versión en español abajo

by Noam Chomsky
July 9, 200

June 2009 was marked by a number of significant events, including two elections in the Middle East: in Lebanon, then Iran. The events are significant, and the reactions to them, highly instructive.

The election in Lebanon was greeted with euphoria. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman gushed that he is “a sucker for free and fair elections,” so “it warms my heart to watch” what happened in Lebanon in an election that “was indeed free and fair, not like the pretend election you are about to see in Iran, where only candidates approved by the Supreme Leader can run. No, in Lebanon it was the real deal, and the results were fascinating: President Barack Obama defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.” Crucially, “a solid majority of all Lebanese — Muslims, Christians and Druse — voted for the March 14 coalition led by Saad Hariri,” the US-backed candidate and son of the murdered ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, so that “to the extent that anyone came out of this election with the moral authority to lead the next government, it was the coalition that wants Lebanon to be run by and for the Lebanese — not for Iran, not for Syria and not for fighting Israel.” We must give credit where it is due for this triumph of free elections (and of Washington): “Without George Bush standing up to the Syrians in 2005 — and forcing them to get out of Lebanon after the Hariri killing — this free election would not have happened. Mr. Bush helped create the space. Power matters. Mr. Obama helped stir the hope. Words also matter.”

Two days later Friedman’s views were echoed by Eliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign relations, formerly a high official of the Reagan and Bush I administrations. Under the heading “Lebanon’s Triumph, Iran’s Travesty,” Abrams compared these “twin tests of [US] efforts to spread democracy to the Muslim world.” The lesson is clear: “What the United States should be promoting is not elections, but free elections, and the voting in Lebanon passed any realistic test. … the majority of Lebanese have rejected Hezbollah’s claim that it is not a terrorist group but a ‘national resistance’ … The Lebanese had a chance to vote against Hezbollah, and took the opportunity.”

Reactions were similar throughout the mainstream. There are, however, a few flies in the ointment.

The most prominent of them, apparently unreported in the US, is the actual vote. The Hezbollah-based March 8 coalition won handily, by approximately the same figure as Obama vs. McCain in November 2008, about 54% of the popular vote, according Ministry of Interior figures. Hence by the Friedman-Abrams argument, we should be lamenting Ahmadinejad’s defeat of President Obama, and the “moral authority” won by Hezbollah, as “the majority of Lebanese … took the opportunity” to reject the charges Abrams repeats from Washington propaganda.

Like others, Friedman and Abrams are referring to representatives in Parliament. These numbers are skewed by the confessional voting system, which sharply reduces the seats granted to the largest of the sects, the Shi’ites, who overwhelmingly back Hizbollah and its Amal ally. But as serious analysts have pointed out, the confessional ground rules undermine “free and fair elections” in even more significant ways than this. Assaf Kfoury observes that they leave no space for non-sectarian parties and erect a barrier to introducing socioeconomic policies and other real issues into the electoral system. They also open the door to “massive external interference,” low voter turnout, and “vote-rigging and vote-buying,” all features of the June election, even more so than before. Thus in Beirut, home of more than half the population, less than a fourth of eligible voters could vote without returning to their usually remote districts of origin. The effect is that migrant workers and the poorer classes are effectively disenfranchised in “a form of extreme gerrymandering, Lebanese style,” favoring the privileged and pro-Western classes.

In Iran, the electoral results issued by the Interior Ministry lacked credibility both by the manner in which they were released and by the figures themselves. An enormous popular protest followed, brutally suppressed by the armed forces of the ruling clerics. Perhaps Ahmadinejad might have won a majority if votes had been fairly counted, but it appears that the rulers were unwilling to take that chance. From the streets, correspondent Reese Erlich, who has had considerable experience with popular uprisings and bitter repression in US domains, writes that “It’s a genuine Iranian mass movement made up of students, workers, women, and middle class folks” — and possibly much of the rural population. Eric Hooglund, a respected scholar who has studied rural Iran intensively, dismisses standard speculations about rural support for Ahmadinejad, describing “overwhelming” support for Mousavi in regions he has studied, and outrage over what the large majority there regard as a stolen election.

