By: Bill Purkayastha

You’ll find them on the streets of just about every Indian town: dusty signboards, the paint beginning to flake off the battered aluminum sheets, proclaiming So-and-So English Coaching Class or English Academy, where one can learn “good spoken English for your bright career.”

But isn’t this redundant? Wasn’t the Indian subcontinent a British colony for close to two hundred years, whether that was under the East India Company or the Crown? Since the modern Indian educational system is a creation of the British, shouldn’t English be already taught everyone in schools as a matter of course? Then why should institutes like these coaching classes exist?

An old government-sponsored TV ad from the mid-1980s provides part of the answer.

It shows, as I remember, a black-and-white cartoon cafe in a foreign city; two “Indian” men are sitting talking to each other in English. A very Chinese-looking waiter (slant-eyes shown as lines) comes up and asks, in English, “Excuse me, don’t you have a language of your own?” The Indians say “Of course we do; our language is Hindi.” “Then,” says the waiter, “why are you talking in my language?”

This ludicrous bit of idiocy is so perfectly representative of the way the moronic Indian bureaucratic mind works, that it’s stuck in my brain for well over two decades now. It was meant, of course, to “promote” Hindi and the use of Hindi as the “national” language. Hindi, a language which is the mother-tongue of rather less than half of all Indians, a language which in many cases is more foreign than English to many Indians (especially in the East and South). Obviously, not only was this use-Hindi drive not going to succeed, it meant that parts of the country which weren’t Hindi-speaking would simply decide Hindi was going to be foisted on them by force and try and protect themselves by promoting their own local languages instead.

Usually, the way this language chauvinism worked was by banishing English, the language of the foreign rulers, from the curriculum of government-run schools and colleges, and force said schools and colleges to teach in the local language. The products of this education system, of course, found themselves all at sea when asked to compete for jobs or try and get a technical education. And some states tried to “compensate” by introducing a measure of English, somewhere around halfway through the average child’s school career. This English was taught on the side if at all (the teachers themselves not knowing much about the subject) and in at least one case, in West Bengal state, something bizarre called “functional English” was taught. This “functional” English basically mean that grammar, spelling, sentence construction and all the rest didn’t matter. All that mattered was somehow getting one’s message across – in whatever mangled form, so long as it was marginally comprehensible – and these people failed miserably even at that.

Meanwhile the politicians inveighed against English from public podia, and quietly sent their own progeny to the best private English-language schools, because they knew perfectly well that English was the key to prosperity. The private school industry flourished too, with little schools springing up in suburbs all competing to provide education in English, and making money hand over fist from the Great Indian Muddle Class. I remember seeing one such school which went by the same name as my old school, St Edmund’s, in a Lucknow suburb. It consisted of one single-storey suburban home and perhaps four rooms turned to classrooms – and all were packed.

Meanwhile, the average Indian parent was frustrated and helpless. He or she knew perfectly well that without English, the kids had no future. But private schools were far beyond his or her financial means, and the government schools taught no English that was worth the name. There was therefore a new market demand for English teaching outside the formal education system. Now, if we know one thing, it’s that when there’s a demand, there’s always someone to fulfill that demand. And of course Indians are known throughout the world for their opportunism; there’s even a saying that Indians can’t score goals in hockey because if given a corner they’ll build a shop on it.

And so it began; high up on the upper floors of tottering buildings, or along urine-tainted dank corridors behind tailor’s shops, sprung up the “English coaching institutes”. Many of them came with fancy names: Britannia English Coaching, Advent English Tutorials, and the like. None of them made any claim to either official recognition or certification, but they didn’t need it, because the demand to learn English was so great that they were making money hand over fist anyway. It’s absolutely certain that many of them were owned by the very same politicians who blocked English from the formal education system, because they were making so much money this way.

Some of the people who attended these places were quite surprising: not just the usual students taking English lessons on the side, but businessmen, salespeople, and even housewives. These housewives were a special category, because you must understand that especially in North India housewives have no independent identities of their own. They are expected to be virtual appendages of their men and have no personalities left, so one might wonder why they might be learning English of all things. The truth is utterly typical. They were attending class so that they could go home later and pass on what they learned to their hubbies, who were too busy or too embarrassed to come and take lessons themselves.

As for the quality of the English taught in these institutions, I love to remember a little episode from my Lucknow days. A friend of mine introduced me to a guy – I don’t remember his name now, but let’s call him Atul Verma – who had been attending one of these places for a month, and was very proud of his new English speaking ability. My friend urged him to introduce himself in English. This person turned slightly greyish around the lips, looked around furtively and mumbled “Myself Atul Verma.” And that was all the “English” either of us was able to get out of him.

Then there was erstwhile cricketer Kapil Dev, on TV in the late eighties, promoting another English teaching institute: “It’s-a really a good-a way to learn English.” It was the stuff of pure satire.

This isn’t really too surprising when you look at the teachers in these places, most of whom can hardly string together a coherent English sentence themselves, and who have their jobs only because they’re willing to work cheaper than anyone else. The owners of the coaching classes figure that since the pupils know no English at all anyway, they can’t criticize the quality of the teaching. All of which would be pretty damned hilarious if it weren’t so tragic, especially when you remember that the progeny of those coaching class owners certainly speak English with an artificial Americo-European accent and probably spend half the year on the other side of the planet.

Very recently, though, there’s some sign that the people are finally waking up. In India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, the current government has finally decided to begin teaching English from the first grade onwards, as has the government in West Bengal. In both places, the same governments had been fanatically anti-English once but had to acknowledge the realities of people’s resentment about the “lost generations” of the non-English-speaking unemployable.

Of course, these states now have another problem, which is that there are not enough competent English-teachers to teach in the schools. That’s what you get when you throw away the English that you have without giving a thought for what’s to come.

Of course, once they recognize the problem, some kind of solution will finally be found. After all, in a world where, as I read recently, even North Korea has abandoned Russian for English as the foreign language it teaches in its schools, the allegedly hated colonial lingo has never quite been so important.

Myself being sure of this!

By: Mike

Last Easter weekend was the ninety-sixth anniversary of the Uprising in Dublin that without doubt paved the way for the formation of the Irish Republic. Although there are still die-hard so-called republicans in the form of dissidents in the remaining Six Counties of Ulster, I have no doubt whatsoever that within the next ten years or so, the entire country will be totally reunited. I will be happy in a sense, yet sad that it will have taken over four hundred years to achieve it and the loss of the hundreds of thousands of lives it has cost in the process. I am, and have always been, totally against violence to achieve such a status and believe that the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 made it possible by peaceful means.

The visit of HM Queen Elizabeth Second to Ireland in May last year made everything possible. It was in fact, her earlier namesake, Elizabeth First who basically started all the bitterness and bloodshed that has plagued the island for centuries.

I will try to relate the history of ‘The Troubles’ that has continued almost unabated throughout that time…

When Elizabeth First assumed the throne in November 1558 on the death of her father Henry the Eight, she was Queen of England and all Ireland. At her instigation, the English controlled Irish Parliament in Dublin passed an Act of Supremacy confirming the Queen as head of the Irish Church. This was a Protestant denomination whilst the majority of Irish were Catholics. The act required all holders of offices of state or church to swear allegiance to her.

The English had tried several times to fully extend their jurisdiction outside Dublin but had failed several times. They had built a ‘Pale’ from north of Dublin, west into the midlands and south towards county Wicklow. Within this area the English dominated all aspects of life with the majority of inhabitants loyal to the Crown. Outside, Irish life as in the past continued under the control of various chieftains. Elizabeth ordered that her authority be fully extended to cover all Ireland.

Her attempts were to initiate The Nine Year’s War…

Two of the highest ranking Irishmen of the time were Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and chief of the O’Neill clan and Hugh (Red Hugh) O’Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnel (now Donegal). They were fiercely Irish and maintained the Gaelic way of life, its laws, language and customs within their territories. The title of ‘Earl’ had been granted by the Crown to the head of the clan O’Neill and was held by Hugh’s grandfather. After a bloody battle with a relative he secured the title in 1595. The title was not the important factor in the clan. The title ‘The O’Neill’, the Irish version for leadership was what he wanted.

In 1587, at the age of fifteen, O’Donnell was arrested in an attempt to break the allegiance between the O’Neill and O’Donnell clans. He was imprisoned in Dublin Castle. He escaped briefly in 1591 but was recaptured within days. In January 1592 with the help of O’Neill he again escaped accompanied by his brother Art O’Neill. It is the only successful escape from the Castle during its long history.

They made their way across the Dublin and Wicklow mountains in the freezing snow and rain. Art died with another escapee suffering from frostbite and exposure. After receiving hospitality and medical aid from an ally they returned to their home counties in Ulster.

They organized the Irish chieftains and began a long running campaign against the English armies. Between 1600 and 1601 the English had eighteen thousand soldiers in Ireland. This was one of the largest armies ever mustered by the English at that time and it was putting a strain on the English Treasury.

O’Donnell had clan connections with Scotland and through his contacts; he enlisted Scottish mercenaries known as Redshanks. O’Neill on the other hand, as an Earl was entitled to hold a small army. By rotating the members of it he had literally thousands of trained men at his disposal. He purchased muskets and pikes from Scotland and England and enlisted the promise of help from Philip Second of Spain. This was an allegiance of Catholics against the threat of Elizabeth’s Protestantism. As a result, the army of O’Neill came to eight thousand men.

The Irish were very adept at skirmishes against the English army. Whilst they floundered in the bogs, the lightly armed Irish attacked them from all sides. The Irish were also familiar with their surroundings and weather conditions. The English were not and a great many died. In order for the English army to enter Ulster – the O’Neill stronghold – it was necessary for them to pass through mountains which the Irish were able to guard and prevent any movement by the English.

As a result of their static existence on many occasions the English suffered from cholera and dysentery. Again the army was dissipated.

In 1599, Robert Devereaux, 2nd Earl of Essex arrived in Ireland with an army of 17,000 men. He decided to enforce English rule on the southern provinces of Leinster and Munster – leaving the territories of O’Neill and O’Donnell until later. When later he made his way towards Ulster he met with disaster when thousands of his troops were killed. Others who took refuge in garrisons quickly contacted typhoid and dysentery and more died.

