By sheer chance I watched “Today in history” on my local TV station today. Two events stood out from the several stories shown on this always excellent program.
The first story told of Robert Kennedy and his campaign for the Democratic nomination in opposition to LBJ’s divisive policies. Kennedy had just won the California primary when he was gunned down by Sirhan-sirhan.
“How convenient” runs shrieking through my mind, pursued by the thought police.
“What a shame” follows, her eyes red.
The second story spoke of a great political experiment that never happened. In the 70s Italy was wracked by political instability and terrorism.
The conservative Christian Democrats were the largest party followed by the Italian Communist Party. Yes, the Communists were the second largest party in Italy at the time and the largest Communist party this side of the Iron curtain.
Both parties were led by true statesmen who realized that the only way for their nation out of the crisis lay in the “historical compromise.” A national solidarity government had been agreed upon between Aldo Moro and Enrico Berlinguer and the upcoming vote of confidence in parliament was viewed with trepidation and elation.
Though the PCI had “put much water in its wine,” various parties (including the USA) were seriously disturbed by the prospect of Communists in the government of a major western ally.
The vote of confidence was never held. A larger event captured the public’s attention. Aldo Moro of the CDP was kidnapped and his bullet-ridden body found three weeks later.
The Red Brigades claimed credit but it was their high-water mark. A few years later it and other similar organizations around Europe were mostly discredited and dispersed.
“How convenient” strolled through my mind, followed by the tragic figures “what a shame” and “there’s another great leader shot down.” The thought police guy eventually showed up, huffing and puffing. When he caught his breath a bit, he wheezed “convenient for whom? Who do you think the Red Brigades were working for? Who was Sirhan-Sirhan?” I nodded and watched Robert and Aldo shuffle off to join Paul Wellstone, JFK, Saddat, Martin Luther, Rabin and so many others, Howie Convenient in tow.
Somewhere, a demon in my mind howled something about the greatest trick the devil ever pulled…
The material for this diary was shown on ET tv in Greece on Wed, March 16. The missed opportunities moved me to present this to you as I saw it. Cross posted at dKos
One of the few “good” guys to be targeted, King Hussein of Jordan survived double digit attempts on his life, as did Fidel Castro of Cuba. Ironic how Fidel is the last one standing.
Why, oh why do we only lose the ones we would most like to keep? I worry about Abbas and Obama.
God, this is a beautiful diary. And so sad. You are a wonderful writer, Athenian.
And the brilliant reference to “The Usual Suspects.” Woah.
Thank you!
It really is an excellent program that has often given me the inspiration to write diaries which, I’m afraid never appeared. I’ll try to do better.
OT Any chance you might swing by southern europe soon?
So. Europe? I wish! Are you getting together at all with European Kossacks?
What is the “excellent program” to which you refer?
produced by our local state owned tv network, taking events that happened on a particular day and tying them to their historical context.
I do hope to get together with the rest of the Euro Kossacks. It depends on the time and place and my finances (what else is new?)
Why not Europe? We are not that far away!
This is why I shudder and shout No! every time somebody asys RFKjr should run for office…..
Good post, I had the same questions and doubts circling in my head. But my guess is, we will never know what really happend/happens? Politics seems to be such a spider net.
Even the Assassination of McKinley by the anarchist, Czolgosz, which led to the Presidency of the progressive Teddy Roosevelt can also be blamed for setting up control of the GOP by business interests and international adventurists- McKinley was the last Civil War General to be elected president and in many ways a progressive- particularly compared to the Taftians that took over the GOP from the Charismatic TR.
Anyway, striking down the leader of an organized community always pushes that community back- either to Hobbes’ lawless state of nature or otherwise to a less lawful community- how many dictatorships or criminal regimes have followed a major assassination?
So… qui bono?
The Strong and Powerful, who would thrive in the state of nature. Contempt for institutions and laws is contempt for the weak- women, children, the old, the poor and etc. Whether “leftist” or “rightist” political assassins have a common thread- rage at what they see as an imposition of the state or society which is “taking” their “natural” power. Ghandi’s assassin was horrified at loosing his advantage of caste. Czolgosz was horrified at the thought of the law reducing the power of worker’s collectives (made up of the “best” workers of course.) Of course, this makes assassination a legitimate political act. For as Hobbes notes, any man may reject the social compact if his entry into it was based solely on the fear that they would be killed if they did not. Having done this, a man becomes an outlaw and declares a state of war (nature) exists between himself and all other men. Assassins are those that believe they or their cause will triumph in the state of nature. In other words they seek to become the new state. While as individuals they are often not successful- their agenda often is- a return to a state of nature that rewards strength and recognizes depredation as a virtue.
Anyone care to consider, in light of this analysis, Bush’s love of “disrupting” things because “liberty” will out and give the “deserving” what they deserve? Bush is an assassin- an assassin of Liberty for the weak and all those who would rely on the rule of law or the social contract to order their lives. He believes that not only is the possibility of taking a thing moral justification for the taking- but that it is a moral imperative to take from the undeserving and so place resources in the “best” hands. In other words his god is Mammon.
Helps no one.
Correlation does not prove causation. It is so tempting, and ironically comforting, to assume that there is a purpose, and order, however perverted, behind A Series Of Unfortunate Events. The world seems less random if the good and bad in it are the result of purposeful activity.
There are crazy people in the world who do random things. There is a lot of violence in the world, most especially in American society.
Occam’s Razor is still the most useful tool here. To assume an ongoing, continuous monstrous conspiracy is to submit to magical thinking and to avoid dealing with the world.
Not to say that conspiracies don’t happen (the US government has certainly committed its share of documented assassinations), but that doesn’t automatically mean a collection of similar events is the result of a conspiracy.
We tend to see patterns everywhere, it is part of our evolutionary makeup. As intelligent beings and responsible members of society, skepticism should be our default position.
but skepticism cuts both ways my friend.
And it is not an idle surmise to think the same people could have been behind both Kennedy assassinations, or even MLK.
Skepticism involves both a refusal to swallow the offical line on these matters without further investigation AND an unwillingness to assume connections without evidence.
Questioning is one thing, assuming is another.
It is a good thing to keep an open mind, but not so open that one’s brains fall out.
most of the Greek Skeptics were assholes.
I never get invited to those kind of parties.