> If more Americans could get unplugged from the myths which have been > used historically to engineer public acquiescence in U.S. foreign > policy, how much could that help us reform U.S. foreign policy in the > future? > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/oliver-stone-untold-history_b_2272971.html > It's a thoughtful essay but it needs expansion. Get back to why Haiti elected Arriste. My guess is he promised land reform and support for small farmers and a return to agricultural self-sufficiency at least on basic food items like rice, fruits, vegetables, chickens, etc.
That return has to start with land reform, reduction of private property, and other socialist/communist reforms like public ownership of basic resources of land, water, transportation, energy, and the infrastructure necessary to sustain society. All of that has been thwarted and prevented by the tiny landowner class of the country who also because of their wealth control the political and legal institutions of the country. So just a restitution check would do next to nothing and the UN wouldn't authorize such a solution in the first place. The standard story would be internal corruption. That same argument stalled any aid getting to the people in the first place, caused the political turmoil that could never re-established public institutions. The same dynamic was in effect in Cuba. The Cuban revolution came to confront these problems as they took over government and power. They studied their country in bureaucratic detail that only government institutions can. Who owns what and what are we going to do about it? Their answer was to nationalize large land owner property. CG _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
