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FOR THE ANTI-COMMUNISM PAGE

Middle East

Saudi Arabia
In 1953, Saudi oil field workers petitioned the oil company Aramco for "better working conditions, higher pay, and an end to the company's discriminatory hiring practices." In response, the Saudi Arabian government arrested the workers' leaders, at which point a pre-planned strike by the oil field workers occurred. Though these leaders were later pardoned, the Saudi Arabian government, in conjunction with Aramco, implemented violent measures to discipline the workers. Over 200 workers suspected of having links to communism were arrested and expelled. In 1956, after sustained protests by the leftist group NRF (National Reform Front), the government decided to suppress the protests by promoting anti-communist propaganda, canceling the municipal elections, outlawing protests and arresting the NRF leaders. Governmental opposition to communist elements within Saudi Arabia came to a head with the ascension of King Faisal to the Saudi throne, saying he would "not be lenient with any communist principle which seeps into Saudi Arabia, or with any slogans that contradict Islamic shari'a...Communism has not entered any land or country without inflicting destruction upon it." Faisal employed three strategies to weaken and discredit the growing communist influences in Saudi Arabia, namely, economic development, creating a Saudi identity, and repression of the NLF (National Liberation Front), the leading communist group in Saudi Arabia and successor to the NRF. Islam was important in legitimizing his actions and garnering wider opposition to communism. For example, Mufti 'Abd al-'Aziz Bin Baz said communists were, "more disbelieving than the Jews and the Christians, for they were atheists that do not believe in God or the Last Day." Newspapers drew anti-semitic connections from Communism to Judaism, on account of Marx's Jewish heritage. Faisal also employed surveillance, including coordination with the U.S. government, for the identification of communists or communist sympathizers. This led to mass arrests of communist sympathizers and their political repression.

The Saudi Arabian government was vehemently opposed to communism for its atheistic principles, its expansionism, and its persecution of Muslims. The country consistently provided billions of dollars of foreign aid to promote anti-communism. The Saudi government also sent Moroccan troops to fight Angola's communist insurgents in Zaire. In 1955, King Saud wrote to the United States:

"Our very special attitude towards communism is well-known to [the] US government and to [the] world. It is our interest that communism not infiltrate into any area of the Middle East. In opposing communism, we do so on basic religious belief and Islamic principle, in which we believe with all of our heart, and not to please America or western states. My position, in particular, of Moslem Arab King, servant to Holy Shrines, looked up to by 400 million Moslems in East and West, is extremely delicate and serious before God, my nation, and history."

Lebanon
Islamic clergy were influential in the formation of Lebanese political thought, especially as it relates to the policies of Hizbullah. For example, Iraqi cleric Muhammed Baqir Al-Sadr, wrote two books to counter Marxist narratives. One aimed to discredit Marxist philosophy, and the other aimed to discredit Marxist economic thought, while both reached the conclusion of Islam being a more suitable ideology for the world. Thus, it can be understood that the Islamic fundamentalist elements of the Hizbullah party in Lebanon clearly stem from an Islamic ideological opposition to Marxism.

Libya
The 1969 coup that overthrew King Idris in Libya was received well in Italy due in part to the religion-based anti-communist ideology of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya, being a former colony of Italy, maintained good relations with the Italians under the reign of King Idris, and this good relationship continued despite the regime change as the Italians viewed the revolution as nationalist, rather than communist, in nature. Quranic justifications of the revolution by the new regime further assured Italians that Libya would not align with the communist world.

Jordan
Jordanian King Hussein ibn Talal, maintained good relations with the U.S. on the basis of his anti-communism.

Europe

Turkey
In 1925, the Turkish government shut down several communist newspapers, such as Aydinhk and Yeni Diinya.

During the 1960s, the Turkish state used nationalist and Islamist youth groups to establish "Associations of the Struggle Against Communism." These associations, in conjunction with the Turkish police, were responsible for the Kanli Pazar, or "Bloody Sunday" incident in Istanbul on February 16th, 1969. Leftist student protestors clashed with police and members of the "Associations of the Struggle Against Communism", causing many injuries and two deaths. Islamist writers frequently invoked the idea that religion and communism were incompatible, and this was one of the main causes of the fighting. The Azeri immigrant community in Turkey was important in cultivating anti-communist thought, as they had experiences with Marxism. Odlu Yert and Azerbaycan, popular Azeri newspapers, frequently criticized the Soviet Union and outwardly professed their anti-communist perspective, drawing in a wide range of intellectuals from the surrounding area. The Azeri population of Turkey opposed communism primarily in the intellectual sphere, using journals and publications to criticize the Soviet Union.

South America

Chile
The Chilean Committee for Cultural Freedom, a branch of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, actively opposed the Chilean Society of Writers on the basis that it harbored pro-soviet, pro-communist sentiment. The Chilean Committee for Cultural Freedom put its members in many different media organs and social institutions in Chile to advocate against communism. Carlos Baráibar, the leader of the Chilean Committee for Cultural Freedom, frequently criticized famous communist writer and President of the Chilean Society of Writers, Pablo Neruda. In 1947, Chilean President Gabriel González Videla undertook state action to distance Chile from communism. Internationally, Chile became hostile to communist countries. Domestically, the Communist Party was outlawed and communist labor organizations were dismantled, which forced many communists, such as Pablo Neruda, to flee Chile. In 1959, the Chilean Committee for Cultural Freedom was successful in the Chilean Society of Writers board elections, replacing Neruda and his group of communist sympathizers with Alejandro Magnet, a supporter of the centrist, Christian Democrat party.

Argentina
In 1961, the American Organization for the Safeguarding of Morality were endorsed by Argentine President Arturo Frondizi, who viewed the group as a positive development in the fight against communism. Conservative, Catholic women became the foundation for the nation's anti-communist sentiment, viewing themselves as protectors of the youth against moral degeneracy. The ideas of the traditional family and of anti-communism increasingly became linked in the minds of these women, especially as the Vatican increased its anti-communist messaging. In 1951, the "League of Mothers" was created. This group of women aimed to counter the forces of liberalism and communism and to protect traditional, social institutions they viewed were under attack from communism. This group functioned as both a philanthropic organization and a sociopolitical watchdog. Colonel Rómulo Menéndez wrote in Círculo Militar, "the communists want to break up the family—through divorce, ideas on communication among its members, and the breakdown of the father's authority." The Argentinian Revolution of 1966-1970 brought into power General Juan Carlos Onganía. The Onganía regime pursued policies aimed at social planning on the basis that communism destroys traditional social institutions. This led to the new government changing the governing structure of universities from an egalitarian structure to a hierarchical one, claiming that the governing structures themselves imbued students with the message of communism. The new government also criminalized certain students and professors, and banned student federations.