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www.hopedance.org
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<back | home "Bush is neither retarded nor misdirected" by Michael Parenti After the riots in Miami during the anti-FTAA peaceful protests, a listserv member posted this excerpt from Michael Parenti with his coment: [What we are up against, a dictator whose "deceptions and relentless viciousness" include turning riot police against peaceful protesters...] "...War an excuse to further also becomes circumscribe our civil liberties, such as they are. The siege psychology fostered by perpetual war makes dissent all that much more ‘unpatriotic.’ Under newly enacted repressive legislation almost any critical effort against existing policy can be defined as ‘giving aid and comfort to terrorism.’ Contrary to the established myth that capitalism fosters democracy, the moneyed class has always opposed the broadening of popular rights and has always shown itself hostile to any kind of democratic activism and militancy. Political democracy has historically been a weapon used by the people to defend themselves against the abuses of wealth. So it was in the ancient Greek and Roman republics and so it remains to this day. Consequently, the plutocrats wage war not only against the public sector and against the people’s standard of living, but also against the very democratic rights that the populace utilizes to defend or advance its economic well-being. Liberal intellectuals are never happier than when, with patronizing smiles, they can dilate on the stupidity of George W. Bush. What I have tried to show is that Bush is neither retarded nor misdirected. Given his class perspective and interests, there are compelling reasons to commit armed aggression against Iraq — and against other countries to come. It is time we dwelled less upon his malapropisms and more on his rather effective deceptions and relentless viciousness. Many decent crusaders have been defeated because of their inability to fully comprehend the utter depravity of their enemies. The more we know what we are up against, the better we can fight it." From "To Kill Iraq" |