Another Revolutionary Tanya

Michael C. Moynihan | September 13, 2007

During a raid on a FARC safe house in July, Colombian authorities captured the diary of Dutch political pilgrim Tanja Nijmeijer (not to be confused with that other famous guerrilla called Tanya; not to be confused with Drew Curtis's Fark), who joined the Marxist guerrilla movement in 2002. Nijmeijer, who has since taken the nom de guerre 'Eillen,' doesn't seem too enamored with communal living:

"24 November, 2006. I am tired, tired of the FARC, tired of the people, tired of communal life. Tired of never having anything for myself. And this might be worth it if I knew what we were fighting for."

She is shocked to find out that armed communist guerrilla groups might not, after all, have the best interests of the proletariat in mind:

The FARC pride themselves on equality of life in the movement and an adherence to Communist ideology. Yet it appears there are the privileged and the unprivileged, and "Eillen" sees herself in the latter category. "What will it be like when we take power? The women of the commanders will have Ferraris, breast implants and eat caviare. At least that is how it seems," she wrote.

In an entry dated August 23, Nijmeijer expresses irritation that the group, known for kidnapping and murdering civilians, is full of animal-killing sexists:

"At times I want to stop following orders. Following the orders of a bunch of sexists that try to kill birds with hunting rifles. I feel like a nobody all day; I am not useful and I have to do what every idiot tells me or I get fined."

Whole story, from The Scotsman.

In other Farc-related news, The Scotsman also reports that "eleven Colombian state legislators killed while being held by the FARC died of multiple gunshot wounds, a team of international forensic experts investigating their causes of death has concluded."