Essex signed a treaty with O’Neill which was not agreed by Elizabeth and in order to brief her, and the fact that he expected to be recalled, he returned to London. He was charged with acting without the Queens permission and was executed.

Meanwhile back in Ireland, the Irish were inflicting innumerable casualties on the English Army. However, an English army under George Carew in 1600 killed 1,200 Irish and took the surrender of over 10,000 more.

In Ulster, the province had been entered by the English army at Derry. They had employed a ‘new’ tactic whereby the countryside was laid bare by burning all crops and killing the inhabitants. They believed that without help or food the Irish would be forced to surrender.

In 1601 news was received by O’Neill in Ulster that the long awaited help from Spain had arrived with 4,000 troops. However it could not have landed any further away than it did. It arrived in Kinsale, County Cork where they were immediately prevented from moving north by the English. O’Neill gathered his armies and the long march south began. They expected to trap the English between themselves and the Spanish.

Against advice, O’Neill ordered an attack on the English but as they formed up, the English in fact attacked O’Neill’s army with a cavalry charge. The Irish were routed whilst the Spanish surrendered. The remnants of the Irish army began the long march back to Ulster. They were totally defeated in all areas of the south.

O’Donnell left for Spain and pleaded with Philip for another invasion. However, in 1602 he died there. It was believed that he was poisoned by an English agent. His brother took over leadership of the clan O’Donnell but he and O’Neill were now reduced to random guerrilla tactics. The scorched earth policy and the killing of local inhabitants by the English were having a disastrous effect on the Irish army.

O’Donnell surrendered with good terms 1602 and was allowed to keep his lands under the direction of the Crown. O’Neill held on a little longer until on 30th March 1603 he too surrendered on good terms. Elizabeth had died the week previous on 24th March.

James First became King of England and the two Irish leaders were on good terms with him. He granted them full pardons and the return of all their land and property. The proviso was in each case that they abandon all titles, disband their private armies and swear loyalty only to the Crown of England. A similar amnesty was granted to all rebels throughout Ireland.

It may seem generous of the English but in fact it was purely a commercial transaction. They were almost bankrupt with the English unwilling to provide any more funds for a continued war.

The death toll of the Irish has now been revised to an almost certain 100,000 with at least 30,000 English soldiers dead in Ireland. Most of them died from disease.

A form of peace prevailed until in 1607, both chieftains – O’Neill and O’Donnell – gathered their clans and families together and exiled themselves to Europe. They hoped that they would one day return and reclaim not only their own lands but the entire island of Ireland.

This was known as ‘The Flight of the Earls’ or by the Irish, ‘The Wild Geese’. Many of those who left Ireland became famous in Continental armies reaching the highest ranks. Since then, Irishmen have throughout the centuries left to join foreign armies all over the world. I suppose really that it could even refer to my own family with my father having served in the Royal Air Force, followed there by my eldest brother, another in the British Army and my good self to the London Police.

In 1608 O’Neill’s and O’Donnell’s lands were confiscated by the English. The land was offered to Scottish, English and Welsh people thereby beginning the Plantation of Ulster.

So there you have it: Ulster (Northern Ireland) from being one of the most Gaelic, Catholic Provinces of Ireland is now the opposite. It is the six counties of the eight in Ulster that remain in the United Kingdom that have caused all the trouble over the years. Men, women and children have died on both sides of the divide for the ‘cause’ – one side to remain in the UK whilst the other for a united Ireland.

The strangest thing of all is that there are no border posts now on account of the European Union. The only way I knew that I had left the Republic and entered Northern Ireland was when I saw that the telephone boxes had changed colour from Green to Red. The truth is that you can spend Sterling on either side of the ‘border’, or Euros, or dollars, or …You see – money talks…

By Mike

Grosvenor Square Riots – 1968.

When the London Riots of August 2011 was ongoing, I was shocked, horrified and indeed frightened at the behaviour of the thousands of young men and women who were looting, assaulting and committing arson at numerous sites across the city and suburbs. I watched on television as police officers, fire officers and ambulance personnel came under severe attack from all directions.

My thoughts wandered back to the mid 1960’s when as a young Constable I found myself frequently on duty policing demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Quite often those demonstrations turned into what we then knew as ‘riots’ which bore no resemblance to the 2011 versions.

I shall try to outline a little of the ‘history’ behind the period of which I write whilst at the same time try to put it into context…………………..

When the Second World War ended in 1945, many young soldiers, both men and women, who returned from overseas and other military duties, settled down, married and began to have families. There was a boom in childbirth over the next several years.

Subsequently, in the mid 1960’s, those same children were in their late teens and early twenties. They had grown up hearing and reading about the tragedy of war from their parents in respect of WW2 and indeed most likely from their grandparents about WW1 and the horrendous harm to humanity both had caused. The majority had definite opinions about war and its effects.

As they grew through their teens, they watched the spectacle of the most televised war of all time, namely the Vietnam War. Again, nightly they watched in horror at the treatment of the Vietnamese. It appeared to most young people, and it was an honest held belief, that the greatest and most powerful nation on earth, America, was causing massive pain and suffering on a distant people. As a result, many hundreds of thousands of young people worldwide began to protest. The UK was no exception………

I was one of many young police constables in London at the time and very quickly we began to police weekly anti-war demonstrations – mostly on Sundays. In fact in early 1968 I doubt if we ever had a Sunday off. Being young myself, and many others of my age with young families, we felt badly done by. We regularly found that whatever arrangements we had made for upcoming Sundays had to be cancelled as we were being called on for demonstration duties.

We, and I would include 99% of all young officers were completely against the ‘War’ and in sympathy with the demonstrators. Of course there was a conflict of interest but we did our duty fairly and squarely and did what was necessary.

In March 1968, most British demonstrations against the War were aimed at the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square London. University Students in particular, with others, were being bussed into the Capital from all corners of the country every weekend to demonstrate. The Metropolitan Police did not have catering for officers at that time and it was a case of taking sandwiches with you when leaving home and hoping that somehow one would be able to get a cup of tea at some stage. At the Embassy, a couple of other young officers and myself, found that if we quietly made our way to the rear, one of the Marine guards would provide hot coffee during the tour of duty. It was a Godsend……………

A point about policing demonstrations that is constantly lost sight of by most people – especially those demonstrating – is the fact, and I guarantee this, that the police are there to ‘protect those protesting and their right to peacefully protest within the law’. I and I honestly believe that the vast majority of officers I have known always upheld that rule. One must remember also at that time that we did not have body armour, riot gear, reinforced helmets or any other protection. In fact our uniform at that time when wearing it during cold weather required extra cumbersome pullovers etc. We had an armband at that time which was supposed to denote that we ‘were on duty’ which was ridiculous. As if we would, when off-duty remove the armband and wear our uniform for whatever reason. It did in fact give the demonstrators something extra to grab hold of.

Some of the demonstrations in March 1968 became known as the ‘Grosvenor Square Riots’. It was frightening; it was dangerous and almost went out of control on several occasions. On one Sunday in particular, the crowd, estimated at about 80,000 crowded into the square and side streets. It became extremely noisy; the crowd became threatening and determined to storm the Embassy. Firecrackers were lit and thrown as were rocks and any other missiles that came to hand. Officers were attacked with the wooden handles used on the placards.

The troublemakers, loosely called Anarchists, who had forced their way to the front of the crowd, were determined to enter the embassy and many managed to breach the police lines. Mounted police officers were brought in to assist in controlling the ever-encroaching crowd.

The point about mounted police officers in London at that time is that – and it probably is as a result of their ‘horsy’ duties, is that the vast majority of them were very gentle people.

The horses are highly trained for crowd control and are still used mostly for ceremonial duties and football crowds. The mounted officers are high above the crowd and therefore become easier targets. And so it was. We foot officers began to see them being quite brutally attacked with long pieces of wood and one officer in particular was taking a serious beating.

There was talk of ball bearings being thrown under the horses to make them slip and rumours were rife that the horses were being attacked with some kind of weapons believed to be knitting needles or such. One must remember also that we did not have ‘police radios’ at that time, they did not come in until a year or two later. All information we were receiving was by word of mouth and like all ‘Chinese whispers’, such information was either vague or embellished.

Word came to us that if any of the demonstrators managed to breach the police line and enter the Embassy, there were Marine guards on the first floor with mounted machine guns with orders to use them. This truly put the fear of God into each and every one of us. I think it was at this stage that our sympathy for the anti-war line was put on the back burner. Self-preservation became the rule of the day.

Truncheons were drawn and used in an attempt to force back the crowd who were now almost on the steps of the Embassy. In fact, we were truly in fear for our lives – either from the now totally out-of-control demonstrators or the armed Marines behind us. We were being forced by the crowd closer and closer to the doors. Arrests were of no avail, as it would have entailed officers leaving the lines to deal with the prisoners.

After an hour or so, some semblance of peacefulness began to prevail and things started to quieten down. There were many injured police officers and protesters. As in all such cases, it was a case of innocent people taking the brunt of the injuries. Of course some were injured by police officers but in fact most were injured by those determined to cause havoc among the crowd.

Quietly the crowd began to disperse and it seems now that within about half-an-hour or so, the Square was deserted. I well remember slowly returning to the Police coach and falling into a seat totally exhausted. It was one of the most traumatic days in my police service up to that stage.

When I look back at it now and watch the YouTube video that I link at the bottom of this posting, I have the feeling that in fact the so called ‘Riot’ was nothing whatsoever compared to modern day riots that police in London have to, or have had to deal with since. To modern day police officers it must seem like a ‘doddle’ and more like a mere ‘Saturday Night punch-up’ outside the local pub.

However, on that fateful day in March 1968, I can honestly say that I was scared beyond imagination. Thankfully, in those days, demonstrators did not carry knives, guns or bombs – unlike today……………..

The following link is a demonstrator’s memory of the events
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcCzQA_0MHM

By: Mike
Which Witches?

It is highly likely that if you were to ask any person on either side of the Atlantic to name an area where witches were prosecuted and executed the answer would surely be ‘Salem’. However, it might surprise you to learn that the trials at Salam were without any doubt based on previous trials in and around Warboys in Cambridgeshire, north of London, England.

