Surviving Capitalism (Not) : U.S. plan to train Indonesian elite army unit raises alarm

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

U.S. plan to train Indonesian elite army unit raises alarm

I am posting this from Daily Me (Indonesia) to avoid the necessity of registration at the LA Times.

The article illustrates several things about the US ruling class and its Empire: its hypocrisy re human rights, it ignores its own laws whenever it is necessary or even desirable, the subservience of the Indonesian government to the US Empire, and the Empire trains foreign militaries to serve the Empire--not the people of their home countries.

The Obama administration has begun negotiations with Indonesian military officials to establish a special training program for Kopassus troops despite legislation known as the Leahy Law.

Passed in 1997, the measure bars the U.S. from training foreign militaries facing accusations of human rights abuses unless officials attempt to bring all wrongdoers to justice.
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Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations who wrote the Leahy Law, said Kopassus has committed some of Indonesia's worst human rights atrocities.