The Uncomfortable Dead

by Paco Ignacio Taibo II

  Christ was crucified because he came to question all this. And him being the Son of God, instead of meeting with the rulers, dining in their palaces, organizing a political party, and becoming their advisor, what did he do? Well, he went and got born in a manger, surrounded by animals; he grew up in a carpenter’s shop and created an organization with the poorest of the poor. Now then, would God go where the Evil is? Of course not. He stayed with those at the bottom, and this tells us that goodness is not up in the heights—he would have been born in the home of that bastard Salinas de Gortari or that damned Bill Gates, but he wasn’t. So heaven is not up there and neither is goodness. Evil is up there, on the right, with the rich, with those who govern badly, with the opressors of the people. So where is goodness? We don’t know. We’ll have to find it.

  I don’t know, maybe goodness is down on the left, it might be the best place to start looking. That’s why I look down when I pray; I’m praying to God, who is with the underdog. That’s why I don’t agree with the damn bishops and priests who are always siding with the rich and then become just like them, even in the way they dress. So my advice to you, if you’re looking for the Bad and the Evil: Start searching upward and to the right. That’s probably where they live.

  Hey, listen, Elías, don’t go telling El Sup that I use swear words. And if you’re not going to eat your rice pudding, I’ll take it.”

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO LEONARD PELTIER, NATIVE AMERICAN, ARTIST, WRITER, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST, ILLEGALLY AND UNFAIRLY IMPRISONED.

  The government, under the pretext of security and progress, liberated us from our land, resources, culture, dignity, and future. They violated every treaty they ever made with us. I use the word “liberated” loosely and sarcastically, in the same vein that I view their use of the words “collateral damage” when they kill innocent men, women, and children. They describe people defending their homeland as terrorists, savages, and hostiles, and accuse us of being aggressors … My words reach out to the non-Indian: Look now before it’s far too late—see what is being done to others in your name and see what destruction you sanction when you say nothing. Your own treaty, the one between yourselves and the government, is being violated daily; this treaty is commonly known as the Constitution.

  —Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas, January 2004

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO A CERTAIN MORALES.

  I don’t want you to get the idea that I’m a cynic. I’m just a realist, and reality shows that he who fucks not gets fucked. I certainly make deals, and don’t come to me now with this foolishness about ethics and fairness, because all business is dirty; it’s always a matter of buying low and selling high. Otherwise, how do you think the high and mighty of Mexico and the world made their great fortunes? Everything is for sale and anything can be bought: your land, your body, your conscience, your country. Okay, so maybe I didn’t always buy—I took, I pillaged—but if it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else. There are people who are born to be screwed. It’s like they have it tattooed on their foreheads: Screw me.

  Betrayal, you say? Well, that’s all a matter of how you look at it. As I see it, all I did was go through a change of paradigm, and everyone in the world does that, only they call it “maturity,” “realism,” “good sense.”

  I killed? Well … yes! But the fact is, you can’t get up there without getting your hands a little dirty.

  No, I never killed face-to-face. But it wasn’t a question of cowardice, no, it’s just that I felt sorry staring into the eyes of the future corpse. Besides, they were going to die anyway. All I did was expedite their departure. Okay, yes, sometimes I was afraid to kill face-to-face, but that was when the corpse-to-be was a real tough bastard.

  Why do you say I cheated? I didn’t cheat any more than any politician or businessman. Well, yes, there are degrees. In this matter of doing evil, there are amateurs and professionals; me, I’m a pro, but I started as an amateur. I still hope to get into the big leagues, into politics, and who knows, I might even have a shot at president of the republic. Others have done it, so why not me? You have to understand, evil has its levels: There are those who screw the screwed, and there are those who screw the screwers of the screwed. You might say that I’m somewhere in the middle. Let me explain. When one of the guys with real power and money wants to get something done but doesn’t want anyone to know about it or doesn’t want to have to deal with the tiny difficulties that arise along the way, that’s where I come in. I’m a kind of intermediary, but a lot more effective because I not only inspect what has to be bought, I prepare it and clean it and deliver it pressed and folded. The client never has to get blood on his hands and never has to deal with all the red tape and formalities. Well, of course I get my commission. You might say that I am an intermediary of evil. Let me explain something. Would you like to know the secret to success in all this evil business? You have to know how to land on your feet and keep running; you have to know how to play on any court, with any racket; you have to be in good with God and the Devil, you have to fuck the prick who’s being fucked by the biggest prick, suck up and piss down. You see, it’s all contemporary politics. So there you have it. When you’re in the evil business, timing is of the essence.