The Salem Trials – there were in fact several – were held between February 1692 and May 1693 in Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex Counties of Massachusetts. It is more than coincidence that the English counties of Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex surround Cambridgeshire in England. It is also highly likely that immigrants to America came from these areas of England and brought with them the fear of witches and witchcraft.

I live on the outskirts of London on the Essex border and it was at Chelmsford the county town where the first of many trials of witches took place. The searching out of witches spread like wildfire and commenced a sequence of events that resulted in literally thousands of innocent and most likely mentally deficient old women being sent to their death by hanging or drowning, firstly in England and later in America.

Essex holds the unholy distinction of having hanged more witches than any other county in England. Between 1566 and 1645 more than ninety ‘witches’ were convicted on the most ridiculous and flimsy evidence. On one day alone, nineteen women were sent to their death. Most were convicted on the fact that they were merely senile, elderly and poor country village people.

Were the known facts so pitiful and tragic it would to our modern thinking be quite laughable although not funny in any sense of the word.

Three women were hanged together in 1589 on the most absurd evidence as will be seen. One confessed to sending a ferret which she called ‘Bid’ to bring about the death of a child who had annoyed her. An eighty-year old woman and her daughter admitted to ‘consorting with familiars’ and to have sent a pair of frogs called Jack and Jill to knock over firewood and bewitch cattle. There was no appeals system in those days and they were hanged within hours of having been convicted.

The first known trial was that of Agnes Waterhouse in 1566 when she was convicted on her own confession and the evidence of a twelve-year old girl. It was claimed that she sent her cat ‘Satan’ which was supposed to have an ape’s head and horns to ‘spoil butter’. She was also alleged to have sent the cat to kill a neighbour’s livestock. Furthermore, it was claimed that the cat killed a man. In return for doing these deeds the cat supposedly received drops of Agnes’ blood. In court it was alleged that the spots on the woman’s face were from where the cat sucked the drops of blood.

Finally, and probably the true reason for her death, was the fact that she could only recite her prayers in Latin. This would suggest that she was in reality a Catholic in not only a Protestant county, but also a Protestant Kingdom. It was also a criminal act to practice Catholicism. Her own daughter, who was charged with her, saved her own skin by giving evidence against her mother. Agnes was hanged shortly after the short ‘trial’.

The following case suggests that anyone who upset a person of importance could expect to stand trial on the flimsiest of evidence. In November 1589 when Jane Throckmorton, the 10 year old daughter of a prosperous local family became ill suffering from bouts of sneezing and fits a local neighbour, Alice Samuel, visited her. Jane took a great dislike to this woman and accused her of causing her illness. Jane’s four sisters and some of the servants began to show signs of a similar illness and all of them accused Alice Samuel of causing their problems.

Robert Throckmorton the girl’s father was connected to people in high placed and one of his friends was Sir Henry Cromwell one of the wealthiest men in England. In March 1590, Lady Cromwell visited Warboys. She was later to become the grandmother of the future infamous Lord Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell – curse and spit at the mention of his name.

On hearing the story from the children and servants she immediately accused Alice Samuel of being a ‘witch’ and causing the illness. They argued and during the course of it, Lady Cromwell grabbed a pair of scissors and cut a lock of Alice’s hair. This she gave to Mrs. Throckmorton to burn – it appears that this was a folk remedy to ward off a witch’s spell.

Alice Samuel was rightly insulted and was quoted as saying: “Madam, why do you use me thus? I never did you any harm as yet”. These two words would be the ruin of Alice later on as you will see. On her return home, Lady Cromwell had nightmares that night, became ill and died in 1592.

Taunts and accusations began to be hurled at Alice as a result of the death but soon things began to quieten down. It was not until the local parson came onto the scene. He convinced Alice to confess that she was a witch and she in fact did so. She retracted her statement the next day but it was too late. The parson reported the fact and she was taken before the Bishop of Lincoln. She was totally overawed at her appearance but again admitted that she was a witch. There is little doubt that some form of torture, be it mental or physical was used to gain the admission be it true or false. She was imprisoned in Huntingdon with her daughter and husband.

On 5th April 1593 they were tried for the murder by witchcraft of Lady Cromwell and were found guilty. Her words to Lady Cromwell that included ‘as yet’ were used to great effect against her at the trial. During her ordeal she became demented and continually spoke of her ‘poor dun chickens’ which was taken as a reference to her ‘familiars’ or animal assistants in spells. Within days all three were hanged.

Sir Henry Cromwell confiscated what little property the Samuels had and used it for an annual sermon against witchcraft in the locality. This continued until 1812 when the belief in witchcraft had at last disappeared.

These were by no means the only Witches Trials that took place around this time in England. In those days, one did not have to murder one’s enemy – it was enough to provide a little evidence of witchcraft and the ‘Law’ would do the necessary for you.

In fact, trials were expensive so a cheaper means of testing whether or not a woman was a witch was devised. The accused would have her thumbs tied to the opposite big toes and thrown into a local river. If they sank and drowned they were innocent. If they floated they were witches, taken out and hanged.

At the height of the ‘witch hunt’, many unsavoury characters realised that there was big money to be made out of it. One Matthew Hopkins, aged 24, whilst travelling in Essex in March 1644, claimed to have heard a group of women in a small town discussing their meetings with the Devil. As a result, nineteen ‘witches’ were arrested and confessions obtained by force. They were tried convicted and hanged on the same day.

Although not appointed by Parliament, he gave himself the title of ‘Witch-finder General’ and began searching the surrounding counties for witches. He formed a team including female assistants and they were all paid well for their ‘work’.

Not only did he use the ‘swimming test’ with the thumbs and big toes tied together but also the use of ‘witch prickers’. That was where the accused was pricked with knives and needles looking for the ‘Devil’s Mark’ – a part of the body that was supposed to be dead to all feeling and would not bleed.

Tradition claims, and I hope it is true, that some disgruntled villagers finally subjected Hopkins to his own ‘swimming test’ and he drowned. He was only 27 when he died. However, Parish records at Manningtree in Essex records his burial in August of 1647 which states that he died possibly from tuberculosis.

It is ironic that forty-five years later, the infamous Salem trials began after all the killings of undoubtedly innocent old and senile poor women who had been treated so cruelly throughout the years in the ‘original’ Essex and surrounding counties…

By: Mike

When the young man went to his doctor suffering from ‘sadness and depression’ the doctor cheerfully told him: “Why don’t you do something happy, like going to see Joseph Grimaldi the clown?” The young man bowed his head and murmured “Ah, but Doctor – I am Grimaldi”….

It is a truly sad fact that what appears to be a majority of comedians suffer (or have suffered) from what was then known as ‘manic depression’ but now more widely known as ‘bipolar disorder’. The list shown in Wiki appears endless. It is thought that ‘genius’, in the sense of creative talent, pushes a great many to, and sometimes over the edge and into an abyss from which they find themselves unable to escape.

Joseph Grimaldi, who became known as the King of all the Clowns, was a typical example. He is said to have perfected the art and raised it to a higher form.

Although I vaguely knew his name it was not until I received a memo at King’s Cross Road Police Station asking me to ‘keep an eye’ on a small parade which would arrive and visit a small local park. I noticed that the park was entitled ‘Joseph Grimaldi Park’ and is situated on Pentonville Road Islington close to ‘The Angel’.

After a few minutes I was greatly surprised to see several marchers dressed as clowns with full costumes and make-up. It was very good humoured and a pleasure to be there. We entered the park and it was then I first saw the grave of Grimaldi in the corner. After a few prayers the group broke up and departed.

I discovered that annually on the first Sunday in February, a service is held for Grimaldi at Holy Trinity Church in Dalston North London where clowns from all over the country, Europe and other distant places gather to celebrate the great man.

He was born in London on 18th December, 1778 of an English mother and Italian Father. Both parents and indeed his grandparents were in the entertainment field and playing the numerous Music Halls (Vaudeville) of the day. At the age of nine his father died and Joseph began to earn a living to support his mother. He had already appeared on stage at the age of two years at Drury Lane and at the age of three he regularly appeared at Saddler’s Wells Theatre.

He very soon earned the title of ‘the most celebrated of English Clowns’ and although everything on the surface appeared wonderful, his life in fact was full of sadness. His wife died in childbirth after eighteen months of marriage and his son, who also became a clown, drank himself to death at the age of thirty.

It seems that the only happy moments he had were when he was on stage. He buried himself in his chosen profession – Master Clown. Until his arrival on the scene, typical clowns were portrayed as fools and country bumpkins but Joseph rose to the occasion. As I said, he raised clowning to an ‘art form’. He was possibly the major star of his day. He introduced audience participation into his act usually leaving the audience to finish the last line of one of his jokes or songs. He appeared in many pantomime shows throughout London for which he was placed on an even higher pedestal.

He became very adept at caricaturing important figures including politicians and royalty which sometimes was even too deep to be recognized by the people he was imitating. However, when the caricature was recognizable it was always accepted in good humour.

As a result of his over-exertions on stage over the years, he suffered severely from fatigue and ill health and he was forced to retire. He was fifty years old, unable to work, almost crippled and unable to walk, with no money left. When word got around of his plight, benefit nights were held at the largest theatres where he had performed. He was also granted a pension of £100 per annum from the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund.

He spent most of his time during his last years at a local tavern, the Cornwallis in Pentonville where the landlord would at the end of the evening carry him home to his lodgings. On the night of 31st May 1837 he died. An obituary in the London Illustrated News said “Grimaldi is dead and hath left no peer. We fear with him the spirit of pantomime has disappeared”.

The two volumes of his ‘Memoirs’ were edited by another local hero, none other than the novelist Charles Dickens and were published in 1838.

And so you have it. On that cold February morning in 1988 I was first introduced to the fame of that fascinating man, Joseph Grimaldi. It was indeed my pleasure…

Manifest Destiny-Alexis Rockman

By: Jennifer Lawson-Zepeda

Want to move to a nice tropical location where the land is cheap the lifestyle is relaxed? What if the U.S. was pushing its people south and throughout the world in an effort to inhabit countries, change their policies and purchase these lands as territories?

