"First rule, do not bore the readers."
- Bruno Fallaci
(Scroll down for instructions
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To globalize the Bolivarian
Revolution, the transhistoric conditions for such an emancipatory endeavour
must be existent, must be present. Nothing realizes itself, unless the objective,
subjective, and transcendental, conditions and factors for its coming into
being are there. In fact, if it is really and truly possible, within the
next decade, to globalize the Bolivarian Revolution of President Hugo Chávez
Frías, then, it would not even be necessary to do so anymore, then
the world in its totality is already crossing the Rubicon of Global Emancipation.
However, beyond doubt, under the leadership of the Chavéz government,
Venezuela is catapulted on the front line against "neo-liberalism," against
so-called "globalization." For this very reason, it is receiving the current
severe national and international blows, already five failed attempts of planned
military, political and economic coups.
Strange things happen in Caracas; apart from the "miracle" that occurred between
April 11 and 13, 2002, and also that it outlived the tremendous economic sabotage
of December 2002, we have a very peculiar situation in Venezuela. Those who
possess economic power, the oligarchic "opposition," have lost their political
hegemony, and those who are in Miraflores, apart from capturing PDVSA, still
do not control economic power. This causes tremendous problems, not only
domestically, but also internationally, in the ranks of those who want to
"globalize" Venezuela's black gold.
In fact, a new special theory of the modern State has to be developed for
Venezuela, because, as the attempted coups show, the above contradiction is
prohibited in contemporary "democracy," that is why certain powerful foreign
forces demand a "change of regime" here. The class nature of Venezuelan society,
the "class war" (Lula), clearly indicate that a "government of, by and for
the people," of the poor, of whom over 80% live in dire poverty, is not desired
in "globalization," in any oil-producing country.
Hence, Chavéz has caused turmoil in contemporary "democracy", pandemonium
in the modern "State," thus, the Bolivarian Revolution has become an extraordinary
paradigm for others, for the coming emancipatory struggles in Latin America,
and in the rest of the world.
However, as stated before, the conditions for the new, the original, the
authentic, have to be globalized, they have to be superior to the current
global destructive forces, they have to be really human, truly creative; only
as such, in praxis and in theory, we could still neutralize the current Orwellian
present.
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Hey there, as much as I enjoy reading reports
from authentic journalists, esp. in regards to events in venezuala, I can't
help but question some of the content of the stories. Basically, and i don't
mean to cause offense, - alot of the material tends to meander from the path
of factual reportage and ends up sounding exactly like propaganda or straight
up arse kissing. The opening paragraphs contain abit of this.
And whats with the line about the president wearing a dark suit, red tie
and white shirt? Is there a symbolic meaning there I am missing or is that
just abit of waffle?
I realise everyone is very happy to have come out the other side of the attempted
coup, but good journalism tends to report facts, a wide diverity of opinion
without the need to 'sell' anyone or anything. After all - the reader can
make up their own mind once they have all the information.
Publisher replies: The idea of reporting
"just facts" - i.e. the myth of "journalistic objectivity" - is a myth perpetrated
by the very same market forces that gave us Jayson Blair's inventions reported
as "fact" in the New York Times, or the "fact" - now known as a falsehood
- reported by all the Commercial Media in April 2002 that "Chavez resigned"
when the Venezuelan president had been kidnapped.
The journalist who tells you he is "objective" or that he takes no side in
a battle is either naive and self-deluded, or he is an out-and-out liar; in
either case, his reports can't be trusted, because he doesn't reveal his own
bias.
If you want that kind of pablum, the pages of the Commercial Media are filled
with it every day. Bon appetit.
We do something different at Narco News. Our journalists tell you exactly
where they stand precisely so you can "make up your own mind" with the additional
knowledge of where the reporter stands. You get as many documented facts here
- often more - than you do in the Commercial Press, and you, the reader, receives
an additional fact; the disclosure, by the reporter, of his and her view.
That gives you more information, not less.
For any publication to do anything less would be a lie by omission. Maybe
that's not to your tastes, and well, as they say in Latin, "de gustibus non
est disputandum," or, you can't argue with people's taste! But it is to our
taste that the writer disclose where he and she stands after investigating
the facts. That's called calling it as one sees it, or... honesty.