It is highly unlikely that the protest will damage the clerical-military regime in the short term, but as Erlich observes, it “is sowing the seeds for future struggles.”

As in Lebanon, the electoral system itself violates basic rights. Candidates have to be approved by the ruling clerics, who can and do bar policies of which they disapprove. And though repression overall may not be as harsh as in the US-backed dictatorships of the region, it is ugly enough, and in June 2009, very visibly so.

One can argue that Iranian “guided democracy” has structural analogues in the US, where elections are largely bought, and candidates and programs are effectively “vetted” by concentrations of capital. A striking illustration is being played out right now. It is hardly controversial that the disastrous US health system is a high priority for the public, which, for a long time, has favored national health care, an option that has been kept off the agenda by private power. In a limited shift towards the public will, Congress is now debating whether to allow a public option to compete with insurers, a proposal with overwhelming popular support. The opposition, who regard themselves as free market advocates, charge that the proposal would be unfair to the private sector, which will be unable to compete with a more efficient public system. Though a bit odd, the argument is plausible. As economist Dean Baker points out, “We know that private insurers can’t compete because we already had this experiment with the Medicare program. When private insurers had to compete on a level playing field with the traditional government-run plan they were almost driven from the market.” Savings from a government program would be even greater if, as in other countries, the government were permitted to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical corporations, an option supported by 85% of the population but also not on the agenda. “Unless Congress creates a serious public plan,” Baker writes, Americans “can expect to be hit with the largest tax increase in the history of the world — all of it going into the pockets of the health care industry.” That is a likely outcome, once again, in the American form of “guided democracy.” And it is hardly the only example.

While our thoughts are turned to elections, we should not forget one recent authentically “free and fair” election in the Middle East region, in Palestine in January 2006, to which the US and its allies at once responded with harsh punishment for the population that voted “the wrong way.” The pretexts offered were laughable, and the response caused scarcely a ripple on the flood of commentary on Washington’s noble “efforts to spread democracy to the Muslim world,” a feat that reveals impressive subordination to authority.

No less impressive is the readiness to agree that Israel is justified in imposing a harsh and destructive siege on Gaza, and attacking it with merciless violence using US equipment and diplomatic support, as it did last winter. There of course is a pretext: “the right to self-defense.” The pretext has been almost universally accepted in the West, though Israeli actions are sometimes condemned as “disproportionate.” The reaction is remarkable, because the pretext collapses on the most cursory inspection. The issue is the right TO USE FORCE in self-defense, and a state has that right only if it has exhausted peaceful means. In this case, Israel has simply refused to use the peaceful means that have readily available. All of this has been amply discussed elsewhere, and it should be unnecessary to review the simple facts once again.

Once again relying on the impunity it receives as a US client, Israel brought the month of June 2009 to a close by enforcing the siege with a brazen act of hijacking. On June 30, the Israeli navy hijacked the Free Gaza movement boat “Spirit of Humanity” — in international waters, according to those aboard — and forced it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The boat had left from Cyprus, where the cargo was inspected: it consisted of medicines, reconstruction supplies, and toys. The human rights workers aboard included Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire and former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was sent to Ramleh prison in Israel — apparently without a word from the Obama administration. The crime scarcely elicited a yawn — with some justice, one might argue, since Israel has been hijacking boats travelling between Cyprus and Lebanon for decades, kidnapping and sometimes killing passengers or sending them in Israeli prisons without charge where they join thousands of others, in some cases held for many years as hostages. So why even bother to report this latest outrage by a rogue state and its patron, for whom law is a theme for 4th of July speeches and a weapon against enemies?

