Keeping People Oppressed/Preventing Revolution

Keeping People Oppressed/Preventing Revolution

In essence,  there is part of the population that is living well because of their control of assets and people. The people whose assets and income have been reallocated don’t like this and thus there is the threat of revolution— overturning the minority in benefit of the majority.  This is prevented in a number of ways.

A principal way— certainly a very clear way— of keeping people oppressed and unable to move to a situation that might be characterized as democratic, is terrorizing the subject population, including murder and torture. Especially important is killing leaders of the subject population(s) or otherwise keeping the leaders as a source of  unrest (by such means as imprisonment, exile, or bribery)

The 1981 Murder of 35 Students in One Iraqi High School by Hussein Secret Police (for Painting Anti-Government Graffiti) Now Remembered by Relatives and Friends Peter Finn (Washington Post, November 1, 2003. You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the Post.)

Politicians, Many Others Killed in Guatemala: Resurgence of Military Worried About Being Brought to Trial for Past Killings, Drug Organizations, Ineffectual Judicial System Blamed Mary Jordan  (Washington Post, October 26, 2003. You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the Post.) 

Iraqis Break Silence About Secret Graves  Scott Wilson (Washington Post, May 5, 2003. You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the WP.)

Photo: Andrea Bruce Woodall/Washington Post

Some Iraqis who lost loved ones during the rule of Saddam Hussein gather around bones found in a mass grave in the town of Hilla

Tortured, Brother Executed, Son Shot, Woman Now Lives in Abandoned Baath Party Headquarters  About Iraq. The headline describes the article.

At the Heart of Rwanda's Horror: General's History Offers Clues to the Roots of Genocide.  Emily Wax (Washington Post, Sept.20, 2002. You will leave this site.)

Torture, A Ghost in Mexico's Closet. Forced Confession Highlights Obstacles to Ending Legacy of Abuse  Kevin Sullivan (Washington Post June 2, 2002 You will leave this site and be required to register [one time only] with the Post.) This article is a good examination of a specific case of torture. In addition, there is an excellent series by the Washington Post on the "rule of law" in Mexico-- actually the lack thereof-- which can be accessed from this page.

Mexico: Torture Cases Calling Out for Justice

Mugabe's Youth Group, Ostensibly Designed to Fight Poverty, In Fact Terrorizes Zimbabweans--Some Group Members, Remorseful, Flee to South Africa Ginger Thompson (New York Times, April 10, 2003. You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the NYT.) Green Bombers Rape Daughters of Zimbabwean Political Opponents as Political Move to Intimidate IRIN (April 20, 2003)

One favorite way  of maintaining oppression is to stay in power for a long time, frequently by manipulating or subverting an ostensibly democratic legal framework.

Election fraud/rigged elections is a principal way of staying in power. This method has just been used by the Nigerian government.  Nigerian President Declared Winner Amid Cries of Fraud  Somini Sengupta (New York Times, April 23, 2003. You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the NYT.)

For example, in Kenya, Moi maintained control for many years. As Moi Prepares to Leave, Many Kenyans Dare to Dream  Emily Wax (Washington Post, November 19, 2002. You will leave this site.)

Sometimes legitimate regimes take power. The response of harmful economic regimes will be to try to maintain its sources of power, in preparation for a counter-revolution. Liberia, Serbia (and Iraq) are examples.

Liberian Ex-President Taylor Exerts Control From Nigeria  Emily Wax Washington Post, September 10, 2003. (You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the Post.) This article illustrates how tenaciously the government apparatus--leaders and followers-- that oppresses people tries to maintain itself in power.

Photo: AP/Schalk Van Zuydam

Liberian government soldiers continue to take orders from exiled leader Charles Taylor, army and government sources said.

This is also  illustrated by  events in Serbia in April 2003, where the Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated by criminal elements tied to the previous regime. See Serbia Cracks Down on Mobsters and War Crimes Suspects  Peter S. Green  (New York Times, April 18, 2003. Ubfortunately the NYT no longer permits free acess to its archives; however, the first part of this story appears below.

BELGRADE, Serbia, April 18 — Almost every day, the evening news here shows Serbian officials announcing more arrests of gangsters and criminals, with the police confiscating arms and counterfeit cash, and often arresting a complicitous policeman or two. A month after Serbia's 50-year-old reformist prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated, the government is attacking the crime gangs and accused war criminals who held this country of 7.5 million people in their thrall, worked hand in glove with the police and secret services and were the backbone of Slobodan Milosevic's murderous decade of dictatorship. More.

The U.S. occupation of Iraq will hopefully result in liberation of Iraqi people and groups previously oppressed. An actual removal from power of an oppressor is very unusual, and Iraq illustrates what can happen in such a situation. Murder of those previously in control is one strategy adopted, as is, of course, a severe reduction of the power of those previously in power..

Iraqis Exact Revenge on Baathists: Police Shrug Off Killings of 50 Hussein Loyalists by Unknown Gunmen Alan Sipress Washington Post, December 20, 2003. (You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the Post.)

In New Iraq, Sunnis Feel a Grim Future: Once Dominiant, Minority Feels Beseiged. Anthony Shadid Washington Post, December 22, 2003. (You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the Post.)

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