Ford Motor Company and Argentina's Dirty War

As Christians I don't believe we cannot support labour unions and yet at the same time I understand why people form them and on one level it's hard to not be sympathetic to their concerns.

Unions use the threat of violence to bring about change. They block entrances and use physical intimidation to impose their will on management and workers who walk across the picket line.

In the United States the Evangelical Right has undermined union support in the Church by decrying their long-time association with the Democratic Party... a party that ostensibly once stood for populism and the working man. The political shift as well as the Right wing campaign focusing on Democratic Party support for abortion and other sins has successfully led a new generation of Christians to abandon the unions. And besides the jobs aren't there anymore.

But the real reason for Christians to eschew union membership is rarely addressed because if followed through it would mean a Christian divorce from politics in general, not to mention law enforcement and the military. The principles are the same.

However one views labour unions when one reads about the machinations of corporations and how they cheat their workers and put profits above people. They will without hesitation decimate communities which at one time bent over backwards to accommodate them.

Additionally when one learns about corporate tactics to suppress workers and labour organisers it's hard to not sympathise with their efforts.

In the end I view labour unions as a necessary corrective to corporate greed but at the same I cannot join with them in their struggle. And as was seen in the United States organised labour grew wealthy and corrupt. It's alliances with the political machines and organised crime as well as the avarice of its members led to a corruption as repugnant as that of the corporate leaders and Wall Street puppet-masters.

But in 1970's and 1980's Argentina the political angle took a particularly bad turn as corporate executives collaborated with the state to destroy any hint of leftist labour politics. People were tortured and killed as a result and the corporate world was in many cases happy to work with and aid the state.

It has taken decades but a few people are being held to account. However the true story and the extent of the crimes will never be known.

And of course these articles all ignore or more critical angle to the story... to what extent did the corporate masters in the United States and NATO know about this? Was this official policy, part of a larger programme at work throughout the Western world?

Given the scale of Operation Condor and the scope of other US programmes it's a viable question. Additionally given the relationship of large corporations with the state apparatus and the long history demonstrating these connections... both ideological, financial and sometimes in terms of policy... it's certainly worth exploring.

There's a lot of smoke but as the years slip by the story will continue to slip away.

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/14/headlines/argentina_ex_ford_execs_convicted_of_kidnapping_torture_during_dirty_war

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/27/world/ford-motor-is-linked-to-argentina-s-dirty-war.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46528478