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Edited on Mon Oct-27-08 07:51 AM by Peace Patriot
goes to confession, and, as his recompense, devotes the rest of his life, and all of his ill gotten gains, to serving the poor. Instead of retreating to a life of splendor in "Paraguay," he will go in sack cloth and ashes, and work in a soup kitchen.
Fernando Lugo is a priest, you know, and former bishop, known as the "bishop of the poor." He is the genuine article, too, the closest thing we've ever had to a true "saint" as a world leader. Due to his lifelong service to the poor, in the poorest region of Paraguay (we're talking the poorest region on a poverty-stricken continent)--and living with the poor, as a poor man (no regal bishopy ostentation whatsoever)--he was the only public figure who could pull Paraguay's fractious political parties together and win the presidency away from the rightwing Colorado Party, which had ruled Paraguay for 61 years, including a long period of heinous dictatorship. He won the presidency this year. He has a 92% approval rating (!).
When he won the election, Evo Morales, president of neighboring Bolivia, sent him this message: "Congratulations, and welcome to the Axis of Evil!"
:rofl:
Morales was referring, of course, to the Bushwhacks' funding and organizing of the fascist riots and white separatists of Bolivia's eastern provinces, who, a few weeks ago, tried to tear Bolivia to pieces, in an effort to gain control of Bolivia's gas/oil resources, until Morales threw the U.S. ambassador out of the country. They machine-gunned 30 unarmed peasants, sacked government and NGO buildings and blew up a gas pipeline. After the U.S. ambassador was ousted, UNASUR--the new South American "Common Narket" (sans the U.S.)--was able to step in and broker a peace, a triumph of South American self-rule and regional sovereignty and a harbinger of the future.
He was referring also to similar Bushwhack plots in Venezuela and Ecuador--a fascist secessionist movement to split off the oil rich provinces and give the oil over to U.S. global corporate predators. Venezuela's northern Zulia province, where all the oil is, is especially vulnerable, with its Caribbean coastline (now harried by the U.S. 4th Fleet), and adjacency to Colombia (Bush Cartel client state, larded with $6 BILLION in military aid, and rife with death squads, Blackwater, U.S. special forces and the dreaded Colombian military). The Bushwhacks have been trying to kill Venezuela's president for about 6 years now, and topple its democratic government. Failing that, the current plan appears to be to grab Zulia, and secure the Caribbean for global corporate predation.
The "Axis of Evil," in the western hemisphere, is anyone who rejects neoliberalism and the corrupt, failed, murderous U.S. "war on drugs." That would be, mainly, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador--the three chief targets of the Bush Junta. They are also committing the crime of using oil profits to benefit the poor, and leading the leftist democracy movement for South American economic/political integration based on social justice. In that, they are closely allied with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Nicaragua and now Paraguay (and soon El Salvador, next election; as well as Honduras and Guatemala, current governments leaning left, remarkably; there is also a huge leftist movement in Mexico).
The Bushwhacks are failing, colossaly, all over Latin America.
"Congratulations, and welcome to the Axis of Evil." Is Fernando Lugo a candidate for the "Axis of Evil"? He surely is. The entire "Axis of Evil" and all their friends and allies (most of the leadership of South America) attended his inauguration, for a delirious celebration, with Paraguayan voters, of this decisive triumph of the left, featuring Chavez and Lugo singing together on stage, doing a rendition of "Todo Cambio"--a hit Latin American song about change ("Everything Changes"). (There is a wonderful vid of it floating around.) Lugo, however, is simply NOT a politician, in any sense of the word. He is a spiritual leader. He is probably closest in spirit to Evo Morales, who is uncomfortable with typical politics--unlike, say, Lula da Silva in Brazil, and Chavez in Venezuela, who seem to relish it--and is trying to run a sort of Gandhian-Martin Luther King-like government based on redeeming the souls of your oppressors. Morales speaks more like a prophet than a president. (One his most memorable lines; "The time of the people has come.") It's a bit dicey for a head of state to be so peace-minded. Morales, for instance, was so reluctant to use force against the fascist rioters, that he probably sent the army into Panda a couple of days too late. Several dozen peasants were slaughtered in the meantime. It was probably the best decision. The fascists, backed by the U.S. ambassador, were spoiling for a civil war. But the decision was informed as much by Morales' philosophy of non-violence as it was by security considerations. Security should have been first in his mind. It wasn't. He has been criticized for this decision (withholding the army, and telling the police not to use their guns--until later in the rioting). I think it was the right one, but for the wrong reason (or chief reason--his abhorrence of using force). In the big picture, he is absolutely right. Forcing people to obey will always backfire, eventually. But sometimes you have to do it, when the innocent are at such risk. That is the responsibility of the head of state, and why "saints" are seldom chosen for that position.
This is not to say that Morales is "weak." He is not. (Was Martin Luther King "weak" for letting himself be beaten and jailed?) Non-violence is a philosophy based on STRENGTH, but of a different kind than violent strength. It implies to ABILITY to strike back, and the decision not to--in order to call upon the greater force of the spirit--the potential spiritual change or ethical change in your oppressor. (I remember Martin Luther King saying he would rather recruit a street kid, who knows how to defend himself, to his non-violent resistance movement, than someone who shrinks from conflict out of fear or cowardice.) Morales was a union organizer before he was president, was kidnapped and beaten by the police in the course of his union activities, and faced many an extremely dangerous situation, in mobilizing the poor majority of Bolivia, with non-violent civil disobedience and other such tactics. We are not talking about cowardice here. Far from it.
Fernando Lugo is more in this mold--but as a pastor, not a union organizer. He is steeped in the "liberation theology" movement, which calls for a more active political role of church leaders in defense of the poor, and in support of their movements for change.
So, what do you think he is going to say to George Bush, who has slaughtered a million people to get their oil, tortured thousands of prisoners, and plotted the assassinations of South American leaders and the overthrow of democracy?
Hard to say. But I think "turn the other cheek," "love thine enemy," and "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," might come into it.
And, who knows? Bush might be ripe for a Saul moment. God is on Lugo's side, believe me. And if lightning is needed, it will be supplied.
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