I saw an article in Upfront, today, about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold
War. This is supposed to be for young students—school kids from middle to high
school. But the idea of discussing all sides of an issue seem over. Upfront is a product of The New York Times. It is ironic that a
person who goes to that web site for this "teaching tool" finds there
is a Debate Corner, and yet that does not include anything to do
with the old Cold War or communism.
According to this article I saw, the cold war was about "repressive
communism" against "democracy" in the west. Not "communism
vs. the free market governments," but "democracy vs.
repression." I'm not interested in
defending East Germany
or the other pro-Soviet states, however this was not simply a case of black and
white. It wasn't nearly as simple as Upfront
put it so why are they feeding all this trash to students today?
To be sure Upfront
is a piece of trash. It is not educational at all . It simply spoon feeds our
young people with pro-capitalist propaganda—and it provide one and only one
point of view.
Do they mention that Portugal and Spain where under
fascist governments until the late 1970s? No not at all. Did they point out
that there was a military
coup in both Greece and Turkey
to prevent leftists governments? No, not at all. Did they point out that Salvador
Allende, the first Marxist elected in the South American hemisphere was, overthrown by a right-wing/ pro-capitalist military dictatorship? No, not
that either. So it was rather slanted and not at all in the spirit of
discussing history, but being asked to believe pure propaganda!
This article I saw insisted that after the fall of East Germany the country was reunited and a
democracy was created in the whole of Germany . Did they mention that many
East Germans felt their country
was simply annexed? ....That their factories and institutions were simply
stolen by the west? Did this article tell the children how buildings and
institutions in the East were intentionally destroyed to erase any memory of
accomplishment of East
Germany ? Did they mention that today the
former East German ruling party is now the main vote getter in East
Germany?....NOT AT ALL!
All they did was talk to people who said that they were
still amazed that they "have all this freedom they never dreamed of."
Maybe that is true of some people, certainly not everyone.
One thing certain since the end of the Cold War is that the
victors have re-written the past to make sure everyone knows who won and who
lost....bottom line...history has been REVISED and truth is not needed today in
the so-called "Western democracies."
And since the end of the Cold War, the US and its
allies have achieved a new level of arrogance that was unimaginable in the days
before 1991. Before that there was
competition between the two super powers. Now the only one left is the US, and it
just roles over any unwanted government and no on in the world can do
"jack squat" (as Chris Farley
used say).
-សតិវ អតុ
Dr. Stangelove- a movie about the cold war.
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