AUT: [Fwd: Re: <nettime> From Venezuelan Writers, Artists and Academics

["auskadi@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <auskadi@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Lowe ....

Here is another take on the Venezuela situation from narconews.com

Martin


Venezuela, it's official* (3.00 / 2
<http://narcosphere.narconews.com/comments/2004/3/1/21129/96112/3?mode=alone;showrate=1#3>)
(#3 <http://narcosphere.narconews.com/comments/2004/3/1/21129/96112/3#3>)
by Ron Smith on Wed Mar 3rd, 2004 at 04:13:16 AM EST
(User Info <http://narcosphere.narconews.com/user/uid:25>)
http://www.activ8media.org On tuesday the 2nd, the CNE reported that
1.8m of the oppositions signatures cannot be verified. There's an
article on AFP, but Vheadline reported it many hours before. This means
that by the official constitutional rule, a recall referendum is not
mandatory. The CNE may still decide to request a referendum. The CNE is
also giving a small window for several of the signature writers to come
in to verify their identity.
<http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2004/3/1/21129/96112#5>http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040303/afp/040303002527
int.html <http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040303/afp/040303002527int.html>

As predicted, the right (as well as some inscrutable sectors of the
left) is protesting in the streets, demanding that a recall occur
regardless of the signature count, and to attempt to bring some
stability, the Chavez government may come to a compromise with the
opposition. At issue here is a general state of lawlessness, created for
the most part by the right, although the Chavez government is not
blameless in this regard. Throughout Latin America there is a tradition
of impunity for perpetrators of crimes, be they of a personal or
political nature. Case in point: no major players in the 2002 coup have
served any time in prison. It is perhaps for this reason that I saw a
group of Admirals in the CTV headquarters trying to squirm away from my
camera when the group I was working with got to meet the Coordinadora
Democratica's decision makers. Carmona, the dictator for a day, is
living in Bogotá, perhaps waiting for Chavez's ouster to return
triumphantly to Venezuela. By failing to enforce a rule of law for those
that ignore the constitution and human rights, the Chavez government has
failed to weaken the opposition. Not prosecuting the coup participants
is a strategy, as has the Chavez's lax interactions with the libelous
Venezuelan corporate media. Libel is not a light matter, as I'm sure Al
can attest, narconews was the victim of a SLAPP-like libel suit when Al
printed the story of citicorp's misdeeds and those of one of it's
subsidiaries. However, my own experience watching Venezuelan corporate
news media reached lows that are the stuff of Rupert Murdoch's wildest
fantasies. I'm no fan of restrictive policies, and I admit that my own
injury at the hands of authorities in the United States makes me
extremely wary of government's use of force during protests. That said,
if a government is trying to address the ills of society in a meaningful
way, impunity must be confronted in order to protect any gains made by
the society. There's much more than Chavez at stake, especially
considering the Bush regime's current stance on Latin American affairs.
It's up to us, the independent media to keep a close eye on what happens
in Venezuela over the coming months, and be ready to shout when wool is
pulled over people's eyes by the mainstream media. But we all know that,
since that's why we're here, right?

--
siempre recordamos nuestr@s caid@s, rachel corrie y wilfredo palacios
presente



   *Venezuela: The Squalid Opposition* (3.50 / 2
   <http://narcosphere.narconews.com/comments/2004/3/1/21129/96112/5?mode=alone;showrate=1#5>)
   (#5
   <http://narcosphere.narconews.com/comments/2004/3/1/21129/96112/5#5>)
   by Al Giordano on Thu Mar 4th, 2004 at 12:19:47 AM EST
   (User Info <http://narcosphere.narconews.com/user/uid:14>)
   Re:

       /no major players in the 2002 coup have served any time in
       prison... Carmona, the dictator for a day, is living in Bogotá,
       perhaps waiting for Chavez's ouster to return triumphantly to
       Venezuela. By failing to enforce a rule of law for those that
       ignore the constitution and human rights, the Chavez government
       has failed to weaken the opposition. Not prosecuting the coup
       participants is a strategy, as has the Chavez's lax interactions
       with the libelous Venezuelan corporate media.../

   This has been at the crux of a long debate since April 2002 between
   many people, among them Chávez, who sticks with his non-repressive
   approach, and Fidel Castro, who is said to have advised Chávez to go
   after the coup plotters with full legal force. (This is very ironic,
   since the screeching squalid class always yelps about Chávez
   supposedly wanting to govern like Castro, even as they are the main
   beneficiaries of Chávez's kinder, gentler, approach.)

   I do think that he has succeeded in weakening the "opposition" by
   giving them enough rope to hang themselves over and over again. I
   don't subscribe to the view that Venezuela is in any kind of chaos
   right now: it's just more squawking from the spoiled brats and their
   corrupt Commercial Media correspondents... read enough of geezers
   like Gustavo Coronel huffing and puffing from their golf courses
   about how they're gonna get violent now... of rich kids playing with
   molotovs and calling in the squalid press to report on the bombs
   that they don't then go out and throw (someone commented on a
   squalid blog the other day "hey, it worked for the Weather
   Underground!" but scualid blogger Francisco Toro, the disgraced
   former NY Times stringer, censored that comment)... Toro himself is
   talking all macho about how he's going to stop being a "flower
   eater" and go fight in the streets... good luck to him... he'll
   probably get hurt just tripping over his shoelaces... Why suppress
   them when they're their own worst enemies to begin with?

   This "opposition" is the gang that couldn't shoot straight. They've
   been outmaneuvered instead of being repressed. I think it's been a
   brilliant strategy on the part of Chávez that helps a lot in the
   longterm project that he has launched to bring the country forward
   on democratic terms.

   We had a very emotional discussion at the February 2003 J-School
   about whether, and at what point, the Venezuelan government would be
   justified to take away the licenses of the dishonest Commercial TV
   stations. My position is yes: Paid speech does not merit the same
   protections as free speech. Others - particularly some North
   Americans - felt almost religiously opposed to any intervention even
   by democratic governments in the media. Different worlds and
   different world views...

   But in that discussion an even better idea was raised, that seemed
   to be acceptable to all sides: to levy a special tax on Commercial
   Broadcasters that would be used exclusively for funding
   community-run TV and radio stations, of the kind that Venezuela has
   pioneered in recent years, and kill them with the thing they claim
   to support: competition, with a better product.

   --
   /For my opinions on politics, see my personal blog, BigLeftOutside
   <http://bigleftoutside.com>/

   [ Parent
   <http://narcosphere.narconews.com/comments/2004/3/1/21129/96112/3#3> ]



--
http://www.auskadi.tk/
"the riddle which man must solve, he can only solve in being, in
being what he is and not something else...."




--
http://www.auskadi.tk/
"the riddle which man must solve, he can only solve in being, in
being what he is and not something else...."



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