Re: MD Ronald Reagan

Hi all, this is my first post to MOQ and I´m not sure what MOQ is all about. So with the risk of offending some people I like to share my thoughts on the Reagan issue:

 

msh wrote:

>>"When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist."

- Archbishop Helder Camara, Brazilian liberation theologist

 

Interesting, isn't it? Any time the citizens of a country attempt to reorganize their country's resources in a more equitable way, they are called "Communists" and the full weight of the US is brought to bear in crushing their progress. <<

 

Platt Holden wrote:

>>Wonder why? Because forced redistribution of wealth is straight from Karl Mark [sic], "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." -- an idea that led to millions of Soviet citizens being murdered by their own leaders, not to mention the slaughters of dissidents that took place in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, etc.,etc. . . .<<

 

Do you suggest that forced redistribution led to slaughters of dissidents in places like Sweden and South Korea too. Land reforms and progressive taxation were vital, and succesful, parts of those countries development strategies.

 

Platt Holden wrote:

>>. . . Strange that you would see such bloodbaths as being related to "progress." . . .<<

 

The only support of bloodbaths and slaughters of dissidents I have read in this thread comes from the people that supports Reagan´s bloodbaths and slaughters of dissidents. It´s well known that the US was condemned by the UN The International Court of Justice for war crimes against Nicaragua, just to give an obvious example.

 

Platt Holden wrote:

> >. . . Free thought, the essence of the intellectual level, has been saved . . .<<

 

I don’t believe that the people who were slaughtered by US supported or run programmes in Nicaragua and elsewhere during the Reagan regime would agree that “Free thought, the essence of the intellectual level” were saved by Ronald Reagan.

 

Further, the neo-classical counterrevolution in IMF and the World Bank, implemented by Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl and others, worsened the situation for most poor countries.

The developing countries were forced to open their markets and dismount their public sectors. At the same time The rich countries´, including USA´s, increased protectionism and subsidies, to their industries, caused great damage to the poor countries.

 

Regarding the Cold War, It was rather cold during the installation of the Reagan administration and it can´t be used to rationalize or excuse Reagan´s brutal actions already mentioned by msh and others. The idea that Nicaragua and other poor countries posed a military threat against USA is ridiculous.

 

Thanks,

Vito