- Al Giordano
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Without question, Narco newsman Luis Gomez does
an excellent job of slaughtering, preparing and cooking the chicken that
is Juan Forero; the meat of Forero was so delicious I am still picking my
teeth with his bones.
Luckily for my taste buds, disguising himself as a journalist failed to protect
Forero from being pulled from his coop, the hatchet and the chopping block.
However, now that my belly is filled, I must get to work and develop effective
solutions for the shortcomings of the meal which I revere.
Chicken coops?
Hatchets?
Chopping blocks?
Forero is a chicken?
What the hell am I talking about?
Of course, I don't mean the Juan Forero is literally a chicken; in the USA
portion of the Americas to call someone a "chicken" is to publicly declare
that person to be a coward of the highest degree. As we know, a coward's reaction
to public exposure is identical to the reaction of a slug to salt, of roaches
to light, or of evil to the light of good. And, as any authentic journalist,
truthful person, or authentic soldier for social justice knows, one of the
most satisfying and delicious "meals" is to publicly expose the true nature
of the coward. Unfortunately, regardless of how necessary, educational, and
satisfying it is to publicly piss on someone as deserving as Juan Forero it
does nothing to stop the havoc caused by his species.
We know what Juan Forero is and whose interests he truly represents. He is
not some rouge element that is successfully rotting the unyeilding honesty
and courage of the Times; Juan Forero is not an abberation, he is an extremely
common cell in the body of US "journalism."
Be honest, you all remember how the Times falsely accused Wen Ho Lee, a Chinese
American scientist, of being a nuclear spy for China. An article (by Jeff
Gerth & James Risen) about China's rapid advance in it's nuclear program
was the result of an unnamed Chinese American scientist that worked at Los
Alamos laboratories (home of the Manhattan Project). Not surprisngly, the
Gods that own and control the Times were not disturbed that Gerth & Risen
portrayed their information as made of infallible facts, which they admit
in the article were obtained from UNNAMED GOVERNMENT SOURCES.
Dwayne Chandler
Link Post new comment |
Es irritante observar el cinismo de los argumentos
con que analizais el tema de las drogas en Brasil.
La cobarde Brasil que se abstuvo en el apoyo a Cuba. La cobarde Brasil que
se abstiene en el apoyo a la revolución colombiana.La cobarde Brasil
que no se atreve a enfrentarse seriamente a los gringos. La cobarde Brasil
que no ayuda a la revolución bolivariana de Chavez como deberia. La
cobarde Brasil que no se da de cuenta que el "problema de las drogas" fue
originado planificadamente por la CIA para neutralizar al "gigante brasileño"
convirtiendolo en un país de narcos y drogadictos.
La cobarde Brasil que no se atreve a buscar una solución revolucionaria
al problema de las drogas o del narcotráfico.
La cobarde Brasil, que pretende resolver el problema de las drogas y el narcotráfico
no con la revolución de las masas populares...sinó aliandose
con el lumpem-proletariado, someterse a sus adicciones.
El problema de las drogas y del narcotráfico: solución de cobardes
burgueses....legalizar el consumo y combatir el narcotráfico.¿Es
esa una solución revolucionaria?.Si se legaliza el consumo....y se
persigue el narcotráfico... quien se encargará de atender a
los "derechos" de los consumidores? Al narcotráfico no se le combate
legalizando el consumo. Al narcotréfico se le combate combatiendolo
de verdad. No se necesita legalizar el consumo para combatir de verdad al
narcotráfico. Al contrario si legalizas el consumo haces el idiota.
La obligación de un estado revolucionario, de un gobierno revolucionario
es proteger la salud de sus ciudadanos,la salud de las masas populares. Legalizar
el consumo de sustancias estupefacientes ,es renunciar al primer deber de
un gobierno revolucionario.
La diferencia entre un gobierno revolucionario y un gobierno burgues, como
es el caso del mexicano o del uruguayo (lacayos del imperialismo americano),
está en que el gobierno revolucionario resuelve de raiz el problema
metiendo en la carcel a los que Lula quiere meter en la cárcel. Pero
Lula o es estúpido o lo están saboteando... desde el momento
en que pone en la lucha contra el narcotráfico a un defensor de la
legalización. Una absoluta incoherencia.
