HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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Richard,
Bravo sir! Seems we share approximately
similar views. In sum total, though the Soviet Union was involved in many
countries, it generally was in response to either direct security concerns (such
as Afghanistan) or in response to requests from forces fighting to create some
form of livable society for the majority. This stands in stark difference
from the US which involved itself in numerous countries' internal affairs for
the benefit of the tiny minority of ruling elites to the deteriment of majority
of the populace and always inclined to Uncle Sugar.
Cossack
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002
21:33
Subject: RE: Richard: On Latvia ( or: Why
I hate Gorby) [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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David
Isn't there also an issue of freedom that goes
thus. They draft someones son to right a wrong somewhere -and he gets
killed. Was his life less valuable than the lives he was sent to improve?
Second: I suspect that in some situations you can not
help someone without harming them indirectly.
Finally - I don't think that the USSR sent
military to Afghnanistan primarily to impose socialist values. As you
know the religous fanatics funded by the US were making raids into Soviet
territory and then retreating to Afghanistan. The military was sent to
create a stable situation and eliminate the instability on its border - but
its by product was a modern socialist life for the citizens of
Afghanistan.
Richard
Heather:
I
wasn't very clear. But � yes -- if a country imposes western values for the
sake of imposing western values (as opposed to righting some injustice),
this is imperialism, and is no better than imposing capitalism on the rest
of the world. If, on the other hand, a country is intervening to overturn an
�oppressive system� -- not always easy to determine by outsiders -- than
this, to me, is a just act.
In the case of Afghanistan, because a
group of people -- in this case, women -- were living under extremely
oppressive conditions, the intervention could be said to have been just. If,
however, the Russians had intervened just for the sake of imposing socialist
values on the rest of the population, than this would, indeed, be no
different than European colonialists carrying out the "white man's burden".
Both material equality or individual rights are not universal
concepts. In many cultures, a translation for "equality", let alone
�individual rights�, does not exist. Yet, to some matriarchal African
cultures, the most seemingly egalitarian western households would be
considered oppressive. Should then these African cultures intervene to
overturn our backwards ways?
I�m not extreme cultural relativist,
but, I realize that it is difficult, in many cases, to determine whether a
form of oppression is actually taking place, as any good anthropologist
would tell you (and I�m not an anthropologist either). The perception �of
righting a wrong� is very much determined by the eye of the beholder as
opposed some objective criterion, and may in fact have the opposite effect.
Just like today with imperialist �interventions�, colonists viewed
colonialism as an altruistic endeavour. Indigenous cultures were assumed to
be backward, barbarian, primitive, and so forth, and transformed to suit the
needs of the colonialist, with devastating consequences for the people
effected. Yet, imposing socialism instead of capitalism on these cultures
would have had similar consequences. What caused the destruction of
indigenous cultures was less to do with imposition of capitalist values and
more to do with the disruption these changes caused. Therefore, westerners
concerned about maintaining the continuity of indigenous ways of life should
be worry of the effect so- called �modern values� (including modern
medicine, western schooling and the like) have on others.
David O
Q
12 Jan 02, at 11:48, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
> ---------------------------
>
> The Marxist were imposing western values on the people of
Afghanistan?
> Medical care, food distribution, education and female
equality are western
> values?
>
> I'm not a cultural
relativist, either.
>
> Silly me. I think addressing the
economic and social problems which plagued
> one of the most
impoverished nations on earth was a good idea. Go figure.
>
>
>
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