Do Irish apologists for Colombia's FARC have the slightest idea about what they are supporting ?

by Terry Thu Jul 17, 2003 20:56

Joe
This question could equally be posed:
Do Irish apologists for Colombia's right-wing death squads and military have the slightest idea about what
they are supporting ?

You have posted here before on FARC and in no case have I ever seen people voice support for the death, inquiry,
kidnapping or otherwise of any person. What people DO point out is that not only is this happening on both sides of
the conflict, but that the vast majority of the deaths are being inflicted by the Columbia right wing death squads
which work closely with the Colombia military and their financial, political and ideological backers, the US government.
The US State Dept, admitted that long ago that at least 90% of the deaths in Colombia are by the death-squads + military.

You further state:
>It is extraordinary that some people who post here, and probably pride themselves on their
>"progressive" politics, can think the kidnap and imprisonment of totally innocent people is a good
>idea, as long as it's carried out by the FARC ghouls. Have these people ever devoted even a
>moment's thought to the despicable crime against humanity that kidnapping represnets ? They
>should read this report from the BBC

I have seen nowhere where people think kidnap is a good thing. You are being dishonest in the way you present
this so called report. I will go far as to say, the way you present and the lack of context in terms of everything
else happening in Colombia means it amounts to black propaganda.

Why haven't you mentioned that the fact the USA is supplying billions of dollars in military aid and about 60+ Blackhawk
helicopters. Nor do you mention the 'Plan Colombia' which is spraying farmers lands from the air to supposely wipe out
drugs, but instead destroys their food crops, makes the people ill and forces them off the lands and out of those areas?
Do these people not count? What about the 150+ trade unionists murdered last year in Colombia? -nothing!

And as for the phoney drug war, the Colombia government are up to their neck in it and have been for years along with the
US government via the CIA: Why don't you read some of these:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/index.html

There's plenty more about the drugwar at
http://www.narconews.com/

by NavanMan Thu Jul 17, 2003 23:57 Co. Meath

Keep supporting the FARC & ELN in their struggle against the Fascists who rule over there. Take everything the BBC says with a pinch of salt, their English after all.

by Seáinín Fri Jul 18, 2003 02:16

But it sounds like it's cool, that's what matters.

Irish 'activists' haven't a fucking clue about how the world works, they're mostly too young, too stupid or too stoned.

by Canteen Kevin Fri Jul 18, 2003 11:23

Still snapping at peoples heels you little shit

by iosaf Fri Jul 18, 2003 12:00

best balanced info:
http://www.narconews.com/
{as a short explanation to readers, as part of the narconews project individuals go to South America on bursaries to learn, research and activate both there and here} {there is no simple black and white in the drug war} {Plan Colombia must be opposed} {there is no imc in Venezuela} {Venezueala and Colombia are in deep deep shit} {long before the cliché blame them Colombia 3 went to colombia there were Irish in Colombia} {one was murdered} {less Irish ignorance and apathy could help} {the people of those countries} {the generations to come of your neighbourhood}.
http://www.narconews.com/
the BBC have never given impartial newsfeed from the _region_ let alone one state.
= Balance your reading material.

by MG Fri Jul 18, 2003 13:40

I know from experience that many people who support FARC's cause are appalled by any actions targeted at innocent people, including kidnappings.

But you seem to be selectively choosing those you criticise. You constantly harp on about how the Colombian Government has been "democratically elected", but never criticise Uribe and his death squads for murdering totally innocent trade unionists who are standing up for the rights of poor, downtrodden people who have no power to stand up for themselves.

Or how about Uribe and Bush's brilliant plan to spray the shit out of all the coca crops grown by impoverished farmers. I'm sure you're aware that many legitimate crops have been destroyed as part of this campaign, while civilians have also suffered horrible side-effects from the chemical sprays being used, which are banned in the United States, but supplied by US companies. Also, what does Uribe expect the coca farmers to do once their crops are eradicated. They will have no choice but to turn to other "illegal" activities, because Uribe and his free-market pals in the White House have never done anything economically to help the campesinos and campesinas.

