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Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

bbc.com

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Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#71

Post by dventimi »

caycep wrote: post #64
dventimi wrote: post #47

Through at least two administrations, Republican and Democrat, Bush and Obama, the U.S. has funded anti-leftist militarism in Colombia, to the military and to paramilitary groups like AUC. It's not just a fruit company and it's not just a relic from the past. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/21/co...

last 2? weren't they toppling latin American governments since Teddy Roosevelt?

Yes. That's why I wrote, "Through at least two administrations". Personally, I consider the scale of injustice in Latin America alone at the hands of U.S. policy to be vast and unsparing in the culpability it lays at the feet of every American. I recognize that not everyone will be joining me out on that limb, however, so I chose to make my opening bid smaller but more unassailable.

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#73

Post by lazide »

caycep wrote: post #64
dventimi wrote: post #47

Through at least two administrations, Republican and Democrat, Bush and Obama, the U.S. has funded anti-leftist militarism in Colombia, to the military and to paramilitary groups like AUC. It's not just a fruit company and it's not just a relic from the past. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/21/co...

last 2? weren't they toppling latin American governments since Teddy Roosevelt?

Banana republic the term was coined in 1904 - right when Teddy was in charge.

Excellent reference!

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#74

Post by kelnos »

xray2 wrote: post #50
dventimi wrote: post #47

Through at least two administrations, Republican and Democrat, Bush and Obama, the U.S. has funded anti-leftist militarism in Colombia, to the military and to paramilitary groups like AUC. It's not just a fruit company and it's not just a relic from the past. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/21/co...

[flagged]

I can't take you seriously if you think a typo invalidates someone's argument or opinion.

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#75

Post by dventimi »

Obeehhh wrote: post #61
digging wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're implying that anti-leftist isn't the same as far-right. A centrist could in theory function as an anti-leftist.

Yeah, but also anti-comunist propaganda from the cold war is still prominent, so when they say anti-leftist it feels like a justification. I'm sorry this is not my main language.

> when they say anti-leftist it feels like a justification

I wrote "anti-leftist" to be descriptive, not normative. If it wasn't clear, I aim to criticize American policy, not to praise it.

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#76

Post by dventimi »

lazide wrote: post #67
Obeehhh wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also calling it anti-leftist is just poor framing, paramilitar organizations have very close ties with the right-wing politicians here.

Uh, aren’t the paramilitaries explicitly targeting leftists? As in ‘let’s go out and murder some of those leftists’? What else could you call anti-leftist but that?

Honestly, I was confused by that myself.

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#77

Post by [deleted] »

dventimi wrote: post #47

Through at least two administrations, Republican and Democrat, Bush and Obama, the U.S. has funded anti-leftist militarism in Colombia, to the military and to paramilitary groups like AUC. It's not just a fruit company and it's not just a relic from the past. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/21/co...

[deleted]

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#78

Post by HideousKojima »

digging wrote: post #66
Obeehhh wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but also anti-comunist propaganda from the cold war is still prominent, so when they say anti-leftist it feels like a justification. I'm sorry this is not my main language.

It's fair to call that out. Anti-communist propaganda is a problem still in the US as well.

Is the mountain of skulls really propaganda?

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#79

Post by stavros »

digging wrote: post #60
Gualdrapo wrote: post #28

Allegedly also Coca-Cola, Drummond and even some local companies like Postobón have been involved with paramilitary groups and sponsored crimes against civilians - and haven't faced any consequences. But this is a good precedent.

Certain there are others. Naomi Klein wrote about Ford paying to have its own Argentine employees murdered during the junta in the 70s, apparently to prevent unionization.

What the hell kind of corporate exec goes "well, I guess I have to get them murdered, there's shareholder value to protect"?

Re: Banana giant Chiquita held liable by US court for funding paramilitaries

#80

Post by o11c »

advisedwang wrote: post #45

The Alien Tort Statue [1], the reason this case [2] is in the US at all has sometimes been used for significant environmental and social justice global legal activism. Because of this, it is in the sights of the conservative legal movement. Sadly I suspect this case may end up at the supreme court and end up another victim of the removal of redress for the evil of the powerful. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/ali…

Notable claim from part of that link: corporations are persons, but cannot be sued like a person can.
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