[thechat] What about the economy?

[Martin]

matthew garrett wrote on 24/7/01 11:09 pm

>> But representative? And whose violence? And what
>> happened to this 'democracy' that all 8 say they love
>> so much.
>
>Unfortunately, you don't have to go to the G-8 Summit, a protest, or
>anywhere special to find that 'democracy' is an often poorly executed idea,
>and that freedom is selective. You can find it right there in your own free,
>democratic, society. Whichever one you live in.

Exactly. So who here's the aggressor? And why do people concentrate
on the violence of the people without guns? And why is using the
same tactics as the police (rubber armour, homemade riotshields)
described as violence?

Chomsky called it 'the study of paired examples'. Here's a
sample:
Case 1:
A priest murdered by policemen in communist Poland in 1984.
The policement are quickly apprehended, tried and jailed.
Result: Outcry in the US media. Repetition of bloody details,
allusions to Soviet involvement.

Case 2:
100 prominent Latin American religious figures martyred,
including the assassination of the Archbishop of San Salvador
and 4 American churchwomen raped and murdered by the US-
backed security forces.
Result: Media restraint. Comments that a 'basically moderate'
government is finding it difficult to control violence of either
the left or the right.

Cheers
Martin

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