From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Was NICARAGUA MORE DEMOCRATIC THAN THE U.S.?
Date: 11 Nov 92 10:59:49 GMT
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu

Was NICARAGUA MORE DEMOCRATIC THAN THE U.S.?


    "...Others have shown that by every standard, Nicaragua's elections
    have been more open and democratic than El Salvador's and its society
    more humane than most others in Latin America.
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    "Indeed it can be further argued that by every standard Nicaragua
    is a more democratic society than the one waging aggression
    against -- and I do not mean Honduras [...]
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       ========================================================
       I s   N i c a r a g u a   M o r e   D e m o c r a t i c
       ========================================================
            T h a n   t h e   U n i t e d   S t a t e s ?
       ========================================================
                        By Michael Parenti (*)

[From: Covert Action Information Bulletin, Number 26, Summer 1986]

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To justify the policies of attack, encirclement, embargo, and
destabilization directed against Nicaragua, the Reagan administration
has charged that the Sandinista government is on the road to
totalitarianism, that it denies religious and political freedom and is
a threat to the security of its neighbors. The goal of U.S. policy,
claims President Reagan, is to bring about a pluralistic open society
in Nicaragua, a goal that never loomed very large during the fifty
years of the Somoza dictatorship. More recently in a book on the
Nicaraguan revolution, journalist Shirley Christian echoed this line,
arguing that the contra war was a justifiable attempt ''to force the
Sandinista Front into accepting major structural changes toward an
open political society.''

In response to this position, supporters of the Sandinista revolution
have argued that Nicaragua does have a pluralistic society, is
attempting to make a better life for its people, has no aggressive
designs upon its neighbors, and instead is itself being invaded along
two of it borders. Others have shown that by every standard,
Nicaragua's elections have been more open and democratic than El
Salvador's and its society more humane than most others in Latin
America.

Indeed it can be further argued that by every standard Nicaragua is a
more democratic society than the one waging aggression against -- and
I do not mean Honduras. By every major democratic criterion, Nicaragua
comes off looking better than the United States. Let us begin with a
comparison of the national elections held in November 1984 in both the
United States and Nicaragua [1]

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[1] Much of the information regarding the 1984 Nicaraguan national election
is from ``Their Vote Decided'' a report by the Committee of U.S Citizens
Living in Nicaragua (CUSCLIN, Managua, Nicaragua).

(*) Michael Parenti writes and lectures frequently on U.S. domestic and
foreign politics. His most recent book is _Inventing Reality: The
Politics of the Mass Media_ (New York: St Martin's Press, 1986).
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        [Parenti does not, by any means, attempt a thoroughly      ]
        [documented and multi-sourced presentation to convince his ]
        [readers of the fairness of the Nicaraguan elections (and  ]
        [related factors, e.g. U.S. subversion), and indeed the    ]
        [evidence is much stronger than that presented here.       ]
   -->  [Use the GET command (see top) with NICA-84 ELECTION for   ]
        [such documentation; some additional background is found   ]
        [also in NICRAGUA ELECTION, an extensive report on U.S.    ]
        [subversion of the 1990 Nicaraguan elections               ]



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