History of U.S. Acquisitions

-Guano islands

On August 18th, 1856, the Guano Islands Act, passed. It allowed the U.S. to claim unoccupied islands containing guano deposits. More than 50 islands were eventually claimed, but here are some key islands that fell into that group:

Baker Island, Howland Island, and Navassa Island were annexed in under its provisions in 1857. Today ownership of Navassa is disputed between the U.S. and Haiti. Johnston Atoll was claimed by the U.S. and Hawaii in 1858; the U.S. claim became undisputed in 1898 after the annexation of Hawaii. Midway Atoll was discovered and claimed in 1859 and formally annexed 1867. Kingman Reef was claimed in 1856 and annexed in 1922. Jarvis Island was claimed in March 1857 and annexed in 1858, abandoned in 1879, and reclaimed in 1935.

An even more complicated case probably unresolved until now seems to be the Serranilla Bank and the Bajo Nuevo Bank. In 1971, the U.S. and Honduras signed a treaty recognizing Honduran sovereignty over the Swan Islands.

(Source: Wikipedia, United States Territorial Acquisitions)

We all know that the U.S. also purchased Hawaii and Alaska in the late 1800s, thereby making them the 49th and 50th states. But how did we acquire the Spanish colonies, like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines?

History has taught us that we purchased these colonies from Spain after the Spanish-American War in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. It’s the reason they vote in our elections. But was this the end of U.S. expansionism in the world?

No! In the early 1900s, the U.S. also picked up the Panama Canal Zone, the Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands, but they later ceded from the U.S.; becoming independent of us and leaving only the U.S. Virgin Islands as a reminder of those claims.

So, the U.S. has a lengthy history of imperialistic expansionism. But could this be happening again, today?

Trends in expatriation

Current statistics show that the majority of expatriates originate from the United States.

During the latter half of the 20th century, expatriation was dominated by professionals sent by their employers to foreign subsidiaries or headquarters. Starting at the end of the 20th century globalization created a global market for skilled professionals and leveled the income of skilled professionals relative to cost of living while the income differences of the unskilled remained large. The cost of intercontinental travel had become sufficiently low such that employers not finding the skill in a local market could effectively turn to recruitment on a global scale.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate)

But what drew many expatriates to relaxed tropical or Latin American locations was the cost of building one’s ‘castle.’ Simply, real estate prices were so low that an expatriate could live the luxury lifestyle they knew they could never afford inside of the U.S., unless they discovered a way to become one of the rich and famous.

Retiring in Costa Rica or Nicaragua

For those thinking of investing in Nicaragua as expats, it might be wise to read the following: Gringo Land Speculators In Nicaragua are Sandinista Apologists, by Gueguense.

I know of several Nicaraguans colleagues that will NOT retire in Nicaragua. They already experienced the chaos and confiscations of the Sandinistas .They will not lose the nest eggs that cost them sweat, blood, and lots of tears.

One of these friends bought a large estancia in Uruguay for a fraction of the cost of Nicaragua’s overpriced real estate, and without the headaches of fearing that your land will be confiscated or occupied by Sandinista thugs in the middle of the night.

My beef with gringo land speculators is long standing. No, I did not get swindled, as I would not buy anything from these scum.

These people have no scruples. They destroy communities in the long run long after they have repatriated their profits. In Nicaragua it is common knowledge that these amoral folks pay protection money to the Sandinistas at all levels. Many of them do business with them and serve as strawmen. Because they have to rely on Sandinista protection and patronage for their activities they essentially become their apologists.

When Sandinistas beat up innocent students or throw rocks and fire bullets at unarmed protestors these people say that they had it coming or that it was really provocateurs sullying the Sandinistas’ “good name”.

If you do not pay protection to the Sandinistas, particularly when you are a participant in certain land transactions, suddenly the DGI, MARENA, and the local mayor will start giving you trouble. “Aggrieved workers” will take over and loot your place, ad nauseam.

The speculators routinely pay hush money to the media and individual journalists to avoid the spotlight of their activities. It is all a cost of doing business.
Dangers to Expatriates

The Kelly Ann Thomas Story

This is a story about a home invasion robbery, according to Kelly Ann Thomas. She claims that two armed men entered her home, shot her husband in the arm and beat her, severely. They left with about $500, their passports, and her husband’s credit cards. At the time, she was considering leaving Nicaragua, because it was a second attempt. She stayed in Nicaragua; but this gives a hint of how American expansionism and the arrogance of wealthy Americans have been received in places like Nicaragua.

The Peter Christopher Story
Another story that provides insight into how wealthy expatriates are being received lies in the story of a man I befriended online, named Peter Christopher.

Peter tells his story of his experiences with his farm in Nicaragua:

“The most significant event happened two weeks ago. One Friday evening, I was sitting outside my house a little after seven. It was dark with no moon. A small light bulb from the solar power system was illuminating the outdoor kitchen. My little girl puppy “Wolf” was barking at a toad. My big boy dog “Bronco” was sleeping. I was eating toasted corn seeds. Supposedly, this corn was a local variety of popcorn, but I wasn’t favorably impressed.

Two guys came running in. How exciting, I thought – the first time in a year anyone had come to the farm at night. I thought maybe they were looking for gasoline or a tool to fix a vehicle or oxcart. Then when they were closer I looked more carefully. They had masks on and were holding machetes out towards me.

I was pushed, or fell, from of my chair, backed into a corner. I screamed at them in Spanish, “What do you want?”

The one in front said nothing, just advanced and made small slices at me with his machete. The one in back answered in Spanish, “Don’t speak.”

They were local people who knew they had to break my will in order to rob me properly. I did not want to have a broken will, though. I did not want to give them an option on my life. I struggled and got a hold of the machete of the one in front and then his hand. The one in back said, “What a son of a bitch.”

It was hard to get my attacker off balance, but after some struggling I tossed him behind me. I still had to run by the other guy to escape. I bolted as fast as I could. An awkward swing with a machete that caught my left arm. I kept running.”

Read more about Peter’s experience here.

The Costa Rica View

An American moves to Costa Rica and becomes irritated with having to pay a luxury tax for building a home in Costa Rica that he likely couldn’t afford in the U.S. Read the American expansionist’s view of paying a luxury tax for building in prime areas of Costa Rica:

Submitted by 802MARK on September 12, 2011 – 10:02pm

“OK so if the crime rate there doesn’t scare you away there are two other points that need to be looked into. One is a Luxury home tax you have to pay every year… you see they are out of money, so a while back they voted in a new law that was set up and pushed through. the idea was, you have money and have a nice home, and we have people here that live in well, dumps. so we want to take your money and use this to build our people a better home to live it. yeah you owe them don’t you.. well the law passed and it was only going to be a law for 10 years, after that it would be gone.. 2 things happen today,, first they voted to allow that tax to be forever…. and 2nd so far no one can show any of this money that has been paid in so far that went to build a single home… hummmm.. o and you have to hire someone to come out and tell you what your home is worth so you will know how much to pay!!!”
Wow! What a wonderful and gracious expatriate this person is. He feels slighted because his luxury tax paid for building a home he could never afford in the U.S. or Canada was not spent up to his expectations, in a country he isn’t even a citizen of? I’m sure the citizens of Costa Rica must be feeling his pain.

It’s these attitudes of entitlement that most likely cause some of the danger to these self righteous people. These same people are the ones who also complain about foreigners coming to the U.S. and expecting special treatment.

Surrendering U.S. Citizenship

Could this be why more Americans have given up their citizenship? In an article written by the New York Times, they found a growing number of overseas Americans were renouncing their citizenship over taxation and banking problems.

The Federal Register, the government publication that records such decisions, shows that 502 expatriates gave up their U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status in the last quarter of 2009. That is a tiny portion of the 5.2 million Americans estimated by the State Department to be living abroad.

Still, 502 was the largest quarterly figure in years, more than twice the total for all of 2008, and it looms larger, given how agonizing the decision can be. There were 235 renunciations in 2008 and 743 last year. Waiting periods to meet with consular officers to formalize renunciations have grown.

Anecdotally, frustrations over tax and banking questions, not political considerations, appear to be the main drivers of the surge. Expat advocates say that as it becomes more difficult for Americans to live and work abroad, it will become harder for American companies to compete.

(Source: More American Expatriates Give Up Citizenship)

Once again, the discussion winds itself back the corporate competition, defining the reasons why Americans are giving up their citizenship. While this is a rather bold move, it is indeed an odd one.

Stringent new banking regulations — aimed both at curbing tax evasion and, under the Patriot Act, preventing money from flowing to terrorist groups — have inadvertently made it harder for some expats to keep bank accounts in the United States and in some cases abroad.   Some U.S.-based banks have closed expats’ accounts because of difficulty in certifying that the holders still maintain U.S. addresses, as required by a Patriot Act provision.

(Source: More American Expatriates Give Up Citizenship)

In October of 2000, the Mexican Supreme Court ordered the eviction of over 200 Americans from homes they had built in Baja California. Most of them were stunned, even though they knew the land had been in dispute in the courts for years. The properties in question ranged in value from $50,000 to $1 million.

Mexican Ejido Lands

They lost a dispute over Baja California property they had purchased, but which was in dispute from Ejido laws. The properties in question ranged in value from $50,000 to $1 million. It was an expensive lesson for those Americans who gambled that the courts would rule in their favor; and it put a crimp in the American expansionist efforts in Baja. One of them was an Orange County transportation consultant, Leigh Zaremba who said, “This is a huge betrayal by the Mexican government, The idea that a government agency approved this development, sent us documents that we were here legally, told the U.S. Embassy that they would work to solve this dispute and then turn around and say we are losing our right to everything–well, people here are in shock.”

The original eviction order was handed down in October 1999, but officials failed to carry it out when the Ejido Coronel Esteban Cantu blocked entry to the property. An attempt to broker an agreement between the original landowners and U.S. residents went nowhere.

But the Supreme Court’s edict Monday had teeth in it, stating that the Agrarian Reform Ministry officials who failed to carry out last year’s order are themselves subject to arrest and that current officials would be fired if the evictions aren’t carried out within 10 days.

“I feel happy with the authorities. We never lost confidence in the authorities and we kept fighting until they did their jobs,” said Gerardo Limon, a Mexico City attorney and part owner in Purua Punto Estero.

The original landowners claimed that their land was illegally taken from them in 1973 to create the ejido.

(Source: Americans Living in Baja Ordered Out by Mexican High Court)

What are Ejido Lands?

