>Has it come to this then, clapping the NYPD on the back because it has a
>better human rights record than some Latin American death squad? As a
>middle-aged, white commuter in NYC I have stood little chance of getting
>bounced around by Rudy's uniformed thugs. But there is no question that,
>during Rudy's reign, the NYPD assumed an air of swaggering arrogance that
>took a real toll of the city's quality of life for everyone.
I only lurk here and I usually find the dialogue insightful and intelligent but some of the comments in this thread have been absurd beyond belief and I feel compelled to respond. Doug, Justin and Luke have been important exceptions.
The Salvadoran death squads slaughtered over 50,000 people (there was a total of approximately 75,000 killed in all political violence during the 1980s/early 90s), and they didn't merely murder them. The death squads raped women (and sometimes men too), brutally tortured and cut out the tongues of their victims before killing them. They then left their often-dismembered bodies naked for the vultures at the garbage dump, university or on busy streets. Sometimes their victims died in pieces after having their faces carved out. Peasants in particular were targeted but many other victims included unionists, human rights and Church activists, leftist politicians, students, professors and independent journalists. It was a total war on dissent and political opposition, whether of the armed or unarmed variety.
If a Salvadoran or virtually any person from the Third World/South were to read some of these remarks s/he would likely dismiss them as the product of ignorance, self-absorption and/or utter lack of concern for the peoples of the South.
The above words in no way exonerate the NYPD or suggest they shouldn't be denounced, but some perspective is in order.
Joseph
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