Sunday, October 31, 2021

Nicaragua's Upcoming Presidential Election On "60 Minutes" & More On Nicaragua

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Dear David,

Thanks for your email.

I just got off the phone with Frances who, like you, encouraged me to watch tonight's 60 Minutes segment on Ortega and Murillo's vile dictatorship. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/nicaragua-daniel-ortega-60-minutes-video-2021-10-31/

I sometimes look back on a grim comment I made during the runup to Nicaragua's 1990 election, "If the Sandinistas don't do some serious house cleaning, they deserve to lose."

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." 

Then we have the more recent (but equally important) reworking of Lord Acton's Dictum by Eric Hoffer, "Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power" which, of course, is a truth no "true believer" will ever credit.


"How Self-Taught Philosopher-Longshoreman Eric Hoffer Judges A Government, Or A Way Of Life"

During this evening's phone call with Frances and Jimbo, I reflected on Plato's Kyklos. 

Here is the Kyklos sequence of governmental forms.  "An aristocracy is ruled by aristocratic people whose rule is guided by their rationality. The decline of aristocracy into timocracy happens when people who are less qualified to rule come to power. Their rule and decision-making is guided by honor. Timocracy devolves into oligarchy as soon as those rulers act in pursuit of wealth; oligarchy devolves into democracy when the rulers act on behalf of freedom; and lastly, democracy devolves into tyranny if rulers mainly seek power. Plato believes that having a philosopher king, and thus having an aristocratic form of government is the most desirable."[3]

The nub of our conundrum is that "anyone who wants to be president, shouldn't be." 

Of course, this lemma too is an overstatement.

But it spotlights the huge number of shitheads who seek the presidency (not to mention EVERYONE in the Republican party, with the exception of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.  (Another overstatement, but not by much.)

Decades ago, I remember being struck when I came across a Thomas Merton observation, "You are fed up with words and I don’t blame you. I am nauseated by them sometimes.  I am also, to tell the truth, nauseated by ideals and with causes.  This sounds like heresy, but I think you will understand what I mean.  It is so easy to get engrossed with ideas and slogans and myths that in the end one is left holding the bag, empty, with no trace of meaning left in it.  And then the temptation is to yell louder than ever in order to make meaning be there again by magic..."

Thomas Merton: "Adolf Eichmann, Sanity and Normality"


Speaking of loving one's servitudes:

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On Sun, Oct 31, 2021 at 9:31 PM David Stoltze <dr.stoltze@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Amy and friends,
I will not likely be able to attend an event on 7 Nov, as I live in a small city in Canada nowadays. I'm very concerned about the Nica situation. In particular, I have a couple of friends who "don't scare easily" tell me that they are VERY concerned for their own personal security. They also asked me to discontinue my monthly contributions to the NGO I've been helping support, as it has been deemed an "enemy of the state" and contributions are being confiscated by the government.
I would very much like to contact these people, but they have instructed me not to and I don't want to recklessly endanger them. Do you have some sort of update summary on some of the people and organizations being supported by the solidarity movement?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sinceramente, David Stoltze
 
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Amy Bank 
Date: Sun, Oct 31, 2021 at 12:15 PM
Subject: 🇳🇮TONIGHT on "60 Minutes" & More on Nicaragua 🇳🇮
To: Amy Bank


Dear Friends of Nicaragua 🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮

Today is Halloween, otherwise known as one week before the Voting Farse in Nicaragua on Sunday, Nov. 7
A lot has happened and a lot is going on this coming week and weekend, and of course there will be a lot going on after Nov. 7 as well, in the aftermath, and looking towards the future. 

I will write a more complete update in a few days. This is a very quick note to let you know of upcoming events this week. 

It’s very important to get the word get out about the fraudulent elections, with both analysis and human stories so that more people are aware of and moved  to care about Nicaragua. 

Tonight on “60 Minutes” (CBS, 7-8pm ET/PT), Victoria Cárdenas and Berta Valle, wives of political prisoners (and formerly presidential hopefuls) Juan Sebastian Chamorro and Félix Maradiaga, respectively, will speak about the situation in Nicaragua and the situation of political prisoners. The piece is called “Democracy Lost”. Here’s a little snippet on YouTube. Set your DVR if you will be otherwise occupied at that time, and let other folks know. 

Thursday, Nov. 4: Live webcast: Elections under Daniel Ortega: Implications for Nicaragua, Central America, and beyond. 1-2pm ET. Here is the link to register. Scroll down to see the “Register” button. It will likely be recorded and posted later on the Wilson Center website. 

International Feminist Solidarity Campaign: I will send the materials for this campaign as soon as I get them in English. It would be great if you could post them on your own social media accounts. In addition to denouncing the electoral farse and grave human rights violations in general, there is a specific focus on demanding the release of the 10 women political prisoners: #QueLasLiberen! 

World wide march: While the Nicaraguan population stays at home on voting day (unless they are obligated to go to the polls and vote by their government employers or by party officials in the neighborhood who threaten them about what will happen if they don’t vote), marches and demonstrations are being planned in dozens of cities around the world. Below is the list of events we know about being organized in the U.S. (graphics at the end). 

Most of these events are being organized by the Nicaraguan Diaspora community. If you haven’t been much in contact with the Nicaraguan community in your city, you may be a bit surprised to see how many folks are pretty right wing/conservative. That’s not universally true, and there are lots of progressives as well, but it has been quite a lesson and challenge to work across ideological lines. Politics (and democracy in general) makes strange bedfellows! 

Check to see if your city is listed, and if not, organize your own event and take a photo and send it to me and I’ll make sure it’s included in the round up of events around the globe. 

SF BAY AREA: If you are in the Bay Area, there are several events in San Francisco listed below, as well as one that I will be involved in on Sunday, November 7 in Oakland (Lake Merritt) at 11am. We will be highlighting and visibilizing the International Feminist Solidarity campaign and calling for the release of the 10 women political prisoners as well as denouncing the dictatorship and the electoral farce. We don’t have a flyer yet as we are still working out the details of exact location and logistics, so please let me know if you’d like to participate and I will send you details later in the week. 

Saturday, Nov. 6: 
  • NYC: 1pm Nicaraguan Consulate, 2pm March to UN

Sunday, Nov. 7: 
  • NYC: 3pm Times Square
  • Washington, DC: 10am OAS
  • Boston: 11am Massachusetts State House
  • Los Angeles: 10am Nicaraguan Consulate
  • San Francisco: 9am Nic Consulate, 1pm & 3pm 24th & Mission
  • Dillon, CO: 4pm
  • Miami/Sweetwater: 1pm Mass at St. Agatha Church, 2pm Rubén Darío Park
**************

Here are a couple of recent articles/publications you might be interested in that have been shared by members of this list: 
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I will be back in touch this week with more information on what is happening and what we can all do to support a return to democracy and respect for human rights in Nicaragua. 

In solidarity, 
Amy











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