>>Just in from friends in Chile:
>>
>>A SMALL STEP TOWARDS JUSTICE
>>
>>Long live the Brits (But don’t tell the Irish though).
>
>This, along with the sight of all those Union Jacks being waved is
>Santiago, shown on the Six O'Clock news here, is what sticks in my craw.
>
>Can I suggest that what the British establishment is doing is betraying
>its allies of yesteryear, the better to entrench its authority today.
>Already the British govt is talking about trying Saddam Hussein and
>preparing to set a date for the Lockerbie trial.
>
>'Long live the Brits'?
>
>--
>Jim heartfield
Estimado Tom: I enclose a reply to our friend in Britain. Could you please forward it to him? Thanks a lot. Tito.
Dear Jim: We've just got your comments from a friend in Bolivia. We do apologize if our remark (long live the Brits, but don't tell the Irish though) has troubled you, but we really feel that you have missed the sarcastic underlying tone of our remark. We know very well what British imperialism has meant for many a people throughout the world, including the thousands of peruvian and bolivian soldiers that lost their lives during the British inspired War of The Pacific (1879-1883) Or the thousands of nitrate miners killed in the north of our country, either as a result of atrocious living and working conditions at Bristish owned mines, or at the hands of the Chilean army and police (financed by British capital).
We are fully aware of the role played by several Bristih government and the army in Ireland as well. Let's not forget that the British government itself was condemned for violating human rights in Northern Ireland.
In short, we have not been waving Union Jacks anywhere. We have just come back from an anti Pinochet demonstration and there were no British flags there, just the recognition that, after 25 years, a little door has been opened to millions of chileans who cannot see justice done in their own country.
Rocío and Tito Chile
Tom Kruse Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia Tel/Fax: (591-4) 248242 Email: tkruse at albatros.cnb.net