Also, on the subject of kidnapping, Bush, Blair and the other war criminals running the world at the moment have kidnapped at least 670 people and illegally transported them a legal no-man's-land in Guantanamo Bay. Some of these people were abducted illegally in Pakistan, moved illegally to US-occupied Afghanistan and then illegally transported to a place where they have no rights and no access to any lawyers. This is an aberration of monumental proportions and FARC's kidnappings and cruelty pale in comparison. Yet you seem to think that FARC are the biggest threat to mankind that ever graced this Earth.

At least FARC are (ostensibly) fighting for social justice, even if their crimes and atrocities are at the opposite end of the spectrum. But Bush, Blair and co are fighting to keep the poor of the world under the heel of the ruling class. If I had to choose, I'd pick FARC any day.

by joe ranii Fri Jul 18, 2003 14:47

"long before the Colombia 3 went to colombia there were Irish in Colombia {one was murdered)"

You're right. I was one of them--taught English in Cartagena & Bogota in the 1990s. That's when I realized how inane were the romanticized posturings about Latin America by the European pseudo-left.
You're also right that one Irish person was murdered there. Care to guess who killed him ? A clue: Four-letter acronym, describing a mass murder gang, first letter F...

by Joe Ranii Fri Jul 18, 2003 14:51

MG thinks that because I deplore the kidnapping of Colombians that I support the kidnapping of Afghans and others.
Anyone help me to understand that logic ?

by MG Fri Jul 18, 2003 15:37

I accused you of being selective in your criticism. If you deny that this is true then you are living in dream land. I read this site regularly and basically you are an anti-FARC propagandist. None of your opinion pieces has contained a blanced argument, just a whole ream of condescending rubbish criticising other people who use this and who believe in the struggle of the peasant population in Colombia (This does not mean that they support FARC, not matter how you try to spin the story). Your anti-FARC rants are also, by extension, pro-Uribe and pro-US propaganda. You defend a monster like Uribe by hiding behind the inane statment that "he was democratically elected and we have to obey the wishes of the Colombian people." If FARC were democratically elected, would that mean that their kidnappings and murders are okay?

The only time you ever post anything here is when you want to start a rant against FARC. I was merely pointing out that FARC's crimes pale in comparison to those of its enemies. You have also accused everyone who sympathises with FARC's *cause* (not their tactics) of supporting murderers and kidnappers. This is not true. And lastly, I said if I was forced to choose between FARC and Uribe, I'd choose the former. I fully stand by that statement, whether Uribe, scumbag that he is, was "democratically elected" or not.

by Carlos - Colombia Fri Oct 20, 2006 20:56

Your comments are so out of place that they don`t even deserve anyone's attention, except for colombians, like me, to tell you how missinformed you are.

These murderers, kidnappers, drug dealers, liars, and experts on Roobin-Hood-like propaganda directed to european countries only cause damage to our people. They kill the POOR, LIKE ME (YES, US THE COLOMBIAN POORS CAN SPEAK ENGLISH, READ ABOUT ECONOMICS, AND HAVE ACCES TO INTERNET- I BET YOU STUPID FIRST WORLD ASSHOLES HAVE NEVER COME HERE... WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GOING TO KONW ABOUT MY COUNTRY AND THESE FARC-CRIMINALS?) the middle-class, and the rich too; they kidnapp equally, and they fill us with terror to get their economic objectives.

Paul Collier already explained the economic causes of these conflicts, and that is the great earning margins of this business of narcotraffic and extorsion. What worstens the problem is that they have found the way to make it look in some countries like they're a popular army.

It's like if I decided to, one day, form a gang, murder your people, kiddnap'em, bomb your citites and towns, hide, and then i would go on the internet and the media, and say that we are doing it because of the cause of liberty for an entire nation; wouldn't you feel frustrated if ohters believed that crap??

This isn't about ideologies, or the rivalry between anarchism and neoliberalism; this is just a band of criminals with a lot of money, weapons, places to hide, and even the support of a few (very few) like you...

P.S.: JUST IN CASE... I ALSO HATE THE PARAMILITARY, WICH ARE EQUALLY CRIMINALS BUT THIS IS NOT THE THEME FOR THIS FORUM...!

by Totti Fri Oct 20, 2006 21:10

Farc needs our unquestionable support. They are the largest and oldest guerillia movement in latin america. The only force for progress, land/wealth distribution and social justice in colombia.