Saturday, December 15, 2007

Simón Bolivar - the Best Hero India Never Had

There once was a man who stood up for his people, long before Indians did, to liberate them from European rule:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivar

This man who was a George Washington for an entire continent, was better than Nehru and Gandhi put together.

Let us consider how India might benefit from Bolivarianism, and also how it might align with the contemporary inheritors of Bolivar's struggle.

Note that while Bolivar's name is quoted by Castro and in other Latin communist circles, neither he nor his revolution were communist, but rather nationalist in vision, and of course much before the time of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin. This is probably the reason that Indian communists won't ever mention Bolivar's name, even though they'll loudly clamour in knee-jerk support of Castro. You see, Indian commies only exclusively focus their anti-imperialist rhetoric and ire against Washington DC, and never against Europe. Hence, the Indian communists' exclusive fixation with Castro in his standoff with the USA, and reciprocal Atlanticist support for Indian communists. But Bolivar's struggle was before America's coalescence and was specifically against Spanish colonialism, and thus hits against an area that Indian communists are particularly weak on.

We therefore need to explore and consider the history, legacy and direction of Bolivarianism. This man helped to free an entire continent, and is well-remembered for it.

He was the first man to strike a blow against Atlanticism, in the service of freedom for his people. India could have benefited from a man like this -- and still can today.

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