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To: GSlob
"[Pinochet] was fighting for democracy?" - Yes, for there's nothing more antidemocratic than communism.

There may not be anything more antidemocratic than communism, but there are plenty of forms of government that are equally anti-democratic.

I think General Pinochet's absolute military dictatorship where freedom of speech, the press and assembly were banned, where elections did not take place, and where political opposition was punishable by death qualifies.

If that's democratic then the word democracy has no meaning.

316 posted on 12/10/2006 3:16:12 PM PST by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: Alter Kaker

Maybe - to open your eyes - you ought to live [not as a privileged foreign guest of the government, but as a regulat Joe six pack] in some provincial place in a communist country... not many are left, but Cuba or North Korea would do. As one Solzhenitsyn said in Spain on a different, but similar, occasion: the Spain needs to be eternally grateful for having had a Franco. Other places did not have their Frankoes, and ended up much worse for it. Need I add that he was speaking from personal experience [some of which I happen to share], which experience you [as I surmise] might be deficient in?


322 posted on 12/10/2006 3:27:38 PM PST by GSlob
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To: Alter Kaker
I think General Pinochet's absolute military dictatorship where freedom of speech, the press and assembly were banned, where elections did not take place, and where political opposition was punishable by death qualifies

I think you are severely overstating the severity of his regime. There were 3,000 political deaths in two decades under Pinochet, the majority of them being Allendist loyalists in the weeks after the coup. Though not excusable, that has to be the single mildest death toll for any dictatorship or monarchy in the entire 20th century. It's also a stretch to say that Pinochet eliminated elections, when he began setting the stages for their reestablishment only 2 years after the coup. You may recall that by the mid 80's Pinochet himself voluntarily transitioned the country over to the free electoral system it has today, and stood before the electorate himself. He voluntarily stepped down after losing an election in 1988.

The "oppressed" political opposition you speak of was the Allendist faction - an openly marxist pro-Castro political party that advocated forced seizure of private property and the nationalization of industry. That's not quite the same thing as banning a legitimate minority party from the political opposition. Think more along the lines of banning the bolsheviks.

330 posted on 12/10/2006 3:43:16 PM PST by lqclamar
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