Oh lordy, lordy, good Gordie. I have about a week’s worth of stupid Google alerts in my e-mail box right now, burning a hole in my head. All of them concern Venezuela, and if they weren’t so damn commonplace, they’d be egregious. But there’s nothing egregious about the anglo media getting Venezuela and Chavecito wrong, so let’s just give the most classically stupid ones a quick rundown before I delve into the hot stuff:First up–FUX Snooze, with “‘Terrorist’ Twitter Threatens Hugo Chávez’s Stranglehold on Media. Only, of course, it doesn’t, because there isn’t any stranglehold. In fact, if any of these FUX Snoozers could read Spanish, they’d realize that Chavecito has actually advocated using Twitter. (A
Translation mine. Those are harsh words, but I agree with them absolutely. I am not one of those “my country, drunk or sober” morons who call themselves patriots. I’m one who believes that any Canadian with an honest sense of pride in our country, as well as a conscience, can only agree that this is no longer the healthy, progressive, democratic Canada of Lester B. Pearson, Tommy Douglas, and Pierre Trudeau. Our parliament is fucking prorogued, and all decision making is now going on over our heads and without question or scrutiny. Ambassador Chaderton is right–we used to function the best of all, and now we no longer do. As he says, we have lost our political virginity. We are dysfunctional. Our parliament is in an advanced state of degeneration, and our media aFebruary is the month of carnivals. I refer to Rio de Janeiro, Port of Spain, Barranquilla, New Orleans and Québec City, among others. Yes, there is a carnival in Canada, but there’s a difference; not because the winter carnival of Québec occurs un
der extreme low temperatures. The difference is that when in other countries they start to put on carnival masks, in Canada the ultra-right starts to take off its mask.I speak of diplomacy and respect for freedom of expression; I had the opportunity to tell the story of a far-right journalist who recently visited Venezuela. He asked for interviews with the Foreign Minister and other official functionaries who could not fit him into their schedules. In reality, he was not interested in speaking to my Government, but with the opposition, in order to motivate them and offer them support, among others, to putschists and destabilizers. He met with two important government deputies whose opinions were irrelevant to him.The recent media censoring of a speech by President Hugo Chávez, by the putschist station RCTV, was supported by this journalist, who on his return dared to say that in my country democratic spaces have been reduced. Who is this gentleman? Anyone with moral authority, or a journalist who, like any other, can opine whatever brings him gain without greater consequences than a democratic polemic? NO!! His name is Peter Kent, Minister of State for Latin America in the Canadian Foreign Ministry. So, who has seen a person of such high rank, who could not and did not seek a meeting with his potential host, impose his presence in a country, abusing his diplomatic flexibility? What a lack of democracy, what a lack of respect!Canada has long been the country that has functioned the best on our continent; however, there are new little details:For its intromission, I denounce the violation of the no-intervention norms on the part of the current Canadian minority government. This is not the Canada of Lester B. Pearson, posthumous Nobel peace prizewinner, who universalized healthcare rights for his people; nor is it that of John Diefenbaker, the conservative Prime Minister open to socialized medicine. Neither is it that of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the leader who took no orders from Washington, and was one of the most brilliant western statesmen of the 20th century, steeped in the ideas of Christian socialism. Nor is it that of Jean Chrétien, Liberal leader, elected several times by his people, who had a cordial relationship of mutual respect with President Hugo Chávez. I am speaking of a Canada governed by a far-right, which closed Parliament for several months in order to halt an investigation over the violations of human rights by its soldiers in Afghanistan; which censors protests in Ontario and the criticisms of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver; which has flirted with the Honduran putschists; which is preparing for an offensive in favor of the media dictatorship in Latin America, and to destabilize leftist governments. However, I must thank the Government of Canada for its concern over the two students who were killed, and inform them that they were leftist militants, murdered by gunmen of the opposition.Oh, Canada! What crimes are being committed in your name!In this ultra-right-wing circus, an embarrassing Inter-American Human Rights Commission participated, which kept mum about the Caracazo massacre in Venezuela and supported the coup against President Chávez along with the inter-American mafia of human-rights bureaucrats which have infiltrated the OAS, with the complicity of its highest authority, such as a Secretariat of Freedom of Expression which believes that the private initiative to defame, censor and destabilize is a freedom deserving of protection.In the face of the media dictatorship, the Empire and its partners, under the Bolivarian Revolution we enjoy extreme freedom of expression and are developing to the fullest all the human rights, such as those of the indigenous peoples, a mater in which we offer our advice to Canada in order to rescue its impoverished indigenous from the claws of exclusion and extreme poverty. It is very easy, just treat them as equals.The Axis of Evil is trying new tactics. Knowing that the ultra-right cannot win popular support against