The first Mexican Farm Act was the “Ley Agraria” of January 6th 1915. In 1934, the act was made a constitutional guarantee. The Act was reformed many times but in 1992, the government realized that what had worked eight decades ago was no longer feasible since the Ejido members were leasing their farmland, selling their properties, and signing contracts that were illegal. Those contracts created many legal problems for farmers. That year, Mexican legislators approved the “Nueva Ley Agraria”, New Farm Act. According to the NLA and article 27 paragraph VII of the Mexican Constitution, an Ejido is a legal entity. It is set up so that it can represent itself (Board) and has its own patrimony (Land).

Foreigners cannot acquire rights to Ejido land!

In order to make it somewhat more understandable, compare an Ejido to a corporation. The Ejido supreme authority is the General Assembly. Then, as in a corporation, there is a Board of Directors, a “Comisariado Ejidal” and a Vigilance Committee “Consejo de Vigilancia”. The General Assembly approves the Ejido Bylaws; accepts or authorizes new Ejido members and elects the Board of Directors and the Vigilance Committee, approves business contracts with third parties, authorizes termination of the Ejido regime, etc. The Board of Directors is in charge of administration of the Ejido and also represents the Community in the judicial and fee-collecting matters.

According to the new act, the Ejido land is divided as follows:

I. – Land for human settlement.
II. – Common land.
III. – Farmland.

(Source: we don’t personally promote buying ejido land)

Why Would Americans Buy Risky Land in Mexico?

To answer this, all one has to do is look at the history of our own Manifest Destiny. What were the arrogant assumptions of Americans who moved out west during this time?

Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States (often in the ethnically specific form of the “Anglo-Saxon race”) was destined to expand across the continent. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only wise but that it was readily apparent (manifest) and inexorable (destiny).

Some believed that the expansion of the United States would happen without the direction of the U.S. government or the involvement of the military. After Americans immigrated to new regions, they would set up new democratic governments, and then seek admission to the United States, as Texas had done.

The term combined a belief in expansionism with other popular ideas of the era, including American exceptionalism and Romantic nationalism.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny)

For anyone following the recent GOP candidate races in the U.S., the word “American Exceptionalism“ shouldn’t be new. Newt Gingrich certainly brought those words back during his efforts to campaign for the highest office in our land.

Danger Thwarts Expansionism

Around 2006, the Mexican drug cartels initiated the violence that we know today in Mexico. With the sudden emergence of senseless killings and a rash of kidnappings, many Americans with the idea of moving to Mexico and building a nice place on the beach suddenly changed their minds. And many Americans living in Mexico had a change of heart as well.

With the drug cartels in battle and literally, piles of cadavers showing up all over Baja, the idea of risking investment in Baja lost a great deal of appeal. U.S. travel advisers warned against trips to Mexico, citing the escalated violence against Americans there, as well.

Suspected drug cartel hit men have gunned down three people who worked at the U.S. consulate in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez.

A consulate employee and her husband, both U.S. citizens, were shot dead in their car and the husband of a Mexican employee at the consulate was also killed in a drive-by shooting.

Consulate employee Lesley Enriquez, 35, was shot in the head and her husband Arthur Redelfs suffered wounds in his neck and arm. The couple’s one-year-old daughter was left orphaned

Mexico continues battling with a drug war that has seen some 18,000 people killed since 2006.
Ciudad Juarez is a major area of conflict between Mexican drug cartels over trafficking routes to the U.S. More than 2,600 people were murdered there in drug-related violence last year.
U.S. officials briefly closed the consulate in Reynosa after an outbreak of violence, which Mexican authorities have blamed on the breaking of an alliance between two drug gangs.

Senior Citizens Risk Mexico for Health Care

The latest phenomenon of Americans headed to Mexico, who are willing to risk it all for good health care:

“Mexicare: $250 a year covers it all” declared the Arizona Republic website headline on August 29. The Mexican Social Security Institute, known as IMSS, provides healthcare with no limits and no deductibles for $250 or less per year, and American seniors are heading south of the border to take advantage while it lasts.

Something the American seniors may not realize is that as more of them take advantage of the socialized healthcare available in Mexico, they put a strain on IMSS that resembles the burden millions of illegal Mexican immigrants are putting on the U.S. health system. IMSS is already widely known for losing money, and as more foreigners who have only paid into the system for a few years start obtaining the higher degree of care that is common for the elderly, things can only get worse.

“If they started flooding down here for this, it wouldn’t be sustainable,” said Javier Lopez Ortiz, IMSS director in San Miguel de Allende. Unemployment in Mexico has reduced contributions to the system, and IMSS has been using emergency funds to stay afloat. It should also be mentioned that the millions of Mexicans who are in the United States illegally are presumably no longer paying into the system, unless perhaps they are supporting relatives back home.

(Source: U.S. Seniors Opt for Mexican Healthcare)

If you look at the influx of Americans into the Mexican health care system you see a parallel to the Americans who purchased the land at Punta Banda. Will these Americans also scream foul when Mexico cuts them off and chooses to limit their health care for those who deserve it?

American Expansionism?

So I have to ask, is America expanding its new ugly to countries south of our border? Some think this is a possibility.

In a paper written by John B. Taylor, the Under Secretary of Treasury for Internal Affairs in 2003, The Latin American Expansion – Benefits for the United States, Mr. Taylor asserts the benefits are:

• Stronger economies benefit all citizens of the United States.
• Growing economies increase demand for U.S. exports:
• Rising living standards reduce the incentives for illegal migration
• Vibrant Economies reinforce popular support for market-oriented policies that create opportunity and enhance economic freedom.
• Stronger economies reflect American values and make better allies for:
  • war on terror
  • fighting narcotics trafficking
  • combating money laundering
  • fighting terrorist financing

(Source: The Latin American Expansion – Benefits for the United States, Taylor, J., Meeting with Leaders of the South Florida Business Community, August 23, 2004)

We had a reputation in the world during the 1940′s and 50′s as American Imperialists. Will we regain this reputation by expanding our ugliest people, once again?

To read more from Jennifer on this subject and others, visit her blog @ http://lawsonzepeda.blogspot.com/

Editorial Note: Of late many message boards are abuzz with the ideal that with the American Dream or Way of Life collapsing what needs to be done is to pack up shop and leave for another country.  A simpler country.  Most of this talk revolves around South American Countries and South Pacific Islands.  After all our American dollars will go a long way there! What we were left wondering is how well this actually works in practice.  Are Americans absorbed into communities?  Or does their American-ness exclude them?

So, we asked someone with some expatriation experience and our own Jennifer Lawson-Zepeda helpfully shared with us some of her experiences. We would invite anyone else with experience relocating to other countries to chime in, even send us submissions about your experience.  With the world both getting smaller and more polarized we think it’s a good time to investigate relocation.

By: Jennifer Lawson-Zepeda

At the end of 2009, my husband was deported. When he arrived in El Salvador, we decided to get him out of the country. He boarded a King Quality bus and headed to Nicaragua, to begin a new life. Supposedly, the asylum policies of LEY 655 in Nicaragua were supposed to welcome people like him. They didn’t. In the process, I met many expats online, asking advice about moving to Nicaragua. This is the story of American expansionism in Latin America and the type of people performing this mission.

Expatriation the new Expansionism?

While waiting to join my husband in Nicaragua, I joined a site for expatriates in Nicaragua. It wasn’t long before I met a few of the characters at Nicaragua Living – “a site for expats to share ideas and the experience of living in Nicaragua”.

Wow! This site made the expatriates living there look even worse than in many other parts of the world. And I didn’t expect that.

All I wanted to do was learn how to ship my furniture to Managua. I was planning to ship a container of furniture and personal effects to Managua, along with our SUV; so that we didn’t have to buy our things all over again.  I thought I had a brilliant idea that would save a fortune in expenses — shipping things I enjoyed living within the U.S. and Mexico, like my Bose Wave Radio that I can’t live without, and a comfortable bed and sofa.

Having lived out of the country, I knew there were some things I might have to pay three times as much for, if I could even find them in Nicaragua at all to purchase them, there. So, I could justify the cost of paying to ship a container for about $3500 to $5000, or so. Inside, I could also ship our SUV.

U.S. Expansionism

Let’s define expansionism, so we are all on the same page:

Expansionism is a nation’s policy of expanding its territorial or economic boundaries.

I always wondered why so many corporate types and business leaders moved to third world countries. I have a friend who suggested this had something to do with U.S. Expansionism. And to be honest, I wondered too.

I knew there were the usual perverts who felt more at home in third-world countries, where they felt safe violating young girl’s bodies. But, the extreme right-winged ideas of these rabid nutcases led me to wonder many other things.

I expected to meet progressive people with a degree of intelligence on the Nicaraguan sites. After all, I thought, they had moved to a Socialist country; so we would likely share like ideologies. Not so!

The Reality of Expats

At first, I saw people building dome homes and some rather creative housing solutions that appealed to me. But, the racist comments in the forums were a turn off. There was a woman, I’ll call her “RJ”  who proved some of my assumptions about Americans moving south based on some intrinsic racism. See if you don’t agree:
RJ stated: “As for the other part of my argument you supposedly found so disturbing, I never argued that machismo doesn’t occur in the US. Sure it does, particularly within certain subcultures. You argue the black culture which is over-generalizing, but it is true that in some portions of the so-called “black culture”, i.e., mostly poorer populations, you do see elements of machismo, but it by no means occurs at the same level or universality as you see it in Latin America, and I’m not the only person to have noticed this by far, there’s an extensive literature documenting this as well.”

Yes, there’s variation everywhere, and “good” and “bad” people everywhere (though I’m not the one who applied those judgmental terms), but the distribution of given cultural and character traits is by no means equal around the world.

This same RJ, explained in another post that she had been jilted by her Nicaraguan husband — a man (probably in a long line of poor choices) who this scholarly woman had chosen to fall in love with. She was the classic case of a lonely white woman moving to a foreign country seeking some ideal of what her racist assumptions provided that Latin Lovers were; and because of that, she chose the first cheating, alcoholic, loser that came her way to bilk her out of her American dollars. And she blamed all Latin men all over the world for that choice, by the time I met her. So I read her hateful xenophobic rants and grew angry.

