Peter Tatchell Human Rights, Democracy, Global Justice, LGBTI Freedom

Thatcher Talked Freedom But Supported Tyrants

She Put Anti-Communism & Business Deals Before Human Rights

MSN UK - London - 9 April 2013 http://on-msn.com/10JCwxG

Peter Tatchell writes:

In the wake of her death, Margaret Thatcher has been hailed by President Obama as "one of the great champions of freedom and liberty." Former president, George Bush senior, added: "Margaret was, to be sure, one of the 20th century's fiercest advocates of freedom and free markets. A similar view was echoed by Chancellor Angela Merkel: "The freedom of the individual stood at the core of her beliefs.

Indeed, together with Ronald Reagan, Thatcher spearheaded the fight against communist totalitarianism. Although the break up of Soviet-era communism was largely as a result of internal contradictions and popular protests, the Iron Lady can claim some credit for challenging the Iron Curtain and halting its further advance.

Often her opposition to communism was, however, at the price of unsavoury alliances with anti-communist regimes that were far from freedom-loving. Throughout the 1980s, Thatcher colluded with the right-wing dictatorships in South Africa, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador, Indonesia and the Philippines. She and her supporters have glossed over this less than seemly side of her freedom crusade.

Ever the Cold War warrior, a countrys stance in the East versus West struggle for global hegemony was the principle basis of her foreign policy and diplomacy. She also indulged dictators if there was money to be made. Hence her love of that bastion of freedom, the House of Saud. She sold them weapons and bought their oil. It was a necessity of realpolitik, she said by way of justification. There was not a jot of concern expressed by her about the plight of women or religious minorities under the iron-fisted rule of King Fahd. Freedom for Saudi women and Christians did not concern her.

At a time when human rights organisations were condemning Saddam Husseins tyranny, her government sought to sell arms components to the Iraqi dictator in 1981. Ignoring his poison gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988, which killed at least 3,000 people, she dispatched her envoy to offer Saddam 340 million in export credits; thereby helping sustain his brutal regime and arguably helping make it possible for him to attack Kuwait and ignite the first Gulf War.

See the article here:

Thatcher Talked Freedom But Supported Tyrants