Saturday, November 22, 2014

Anglolandia for the FARC


The people's army? Or the army against the people?
This pro-FARC graffiti appeared this week on the Universidad Nacional's Bogotá campus, and, strangely, it's in English.

A mural in the Teusaquillo neighborhood
portrays a landmine victim. The FARC
plant landmines to protect themselves
against soldiers, but many civilians are
injured and killed by those mines.
But isn't English the language of the United States, the 'empire'? And isn't Spanish the language of romantic revolutionaries, not to mention of the students and professors of the Nacho?

Was this written by a native English speaker? Maybe, but perhaps maybe not. A native, it seems to me, would have written that 'Simon Trinidad and Sonia are examples of...'

Grammar aside, the statement made me think about the foreigners who support Colombia's largest guerrilla group. Mostly, these seem to be young idealists in comfortable places like Sweden and Denmark, who read the FARC's websites and swallow unquestioningly their language about revolution and social justice. These true believers don't bother with the reality, easily available on human rights organizations' websites, about the guerrillas' innumerable atrocities, including recruiting children, massacring civilians with mortars and car bombs, planting land mines, displacing peasants, murdering indigenous people, and on and on.

Those sorts of outrages would never be tolerated in the comfortable, law-abiding wealthy nations where these fellow travelers live and enjoy good lives. However, by supporting the FARC, they implicitly condone such crimes when they are committed against the poor of Colombia.

A FARC motorcycle bomb killed and injured civilians
in the town of Tumaco in July, 2012.
But there's a saying here: 'If you're under age 30 and not a communist, you don't have a heart; if you're over 30 and still a communist, you don't have a brain.'

Simon Trinidad and Sonia, by the way, are FARC leaders imprisoned in the United States.

The people's army? In 2002, a FARC mortar landed on the roof of a church in the town of Bojayá, Chocó, killing some 120 townspeople who had taken refuge in the church from fighting between guerrillas and paramilitaries.
By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours
en

6 comments:

  1. Stuart O.November 8, 2016 at 9:48 PM

    Hope you don't mind. I used one of your images on my site. It is still hosted with you. The link to the post is here: http://stuartoswald.com/2016/10/paz-what-peace.html. I'd be honored if you let me continue using it but am happy to remove it if you wish. I have given you full credit for it on the page.

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  2. MiguelNovember 9, 2016 at 6:34 PM

    hi Stuart,

    you're welcome to use the pic, with a credit, and I'd appreciate a link to the original post.

    Interesting piece of yours about putting the coca back into cola. I understand that Coca Cola still contains coca leaves, but with the active ingredient removed. Mike

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  3. Stuart O.November 10, 2016 at 10:14 AM

    Post has been updated with both the imaged and text below it linked.

    What you mention about cocaine minus the good stuff being added still to this day is exactly what I found out in preparation for my Cola post (http://stuartoswald.com/2016/06/putting-the-cocaine-back-into-coca-cola-drink-cocaine-coca-cola.html).

    By the way, I wondered if you drink Coca Cola or are you the type to avoid them for ideological reasons?

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  4. MiguelNovember 10, 2016 at 8:39 PM

    Thanks for updating the post. Specifically, it's the leaves without the alkaloid.

    I don't drink Coke, or any other soft drinks, not for ideological reasons, but because I don't like them and they're bad for you. I'm glad to see that more places are placing taxes on sugary drinks. Mike

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  5. Revolución de ColoresJune 4, 2017 at 4:23 PM

    You don´t know what are you taking about, please read about the origins of Colombian social conflict and then write about that.

    Also, the problem it´s the empire but it´s not the English language at all.

    Please try to learn all the facts about FARC and Colombian guerrillas before write about it.

    Bye.

    PS: Sorry for my English, it´s not my laguage, but I do my best ;-)

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  6. MiguelJune 5, 2017 at 10:07 AM

    Hi Revolución,

    Thanks for your comment. What is it about the Colombian conflict's origin which you think I'm confused about?

    Regards,

    Mike

    ReplyDelete