In my usual way, I — the newbie to the site — responded:

U.S. Feminism and tying it to machismo in C.A.

“If one knows of Bell Hooks, (which one should if studying any type of feminism) a person should understand why I came to feel feminism in the U.S. ceased to meet my mandates as a Latina. Bell Hooks felt (and I agreed at the time) that white feminists were more concerned with white morality than the conditions involving (name the minority) equality issues. And furthermore, she believed (as I did then) that many white women stereotyped themselves as the “pure goddess virgins and viewed others as seductive whores”. And I would say that some of what has been posted in these debates demonstrates this type of thinking, especially when a person says that “99% of the couples I know in Nicaragua stray” as done here.

Generalizing that Central Americans display more machismo in some posts, and defending ideas by saying that “machismo…or the so-called ‘black culture’, i.e., mostly poorer populations,” have elements of machismo, “but it by no means occurs at the same level or universality as you see it in Latin America,” is such a narrow view, IMO.

I find this extremely offensive and see it as a complete fallacy. I’ve demonstrated through various known personalities, this behavior crosses cultural lines. This type of thinking is exactly what Bell Hooks addressed in her book, “Ain’t I a Woman?: Black women and feminism.”

And it is these types of stereotypes that continue the oppressive view of many countries in Central America. I’m in no way denying that machismo is absent from Central American cultures. It isn’t. Instead, I’m asserting that machismo is a behavior that exists worldwide and that the denial of this enables this behavior in many countries, where it is also a problem.

And for me, personally, “scientific observations” lack a great deal of credibility when based only on a person’s observations of two years. Maybe a more accurate interpretation would include the observations of people born and raised in Nicaragua, who bring no cultural bias to their studies, completely understand their countrymen, and Nicaraguan tradition?

Here’s a quote that I found interesting in my studies of feminism and it represents my current views:

“When it defines man as the enemy, feminism is alienating women from their own bodies.” –Camille Paglia

And maybe some disagree with this…but I found it to be a very real interpretation from my relationship with my husband.

I was shocked to learn that anyone as red-necked, racist and provincial would move to a Socialist country, like Nicaragua. And I was shocked to learn that they survived there with the Sandinista cadre. The experience left me wondering if the American C.I.A. had planted operatives there, under the guise of moving them in as expatriates.

Meeting ‘Nicas’ not Numbskulls

I was out to meet actual Nicaraguans, not Americans who were trying to pretend they were Nicaraguan, by claiming they were “Nicas.” Not people who had never lived as a Latino in their life; or had led mostly privileged lives and now felt a need to live as the “big fish in a small pond,” by building nice homes on a protected beach, in Nicaragua.

I found a few Nicaraguans in these sites. Mostly, they seemed to feel a sense of tolerance when the expats move in and became the territorial experts. I knew what I was wondering about was true. Could it be that the citizens of these countries we move to, resent our self-serving attitudes? My question was answered when I read this:

“And so the foreigners that have become experts on our ways by living among us are equally repulsed and attracted to us as any budding young explorer is equally enthralled by the new and alien. So much like us physically, yet so different from us on the moral and civil planes.”

“At first I told myself not to pay attention to mujermagnetica post about the “myth of the macho latino” , but when I saw how many responses it elicited I gave in . I’m going to give you the reason why Nicaraguans , both women and men , behave the way we do , although I try my best not to engage in such behavior but since I’m a nica I include myself . Yes we lie , cheat , steal , beat each other up , use people , gossip , father many kids with different women , sleep around with other men , engage in illegal activities , side step our responsibilities , betrayal is our middle name and dishonest our last name . Yes we Nicas are scum. Maybe is something we catch from our drinking water or the fumes from all the volcanoes the foreigner that lives among us would think as the reason for such behavior . Let’s show them how to take care of their natural resources to alleviate them of their malady , some said .Others point to the effect religion has had on us nicas after over 500 hundred years of indoctrination . A new religion is what they need. We’ll send missionaries to show them the real and true religion. That would save them from their damnation. No wait, how about an Ism, that would really do the trick; what better than an ideology that combines the reverence of nature and spirit. Two for the price of one. And so the foreigners that have become experts on our ways by living among us are equally repulsed and attracted to us as any budding young explorer is equally enthralled by the new and alien. So much like us physically, yet so different from us on the moral and civil planes. But what is most puzzling to these well meaning foreigners is that to us this behavior doesn’t seem to bother us one bit instead we, men and women, young and old, alike, we seem to embrace it. From the highest office, the clergy and secular alike, to the lowest post, is all the same. What can you do for us? How can you help us? We are lost and gone. We were born on this land Nicaragua, the cradle of the lie and anything foul. And I look around me and I see how wonderful the foreigners are and behave and how great it must be to wake up and know that you are not like us and by that virtue you suffer our shortcomings and wish you could do more but there is only so much you can give of yourself and not feel that somehow you are becoming a bit like us but fortunately in the comfort of your home surrounded by your own at the end of the day you will regain the strength you need to go out the next day and once again face the horror of what it’s like to live among the Nicaraguan . I’m sor)ry I kind of went off track . Part of being a Nica , you know not being able to give a concise , straight to the point answer and must beat around the bush first ,inconsiderate of other’s precious time . Oops, did it again. Here is the reason why we Nicas behave the way we do: WE ARE HUMANS. Although this coming from a Nica I wouldn’t believe it much myself. Adios Senores y Senoras.”

The Need to BE a “Nica”

The first thing I noticed was something I had noticed a lot with expatriates. They always seemed to move to special protected enclaves when they expatriated. They rarely moved among the locals.

In Nicaragua, this was San Juan del Sur (SJDS) and Granada.

The second thing I noticed is they all claimed to be experts on Nicaragua, even more so than Nicaraguans.

The third was that they all seem to have a need to hire domestic help. And I surmise it was the first time in many of their lives they ever encountered the option to hire domestic help.

Here’s an example of one of the posts asking the other expats for advice on hiring domestic help, in the post entitled, Hiring Domestic Help:

“It is now 11am on Monday and our live-in M-F domestica has not shown up yet. She is the 3rd lady we have gone thru in 5 weeks. I just got a text from her son that she is on the way but I think she is on the way OUT! If this is how she is going to do during her trial period then i can’t imagine how she will be once she feels more secure in her job! She had to leave at lunch the past 2 Fridays also so she is basically working 4 day weeks. She gets room and board (M-F) and 4000 cords a month, there is only 2 of us in the house and I am NOT demanding at all. Perhaps this is my problem? Should I be more demanding (just not in my nature) and pay less?”
OMG, what problems we have! His/her maids aren’t showing up. This person has to clean up their own mess. God has cursed them!

Nicaraguan Opinions

I wondered what the locals thought of this. I knew in Mexico, the general opinion of this was not favorable. But I wasn’t sure about Central American attitudes. So I decided to join a forum and ask innocent questions about my planned move to Nicaragua, to join my husband. I wanted our move to be smooth.

By that time, my husband was already living in Managua on his tourist visa. He had befriended some wonderful Nicaraguan friends, and the things I was hearing these people say seemed so different than what I was hearing actual Nicaraguans saying. I questioned that.

He had rented a room on the outskirts of Managua. His neighbors were well-educated Nicaraguans on a projected career path towards success. One was a pharmaceuticals salesman and the son of one of the most famous doctors in the country who had studied in Russia. Another was a model for a brand of Nicaraguan rum and a student. The other was the son of a retired CEO of a pharmaceutical company who now owned real estate for income. All of them were Nicaraguan born and raised!

This was the Nicaragua that we intended to be a part of, not the exclusionist outposts set up by other expats who wanted the comforts they desired at a cheaper price along with the lack of rules set by their own countries.

To read more from Jennifer on this subject and others, visit her blog @ http://lawsonzepeda.blogspot.com/

By: Mike

When the London Saint Patrick’s Day Parade takes place on Sunday 18th March, 2012, pride of place should go to a contingent from Montserrat. It is a small island in the West Indies and is nicknamed The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean. The name is not so much because of its resemblance to parts of the coast of Ireland but rather for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants.

There is a very interesting story behind such a claim and this may give an inkling as to the name’s origin. In the mid 1800’s, a ship crewed by Irish speaking Corkmen arrived in Montserrat. As the sailors were loading and unloading their cargoes, they were amazed to hear the black locals speaking fluent Gaelic. They struck up a conversation and discovered that although they were speaking pure Gaelic, it was an old form used by the poets of the Irish nobility of ancient times.

It is not so surprising when you discover that for a couple of centuries prior to the meeting with the Corkmen, people of Irish ancestry had lived and worked on the island. Some had arrived there by choice whilst the majority had their exile forced upon them.

It is necessary to go back even further to discover the reasons behind the influx of Irish into the West Indies. Once again it was caused by another Irish Rebellion in 1641 when the Catholics managed to gain control from their English landlords. In the uprising the Irish Catholics, the majority, aligned themselves with the English Royalist party. When the Royalists were defeated in the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell’s army was sent to Ireland to crush any further dissent and reoccupy the country. (Here I curse and spit at the mention of his name). His onslaught was known as the Irish Confederate Wars and Cromwell’s tirade there ran from 1649 to 1657. His atrocities are still cursed by most Irish people. Not only did he slaughter a large portion of the population, he went further by imposing cruel Penal Laws against all Roman Catholics.

By the time he had finished with his campaign, the population was dissipated with some estimates being as high as 50% either killed or exiled. His famous order ‘To hell or to Connaught’ was given to all Irish Landowners forcing them to leave their land in the fertile areas of the country and move to the western province of Connaught which was barren, boggy, rocky and infertile.

Not only did he enforce a Proclamation from 1625 that ordered that all ‘dangerous rogues’ i.e. Irish Political Prisoners should be banished overseas but reinforced it by ordering that all those landowners who did not move to Connaught within three months should also be banished overseas.

The West Indies were at this time opening up to various European nations including the English. Plantations of sugar cane – sugar being a highly desired and valuable commodity at this time – were being set up and labour was at a premium. Tens of thousands of Irish men, women and children were sent to act as servants, maids and labourers. They were classed as ‘indentured servants’ but in fact were treated worse than slaves. Many never returned………….

