It’s not simply because they were branching out and playing with different styles. I mean that’s true and they were, but it was such a masterpiece (not being hyperbolic) because they damn near mastered the styles they were playing. The Magnificent Seven is as good as any funk jam from the late 70s. Junco Partner would be brilliant dub without the vocals, but the vocals just give it that much more depth. Somebody Got Murdered is a perfect Clash song…from 1978. You can draw a straight line from One More Time and its Dub to Rancid’s Life Won’t Wait. And on and on and on. I hated this album when I was 16 for not being pUnK eNuFF. Now, at 42, it’s one of the best pieces of music I’ve ever listened to.
I was listening to this in my office today and felt compelled to discuss it with someone. None of my workmates know what Sandinista is.
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, so please let me know if there's a better sub for this question!
I was watching an old 1985 PBS News Hour Interview of Fidel Castro which includes a response interview at the end by Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth W. Dam. In his response, Dan states that the US was financially supporting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua for a time before later turning against them and supporting the Contras.
Maybe I just overlooked something? But I've tried googling this and reading wikipedia articles on it, and I'm only seeing information on the Iran-Contra affair and nothing about the supposed US support of the Sandinistas.
So, my question is this: is Dan telling the truth about US support of the Sandinistas? And if so, does anyone have suggestions on where can I learn more about this?
Thanks so much!! :)
Ostensibly, the reason the US-backed Contra terrorism campaign took place in Nicarauga in the early 80s is because the US was trying to prevent the spread of communism into Central America.
Now, a few questions:
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If the fight against communism really was the reason the campaign took place (I am not convinced it was), what was the goal of the Contras' terror campaign? What were they trying to accomplish? How exactly was their terror campaign supposed to help topple the sandinista government?
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How exactly was it necessary for the Contras to reach the extremes of the below in reaching the goal of toppling the sandinista government? How did that help accomplish the goal? Did the contras just go off script here? I mean, what the actual fk?
"I don't mean to abuse you with verbal violence, but you have to understand what your government and its agents are doing. They go into villages, they haul out families. With the children forced to watch they castrate the father, they peel the skin off his face, they put a grenade in his mouth and pull the pin. With the children forced to watch they gang-rape the mother, and slash her breasts off. And sometimes for variety, they make the parents watch while they do these things to the children.
This is nobody's propaganda. There have been over 100,000 American witnesses for peace who have gone down there and they have filmed and photographed and witnessed these atrocities immediately after they've happened, and documented 13,000 people killed this way, mostly women and children. These are the activities done by these contras. The contras are the people president Reagan calls `freedom fighters'." (Source: https://ia802709.us.archive.org/32/items/SecretWarsOfTheCIAJohnStockwell/The%20secret%20wars%20of%20the%20CIA%20-%20John%20Stockwell.pdf)
