Pinochet Paradox

General Pinochet8217;s death was celebrated by human rights groups and several Chileans who or whose families were victims of his repressive regime.

General Pinochet8217;s death was celebrated by human rights groups and several Chileans who or whose families were victims of his repressive regime. According to an official report during the 17 years after Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected government of Marxist president Salvador Allende 3,197 people were killed, more than 30,000 were tortured, thousands were forced into exile and there were numerous disappearances.

Pinochet was arrested in London under the Torture Convention. His case reached the House of Lords whose first judgment was set aside in its subsequent historical judgment on the ground of bias on account of non-disclosure by Lord Hoffman, one of the members of the Court, of his connection with one of the parties in the case.

Pinochet was allowed to leave England and return to Chile on health grounds. In Chile he faced several prosecutions for kidnapping, torture and murder, as well as corruption-related charges and accumulation of large sums in bank accounts abroad. In the beginning, the US, because of its blind hatred of Allende and communism, fully supported Pinochet. Later, when gross human rights abuses surfaced, including the 1976 assassination in Washington of a former Chilean ambassador, and after President Carter took office US began distancing itself from Pinochet.

The paradox is that there were cheers as well as tears in Chile for Pinochet, who expressed no remorse and was unrepentant to the end for the horrendous human rights abuses during his reign. His supporters cite economic gains made during his rule. Human rights abuses hardly matter for his admirers, who do not realise that there cannot be a trade-off between economic prosperity and human rights.

This was also the mindset during the infamous June 1975 Emergency. Initially many welcomed it because there would be no strikes by trade unions, no political agitations and thereby, economic gains would result. Mrs Thatcher was 8216;greatly saddened8217; by Pinochet8217;s death. Apparently, Pinochet8217;s support for the UK during the Falkland war is all that matters for Thatcher, notwithstanding Pinochet8217;s documented brutalities. The truly sad part is that Pinochet in his death has successfully avoided being brought to justice and escaped well deserved punishment.

New Year Resolutions

Notwithstanding Robert Lynd8217;s admonition that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and undeterred by my previous fragile resolutions, these are my 2007 New Year Resolutions: An anthology of literary gems in poetry and prose which have exhilarated me over the years. A CD of my favourite jazz perennials, ranging from Satchmo, Goodman, Basie, Billie and Ellington to Dizzy, Coltrane and Branford Marsalis. An anthology of letters which will include Tagore8217;s exquisite letter to C.F. Andrews, in which Gurudev laments 8220;the unholy feast in which the West revels every moment, growing more and more bloated and red and dangerously delirious8221; and admonishes, 8220;Not for us this mad orgy of midnight, with lighted torches, but awakenment in the serene light of the morning.8221;

Another ambitious resolve is to bring out a dictionary of quotations the vast majority of which have not to my knowledge been published before. Some samples: 8220;The exhaustion of passions is the beginning of wisdom8221;, in James Hilton8217;s Shangri La. Andre Maurois8217; insight into human nature: 8220;Men fear silence as they fear solitude because it gives them a glimpse of the terror of life8217;s nothingness.8221; Peter Minard8217;s philosophic gem: 8220;Silence is not merely an absence of noise. Real silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary.8221; There are memorable quotes in The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant: 8220;Much of our moral freedom is good: it is pleasant to be relieved of theological terrors, to enjoy without qualm the pleasures that harm neither others nor ourselves, and to feel the tang of the open air upon our liberated flesh.8221; Again, 8220;Man is a moment in astronomic time, a transient guest of the earth, a spore of his species, a scion of his race.8221; This time Insha Allah I shall keep my resolutions.