The FARC of Colombia...

[R_P_A_S]

I'm confused of whether to support or if i actually understand and respect their motives. I mean drug trafficking, Extortions, Kidnappings? Is this guerrilla group righteous? Are the’re methods justified? Please help me.

[ComradeOm]

Are FARC righteous? The answer is simple – no.

FARC is in a war with the civil government and has long ago realised that being "righteous" or striving for the moral high ground leads only to defeat. They don’t give a fuck about what the Western media or petit-bourgeois radicals think. By ignoring the limousine liberals and champagne socialists they are free to fight the state however they please. Since this involves actually killing people (the horror!) they are portrayed as the "bad" guerrillas while harmless groups that have renounced violence, such as EZLN, are seen as the "good" guerrillas.

Why do you object to the kidnapping and extortion of rich or wealthy foreigners of Columbians? I suppose you also have no time for the assassination of state officials. Another idealist who forgets that war or revolution is a dirty business. FARC understands the “iron logic” of war and the necessity of its actions.

The drug smuggling is a serious business however. Not because FARC indulges in it but because the bourgeois media constantly remind us that FARC are "drug-funded terrorists". In reality FARC’s involvement in the industry is limited to taxing the farmers who are forced by economic conditions to grow this lucrative crop. The actual smuggling and processing is carried out by Cartels who are much more involved with the paramilitaries and government forces.

[The Grey Blur]

They follow the tactics of Mao, the Chinese guerilla leader who decided the revolution could come from the peasants, with limited support from the workers.

It generally means a long-drawn out war (about twenty or so years i think the FARC have been fighting) and inevitably leads to a stalemate with the government

Personally, I don't think the FARC are up to much but they're just another strand of Marxism which you either agree with or oppose

[violencia.Proletariat]

I mean drug trafficking

Taxing the drug trade is now trafficking? Remember, what you hear about FARC or any other guerilla group you must remain skeptical. The major media is not out there to be un-biased, they want to make money.


Are the’re methods justified?

If they work and there are no other options, yes.


They follow the tactics of Mao, the Chinese guerilla leader who decided the revolution could come from the peasants, with limited support from the workers.

I've never heard of FARC referred to as maoist ;)

[R_P_A_S]

Well when I heard kidnapping I immediatly think of kids. and kids are at no fault. I understand that revolution means killing, war, and battles and all this. But when I first read about them it just seem like they are crazy rebels who forgot the concept of the revolution. im probably wrong. the page i got my infor from made em' out to be like that. that's why I ask here.

I just started to research things like this. and its hard to have un-biased sources. I still dont know where to look.

[The Grey Blur]

Google 'indymedia', there should be one for where you live (LA?)

You can make your mind up about FARC just from reading what I posted or any other non-biased piece on FARC

They're not as great as some Commies say they are and they're not as bad as the mainstream media would have you think