Blogging the democratic revolution
First views of Hugo Chavez’s new Marxist TV station reveals the grand unveiling of another Chavez failure – this is a real dog. The programs following the inauguration were sad and gray: verses of Eduardo Galeano, a sugary documentary on the life of Che Guevara and news totally biased in favor of the Ch????vez revolution. The commercials featured the former Colombian guerrilla leader Marulanda and the singing of a woman taking a bath and apparently calling for Al-Qaeda. Gustavo Coronel has the rest of the story here. Pathetic.
Two editorials about today’s launch of Telesur, Hugo Chavez’s grand new television network designed to put the region’s free press out of business, are in today’s Chicago Tribune and Monday’s Investor’s Business Daily. (A third, here, from El Semanal Digital, is in Spanish.) The Tribune points out that Castro is deeply involved in this “news” project, a bad sign given his abysmal record on the free press, and argues that if it’s as bad as it looks, no one’s going to watch it. True. IBD warns that this is an effort to replace Venezuela’s authentic free press and give Colombia’s…
The monster at our door is keeping hurricane aid out from devastated Cuba, as protest grow. The only aid he’s taking is politicized aid, the kind that his agents pick and choose to deliver. Where is the outrage? Read it here.
To protest the rigged elections in their home country. I have yet to see a story carried on CNN, or anywhere else for that matter. I would love to be corrected on this, however, if in fact they have published a story. Yesterday they marched on the Carter Center (for obvious reasons), also located in Atlanta. You can see more photos here from other protests occurring worldwide today.
Probably not a coincidence either: It’s becoming all too predictable. Whenever there is an important date for the pro-democracy forces inside of Iran, the student movement website is shut down. July 9th is the anniversary of the bloody crackdown on student demonstrators in Iran.
Not many revolutionaries make the transition from old 1960s leftwing Castro worshippers into New Style revolutionary in the Age of Orange, Cedar, Rose, Daffodil, and Velvet Revolutions, which we live in today. Daniel Duquenal has a fascinating portrait of Teodoro Petkoff, a Bulgarian-Venezuelan leftist who did a stretch as a guerrilla in the mountains long ago, came down, and then went on to much better things. He’s now a leading news editor in Venezuela that pointedly opposes thugs and tyrants. Petkoff launched a new book called ‘Dos Izquieridas’ about the democratic and the non-democratic left. He is a formidable opponent…
For those of you have have read my report on the Iranian polling station in Tucson, you may be pleased to know that the Washington Times, in an article entitled “Iran’s sham election — on U.S soil,” has picked up my experience as well as that of Will Franklin’s down in Houston and will be investigating further. But the dissidents have their own informal intelligence networks that gather information about where the voting will take place, a fact that displeases the regime and its supporters. On Friday, a clash occurred at one of the polling places, located at the Commerce…
Brilliant Italian journalist Oriana Fallici explains why she’s a revolutionary in an amazing interview with Tunku Varadarajan of the Wall Street Journal editorial page. “In the beginning, I was dismayed, and I asked, how is it possible that we do not have Cavour . . . just one Cavour, uno? He was a revolutionary, and yes, he was not of the left. Italy needs a Cavour–Europe needs a Cavour.” Ms. Fallaci describes herself, too, as “a revolutionary”–“because I do what conservatives in Europe don’t do, which is that I don’t accept to be treated like a delinquent.” It’s all good.…
Your profession is a noble one. A free press is foundational to a free society. In challenging powerful institutions to answer the hard questions others fear to ask, journalists have led to the collapse of corrupt leaders and helped ensured our democracy. You have done so by reporting the truth in spite of the threats and objections of those in power. Reporting from Iran is dangerous. It is hard to tell the truth in Iran. It takes courage. We are all to aware of the case of photo-journalist Kazemi, who was murdered by the Iranian government, for merely photographing a…
As I mentioned here last April, Luis Ramirez at Voice of America is the best China reporter there is. I noted his daring efforts to report the truth about what is going on in China and and cited his long string of impressive pieces. I was right. Luis has now won one of the most prestigious journalism awards in Asia for this very work I cited. I am so happy for him, it’s what he truly deserved! (As I mentioned in that earlier item.) Sometimes things turn out they way they should. Way to go, Luis, FANTASTIC WORK! Congratulations!
From Reuters: Unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among the first to vote, told Iranians they would be endorsing not just their chosen candidate, but their country’s Islamic system. “Whoever you vote for among those seven candidates, it’s a vote for him, the Islamic republic and the constitution,” he said after using a special ballot box at his official residence. That is exactly why such a drove of people are planning on avoiding the ballot box today.
A fantastic post by Gary Metz, and heartening news that the U.S. is really going to stand by the Iranian people just as they are about to boycott the election in massive droves. In a unique display of unity in broadcasting the same feed into Iran. These broadcasters are providing a marathon of reports into Iran. These broadcasters are calling for a boycott of the election which begins in a few hours. The united effort brings together Apadana TV, NITV, ParsTV, XTV, and KRSI radio. I am told that they will soon broadcast a statement from the son of the…
No, not in the Middle East. In Venezuela. A first. A crusading journalist who asked too many questions about aluminum mining, the same damn industry the Russian mafia hits journalists for. By terrorists. With never-before-seen-in-Venezuela methods. To terrify. Alek Boyd now has an update here. It turns out they didn’t completely chop his head off, but they came close and the guy died.
