Dear Colleague:
The world's left-wing cultural imperialists are pressuring Nicaraguans to
allow the killing of their children, but so far, so good.
Steven W. Mosher
President
PRI Weekly Briefing
23 February 2007
Vol. 9, No. 8
Europe's Cultural Imperialism
By Joseph A. D'Agostino
Last October, Nicaragua's congress unanimously passed a bill outlawing all
abortions in that small Central American nation. Nicaragua's
then-president signed it into law, and the current president supports it.
In fact, the current president announced his support for the law before
the election, and the Nicaraguan people apparently liked what they heard.
The law closed a loophole for "therapeutic abortions" that was, of course,
being used to justify abortions of all kinds--even though, with modern
technology, there is never a need for direct abortion to save a mother's
life.
This display of republican self-government and due process for the
protection of unborn children in a country with a recent history of
dictatorship and lack of respect for human life pleases many. Even those
who don't share Nicaraguans' opposition to abortion could react by
admiring such a democratic process and respecting this Latin people's
beliefs about children and motherhood.
After all, Western leftists talk incessantly about respecting other
cultures, the self-determination of all peoples, the importance of Western
nations refraining from meddling in the internal affairs of small
countries, the evils of imperialism including economic and cultural
imperialism, and the great undesirability of the world's ongoing cultural
homogenization. So, surely, in the face of such a unanimous democratic
decision taken by the elected representatives of the Nicaraguan people
based on traditional Latin American culture, Western leftists are content
to leave Nicaragua alone over this issue?
Of course not. Leftists are the biggest economic and cultural
imperialists of the modern world, determined to impose their values upon
every single people and sub-group of people on the planet. Nicaragua's
pro-life law is coming under a two-pronged attack: The European Union and
other donors are threatening to cut aid to this poor country if abortion
isn't legalized, and there is the inevitable lawsuit-since it is the
practice of leftists everywhere to abrogate democracy when it suits them
and seek to overturn decisions made by elected legislators through
unelected judges.
Earlier this month, Marc Litvine, EU liaison to Nicaragua, said that
access to abortion "is linked to aid programs against poverty and to the
rights of women" and said "we hope that the new government will be capable
of opening the debate and discussing it outside the passion of the
electoral season," according to the Catholic News Agency. He labeled the
decision of the Nicaraguan congress "hurried" and added, "That's where I
see one of the contradictions of the new government; it claims to be
progressive, very modern, and it is going backwards because for us [the
pro-life law] is a step back."
It might be step back for a Europe that is fast self-exterminating through
very low birthrates, but perhaps not for a nation that wishes to survive
beyond this century. Nicaragua's total fertility rate has been dropping
but is still at a decent 3.3 children per woman. However, the United
Nations Population Division predicts that Nicaragua's birthrate will
continue to drop and go below replacement level in 20 years. What could
be more truly progressive than taking steps now to endure the survival of
your people, especially when it is so small-only 5.5 million live in this
sparsely populated nation?
Litvine later claimed he was not threatening Nicaragua on behalf of the
EU. But the mention of linkage between abortion and aid programs seemed
clear enough. The EU supposedly has no group position on abortion, but it
is constantly pressuring countries to liberalize abortion laws. "Since
the EU has no position on abortion, a representative can't express an
opinion as an EU position," notes Carlos Polo, PRI's Latin American
Director. But they do anyway, at least semi-officially.
In fact, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul could
hardly have been more clear when she said Nov. 17, 2006, after ambassadors
from European countries met with Nicaragua's president-elect, "The
international donor community made it unequivocally clear to Daniel Ortega
that there will be consequences for their future cooperation with his
country if the bill is not amended."
If the name of Daniel Ortega sounds familiar, it's because he was the
anti-American Marxist president of Nicaragua in the 1980s. After spending
years out of office, he returned to the Catholic Church, embraced the
pro-life cause, and won election again last fall. "It's funny, but when
Ortega was a godless little communist he was much more popular with the
Euro-Left than he is now that he's outlawed baby-killing. Funny that!"
posted Oliver McCarthy of London on the web this week.
In December, after Nicaragua's pro-life law was signed, EU Commissioner
Benita Ferrero-Waldner responded to a questioner deploring Nicaragua's
infringement of abortion "rights": "The Commission shares an expressed
concern related to therapeutic abortion. The Commission and States
Parties [individual EU governments] have adopted an active position in
this matter."
Last month, Wieczorek-Zeul demanded that Nicaragua's new president repeal
the new law and even endorsed efforts to get Nicaraguan courts to discard
the unanimous will of the Nicaraguan congress. "This bill violates human
rights and must be invalidated as quickly as possible," she said. "It
violates the fundamental rights of women in Nicaragua by making abortion a
criminal offense in all cases--even if the mother's life is at stake or
she has been raped. There are many civil society groups in Nicaragua who
are working against this law and who have filed a constitutional court
action. We support these organizations in their demand, together with
other international donors and the United Nations."
Yes, other international donors and the UN itself are pressuring
Nicaragua, too. What is this but cultural imperialism, backed up by
economic power?
And international so-called human rights groups are in on the act, too.
The inaptly-named Human Rights Watch called Nicaragua's pro-life law "a
direct threat to human rights." Only the conception of human rights
native to fashionable Western leftists counts.
So far, Ortega seems to be holding firm, and currently enjoys a 61%
approval rating from the Nicaraguan people. Wouldn't it be great if the
Bush Administration offered to make up for any foreign aid lost due to
Nicaragua's drive to save her children's lives? What a fine way to heal
the old split between the newly moderate Ortega and his supporters, and
our own USA.
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the
Population Research Institute.
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The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human
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counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of
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