On this day, 23 years ago, six Jesuit priests, their
housekeeper, and her daughter were murdered in cold blood. Soldiers of the El
Salvadorian Army stormed their home, dragged them outside, and viciously gunned them down.
Of course, few people talk about the mass murders in El Salvador
at all, let alone the November 16, 1989 massacre. El Salvador, after all, was
an American client state; it was fighting the EVIL, DREADED “Marxists”…
Or rather, that’s what the ignorant drones and/or
death squad apologists would say.
The real, and enlightened, response is “TOTAL FUCKING
BULLSHIT!”
The El Salvadorian army was nothing more than a massive mob
of mafia enforcers for the gang for the rich and powerful sociopaths
euphemistically known as the “government.”
Even worse, though the fact that the murdered Jesuits (or
really any of the El Salvadorians butchered by the army for that matter) were
neither Marists nor any sort of malevolent threat in the slightest is bad
enough, the largely unknown truth remains the real kicker.
One of the Jesuits, Father Ignacio-Martin Baro, was not just
a priest. He was also a prominent social psychologist. The most crucial aspect
of his work was the development of a concept known as liberation theology.
Father Ignacio Martin-Baro
Liberation theology, in short, was the method of people
working together to solver their own problems. They would take control of their
own lives, recognize that they are both individuals and inter-connected with
all other human beings and the world around them, and cooperate to solve
various social problems and make the world a better place.
Wow, a way of life that allows human beings people to
improve everyone’s lives by promoting peace, logic, compassion, and
cooperation… what kind of human being would possibly be against that?
Oh, right. We can’t be having this “Marxist” propaganda.
Then people will start asking questions and quickly realize that the sick,
twisted system of competition for everything (especially survival) that
inherently leads to violence, dishonesty, manipulation, lack of empathy, and
countless other social ills would have to go ASAP.
This is the true reason why the Martin-Baro, his fellow
Jesuits, and countless others were murdered. Like Archbishop Oscar Romero, who
had been murdered by the same gangsters in 1981 for trying to speak up for the
poor, they were a threat to the Social Darwinists, the authoritarians, and
(most of all) the neoliberal reactionaries, both in El Salvador and in the West
in general.
Archbishop Oscar Romero
Thankfully, the lives and deaths of the many martyrs in El
Salvador and other countries struggling against the cancer of neoliberalism
have not been in vain. Their ideas have given humanity a new path and hope, and
a massive awakening is occurring all across the world.
Rest in peace Father Martin-Baro, Archbishop Romero, and all
your friends and comrades! You have given us a great gift in the form of
inspiration and plans to save and improve our future. And for that, you have
our eternal gratitude.
