[Mb-civic] Condoleezza Rice Revisits The Scene Of Us Crimes

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Today's commentary:
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-03/25vltchek.cfm

==================================

ZNet Commentary
Condoleezza Rice Revisits The Scene Of Us Crimes

 March 27, 2006
By Andre  Vltchek 

     "Do you know how Chileans first learned about Indonesia?" asks Jorge
     Insulza, foreign secretary of the Chilean Communist Party. "Long
     before the coup of Pinochet, right wingers were intimidating members
     of progressive movements and parties: 'Watch out, Jakarta is
     coming!'"

     Thus the reference to the 1965 military coup led by General Suharto
     which was full-heartedly supported by western politicians and
     companies. In a matter of months, between 1 and 3 million Indonesian
     Communists, atheists and members of the Chinese minority were
     mercilessly slaughtered in what can be described as easily the most
     intensive massacre of the 20th century.

     A few days after talking to Insulza I was facing Chilean victims of
     the 1973 coup who had come to see my documentary film
     "Terlena--Breaking of a Nation," about the Indonesian dictatorship,
     at Universidad Arsis in Santiago. One elderly woman, apparently
     shaken, came close to me and whispered: "we heard it was bad there,
     in IndonesiaÂ
but we had no idea that it was so bad. Apparently,
     Chile and Indonesia not only share the same ocean, they also share a
     horrific past."

     In March, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to embark on
     a round-the-world journey, visiting Chile, Indonesia and Australia.
     The symbolism of her trip conveniently escaped the attention of
     almost all mass media outlets.

      In both countries, dictatorship officially collapsed under
      tremendous popular pressure: in Chile in the late 80's, in Indonesia
      almost 10 years later. But both former client states developed in a
      radically different way: one proudly embarked on a democratic path
      emphasizing social development, while the other struggled under a
      feudal system with most people living in outright misery.

     The reason for Ms. Rice's visiting Chile was the inauguration of new
     Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet - a socialist, single mother of
     three and an agnostic. Ms. Rice had to sit through and swallow an
     inaugural speech in which President Bachelet paid homage to her
     father, Alberto Bachelet, an air-force general kidnapped, tortured
     and murdered in prison for opposing the 1973 coup against the
     democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende.

     Michelle Bachelet herself survived imprisonment, torture and exile,
     by-products of  US foreign policy. But now she was proudly taking her
     oath at the crowded Hall of Honor of Chile's Congress in the
     historical and stunning port city of Valparaiso, surrounded by her
     friends - leaders of left-wing governments from all over South
     America.

     "South America has changed," declared Hugo Chavez, the President of
     Venezuela who has managed to survive a US-supported coup. "A worker
     is president of Brazil - there comes Lula; an Indian is president of
     Bolivia; a woman is president of Chile, and in Venezuela, a
     revolutionary soldier, which is what I am."

     Condoleezza Rice described the elections in Chile as a "triumph of
     democracy," omitting the fact that the triumph took more than 3
     decades to achieve at the cost of more than 4 thousand dead and
     millions of men, women and children who were tortured, dispossessed
     or exiled. But a triumph nevertheless!

     That was Chile, Ms Rice's first visit. Chile with a GDP per capita of
     over 6,000 dollars, with modern infrastructure, elegant cities and
     with a majority of citizens now belonging to the middle class. Chile
     which stripped Pinochet of his immunity and put former assassins - at
     least some of them - behind bars. A country with a well-educated
     population that can freely choose between the candidates of numerous
     political movements, including those of Humanist and Communist
     parties.

     The next stop of Ms. Rice was Indonesia.

     There she discussed a "strategic partnership" in this "tolerant" and
     "moderate" country in a troubled region. Indonesia is indeed so
     tolerant and moderate that it doesn't allow the Communist Party, any
     religion except five basic ones, atheism and agnosticism,
     homosexuality and cohabitation of unmarried men and women. It is so
     moderate that young Christian girls are being decapitated in broad
     daylight and human rights activists poisoned on board by airline
     pilots, while bombs go off in crowded markets, at tourist beaches and
     in front of foreign embassies. White-robed religious fanatics are
     marching through the streets of major cities, attacking bars and
     places of bad repute, as well as churches.