  What did you say? Look at myself in the mirror? Why should I do that? Besides, don’t you know that everyone with money and power looks beautiful? Aspirations? Hopes? Well, of course. I hope to live to a ripe old age without a care in the world, and I aspire to having a mattress stuffed with credit cards and wads of millions in foreign banks. You heard me, just like old Pinochet. You don’t understand; little old men inspire pity. It doesn’t matter how many scams they pulled or how many people they murdered.

  The trick to being good at evil is to make it to old age. Name one murdering old thief who ever got punished. My political affiliations? Well, that’s a matter of convenience. Political affiliations are like underwear: You change them when you have to. Yes, any political party will accept you if you make yourself attractive enough. Money? Yes, that’s what they are after; that’s what we’re all after, and I know where the money is and what has to be done to get it. Afraid of the law? Come on, get serious. Haven’t you understood yet that we are the law?

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO ANGELA Y. DAVIS, ACTIVIST AGAINST RACISM AND POLITICAL REPRESSIONS, SENT TO PRISON ILLEGALLY AND UNFAIRLY.

  The announced function of the police, “to protect and serve the people,” becomes the grotesque caricature of protecting and preserving the interests of our oppressors and serving us nothing but injustice … Fascism is a process, its growth and development are cancerous in nature. While today, the threat of fascism may be primarily restricted to the use of the law-enforcement-judicial-penal apparatus to arrest the overt and latent revolutionary trends among nationally oppressed people, tomorrow it may attack the working class en masse and eventually even moderate democrats.

  —Marin County Jail, California, May 1971

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO THE RUSSLVN.

  Betraying the memory of our honored dead. Denying what we are. Losing our memory. Selling our dignity. Feeling shame for being Indian, or black, or Chicano, or Muslim, or yellow, or white, or red, or gay, or lesbian, or transexual, or skinny, or fat, or tall, or short. Forgetting our history. Forgetting ourselves. Accepting what the powerful stuff down our throats. Giving up. Not fighting. Making believe we don’t see that the fuckin fascists are taking over everything. Assuming a permissive attitude in our lives and letting the powerful do as they please, and putting up with every fuck-job they do on us. Letting ourselves be fooled by the mass media. Fighting with our own brothers in the struggle. Fighting against people who are as screwed as we are. Letting them take our lands and poison them with their fucking transgenics.

  Not protesting against the wars of conquest. Voting for Bush. Shopping at Wal-Mart. Lying to ourselves and lying to our own.

  Letting them abuse, kill, pillage, hoodwink, and ultimately get
away with everything. That is evil. That and a whole lot of other things that I can’t think of right now because I’m so pissed already. So take your fuckin tortilla.

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO GENERAL VICENTE ROJO, CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLICAN ARMY, WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THE FALANGISTS IN DEFENSE OF THE SPANISH REPUBLIC.

  Nonintervention weighed down like a tombstone on the Republic; and while an atmosphere of isolation developed around it, we received reliable reports about the weapons and war matériel of all sorts that were being unloaded in the ports of the Cantabrian coast and in the south; we could see how, banking on the total frustration and defeat of the Republic, expected in the month of April, treaties were already being signed with the countries that were invading our soil; we witnessed the incessant growth in the number of Italian and German technicians that swelled the Gambara Divisions, and we could see in the air above us wave after wave of new models of Italian and German aircraft, borne of the experience of our war and sent to conduct new experiments on Spanish soil and Spanish flesh. What horrible crime could have been committed by a republic that was merely defending its constitution and its laws for it to be subjected to international physical and moral suffocation, condemning it to witness the sterility of its efforts?