Israel’s hijacking is a far more extreme crime than anything carried out by Somalis driven to piracy by poverty and despair, and destruction of their fishing grounds by robbery and dumping of toxic wastes — not to speak of the destruction of their economy by a Bush counter-terror operation conceded to have been fraudulent, and a US-backed Ethiopian invasion. The Israeli hijacking is also in violation of a March 1988 international Convention on safety of maritime navigation to which the US is a party, hence required by the Convention to assist in enforcing it. Israel, however, is not a party — which, of course, in no way mitigates the crime or the obligation to enforce the Convention against violators. Israel’s failure to join is particularly interesting, since the Convention was partially inspired by the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985. That crime ranks high in Israel and the West among terrorist atrocities — unlike Israel’s US-backed bombing of Tunis a week earlier, killing 75 people, as usual with no credible pretext, but again tolerated under the grant of impunity for the US and its clients.

Possibly Israel chose not to join the Convention because of its regular practice of hijacking boats in international waters at that time. Also worth investigating in connection with the June 2009 hijacking is that since 2000, after the discovery of apparently substantial reserves of natural gas in Gaza’s territorial waters by British Gas, Israel has been steadily forcing Gazan fishing boats towards shore, often violently, ruining an industry vital to Gaza’s survival. At the same time, Israel has been entering into negotiations with BG to obtain gas from these sources, thus stealing the meager resources of the population it is mercilessly crushing.

The Western hemisphere also witnessed an election-related crime at the month’s end. A military coup in Honduras ousted President Manuel Zelaya and expelled him to Costa Rica. As observed by economist Mark Weisbrot, an experienced analyst of Latin American affairs, the social structure of the coup is “a recurrent story in Latin America,” pitting “a reform president who is supported by labor unions and social organizations against a mafia-like, drug-ridden, corrupt political elite who is accustomed to choosing not only the Supreme Court and the Congress, but also the president.”

Mainstream commentary described the coup as an unfortunate return to the bad days of decades ago. But that is mistaken. This is the third military coup in the past decade, all conforming to the “recurrent story.” The first, in Venezuela in 2002, was supported by the Bush administration, which, however, backed down after sharp Latin American condemnation and restoration of the elected government by a popular uprising. The second, in Haiti in 2004, was carried out by Haiti’s traditional torturers, France and the US. The elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was spirited to Central Africa and kept at a safe distance from Haiti by the master of the hemisphere.

What is novel in the Honduras coup is that the US has not lent it support. Rather, the US joined with the Organization of American States in opposing the coup, though with a more reserved condemnation than others, and with no any action, unlike the neighboring states and much of the rest of Latin America. Alone in the region, the US has not withdrawn its ambassador, as did France, Spain and Italy along with Latin American states.

It was reported that Washington had advance information about a possible coup, and tried to prevent it. It surpasses imagination that Washington did not have close knowledge of what was underway in Honduras, which is highly dependent on US aid, and whose military is armed, trained, and advised by Washington. Military relations have been particularly close since the 1980s, when Honduras was the base for Reagan’s terrorist war against Nicaragua.

Whether this will play out as another chapter of the “recurrent story” remains to be seen, and will depend in no small measure on reactions within the United States.

Fuente: Noam Chomsky

Una temporada de parodias

Algunos de los recientes episodios que conmovieron el mundo a través de las noticias –las elecciones en Líbano e Irán, el golpe de Estado en Honduras– han generado reacciones sobre las que vale la pena detenerse. Incluso, la falta de reacción frente a otros casos, como el secuestro de una embarcación por parte de Israel, también tiene mucho que decir.

por Noam Chomsky

Las elecciones en Líbano e Irán y el golpe de Estado en Honduras son importantes no sólo inherentemente sino también por las reacciones internacionales que han suscitado. La ausencia de reacción ante un acto de piratería israelí en el Mediterráneo es un pie de página…

El Líbano. Las elecciones del 7 de junio en el Líbano fueron recibidas con euforia por la corriente principal de opinión pública.

“Me encantan las elecciones libres y justas”, escribió el 10 de junio el columnista del New York Times Thomas Friedman–. “En Líbano, fue algo genuino, y los resultados fueron fascinantes: el presidente Barack Obama derrotó al presidente iraní Mahmud Ahmadinejad”, apuntó.