     But Ms Rice didn't come here to argue tolerance, moderation and
     democracy. This is what Steven R. Weisman of The New York Times 
wrote
     about her visit: "Referring to Indonesia, both Rice and the
     Indonesian foreign minister, Noer Hassan Wirajuda, used the phrase
     "strategic partnership." This reflects American interest in building
     up this country as a major commercial and military power in the
     region, in part to help counter the growing influence of China."

     And above all, Ms. Rice came to increase military cooperation after
     the decision last year to resume military aid to Indonesian armed
     forces, accused for decades of gross human rights violations.

   The Indonesian military is in a league of its own. It is thoroughly
   unprofessional, overstaffed, badly armed, untrained and corrupt. Its
   top brass are driving luxury sedans and SUVs on maximum salaries of 200
   dollars per month. Soldiers as well as high ranking officers are
   moonlighting as bouncers and guards for nightclubs and local as well as
   foreign companies (Freeport confessed it has paid millions of dollars
   in exchange for protection in Papua).

      It is no secret that the armed forces couldn't defend Indonesia
      against any foreign adversary, but its huge barracks are spread all
      over the archipelago, in all cities, towns and in many villages,
      intimidating the civilian population. While laughable as a defense
      force, there is no military on earth that could "pride" itself on
      massacring as many unarmed civilians inside its own country as the
      Indonesian military.

     The grand total killed by this maniacal "defense force" is unknown,
     but it consists of 1 to 3 million men and women during the 1965 coup,
     hundreds of thousands in Papua (although the official count is "over"
     100 thousand), more than 200 thousand in formerly occupied East Timor
     (one third of the population), tens of thousands in Sulawesi, and
     still unknown numbers in Aceh.

     So far, no high ranking official has been put on trial. 16 out of 18
     government and army officials involved in the East Timor massacres
     were acquitted. Those responsible for massacres in all the above
     mentioned places are enjoying impunity; some are bragging openly
     about their deeds. While Chile elected a victim of torture as its
     President, Indonesia elected a former General who is, on top of that,
     married to a daughter of one of the army officials responsible for
     the 1965 massacres.

     "The military is an important institution in Indonesia. It's by no
     means completely made its reform, but we believe those reforms are
     underway and that we can have a more positive effect on the reforms
     by being part of itÂ
" That's what Condoleezza Rice said. What she
     forgot to clarify is "what reforms, exactly?" But that's not
     surprising, given that her administration is well used to mixing up
     expressions like "war" and "peace," "attack" and "defense,"
     "democracy" and "terror."

     The Indonesian government and top ranking military officers in
     Indonesia must be now laughing their eyes out. They are getting
     rewarded for doing absolutely nothing, for their terrible performance
     in Aceh (where the military was stealing food from aid agencies and
     re-selling it on the black market), for their campaign of terror in
     Papua and Sulawesi.

     But then, Indonesia is historically a country of deceit, and as long
     as it continues on a firm course to maintain its savage capitalism
     (to hell with the majority of the people who live on less than a
     dollar a day: a fact that is never admitted anyway), it can count on
     almost unlimited support from the west, which is hooked on its
     natural resources and its grossly underpaid and intimidated labor
     force.

     Michelle Bachelet didn't remember only her murdered father. She also
     paid tribute to "our armed forces, which are again the armed forces
     of all Chileans."

     While Chileans knew about Indonesia long before their own progressive
     government came under attack, Indonesians seem to know close to
     nothing about the recent developments in South America. No wonder:
     the local media is owned by those who are guarding a terrible status
     quo. But the old phrase used to intimidate Chilean leftists should
     probably be reinvented, reversed and used on the desperate streets of
     Jakarta: "Santiago is coming!"

END

ANDRE VLTCHEK is a novelist, journalist and filmmaker, working in Asia 
and
the South Pacific. He is a co-founder of Mainstay Press, a progressive
publishing house for political fiction (www.mainstaypress.org). He can be
reached at: andre-wcn at usa.net


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"A war of aggression is the supreme international crime." -- Robert Jackson,
 former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor

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