  —From España Heroica, 1942

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO THE CHINESE MAN.

  There is a kind of internationale on the right. Yes, just as there was once an internationale on the left—although later all hell broke loose and it disappeared. You can see how they killed Leon Trotsky and persecuted us for as long as the Socialist camp existed. That’s what proletarian internationalism was good for—for the left to give itself an internationalist fuck-job. There you have it. The internationale of the left was not wiped out by imperialism or by the CIA … We did it… We hit it right between the eyes, and lickety-split it was gone, the internationale was kaput. The internationale of the right, however, kept going, and it’s now reorganizing. That’s what neoliberal globalization is: the reorgnization of the internationale of the right. You see, the right learned what we did not—the old left, I mean, not the current left, which hardly makes it to the center. The right has an open element and a clandestine element. And it learned how to infiltrate. It infiltrated the Church, the political parties, the mass media, the universities, big business, the unions, the Army, the police, the judges, the representatives and senators, and even the soccer teams. But don’t let me give you the idea that the right is all model behavior and discipline.

  Not so! They have their divisions and their internecine struggles. For example, there is the ideological right and the business right. The latter are in it for the scratch, the dough, the gelt, the mazuma … the money. The ideological right is in charge of doctrine and they don’t have a very good opinion of the business right. So the right does have its internal contradictions. The idealogues are the real fanatics, and they’re dangerous because they are capable of starting wars for no practical reason, like the Cristeros did.

  The business right, they’re more practical. They assign a price to everything, including their “prudent patience.” A high position, a medium position, or a lowly position will do, for the time being. Haven’t you seen how the PAN members hop from one party to another at the drop of a hat? Okay, it’s not only the PAN. They all do it.

  But you see, the PAN is an excellent example of a local branch of the fascist right. The Internationale of Evil, that’s what globalization is. So that’ll be forty-five pesos for the shower, with shampoo, soap, and towel. Yeah, we have a special going cause it’s too cold and nobody’s taking baths. A squirt of deodorant is all they do. And sometimes not even that.

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO MUMIA ABU-JAMAL, JOURNALIST AND ACTIVIST AGAINST RACISM, ILLEGALLY AND UNFAIRLY CONDEMNED TO DEATH IN THE U.S. (REFERRING HERE TO THE DEVASTATION CAUSED BY THE RECENT TSUNAMIS ON THE COASTS OF ASIA).

  Yet there is another watery war that is being waged, that may affect the lives of millions…Yet all across the globe, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America—and even here in North America—people are living under the very real threat of the corporatization of water and water systems. The waters of the earth, which have been, since the dawn of human civilization, for the collective usage of the community, is fast becoming just another commodity—something to sell. If you can afford it, cool. If not, tough … In short, there’s money in water, and where money is, there too are corporations, trying to get paid. That’s the dark, unforeseen, and treacherous side of the globalization movement among western governments and corporations. That’s also what privatization really means—taking the common inheritance of nature, and making it into someone else’s private property.—Death Row, Pennsylvania, December 30, 2004

  THE BAD AND THE EVIL ACCORDING TO COMANDANTE ESTHER AND COMANDANTE DAVID (ESTHER AND DAVID EXPLAIN TO EL SUP THE PROBABLE ORIGIN OF THE NOTES LEFT BY MANUEL VÁZQUEZ MONTALBÁN).

  “I think what happened is that Don Manolo was preparing an article on the right in the government of Spain,” David began, looking over his own notes.

  “Yes,” Esther added, “he was explaining how the Franco program was being reorganized—”

  “That’s right,” David interrupted, pointing to a world map. “He was investigating that fascist Spanish organization known as Ciudad Católica and noticed that it had relationships with other extreme-right organizations in other countries.”

