Friday, May 7, 2010

The Uribe English Dictionary

James Petras is a LatAm commentator with whom I agree and disgree in turns, but this time he's hit the nail on the head in an article on Colombia that's smart as a whip. Part of the text is devoted to definitions of words and phrases according to the government of Álvaro Uribe. Here are just a few as tasters:

  • Terrorist: "This is a person or persons who fail to understand that the road to peace is through billions spent on warplanes, helicopter gun ships, military bases and subcontracting military advisers and mercenaries."
  • Enemies of peace talks: "...those human rights groups who oppose killing adversaries and who propose dialogues instead of monologues are the enemies of peace."
  • Prosperity: "...poverty, unemployment and low wages are the price of democracy and prosperity … but only the workers and peasants pay the price and only the rich prosper."
  • Sovereignty: "....ceding territory to a foreign imperial power to build seven military bases operating with their own laws and jurisdiction is the new definition of sovereignty."
  • Subversion: ".... humanitarian accords and initiatives for peace are pretexts for subversion; their advocates know in advance they will be rejected by the State. Instead, dehumanizing the enemy and the advocates of peace facilitates the bombing of subversive villages, the ‘real’ enemies of peace."

Go read the whole thing yourself. The link is right here.