February 20, 2006 - In the 1950's I grew up play-acting "cowboy" at Mahaut with boys my age, even if none of us had as yet seen a cowboy movie. Bare-footed cast that we were, we broke any stick or shrub or grass to serve as guns, and shot each other. Happily, resurrection was always instant. We were under American influence without knowing it. We grew up loving HANK WILLIAMS and MARTY ROBBINS. I still do.
In the late 1960's the Soviet Union and the United States were ideological titans - superpowers in the arms race, bolstered by a seemingly unending propaganda war to win the minds of earth's inhabitants. In the Western Hemisphere, we were, overwhelmingly inclined to the U.S. That was not surprising: many people heard "VOICE OF AMERICA", VOA, in special English. Few of us heard "RADIO MOSCOW". We did not know where to find it on our radio dial.
Yet the U.S. did not leave things only to the propaganda machine. They did things that were visible in our midst. They recruited thousands of young Americans (the Peace Corps) and sent them to assist less fortunate folks in distant lands. There was a rule that if an American had CIA connections he/she could not join the Peace Corps. To the best of my knowledge, the Peace Corps, by and large, managed to steer clear of controversy and involvement in host country local politics.
In 1968 the U.S. were completing construction of the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Arts and Sciences Complex at the U.W.I. That included what became the main library. The complex comprised several imposing structures. Soon most students admitted that the St. Augustine Campus would not look like much without "JFK".
What became of that massive love and goodwill that the U.S. cultivated and enjoyed throughout those years? The U.S. itself squandered most of it through a series of international misdeeds, including support for oppressive regimes in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. The Americans even removed democratically elected governments (Allende) and replaced them by tyrants (Pinochet) as was the case in Chile.
Recently, Secretary of State Rice admitted certain errors: for about 50 years the U.S. ignored democracy to secure stability; and achieved neither, she said. It seemed a rare moment of candour from anyone in the Bush administration. They would now support democracy in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. It would not be long before Palestine tested the sincerity of remarks like that.
The Palestinians voted HAMAS solidly to office in a democratic election that seemed more convincing than the one through which Bush came to power in 2000 with a strong arm from the U.S. Supreme Court. You would not think so by the attitude adopted by the U.S., Israel and their allies. Their pronouncements sound like blackmail. We must come to terms with the fact that democracy does not necessarily churn out the people we love. Democracy churned out Bush even if some dislike his policies. True democrats work with those who have been elected.
Sometimes the memory of diplomacy is short. Sein Finn and the IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (IRA) terrorized Britain for decades. They killed many innocent people. But governments in Britain worked tirelessly, ceasefire after broken ceasefire, until recently the IRA laid down and de-commissioned their arms. I recall for some time former Democratic Senate Leader, (Mitchell) was invited to mediate among the combatants. Sein Finn leader (Adams) is now welcome in The White House. International leaders actually discussed and showed them how they could save face once they agreed to be part of the political process and to surrender their deadly weapons.
Europe and U.S.A. must demonstrate some of the same good sense toward HAMAS, which in turn must allow good sense to prevail. The allies cannot continue their practice of selective policy…wise yesterday but foolish or even racist today. Be even handed. Apply the same IRA yardstick to HAMAS.
My instinct tells me that should democracy be allowed to prevail in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, the United States would again discover that democracy is extremely undesirable.