President Chávez, it is doing its best to sabotage Venezuelan democracy with the hope of winning the presidential elections in September and, from there, repeating the operation in Tegucigalpa and after that, the one in Jakarta, such as that mounted at the time by the CIA and the media star Henry Kissinger against the Chilean democracy.This is not an anecdote. The agenda of the Republican Party continues unabated in Latin America. Behind the curtain is the most violent power in history, which violates all human rights in the name of democracy and security; so historically aggressive that if I were to seek a show of hands from all ambassadors whose countries were dismembered, invaded by marines, or whose democratic governments have been brought down by US intervention, a forest of arms would rise, and of course, immediately the Secretary General would leap up to visit all the affected countries, to build bridges of straw and in the process gather some small votes for his re-election.The law is the law; for this reason we protest before the governments of the United States and Canada for inciting RCTV to disobedience. Mediocre, racist, violent and vulgar, accustomed to transmitting adult programming during children’s hours, while during the coup against President Chávez in 2002, they broadcast only children’s programs (The Jungle Book, Tom and Jerry, etc.) during adult hours, in order to conceal the popular rebellion against the coup. Five years later, the concession, property of the state, was not renewed, and RCTV was relegated to cable. Now, with 90% Venezuelan programming, it pretends to be an “international” station in order not to classify its programming, play the National Anthem, or transmit required official messages. Other suspended stations returned to air on complying with the law. For TV Chile, it was enough to register and prove that it was not Venezuelan; the same happened with the Televisa stations.RCTV is a station with a long-standing media criminal tradition. Since 1984, it has been a leader in the silencing by the private media of the former president Luís Herrera Campíns. He was castigated for prohibiting the advertising of liquors and cigarettes in the media, and for imposing the playing of a Venezuelan piece of music on radio for each imported one played. This sanction lasted until the day of his death in 2007. It’s a curious fact that the radical opposition station, Globovisión, transmitted freely because it accepted this norm. RCTV is the spoiled brat of the dregs of the international media, and did not abide by the law.So it can be said that the Axis of Evil relies on the support of RCTV, El Nazional, and Globovisión in Venezuela, and on that of FOX News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, the Miami Herald, CNN in Spanish, the Grupo de Diarios América, El Tiempo (owned by the Santos family of Colombia), El Universal (owned by the Ealy family), El País de Madrid, the Inter-American Radio Association, the Inter-American Press Association, the representatives of media terrorism, the Southern Command, and the Fourth Fleet in this witches’ sabbath of the inter-American demons.
re in grave danger of going the same way. Many of them, since they go along with the lies about RCTV, are already there. And yes, CBC, I’m glaring at YOU. I expect such crap from CTV and CanWest Global, because they are private broadcasters who favor the side their bread is buttered on, but you are a PUBLIC network. You have the resources and the means to do a whole lot better. In case you forget, you too have a responsibility to the public, and you’re not meeting it adequately.Especially not with regard to our sister nation, Venezuela, which IS a functioning democracy and deserving of all the respect due to one.
Bina,
“Since 1984, it has been a leader in silencing of private media by the former president Luís Herrera Campíns”
should be
“Since 1984, it has been a leader in the silencing by the private media of the former president Luís Herrera Campíns”
(Luis Herrera used to be a leftish Christian Democrat who ran on a leftish platform but turned conservative in power. He did, try to have some legal standards for the operation of media: some of them being banning tobacco and licor ads, and having the requirement of increased national programming.)
On CBC: how well I remember the days when they actually gave Chomsky an award (it was 1988 or the whereabouts) and his CBC lectures became the book “Necessary Illusions” (it was basically the US media coverage of Latin America and the Arab-Israeli conflict)
Oh, and watch this, it’s funny:
http://www.vtv.gob.ve/videos-especiales-vtv/29713
Aha…I suspected I had fuxed up that garbled passage (in my own defence, I’ll only say it was late at night, I was pretty tired and not feelin’ right.) Fixed now…
And yeah, how the CBC has come down recently in quality. A few months ago I saw that smug twit, Evan Solomon (who I’m sure is a product of nepotism, as he certainly didn’t get there on the basis of talent) just absolutely slamming Venezuela. Totally uninformed! He bought the oppo line completely. Why they put him on Sunday nights, I don’t know…even buried in that slot, he’s still a facepalm-inducer everytime. Can’t fucking stand him.
One thing you´ll notice if you get a hold of that book (Necessary Illusions) is that it’s exactly the way now what he said in 1988 (just change a couple of names: replace Nicaragua with Venezuela, El Salvador/Guatemala with Colombia and everything is identical)
Who is this Peter Kent, btw? I mean, I know his title … but what are his salient properties?
Peter Kent used to be a journo–a rather stodgy news anchor. Now he’s a Tory hack. (His younger brother, Arthur, is still a reporter–he was the “Scud Stud” of Gulf War I fame. They disagree on Harpo, BTW.)