King Gyanendra ended the three month state of emergency this past April 30, meaning he was supposed to ease up tight controls on civil liberties imposed since February. Of course, that didn’t happen. In the most recent example of his power grab, over 100 journalists were arrested for protesting against the restrictions. Police arrested nearly 100 journalists Monday after scuffling with them during a protest to demand King Gyanendra immediately lift media restrictions in Nepal imposed four months ago. … Protesters from the Federation of Nepalese Journalists were arrested as they marched into a restricted area near the royal palace,…
A chilling, disturbing account of a society splitting apart as terror muzzles the media. Miguel has the proof, it’s only available on blogs now, read it here.
I normally don’t comment on the media, but this bit from the AP is egregious: But in a development that could affect efforts to get Shiites and Sunnis working together, President Jalal Talabani said Saddam, a Sunni, could be put on trial in the next two months. Hello? Excuse me? As though it’s not a ridiculous enough assumption that Saddam Hussein is representative of Iraq’s Sunnis and that his trial could cost the new government their support… bipartisan cooperation efforts are absolutely nowhere on the scale of important issues in trying and sentencing a genocidal tyrant who literally filled the…
A columnist for the Lebanese publication An Nahar has been murdered in a car bombing, in which his car was rigged to explode upon ignition. Here is the report from Reporters Without Borders: Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert M????nard, who is currently in Lebanon, voiced dismay at the murder of columnist Samir Kassir of the An-Nahar newspaper, who was killed when his car blew up this morning in Beirut. “We are in a complete state of shock after Samir Kassir’s cowardly murder,” M????nard said. “We have lost a friend, and press freedom has lost a passionate defender. We share his…
Of all the disgusting prosecutions, this one, against the great Oriana Fallaci, probably the finest journalist alive, is the most despicable. No one can compare to Oriana, no one has written with more powerful, penetrating insight and determination than she has. You don’t even need to agree with her to appreciate her. I tend to defend Islam, but she is far harsher. Doesn’t matter. No one writes more compellingly than Oriana, a true journalist’s journalist. Which is why the Italian prosecution’s charges against her are so shameful. My own feeling about how nations want to tailor free speech is that…
Is that a great headline or what? I wish I had thought of it myself. Read the whole thing here.
Note: I posted this earlier at Bloggledygook, but then realized that the back story has a lot to do with the struggle for Cuba. Make no mistake: there are those who will do anything to make excuses for Fidel. A post in abdymok on Reporters Without Borders (or RSF for Reporters sans fronti????res) caught my eye this morning. Founded in 1979 by Robert Menard, RSF is a rights organization based in France that monitors press freedom abuses around the globe, with special focus on Cuba. It has been a frequent and vocal critic of the US, most recently over “self-censorship”…
I’ve been reading through this piece on RIA Novosti, the Russian news and information agency. To the effect of KGB intelligence gathering, they’ve made a large collection of articles written in the former Soviet republics before and after the V-E Day celebrations. In particular, what they’ve written against Russia. Until you get to the Central Asia dictatorships, it looks pretty harsh.
With Juan Forero at the helm, the Paper of Record once again shows itself to be the paper of record lows. Arrogant and ignorant, it refuses to correct its errors. Alek Boyd wrote a letter to the NYT to point out the uncomfortable Chavista fact that poverty has grown dramatically under the Chavez regime. Facts from Chavez’s own government statistics show that Chavez’s love of the poor is nothing more than an effort to create more of them. Not only was it in the facts themselves, it was also the topic of one of the most chilling Oppenheimer columns ever…
After the demonstrations on May 1, 1000 journalists took it upon themselves to rally for press freedom in their country that no longer has it. About 1,000 journalists have marched in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, to demand the restoration of press freedoms following the royal takeover. Severe restrictions, including censorship, were imposed on the media after King Gyanendra seized direct control of Nepal in February. Although a state of emergency has been lifted, the restrictions remain. An international media watchdog has said that violence is “a daily reality” for journalists in Nepal. Police watched Tuesday’s rally by journalists but did…
Alvaro Vargas Llosa, an author of The Complete Guide To The Perfect Latin American Idiot (it has a whole chapter on Castro worship) and now, Liberty for Latin America: How to undo 500 years of state oppression will be interviewed by Jim Lehrer of PBS. Alvaro Vargas Llosa is one of the world’s foremost experts on Latin America. Like Hernando de Soto, he’s a Peruvian, and he’s now at the Independent Institute, in Oakland. When people ask me where I learned about the place, I always point in his direction. He is one of the most brilliant and interesting intellectuals…
None other than blogger Alek Boyd – who’s been featured in a Sunday front page feature in El Universal, the top newspaper in Caracas, Venezuela for his awesome blogging exposing the corrupt political networks of the Hugo Chavez political machine in the U.S., something for which the U.S. owes him a debt of gratitude. Who says blogging doesn’t lead to revolution? Check it out here, here and here. UPDATE: Free Republic has an excellent English translation of the interview. Be sure to read it to see the depth of Alek’s grasp of the current issues surrounding the Venezuelan government’s propaganda…