I am taking the considerable liberty of forwarding this to list administrators at marxism-administration, since marxism-psych is essentially a dead letter. But many of the lists here at Utah have some historical continuity with the marxism-unmoderated list, on which Adolfo Olaechea was a signficant figure, and you may wish to decide what of this you wish to pass on. Also if you accept my argument, although many people have had their differences with him, his arrest, and eager repatration are of potentially great significance in the growing trends towards global law, in world in which imperialism is even more dominant than before.
Chris Burford Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2003 13:54:39 +0100 To: PEN-L From: Chris Burford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Adolfo Olaechea extradited to Peru Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From Chris Burford I first picked this announcement from Louis Godena up today from marxism-international e-mail list but I see Louis Proyect has already, quite rightly, posted it on Marxmail. Adolfo Olaechea has been a significant figure in the development of "marxism-space" and its relevance in the imperialist world. Each person who has been involved in an overlapping number of lists will remember this from their own experience. I do not claim to be objective. But Adolfo Olaechea participated vigorously in the later 90's a very high volume list called "marxism unmoderated" hosted by the "Spoons" collective. He championed the cause of the Peruvian Communist Party (PCP) associated with Sendero Luminoso, Shining Path, and denounced liberal criticisms of what he defended as its revolutionary Peoples War. He also robustly criticised Trotskyists, and of course was criticised in turn, in a way that would not be tolerated on PEN-L. At one stage a flame war between self-declared champions of the PCP in London and New York broke out which appeared to be potentially much more than this, with accusations and real possibilities of people being agents provocateurs deliberately or objectively. Although I always thought that marxism-unmoderated was more viable than many did, the bulk of the volume went to a new list marxism-international, moderated by 4 people. Around the same time as the moderation subsequently passed to Louis Godena and Adolfo Olaechea many people left the list. My impression was that the bulk were inherited by Doug Henwood's LBO-talk and Louis Proyect's Marxmail, but there were other moderated lists, a number of which were hosted out of Utah. Marxism-international contracted to several posts per month. I was a number of subscribers who did not challenge the new moderator policy, although it is not close to my more liberal views, as I wanted to continue to subscribe to and receive information on Peru and similar perspectives. While marxism-international declined in volume (as some lists do anyway) Adolfo Olaechea and others set up an organisation with a wider radical democratic global perspective, called "Justice International" of which he is the general secretary. Much of this preamble, might be disputed at least in its emphasis but I think we need to set a context. Although I have had my ownbruising encounters with Adolfo Olaechea, as many have, I suggest this development is much more than a story of one man being vicitimised. Indeed the readiness of Adolfo Olaechea to go directly to Peru, to my mind suggests that in the spirit that Lenin urged, he is fully intending to defend himself vigorously in court, and very probably has anticipated this possibility for some time. I am not sure how broad a campaign could be built around this. My experience was one of solidarity with the ANC which involved working with churches, and liberals. Certainly it might include compromises with organisations like Amnesty International, of which Adolfo Olaechea has been very critical in the past. However as far as he is concerned as an individual, if anyone can do a Georgi Dimitrov at the Reichstag Trial, and put his accusers in the dock, it is Adolfo Olaechea. His scorn is withering. His political perspective cannot easily be dismissed in the context of Peru, if not the wider world. What adds to the potential significance is the whole theme of how Empire is imposing its own model of global justice, Guantanamo Bay style, or Pinochet house arrest style. The Peruvian Government has just decided to renew its call of last year to Japan, to extradite Alberto Fujimori for crimes against humanity during his ten year presidency. It is likely that Japan will continue to refuse on the grounds that Fujimori has dual nationality, because of his Japanese parents. http://dev.amatechtel.com/news/wed/cg/Qperu-japan-fujimori.RIgT_DuR.asp Meanwhile Adolfo Olaechea has accepted the challenge of his extradition. While there is perhaps still scope for people's war in some countries, I think this development is part of the trend on a world scale to try to impose allegedly new standards of legal accountability, but in an entirely imperialist environment. The struggle of democratic forces to resist this trend is potentially extremely important. I will post separately an article Adolfo OIaechea submitted to marxism-international last month on the situation in Peru in which he points out how techniques now used in Guantanamo bay were used against the PCP. Louis Godena may be setting up another e-mail list for this new development and asks people in the USA to contact him directly, (see below for email and phone numbers). Meanwhile marxism-international is likely to be an obvious outlet for posting all updates:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Other URL's which will either be too liberal or too sectarian for some or all people, which I checked today for information on Peru, include http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/04/fujimori040703.htm Human Rights Watch http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-per/index Amnesty International http://www.csrp.org/ associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party USA http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/ historical archive by controversial organisation claiming to support thePCP up to 1998 This is Louis Godena's post - From: Louis R Godena <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [MARXISM-INTERNATIONAL] Adolfo Olaechea Has Our Complete and Unconditional Support! Comments: To: Marxism and Sciences <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear Friends & Comrades; As I reported earlier, our dear comrade Adolfo Olaechea, co-moderator of Marxism-International and General Secretary of Justice International, has been arrested while on a business trip to Spain. The precipitating cause of his detention is a year-old warrant issued by Interpol on behalf of the Peruvian government (at the urging, no doubt, of the US and its secret and intelligence services). Those familiar with the work of Adolfo will remember his tireless efforts on behalf of ordinary people everywhere and may recall his constant hounding by reactionaries of virtually every nationality as a result Characteristically, Comrade Olaechea has waived his rights to a 60-day waiting period and has chosen to be extradited immediately to Lima to face the Toledo regime (itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of US financial circles) and defeat these charges. One can speculate endlessly on the reasons for this development or the contrast presented by Comrade Olaechea in facing his judges with that of one of his chief accusers, the former president who now hides in a foreign country fighting with the aid of his stolen booty to prevent his returning to atone for his numerous misdemeanors. It is more important now, I believe, to set about the practical problems of facilitating Comrade Olaechea's defense and his successful return to his rightful place in the life of the country he loves so well. A number of us here in the US have formed a ad hoc committee to aid Comrade Olaechea and his family in whatever way we can. We invite all those of good will to join us. Please contact me at anytime at my home or by mobile phone. We look forward to hearing from you. Comradely Regards, Louis Godena 1720 Diamond Hill Road, Cumberland, Rhode Island 02864 USA (401) 334-4296 (401) 617-9088 ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