Lula tiene que mirar a Cuba, a China, a Viet-nam, a todos los paises que
solucionaron el problema de la droga de forma revolucionaria.
El pueblo brasileño necesita de una salida revolucionaria al problema
de la droga.ustedes con su propaganda a favor de la legalización se
situan dentro de los parámetros del neoliberalismo de MIlton Friedman.El
fué el fundador del neoliberalismo económico que tenia como
base fundamental la defensa de la legalización de las drogas.
Temo que estoy perdiendo el tiempo con ustedes, porque o son ustedes usuarios
de drogas... lo mas seguro... y por lo tanto piensan y razonan como drogadictos...
carecen de voluntad para tomar decisiones revolucionarias. O son ustedes
miserables espias de las mafias (que curiosos...un apellido italiano..giordani..)
americanas o del mossad.
Si no son nada de eso. Si son realmente gente seria: mediten en las soluciones
que dió el comunismo al problema de las drogas. En vez de hablar de
un miserable fascista como Vicente Fox, o un mafioso como el uruguayo Battle...
hablen de las soluciones de Mao en China. De las solucioes de Ho Chi Min
en Viet-nam. De las soluciones de Castro en Cuba. Si quieren a su pueblo.
No piensen como degenerados pervertidos `por el consumo o por el oportunismo
y la cobardia y busquen soluciones revolucionarias. Isidoro Padim Cortegoso.
Vigo. Galiza
Giordano responde: Mira, mi
querido Gallego... Hay tantas ignorancias y tonterías en tu discurso
que me tomaría horas de corregir tus falsedades. Pero, fijate en algunos
puntos:
1. Mi apellido, Giordano, sí, viene de raices italianos. Pero vivo
yo en América Latina. Con tu mala ortografía me llamas "Giordani."
Quizas estás confundido: Giordani es el destacado ministro en el gobierno
revolucionario y bolivariano de Chávez en Venezuela. Supongo que,
igual, tiene raices italianos pero no sé, ni me importa, de los origenes
de sus abuelos o bisabuelos.... Pero, según tu logica incoherente,
¿este ministro de Chávez sería, segun tu logica, "espia
de mafias... o de mossad"?
2. Me impresionas como un tipico "revolucionario de escritorio," mientras
nosotros aquí, en el gran equipo Narco News, estamos en el campo de
batalla, asumiendonos los riesgos, defendiendo el proceso bolivariano y el
proceso brasileño y el movimiento zapatista, y el derecho de cada
pueblo a la auto-determinación. Al menos, de atrás de tu escritorio
en Europa, debes leer y estudiar más sobre sus fantasias de que hacen
gobiernos revolucionarios... En Vietnam, por ejemplo, ¿Sabes que,
hoy en dia, en la Ciudad de Ho Chi Min como el resto del país, puedes
comprar cigarros de marijuana en casi cualquier tienda, ya preparados, con
filtro o sin filtro, y no hay represión?
3. Esto me lleva a tu tontería mas grande: Estás diciendo que
la manera de ser "revolucionario" es para copiar y obedecer una politica
prohibicionista, que ¡es la politica mas gringa y capitalista en la
planeta! La prohibición de las drogas es precisamente el pretexto
por las intervenciones de Washington en nuestra América. Mira a la
manera en que la represión en contra a obreros y campesinos en Colombia
ya viene disfrazada como "una lucha en contra de drogas." En esto, es Lula,
y no tí, quien tiene la razón en éste asunto: La Guerra
de las Drogas sí es una Guerra de clases... impulsado por los grandes
dueños de capital... vendido a la pequeña burguesía
por los medios capitalistas y corruptas... y ¿quien está en
la carcel? Los pobres y obreros. Y tú apoyas la represión en
su contra. ¿Ésto es "revolucionario"? ¡Guacala!