The ‘exile’ business became very lucrative and Irish people were herded up like sheep or cattle and shipped out as slaves. It was argued that it was to improve their lot and make them good Christians.

The Irish joined up with the black slaves throughout the various islands and began to rebel against their so-called ‘masters’ and as a result, a large number were shipped from the larger islands to the relatively small island of Montserrat. Many more were transported to the United States.

Those who remained on the island intermarried with black slaves and things eventually began to settle down.

On Saint Patrick’s Day, 17th March 1768, there was a determined but unsuccessful uprising by the slaves against the landowners. The black African slaves were joined by many of the exiled Irish in the rebellion against the English landlords.

Since then the day is celebrated as a public holiday where it is said that the festivities easily outrival those in the ‘Irish’ Emerald Isle. Long may it continue…

Farmer With Buckets-By: Colleen Quinn

By: Mike

In this day and age whenever a ‘new’ invention appears on the market very few people even bat an eyelid. However, it is hard to imagine the surprise, amazement, admiration and excitement that a ‘new’ invention made in days long past. Generally speaking we now hear of new devices via T.V. and radio news, newspapers and magazine articles a long time before the actual item appears in the shops.

Imagine if you will a time and place where there was no radio, where television had not yet been invented and papers and magazines were a rarity. Any information on such new marvels was by word of mouth and in a society where storytelling was the norm; word of anything fantastic was taken with a great pinch of salt.

And so it was in the middle of nowhere in my grandparent’s village back home in the middle of Ireland. The year was 1947. They lived in a quaint thatched whitewashed cottage with no electricity, no gas and no radio whilst television was still waiting to be invented. There was no running water and a small wooden outside toilet. All the cooking and washing was done over a large open turf fire.

The fireplace was in my memory enormous with several hooks and grills to hang and place the various pots and pans when cooking. My two older brothers and I would visit and stay there during the early summers of our boyhoods. I adored both Granny Gorman and Granddad. I dearly loved every moment spent there at the time and now, more than sixty years later, still cherish those wonderful memories.

As I said, they had no running water so it was necessary to go to the village pump with one of the large stainless steel buckets that were kept for the purpose. Even empty they weighed a ton to a small boy of seven or eight. It was only 100 yards to the pump at the crossroads but I can well remember the struggle it was to carry a full bucket of water back to the cottage.

The fun and games used to start whenever there was heavy rain and the race began between Granny Gorman and Mrs. Doyle her next door neighbour. The prize, I hear you ask? Well, it was the use of the school drainpipe opposite to fill the buckets with precious rain water, thereby saving several trips to the water pump. It was prized by Granny for washing her hair and underwear.

Just after the war, my two brothers and I would be sent off on the train and bus to be collected by Granny at the main town Portlaoghais with the donkey and cart. She loved having us. In that part of Ireland, in high summer, it is still bright almost until midnight and it was the only time when we could stay up really late. They would take us to an abandoned orchard at the Manor House where we gathered gooseberries, strawberries and as many apples as we could carry. I won’t mention the rabbits, as they were part of the staple diet of all country people in those days. (Here I must curse Myxomatosis).

So back to the story and the ‘new invention’: On one of my dad’s return home trips on leave from the Royal Air Force in England, he brought with him a couple of little surprises. He probably ‘nicked’ them from the RAF stores knowing him. ‘They’ were two plastic buckets which quite honestly we had never seen their like before in our lives. They were a brightly coloured red and were flexible to the touch. We were to take them with us on our next visit to Granny Gorman. We were very happy as they weighed less than one tenth of the stainless steel buckets.

Not long after they arrived, away we went on the train, the bus, the donkey and cart and arrived at Grannies. We presented her with the buckets and other small presents from home.

Now if you think that we were surprised and amazed when we saw the buckets in the first place, you should have seen her face. She looked at the buckets from all angles; raised them above her head; pushed the sides in to see them spring out again. Whilst doing all this she never spoke. Eventually she exclaimed ˜Mother of God, will yez look at that. Sure what will them Yanks invent next?” To her it was some sort of magic…

Much to our surprise, she insisted on going with us to the water pump to show off her new presents to the neighbours. She must have filled both buckets at least six times and emptied them again. I can still see the look of pure pleasure and joy on her face.

All went well for a couple of days until Thursday arrived for we never had any idea that this day was part of Grannies ritual. You see, once a week she used to boil up her underwear and small items in the steel buckets. So, in went the water, in went the soap and in went the clothing. Onto the hook over the roaring fire went the bucket. Not the stainless steel one but one of the new plastic ones…

Within minutes, a hissing sound caught our attention. We ran to the fire and saw the bucket melting, the water escape onto the fire and grannies drawers and such now congealed with melted plastic. ˜Mother of God” she cried ˜the blinking bucket is melting. That’s impossible…”

You know something? I now reckon that that was Grannie’s introduction to modern inventions. God only knows what she would have made of the latest televisions, I-phones, microwave ovens, computers and such…Then again, knowing her, she would without doubt have made some use of them – what that use might have been God only knows…

 By: Jennifer Lawson-Zepeda

Living back in the U.S. after traveling to so many different places, I always have a sense of coming home to the open mouth of a band of vultures. They are flying above me, circling and I know they are there; but I keep moving so they don’t circle in on me and start pecking at my flesh.

What is a Vulture Culture

To describe a vulture culture, it is first necessary to define the behaviors of a vulture. Do a search on Google and you will come with this definition:

vul·ture / ˈvəlCHər

1. A large bird of prey (order Accipitriformes) with the head and neck more or less bare of feathers, feeding chiefly on carrion.
2. A contemptible person who preys on or exploits others.

That definition explains if perfectly for me. But the photo to the left explains it even better. It is an animal consuming itself. And in reality, a vulture culture does just that. The vultures prey on everyone else until an entire society has consumed itself into nothing.

In Western culture, vultures are considered unsavory. They pick apart the decaying animals. They are scavengers.

So a culture that exploits the weakest countries around the world; a culture that exploits its own weak; and a country that picks away at the flesh of those who have fallen on hard times could very well be considered a vulture culture.

The vulture is often used as a symbol of opportunistic exploitation ofthe dead and those who profit from death are thought of as vultures.

A group of vultures is called a wake, committee, venue, kettle, or volt. The term kettle refers to vultures in flight, while committee, volt, and venue refer to vultures resting in trees. Wake is reserved for a group of vultures who are feeding. The word Geier (taken from the German language) does not have a precise meaning in ornithology, and it is occasionally used to refer to a vulture in English, as in some poetry.

(Source: Wikipedia Vulture)

When describing vultures, many divide them into two categories: old world vultures and new world vultures. So let’s do that to provide for a better definition

Old World Vultures

In the article, Slavery and the rise of capitalism: The Making of New World Slavery: from the Baroque to the Modern, 1492-1800, Robin Blackburn describes the emergence of the slave trade from existing slavery in Africa to how it changed under the English colonial system — a system that dominated Atlantic trade and the plantations farming.

He describes how the profits of slavery were central to paving the way for English industrialization.

Transportation punished both major and petty crimes in Great Britain and Ireland from the 17th century until well into the 19th century. A sentence could be for life or a specific period. The penal system required the convicts to work on government projects such as road construction, building works and mining, or assigned to free individuals as unpaid labour. Women were expected to work as domestic servants and farm labourers.

A convict who had served part of his time might apply for a ticket of leave permitting some prescribed freedoms. This enabled some convicts to resume a more normal life, to marry and raise a family, and a few to develop the colonies while removing them from the society. Exile was an essential component and thought a major deterrent. Transportation was also seen as a humane and productive alternative to execution, which would most likely have been the sentence to many if transportation had not been introduced.

(Source: Wikipedia Penal_transportation)

Deportations and Culture Vulturis

Luddites were members of a social movement of textile workers in England during the early 1800s. The movement began in the town of Nottingham in 1811. It was formed during the peak of the Industrial Revolution, which the workers felt threatened their jobs through automation. Their concern led them to destroy multiple textile machines and stage widespread protests. The British government reacted harshly, making industrial sabotage a capital crime and sentencing or exiling prominent figures in the movement, which at one point became quite large, with thousands of adherents.

(Source: What is-a luddite)

Penal transportation or deportations of convicted criminals to penal colonies was done to remove those whose trade had been replaced by machinery, and who took to the streets to riot about their loss of employment. Many were shipped to colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the 1770s.

Slavery

Slavery transformed agriculture in the Americas from existence farming, to farming for profit, bringing capitalism to the New World. A new class of people emigrated to the Americas upon discovery…people who were penniless and didn’t own land in their own countries. They had experienced changes in their own country through agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology that changed the social, economic and cultural conditions for them in England.

Others chose to emigrate to the United States colonies and the Caribbean, ending up on huge plantations as indentured servants. Blackburn explains what happened:

Initially, it was wage labour which worked the new plantations in Barbados and elsewhere. British emigrants would be contracted to work as indentured servants for three, five or seven years for the plantation after which they would be free to pursue other employment. In 1638 Barbados had 2,000 indentured servants and only 200 African slaves. By 1653 there were 20,000 slaves and only 8,000 indentured servants.
White indentured servants faced enormous hardships on the estates. The work was extremely hard, conditions appalling and life expectancy was short. Escaped servants were made to serve double time for their master. A repeated escape could lead to branding. Like slaves, the servant was regarded as a piece of property and was valued according to the amount of tobacco or sugar which could be expected to be produced before the indenture expired.

The plantation owners faced two problems. As the demand for the plantation exports rose rapidly they needed more and more labour. As emigration from Britain was, by and large, voluntary it could not guarantee to meet the needs of the system. At the same time, stories drifted back of life in the colonies which tended to discourage volunteers for the indenture system. Thus it was the growing demand for secure supplies of labour which produced the shift towards African slavery. In this context, the mid-seventeenth century saw the rapid growth of the slave plantation in the English Caribbean.

The extremely hard conditions of the plantation colonies meant that the owners, and the colonial authorities, always faced the possibility of revolt. Increasingly, laws were passed to enforce racial segregation. Such laws helped to create a form of racial solidarity among the white colonists. Increasingly whites, even poor whites, could identify themselves as a part of the privileged race. The privilege of their colour exempted them from slavery and granted them certain civil rights. The plantation owners’ fear of resistance and rebellion evolved into a more general white fear of black rebellion. In these ways slavery was crucial to forming the new racial identities in the American colonies.

