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1) Imperialism is still out there and thus, the national question remains unsettled. No imperialist nation, under normal conditions, would admit that foreign companies hire local paramilitaries to deal with the country´s own working class. Serious bourgeoisies, owners of the States of those countries, reserve for themselves the right to exploit their own workers and particularly that of eventually killing them. Colombia, on the contrary, of course _does_ accept what no imperialist bourgeoisie accepts. Now, what does it say to us? It tells us that in the eventuality that some Colombian bourgeois politician or military decided that the Colombian workers are exclusive prey for the Colombian bourgeoisie, which is unfathomably weaker than the US bourgeoisie, I would bet that most workers and most unionists would gather around him/her and support him/her. Because without contractors such as Dole, Chiquita or similars, the paramilitaries lose a good deal of their resource base. And if a Leftist would denounce those unionists for "not pursuing the independence of the working class" he would receive a glorious "shot in cul" (bootkicking in the ass) by those unionists and working class. They would be left speaking nonsense to no-one, decade after decade, and those Marxists who want to build an alternative leadership for the national movement, against the hegemony of the local bourgeoisie, will have to deal, among other issues, with that bad name which will of necessity fall on socialism... Issues between the workers of a semicolonial country and the bourgeoisies of that semicolonial country are easier to bend to the workers´ side than issues between those same workers and the imperialist nations, represented by the monopoly branch of their bourgeoisies. Workers understand this instantly. Any "Leftist" who forgets this is unworthy of such self-attached name. But such is life. BTW, when I write "semicolonial" I am fully aware that we are not living in 1910. I usually prefer the term "Third World", particularly in its original sense which equated its situation with that of the "Third Estate" (Tiers État) in France, 1789. And of course under the "developmentist" political banner, the bourgeoisies in Third World countries tend to weld to imperialist powers rather than to their own peoples. But the structural situation of semicolonial exploitation and pillage does not change due to this. Recent developments in ecological economy have offered a material way to show this. It has been estimated that each average USAmerican citizen requires the resources of 11 "global hectares" to live (that is the "ecological imprint" of the average US citizen today). This means that the whole population of the United States of America lives off the resources of 3.3 billion "global hectares". Which boils down to 33 million square kilometers. The US of America (Alaska excluded, Hawaii not even considered) cover some 8 million square kilometers. Where do the remaining 25 million come from? And by what means are they obtained? Not by peaceful trading of equivalents. Even when all the bourgeoisies in the Third World are absolutely co-opted (which is not exactly the case), the colonial situation remains. That is why I speak of "semicolonial" countries. *** *** *** Servicio poco ordinario ARGENPRESS, Argentina - viernes 29 de enero de 2010 Colombia: Asì fue el “servicio paramilitar integral ” para Dole y Chiquita http://www. argenpress. info/2010/01/colombia-asi-fue-el-servicio. html El periodista sueco Dick Emanuelsson, quien ha vivido en Colombia y ha cubierto el tema colombiano durante 30 años con varios extensos reportajes en las zonas bananeras de Urabá y Ciénaga, analiza en este artículo especial para ARGENPRESS las confesiones juradas del jefe paramilitar Carlos Tijeras que da otra visión diferente de la defensa de Chiquita que en 2004 admitió haber pagado al paramilitarismo 1,7 millones de dólares como extorsión o por proteger sus empleados. Tijeras relata que los paramilitares daban todo un paquete de “seguridad ” a Chiquita y Dole. El paramilitarismo fue una Aseguradora armada en las zonas bananeras que incluso sentenciaba y cumplía las sentencias que en el caso del “juez ” Carlos Tijeras significaba la orden de matar a 500 civiles, entre ellos el presidente sindical de los obreros bananeros, José Güette, quien los últimos días de noviembre de 2000 guió a Emanuelsson en las fincas bananeras de Chiquita y otras empresas bananeras en la región bananera de Ciénaga. “Me han dicho que Chiquita ha aseverado que le dio fondos a las AUC,pero lo que hizo fue bajo coerción y como una forma de extorsión. También he oído que Dole sostiene que nunca entregó fondos. Las dos aseveraciones son absolutamente falsas. De hecho, mi acuerdo con Chiquita y Dole fue para prestarles seguridad total y otros servicios ”. En una confesión franca y abierta, el ex jefe paramilitar “Carlos Tijeras ” afirma que el trato con la Aseguradora Armada paramilitar que Dole y Chiquita contrataban en Colombia para solucionar “problemas ” era equivalente, en muchos casos, a la muerte para la persona “identificada ” como “guerrillero ” o “miliciano ”. Sostiene que Chiquita no dice la verdad cuando afirma que fue victima de extorsión. El sindicato bananero Sintrainagro en la región Ciénaga, cobraba diez por ciento de la cuota sindical de los miembros, que fue destinado a los paramilitares. Estos colocaban o comprobaban los dirigentes sindicales en sus puestos y así controlaba el sindicato. “Yo era el gobernante de hecho del área”, proclama el ex jefe paramilitar. Según sus declaraciones las empresas transnacionales Dole y Chiquita no solamente pagaban a los paramilitares tres centavos por cada caja de banano exportada desde Colombia, sino que los llamaban para “solucionar problemas” en las plantaciones del banano,equivalente de “neutralizar ” el problema. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