Crucialmente, “una sólida mayoría de todos los libaneses –musulmanes, cristianos y drusos– votó por la coalición del 14 de Marzo encabezada por Saad Hariri”, candidato respaldado por Estados Unidos e hijo del asesinado ex primer ministro Rafik Hariri.

Debemos dar crédito a quien se lo merece por este triunfo de elecciones libres (y de Washington): “Si George Bush no se hubiera enfrentado a los sirios en 2005 –forzándolos a salir del Líbano después del asesinato de Hariri– estas elecciones libres no hubieran sucedido”, escribió Friedman. “Bush creó el espacio (durante su discurso en El Cairo), Obama ayudó a avivar la esperanza”, precisó.

Dos días después, los puntos de vista de Friedman tuvieron eco en una columna de opinión del Times escrita por Elliot Abrams, reconocido integrante del Consejo de Relaciones Exteriores de Estados Unidos que anteriormente fue funcionario de alto rango en las administraciones de los presidentes Ronald Reagan y George Bush hijo: “La votación en el Líbano pasó cualquier prueba realista (…). Los libaneses tuvieron la oportunidad de votar contra Hizbollah y la aprovecharon”.

Cualquier “prueba realista”, no obstante, podría incluir la votación real. La coalición 8 de Marzo, basada en Hizbollah, ganó aproximadamente con la misma proporción que Obama contra McCain en noviembre, con cerca del 54 por ciento del voto popular, según cifras del Ministerio del Interior libanés.

Por consiguiente, según el argumento Friedman-Abrams, deberíamos estar lamentando la victoria de Ahmadinejad sobre Obama.

Al igual que otros, Friedman y Abrams se están refiriendo a los representantes del Parlamento. Estas cifras son tergiversadas por el sistema de votación confesional de Líbano, que reduce drásticamente el número de asientos otorgados a la más grande de las sectas, los chiítas, que respaldan abrumadoramente a Hizbollah y a su aliado Amal.

Sin embargo, como lo han señalado algunos analistas de los más serios, las reglas fundamentales “confesionales” de Líbano afectan negativamente “las elecciones libres y justas” en formas aún más importantes. El analista político Assaf Kfoury observa que las reglas fundamentales no dejan espacio para los partidos no sectarios y erigen una barrera que evita la introducción de políticas socioeconómicas y otros temas reales en el sistema electoral.

Para Kfoury, esas reglas abren la puerta a “interferencia externa masiva”, menor participación de votantes y “manipulación y compra de votos”, todo ello peculiaridades de las elecciones de junio, aún más que antes.

Por tanto, en Beirut, la capital que alberga a casi la mitad de la población del Líbano, menos de una cuarta parte de los votantes elegibles pudo votar sin regresar a sus normalmente remotos distritos de origen. El efecto es que los trabajadores migrantes y las clases más pobres efectivamente son privados de sus derechos civiles en “una forma extremadamente injusta, al estilo libanés”, favoreciendo las clases privilegiadas y pro occidentales.

Irán. Al igual que el Líbano, el propio sistema electoral de Irán viola derechos básicos. Los candidatos deben ser aprobados por clérigos gobernantes, facultados para prohibir políticas con las que discrepan, y de hecho lo hacen.

Los resultados electorales del Ministerio del Interior de Irán carecieron de credibilidad tanto por la forma en que fueron publicados como por el mismo resultado, disparando una enorme protesta popular brutalmente reprimida por las fuerzas Aarmadas de los clérigos gobernantes. Tal vez Ahmadinejad pudo haber ganado la mayoría si los votos hubieran sido contabilizados justamente, pero los gobernantes aparentemente no estaban dispuestos a arriesgarse.

Desde las calles de Teherán, la corresponsal Reese Erlich escribió: “Es un genuino movimiento de masas iraní integrado por estudiantes, trabajadores, mujeres y gente de clase media” y, posiblemente, la mayoría de la población rural.

