One of the foremost political theorists in India wrote to me that
some structures would produce the Pinochets as a logical
need. It seems to me that the Pinochet mechanism is everywhere
given that the structure of class-exploitation is everywhere -- in both
democratic and authoritarian regimes (no matter how much the
post-ists and Blairites try to under-stress that fact).
In the 1950s, the democratic Indian state trying to suppress the
peasant rebellion in Andhra Pradesh killed 4000 and jailed 10,000. It
continues to kill people, especially those fighting against various
inequalities, in the so-called false encounters with police/military
forces. According to a news bulletin last night, the Indian state is
making new plans to fight its class enemies better, more ruthlessly.
But all this has not tarnished the democratic image of India in the
West or even inside India. And it will _not_ as long as the Indian
state is successful in protecting the private property rights of
Indian capital and landlords and of foreign capital.
We must be critical of violence to body: violence caused by
avoidable hunger and disease and violence caused by torture/killing,
etc. The states everywhere are committing violence of both types,
and that must be stopped. (Of courses, I would also not normally
endorse violence committed by the 'masses' against state officials,
business, etc).
The Pinochet case should not be allowed to divert our attention
from the first type of violence.
Raju
Raju J Das
Department of Geography
University of Dundee
Dundee DD1 4HN
United Kingdom
Phone 01382 348073 work
01382 738872 home
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|