Saw on Raw Story that they’re linking to another “Chavez hates Twitter” article – this one leading straight to BoingBoing, and an article from Guido Núñez-Mujica, the guy who “writes from Venezuela” about how “the country is becoming a dictatorship, and U.S. liberals all love Chavez”.
They all love Chavez, eh. Wonder why they were so quick to go after Hugo for his “smells of sulfur” speech in the UN. But yeah, do the teabaggers a favor and link Hugo Chavez to the Democrats and liberals for the millionth time – despite the fact that Chavez was *encouraging* using Twitter. Is Evil Mujica even writing from Venezuela, or is he just getting paid to spread Freeper talking points about Venezuela and link Chavez to the Democrats – of course, that’ll get the sheeple aroused with anger.
But Arthur is also a Tory, no?
Yep, the former Scud Stud IS a Tory…but he’s not a Harpocrat. He opposes the prorogation. He’s more of the progressive stream. The kind that hasn’t completely lost its marbles; the kind you can still talk to and reason with, even if you disagree. With the Harpocrats, you can’t talk; you’re expected to Obey, and That’s Final. Harpo is God, and How Dare You Question It! Example: They just went completely over the nation’s head to get the dregs of the US stimulus package; the price, of course, is that now the US will be sending its corporations up here to “bid”–i.e., take over everything. Amazing how they could ram that through without a Parliament to stop them!
Oh yeah, THAT Guido Núñez Mujica, the “anarchist” (actually, Randroid) “transhumanist” (crackpot) from Venezuela. Or Miami, more likely–his kind hides out there to lick its paws a lot and babble bullshit about democracy while plotting fascist coups. I’ve seen his shit there before. He’s got the BoingBoing moderators totally wrapped around his nutsack–pathetic. Apparently they’ve already decided that if violent video games are banned in Venezuela, it must be a DICTATORSHIP! (And of course, we’ll pay no attention to that REALLY violent one that Bono so generously made possible with his investment dough, the one that openly advocates a US-backed coup in Venezuela!)
BoingBoing may know a little about gosh-wow technology, but they know dick-all about politics. I don’t go there unless my best friend sends me one of their links. And even then, I take what I see with a grain of salt–they’ve jumped on a number of “sensational” stories that ultimately turned out to be anything but. One sensational story I’d really love to see them cover is how Hugo Chávez keeps winning elections, and how his opponents are really a pitiable bunch of losers. Funnily, they never go near it.
On Venezuela and Twitter, see this:
http://chronicallyclueless.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-08-15T10%3A45%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7
The relevant paragraph:
But perhaps the most ridiculous and desperate attempt to give the impression of state repression in Venezuela has been the opposition’s recent use of the internet communication tool Twitter.
Twitter became famous as a tool to subvert censorship after disputed electoral results in Iran last June. As protests erupted around the country, state repression was fierce, with hundreds of opposition politicians, activists and journalists jailed and tortured, shots fired on peaceful protestors killing dozens of people, and major media virtually blacked out around the country. Foreign correspondents were arrested, deported, and prevented from taking footage of the protests.
In this context of an almost total media blackout, the Iranian protest movement was forced to turn to other communication tools, such as Twitter, to organize further protests, get the message out to the world, and keep the movement moving foward. Under such total state repression of the protests, alternatives like Twitter actually made sense. In Venezuela, however, the use of Twitter is just another of the opposition’s charades; this time in an attempt to emulate the Iranian movement.
In Iran, the use of Twitter was a last resort when protesters had no other means of getting the word out. In Venezuela, it makes no sense at all. The Venezuelan opposition still controls several major television stations, the nation’s most well-known newspapers, multiple radio stations and internet news outlets where they have complete freedom to voice their criticisms 24 hours a day, and which obviously give them access to a much wider audience and much more freedom to express criticisms than the 140-character limit of Twitter. In addition, the international media has totally unrestricted access to the country, and its reports continue to be almost entirely critical of the Chavez government.
Twitter, if anything, would reach much less people than the regular avenues available to opposition voices through their very own media outlets. And while the Chavez government has made recent moves against some media outlets, the opposition still controls a relatively large portion of the media spectrum; easily enough to get their message out to most of the country.
So the use of Twitter in Venezuela really doesn’t make any sense at all. That is, unless we consider the possibility that the Venezuelan opposition is not really interested in reaching out to Venezuelans, but more interested in creating a false perception of Iranian-style repression in Venezuela. Then it makes perfect sense. In other words, the only conceivable reason that the Venezuelan opposition would be using Twitter, an internet application that limits communication to 140 characters, and which is not very widely used in Venezuela, is because, once again, the Venezuelan opposition is playing their favorite game.
Oh, now THAT’s spot on. Twitter is actually declining in popularity now, anyway–there’s a perception that everyone’s doing it, so it’s no longer cool. But the Chavista presence in Venezuela on the tweeter could change that…and wouldn’t that be ironic! LOL…
do you feel better now, bina?
Since I stopped being a conservative? Oh hell yeah!