  “In Mexico, for instance, with the organization that’s called El Yunque,” Esther explained, holding up a book with the same name, by Álvaro Delgado. “In Mexico, as I was saying, we find that in 1998 an entity called the International Civil Commission for the Observation of Human Rights (ICCOHR) began visiting Chiapas. It is, or was, made up of people from countries around the world, mainly from Europe, who were concerned about violations of the human rights of the indigenous communities, as well as the militarization and paramilitarization processes. The commission made its first visit after the Acteal massacre, right in the middle of the attack by Zedillo and Croquetas Albores on the autonomous municipalities. To keep them from seeing the shit they were pulling, the government expelled a number of those people from Mexico, especially the Italians.”

  David picked up the line of reasoning: “One of the members of the commission was, or is, Daniel, a son of Don Manolo, who, among other things, is a video buff. So during the work of the commission, Daniel Vázquez Montalbán shot videos of the military posts and the meetings with the representatives of the bad Zedillo government. Once they were back in Barcelona, Don Manolo, along with Pepe Carvalho, was able to watch the videos that his son made in Chiapas.”

  David checked his notes again, then continued his narrative: “Pepe Carvalho was, or is, a detective, and he was helping Don Manolo with his research into the resurrection of the Franco agenda in the Spanish state. While they were watching the videos, Mr. Carvalho replayed the parts with the representatives of Zedillo’s bad government and the shots of the military posts. Neither Don Manolo nor his son understood why then, but they soon did. At one point in the rerun, Mr. Calvalho identified someone and snapped, ‘That’s Morales.’ The person had appeared beside General Renán Castillo who, as you know, organized the paramilitary in Altos de Chiapas and, together with Zedillo, helped plan the Acteal massacre of December 22, 1997.”

  “Then Mr. Carvalho explained to Don Manolo that in his research on the Spanish right, he had run across this character on a number of occasions—the guy had a close relationship with the José María Aznar administration, who knew him simply as ‘Morales,’ with no other identifying information,” explained Esther. “Then Don Manolo asked Carvalho to get more information on this Morales.” “Yes, as we say over here,” David added, “he wanted Morales tailed.”

  “That’s it,” Esther agreed, “they put a tail on this Morales person and found out about the hotel, the metro station, the Financial Center, the Mexican embassy, and, with a little creative investigation, they fou
nd out about the briefcase full of papers and euros.”

  David continued: “Following up on the investigation, he discovered the links set up between the Aznar government and the intelligence services of the Mexican government to harass the Basque citizens residing in our country and accuse them of belonging to ETA. As you know, many Basques were kidnapped, tortured, and later turned over to the courts, using the same techniques developed by the White Brigade in what came to be known as the Dirty War. Carvalho discovered that in Mexico, not only is there a conspiracy of silence among the powerful to suppress the truth about the Dirty War, but that El Yunque was reactivating paramilitary groups through one of its organizations known as MURO. Then Carvalho found—”

  “The Morales person,” Esther interrupted.

  “And what about the Montes Azules, biodiversity, and the transnationals?” El Sup asked.

  Esther answered, “According to the Deep Throat report you sent us, this Morales individual was supposed to be trafficking in endangered species in the Lacandona forest, aside from working closely with Julia Carabias and Ernesto Zedillo on the machinations to sell tracts of land in the Montes Azules to the transnationals. Don Manolo might have found out about this through something Mr. Carvalho ran across in that briefcase carted around by Morales, and because he had learned of the meeting Morales had in Spain with Zedillo, Carabias, and Tello.”

  “Hmm. The pieces are beginning to fall into place,” El Sup commented, lighting his pipe.

  “Where’s Elías?” David asked.

  “He’s in the Monster. He already met up with the detective, Belascoarán, who agreed to cooperate with us in the investigation. Elías is going to see him again very soon to exchange information and decide what to do from here on out,” El Sup answered.