From the dawn of the Industrial Revolution the world’s average per capita income increased tenfold. The living standards of many ordinary people grew. The machine age demonstrated progress and the impact of this change on society was enormous.

A Period of Balance

After World War II ended and we looked back upon the mass death it caused, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, we reconsidered our values. With over 50 million to over 70 million fatalities from that event, we glanced upon the most damning conflict in human history with disgust.

We became curious about how it happened, investigated our motives, rounded up the survivors and begged them for information about what we had done. We couldn’t believe the answers and it was those answers that shocked us into our next phase of human existence.

For a period of time, the ideals of culture vulturalism seemed to fall aside. It was replaced by a new consciousness, where man took an interest in his fellow man. The post- World War II baby boom changed our view of ourselves and where we fit into the world.

A generation emerged that questioned the need for man to consume his weak. A sense of ethics emerged, considering mankind as a whole, a community, something larger than the individual. And with that came a need to question behaviors that caused exploitation. Accept responsibility and enact change.

Civil rights gained importance. Personal freedoms were challenged. The conscious man emerged who questioned why mankind felt comfortable making fortunes off the backs of others was acceptable and we settled into a period of humanism — the responsibility to lead ethical lives both as individuals and for humanity.

With the dawning of industrialism came the covert tactics of CIA operatives. Their aim was removing the ideals for humanitarianism and replacing it with something much more sinister. Something that helped the wealthy exploit people once again.

Campaigns of political repression by right-wing dictatorships throughout the world involved CIA tactics and relationships. Covert operations involving terror and assassination attempts became the mission through campaigns like Operation Condor. These took place throughout the word after a meeting between the leaders of right-wing dictatorships from the Southern cone of the Americas took place:

A few well-known victims of Operation Condor:

Martín Almada, educator in Paraguay, arrested in 1974 and tortured for three years

Víctor Olea Alegría, member of the Socialist Party, arrested on 11 September, 1974 and “disappeared” (head of DINA Manuel Contreras was convicted in 2002 for this crime)

General Carlos Prats, who immediately preceded Pinochet at the head of the Chilean army, assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1974

William Beausire, businessman with dual British and Chilean nationality, abducted in transit in Buenos Aires airport in November 1974, taken to the Villa Grimaldi torture centre in Chile and never seen since.

Bernardo Leighton, Christian-Democrat who narrowly escaped murder in Rome in 1975 organized by Italian terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie

Carlos Altamirano, leader of the Chilean Socialist Party, targeted for murder by Pinochet in 1975

Attempted assassination against Emilio Aragonés, the Cuban ambassador in Buenos Aires, in 1975, organized by leader of the CORU, Orlando Bosch

Sheila Cassidy, British physician, arrested in Chile in 1975 and tortured for medical treatment to an opponent of the regime.

Volodia Teitelboim, member of the Communist Party of Chile, targeted for murder alongside Carlos Altamirano, in Mexico in 1976

“Disappearance” of two Cuban diplomats in Argentina, Crecencio Galañega Hernández and Jesús Cejas Arias who transited through Orletti detention center in Buenos Aires (9 August, 1976 – see Lista de centros clandestinos de detención (Argentina)); both were questioned by the SIDE and the DINA, with the knowledge of the FBI and the CIA

Andrés Pascal Allende, nephew of Salvador Allende and president of the MIR, escaped assassination attempt in Costa Rica in March 1976

Orlando Letelier, murdered in 1976 in Washington, D.C. with his assistant Ronni Moffitt

Christian-Democrat and president of Chile from 1964 to 1970 Eduardo Frei Montalva, who may have been poisoned in the early 1980s according to current investigations

former Bolivian president Juan José Torres, assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1976

Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, former Uruguayan deputy, assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1976

Zelmar Michelini, former Uruguayan deputy, assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1976

Carmelo Soria, Spanish diplomat, civil servant of the CEPAL (a UN organism), assassinated on 21 July 1976

Jorge Zaffaroni and Maria Emilia Islas de Zaffaroni, maybe members of the Tupamaros, “disappeared” in Buenos Aires on 29 September, 1976, kidnapped by the Batallón de Inteligencia 601, who handed them out to the Uruguayan OCOAS (Organismo Coordinador de Operaciones Anti-Subversivas)

Dagmar Ingrid Hagelin, 17-year-old Swedish girl shot in the back by Alfredo Astiz in 1977 and later murdered

Poet Juan Gelman‘s son and daughter-in-law (whose baby was stolen by the Uruguayan military)

US Congressman Edward Koch, who became aware in 2001 of relations between 1970s threats on his life and Operation Condor

(Source: Wikipedia Operation_Condor)

After a period of social enlightenment many of the idealistic youth who promoted humanism grew up and created families. Education opened up to more than just the wealthy elite during the humanitarian decades. Those who graduated into careers in technology became intrigued with the concept of wealth building and opted into opening dot.com businesses that built quick wealth in ways they had never seen.

Suddenly, the concept of humanism fell onto a back burner. The flavor of the day was investment, wealth building, and consumerism. The brand became important and brands like Nike and Apple took a stronghold.

At the same time, many who had graduated from the drug induced lives of their Hippie youths evolved into drug addiction. And their lives degraded into problematic episodes of criminal activity, or lifestyles revolved around the selling of flesh.

After this phase, many of these people turned to treatment centers cloaked in religious values to promote healing. The birth of the reborn Christian took over the world and Christianity grew. Along with this the idea to promote the staunch conservative Christian moray took hold.

Capitalists and Christians

Between the capitalists and the Christians, a new type of right-winged thinking became a popular movement…the Neo Conservative. He was convinced his values should be mandated for everyone.

In many countries, leaders who hinged on neo conservative values became popular and were voted in to control their countries. They fed into the Christian and capitalistic ideas of the ex humanists. Suddenly, things like human rights became secondary to Christian and Capitalist rights.

New World Vultures

A Christian’s right to pray and force everyone else to endure their need to pray became more important than considering other religions. The concept of using symbolism, like crosses, to promote Christianity in government places became a battle, instead of allowing the separation of church and state. And this moral deterioration continued. No longer did a woman have a right to be an individual who chose her own medical care. Not when Christians felt they had to dictate it to her. No longer did a mother and father have the right to educate their children the way they wanted, not if Christians disagreed with it.

They formed strong financial lobbies that helped fight against an individual’s right to decide for themselves. They organized in their churches to explain to one another how they should feel politically. This movement was financed by the capitalists who also felt they needed to remove humanism, in order to gain the right to exploit people once again and maximize profit.

And Neo Conservatism grew to a point where it now became acceptable to round up immigrants (like the English had done with those who had lost their trade during the Industrial Era) and deport them somewhere else. Not just somewhere, but in many cases, anywhere, as is regularly done in asylum cases in the U.S. Then, the Capitalists found their right to buy up businesses (such as Romney did with Bain & Company ) and strip mine them for every possible asset they could take for profit and walk away with, before they sold them off and left entire communities unemployed…like the craftsmen during the Industrial Era.

This wasn’t good enough though. So the Neo-Conservatives took this one step further. They brought slavery back. Not slavery as we once knew it, where a person had no freedom and was indebted to the person that took care of them. No.

Today’s slavery is veiled. Instead, the Neo-Conservatives brought slavery back through removing unions and any employee representation in the work place. Once that was gone, they systematically removed employee benefits, such as health care, pensions and implemented employment practices such as “at will employment.
At-will employment is a doctrine of American law that defines an employment relationship in which either party can break the relationship with no liability, provided there was no express contract for a definite term governing the employment relationship and that the employer does not belong to a collective bargaining group (i.e., has not recognized a union). Under this legal doctrine:

The doctrine of at-will employment has been criticized as predicated upon flawed assumptions about the inherent distribution of power and information in the employee-employer relationship and for its brutal harshness upon employees.Regardless, the doctrine is widely credited as one of the major factors behind the strength of the U.S. economy; this thesis has been advanced by leading scholars in the field of law and economics such as Professors Richard A. Epstein and Richard Posner. In particular, at-will employment has been credited with making possible the success of Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur-friendly environment.

(Source: Wikipedia At-will_employment)

Today’s vultures are still picking off the carcass of those they can exploit through other practices. Through Neo-Conservatism, we’ve now accepted the practices of torture. Things like water boarding, pissing on your murdered opponent, holding people in prisons for decades without charging them…all of these things are now acceptable.

We’ve brought back lengthy work hours, many of which rival the hours people worked before unions were created. We’ve enabled the right of the wealthy to steal our 401K plans and watch us on camera. We’ve even allowed them to invade our bodies through testing processes that tell them more about our chemical make-up than we know about ourselves. We’ve destroyed the economy until employees are at the mercy of employers, and begging for work so they can feed their families. And we’ve allowed them to discriminate once again, based on age, race, you name it…only now it’s hidden under rhetoric.

Celebrities, politicians and the well-to-do now have a separate set of laws that they follow than the laws of the land. They are held to more lenient standards when they are caught stealing, driving drunk, killing or any other crime you can imagine.

Repeating our Patterns

Marx outlined many ways in which capitalism reproduces the conditions for capitalism to continue to exist.

“The accumulation of capital pre-supposes surplus-value; surplus-value pre-supposes capitalistic production;

capitalistic production pre-supposes the pre-existence of considerable masses of capital and of labour-power

The whole movement, therefore, seems to turn in a vicious circle, out of which we can only get by supposing a primitive accumulation

An accumulation not the result of the capitalist mode of production, but its starting point”.

(Source: Slavery33, Socialism Today.org)

Marx was well aware that the history of capitalism provided a number of possible sources for the original funds for capitalist investment.

“The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, the enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalistic production. These idyllic proceedings are the chief moments of primitive accumulation.”

Today’s culture vultures have no less guilt than those of yesterday. They are brazen about their lack of morals and ethics which makes me wonder…

Is another Holocaust on the horizon? A holocaust of a new kind…where maybe the poorest of the poor are considered for extermination? Or, will the most impoverished become today’s Luddites, fighting back and being deported out of sight?

Once again:

Vultures prey on everyone else until an entire society has consumed itself into nothing.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though!