| Doublespeak/ euphemism = brainwashing Nothing that happens to us as paraguayan community can be fully understood without taking into account that: --Until May 14/15, 1811 (our independence from Spain) we were under a classic visible colonialism, with occupation forces. --Following the Triple Alliance War (1865/70) against us, and the allies withdrawal, we have an invisible neocolonialism, without occupation forces. Our own -alienated- armed & security forces play that role eversince. In between (1811/70) we were amazingly the only really independent country left in the region. Distinguished sociologists such as: Franz Fanon, Eric Fromm & Paulo Freire say that with the exception of the occupation forces, this invisible neocolonialism (expressed thru an economic control over the colonies) we suffer, rests on the same psychological factors than the old classic colonialism. These factors are: the doublespeak language or euphemism and the extremist thinking or black/white vision. (22) Euphemism, in our distorted political process, is a mental conditioner with an anesthetic effect over our minds in order to justify our dependant condition. A sampling of doublespeak language or euphemisms saturating the friendly medias to the neocolonial status in Paraguay since 1870 would be: -The neocolonial takeover of Paraguay in 1870, they called it 'liberation'. -The reactionary military revolt of 1947 against our political aperture then, they called it 'revolution'. -The former Stroessner's tyranny, they called it 'democracy without communism'. -The democratic historic Coloradismo opposing Stroessner, they called it MendezFleitismo just as a personal following to Mendez Fleitas ... -The majority Colorado movement now, they call it pejoratively Oviedismo, also just as a personal following to Gen. Oviedo. -The parliamentary-judiciary coup (march '99) they call it shamelessly 'paraguayan march'. -The parliamentary-judiciary gang devastating our country eversince, they call it 'national unity government'. -And to top it off, any attempt to normalize politically the country -thru a general amnesty and the release of political prisoners- as a priority toward pacification, they barefacedly call it 'distabilization attempt'. One of those fearful to freedom, Galaverna, direct responsible for our institutional setback in March '99, is masterminding another action against ABC Color for denouncing his gang's atrocities. He says: 'ABC seeks to destroy the institutions'. (ABC Color, Asuncion Dec. 14, 2001) Today's colonists are not only individuals but also economic groups or multinationals with their commanding voices transmitted in sophisticated coding through mass communications. I realize that more than one honest citizen in this country and abroad, could be surprised at what I've said. There's nothing strange about it; our past and consequently our present, are still being misinterpreted by writers, journalists, or some socalled 'intellectuals', most -in some way- related consciously or not to the dominant multinationals (the neocolonists) that provide publicity and easy media-access to anyone observing their vision of us, 'the developing world'. Intelligent persons though can recognize right away their semantics, keenly describing our societies as lacking in values, past and future. Obviously, our strife for freedom, seen thru the neocolonialist eyes -rightist or leftist- is merely an obscure, or at best, a not well defined dispute confined to 'factions only hungry for power'. Seemingly, there are not ideals at all in play, but 'purely selfish interests', because the native -at all levels- is 'the irretrievable instrument of blind forces'. (23) With the exception of a few independent commentators and historians, those are basically the suggested pictures about us which ordinary people can usually catch in the press or on the air, here and elsewhere. Among other patriots, my father's international portrayal -ranging from a procommunist to a CIA element- illustrates how far this sick mentality has gone in undermining our national leaderships. (24) |