Eric Hooglund, catedrático y experto en Irán rural, describe un respaldo “abrumador” para el candidato opositor Mir Husein Musavi entre la gente de las regiones que ha estudiado, y un “ultraje moral palpable por lo que llegó a creerse como el robo de su elección”.

Es altamente improbable que las protestas dañen al régimen clerical-militar a corto plazo pero, como observa Erlich, “está sembrando las semillas para luchas futuras”.

Israel-Palestina. No deberíamos olvidar unas elecciones auténticamente “libres y justas” realizadas recientemente en Oriente Medio –en Palestina, en enero de 2006, ante las que Estados Unidos y sus aliados respondieron castigando a la población que votó “equivocadamente”–.

Israel impuso sitio a Gaza y, el invierno pasado, atacó sin misericordia.

Apoyándose en la impunidad que recibe como cliente de Estados Unidos, Israel ha reforzado una vez más su bloqueo secuestrando a Espíritu de Humanidad, embarcación del movimiento Gaza Libre, en aguas internacionales, y forzándolo a atracar en el puerto israelí de Ashdod.

La embarcación había salido de Chipre, donde se inspeccionó el cargamento: medicinas, materiales de reconstrucción y juguetes. Entre los defensores de derechos humanos a bordo se encontraba la ganadora del Premio Nobel Mairead Maguire y la ex congresista norteamericana Cynthia McKinney.

El crimen a duras penas evocó un bostezo –con cierta justicia, se podría argumentar, dado que durante décadas Israel ha estado secuestrando botes que viajan entre Chipre y Líbano–. Entonces, ¿para qué molestarse en reportar este último ultraje de un Estado bribón y su jefe?

Honduras. Centroamérica también escenifica un crimen relacionado con elecciones. Un golpe militar en Honduras ha depuesto al presidente Manuel Zelaya y lo ha expulsado del país.

El golpe repite lo que el analista en asuntos latinoamericanos Mark Weisbrot llama “una historia recurrente en Latinoamérica”, enfrentando a “un presidente reformista respaldado por sindicatos laborales y organizaciones sociales con una elite política corrupta, mafiosa, gobernada por las drogas, acostumbrada a escoger no sólo la Suprema Corte y el Congreso sino también al presidente.

La corriente principal de opinión pública describe al golpe como un desafortunado regreso a los malos días de hace décadas. Pero eso es equívoco. Se trata del tercer golpe de Estado en la última década, todos ellos conformando la “historia recurrente”.

El primero, en Venezuela en 2002, fue respaldado por la administración de Bush que, empero, se retractó luego de agudas críticas latinoamericanas y de la restauración del gobierno elegido a través de manifestaciones populares.

El segundo, en Haití en 2004, se concretó a manos de los torturadores tradicionales del país, Francia y Estados Unidos. El presidente electo, Jean Bertrand Aristide, fue llevado en secreto a África Central.

Lo novedoso del golpe en Honduras es que Washington no lo ha respaldado. En cambio, Estados Unidos se unió a la OEA y se opuso a la toma de poder, aunque vociferó una condena más suave que otros, y no ha actuado al respecto. Contrariamente a lo que han hecho países vecinos, Francia, España e Italia, Estados Unidos no ha retirado su embajador.

Sobrepasa la imaginación que Washington no tuviera conocimiento anticipado de lo que se fraguaba en Honduras, país altamente dependiente de la asistencia estadounidense y cuyo ejército es armado, entrenado y asesorado por Estados Unidos.

Las relaciones militares han sido estrechas desde la década de los ’80, cuando Honduras fue base de la guerra terrorista del presidente Reagan contra Nicaragua. Que la “historia recurrente” se repita una vez más depende en gran medida de las reacciones dentro de Estados Unidos.

Noam Chomsky. Profesor emérito de Lingüística y Filosofía en el Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), en Cambridge, Estados Unidos

Traducción: La Voz del Interior