their supporters in the cities would be "deep underground" and not likely to show up for daily news briefings or television interviews.
I imagine that this is why Colombia always has a right-winged government that the people keep voting in.
And I am reminded of that famous remark attributed to one J.V. Stalin: Those who cast the ballots decide nothing; those who count the ballots decide everything.
An honest election in Colombia must be nearly as rare as one in the United States.
If they(the people) believe that the facade of Marxism that the FARC represents is genuine Marxism, you will not see a revolution take place anytime soon over there.
Possibly true. I wonder myself why the FARC and the ELN have never merged...personalities? They seem to have the same politics...a peasant revolution that will ultimately conquer the cities.
But as I said earlier, as long as they keep up their acts of resistance (especially against U.S. oil companies in Colombia), then I support them.
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Redstar, are you saying an enemy of an enemy is a friend?
U.S. imperialism is not just "an" enemy...it's the biggie -- the "fortress of reaction" over the whole planet!
And even more importantly, there is and will be zero chance of a communist revolution in the United States until U.S. imperialism gets hammered all over the world!
The "civic consensus" in the U.S. today is that America has "a God-given right" to rule the world.
Only massive defeat will shatter that consensus...just as massive defeat shattered a very similar consensus in Germany and Japan.
So even if the FARC and the ELN are lousy "Marxists" -- and, most likely they probably are -- their victorious march into Bogotá will be another step on the road to revolution here!
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