Junio 26, 2004

Disturbing Assumptions

This article from the Miami Herald entitled "Bolivia an example of a nation that needs lots of help to survive" has a few interesting bits of information I hadn't heard before about Bolivia's former president, Goni, and pre-october crisis events... but the most striking thing about the article is its implicit, base-level assumption that the U.S. is this world policeman, and that it has no responsibility for the underlying forces that cause "failed states" to fail, but all the responsiblitity for fixing them up. It's as if some mysterious force is just randomly messing up these countries and we are the just, altruistic representative of order and goodness that needs to swoop in like Superman and save them.

How about an alternative policy, Uncle Sam: don't fuck these countries over in the first place, and then maybe you won't have to "rescue" them when your exploitation goes sour...

Posted by steev at Junio 26, 2004 11:26 AM
Comments
steev, i read a similar piece in the oregonian -- i forget where exactly in south american it was about, unfortunately. (maybe it also was bolivia; which can only make you wonder, is this "sudden press attention" softening up the u.s. public for something?) anyway, the exact same thing struck me -- the bizarre and lofty assumptions that not only the u.s. was here to "fix" the "mess" the country/ies "got themselves into", but also there was all this reference to "failed democracy" and similar things. as if the people there not following the u.s. example *exactly* (e.g. embracing capitalism to the point of selling off all their public resources). i found this linking of "failed democracy" with any socialist ideas to be really frustrating; as if the only way you can have democracy is to privatize everything. i guess i should try to find that article, huh? *heh* Posted by: Jon at Junio 27, 2004 12:43 AM