This Steve Kinzer piece is more Red-baiting. Did Kinzer write the same piece
about John Kerry, who's "youthful idealism" led to denouncing crimes by the US
in Vietnam but who later ran for President by running away from that record?
Kinzer invents an apology for De Blasio: "Did I turn a blind eye to the
excesses of the Sandinistas?" Wholly invented but puts the Sandinistas as one
of the two bad sides, along with the US government's Contras.
This is red baiting. No reason to pump it up on Pen-l.
Gene
On Sep 25, 2013, at 9:31 AM, Louis Proyect wrote:
> Bill de Blasio's stand against Reagan's contra war on Nicaragua
>
> The would-be New York mayor's pro-Sandinista activism was in America's
> finest tradition. Where's that political courage now?
>
> by Stephen Kinzer
>
> Republicans are wrong – though, perhaps, politically clever – to accuse
> De Blasio of supporting Marxist dictatorship. De Blasio has played down
> the episode, saying only that his life has been devoted to "fighting for
> equality". And that may be the politically smart thing for him: since he
> looks set to be New York's first Democratic mayor for 20 years, he does
> not want to be diverted from his focus on local issues and drawn in to
> defending the specifics of his pro-Nicaragua activism.
>
> Yet, there is something disturbing about his reticence: De Blasio did
> nothing wrong in Nicaragua. Some would even describe him and other
> activists of that period as heroic fighters for peace. He should not run
> away from this aspect of his record, when he might very well say:
>
> Yes, I worked against the contra war and I'm proud to have done so
> because that war was wrong. Did I turn a blind eye to the excesses of
> the Sandinistas? Maybe, and I regret that. But I saw poor people being
> killed and made to suffer because of decisions made in Washington, and I
> used my rights as an American to oppose that policy in a legal way.
>
> It is never wise to discourage youthful idealism. Nor should former
> activists shrink from what they did when, in later life, that may seem
> convenient. Republicans are on the wrong side of history when,
> implicitly or explicitly, they defend the contras. De Blasio's
> reluctance to defend his opposition to the contras places him on the
> wrong side of courage.
>
>
> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/25/bill-deblasio-reagan-nicaragua
> _______________________________________________
> pen-l mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