Si te fijas en estos hechos desde atras de tu escritorio europeo, tan comodo
y lejos de la batalla, quizas un día te despertarás... Pero
he visto bastantes "revolucionarios del escritorio" en mi vida para no tener
mucha esperanza para tí. En ésta gran batalla, aunque utilizas
palabras "revolucionarias," tú has escogido tu lado con los fascistas
y autoritarias... tú eres mi enemigo... Pues, cabrón... ¿Quieres
pelear? Vente. Nos vemos en el campo de batalla... donde tu escritorio tan
comodo no te protegería. Has aliado con los Bush, pobrecito... Pues,
si quieres ser mi enemigo, sonrie: me da igual para ser tuyo.
desde algun lugar en un país llamado América,
Alberto Giordano
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My heart sings and my spirit becomes bouyant
when I see what is happening in the Bolivarian revolution in South America.
I have felt so depressed sometimes at the ignorance, insouciance, and banality
of so many in my own country. The suffering and carnage brought about by
the Bushwhackers in Afghanistan and Iraq breaks my heart. But Hugo Chavez
and those great Venezuelans who courageously rise up against the tyrants
give me hope that someday my fellow citizens in the U.S. will understand
the horrors unleashed by corporate capitalism and we, too, will free ourselves
of the shackles of racism, poverty, and tyranny.
Real democracy and the end of war may only be a dream, but it's the only
dream worth pursuing. Long live Narco News.
Link Post new comment |
Big thanks to the Giordano-Gómez dynamic
duo, and the rest of the Narco News volunteers for their commitment to fighing
the anti-democratic and manipulative commercial media.
The "comments" feature in Narco News is a big plus.
Also big gracias to Luisito Gómez for his piece on Aporrea.
We just do what we can, just like folks at Indymedia, Narco News, and the
thousands of other alternative media projects in the Americas (I hate it
not being able to just say "América" when talking about the continent,
agrhhhh!!).
We are struggling to find time to redesign the Aporrea web site and finish
rewriting the code to allow more open participation from the readers and easy
collaboration among our team members. If there were no sabotagers and right-wing
hackers, we would have done a long time ago. We are taking our time because
we must do it well.
Stay tuned. Venezuela's alternative media explosion is just starting. New
groups are being created, and the current ones are expanding and getting better.
The revolution brewing from below in Venezuela is what the coup-plotter, right-winger,
imperialists fear the most, not Chávez. The alternative and community-based
media are working to make sure that the voices of that revolution are heard.
Giordano comments: Hi Martin! We're big
Aporrea readers and fans, that's no secret.
Let's discuss a couple of precisions about language, though.
Why can't we just say "América," as Simón Bolívar did?
I don't think it is necessary to use such a godawful term like "the Americas,"
any more than I would use "the Europes," or "the Asias," or "the Africas,"
etcetera...
Putting the accent back into América is part of what we're doing.
You can imagine how many thousands of kind readers have had to learn, for
the first time, how to make an accent on their keypads! By now, the "América
media virus" is out and spreading...
Here, as a matter of "house style" we always say América, and never
"the Americas." Our view is that the way to make a dream possible is to simply
live it.
And for similar reasons of the differences in the commonly understood meaning
of some words from English to Spanish to Portuguese, we don't use the term
"alternative media" or "alternative journalism" to describe Community Media
or Authentic Journalism...
And why not? Because in the United States the word "alternative" has become
just another for-profit market niche... The "alternative weekly" phenomenon
that rose out of the 1960s and 70s now sees all but two of its newspapers
(the stalwart San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Boston Phoenix hang in there
while the others have been gobbled up) owned not by human beings, but by faceless
corporate chains... Institutes and networks that call themselves "alternative"
have become, too many times, money-making scams that abuse the workers more
than the "mainstream" publications... And then, of course, the big record
companies each have a "Vice President of Alternative Music" and corresponding
bureaucracies...
I live in fear that the same will someday happen to some of what calls itself
"alternative media" in the rest of our América... The "alternative"
movements in the United States began with lots of fire and brimstone but fell
to the pressures of the market and in many cases are now virtually indistinguishable
from the "corporate" media because, well, they are corporations set up to
make a buck and they now tailor their "product" to "consumers" with expendable
cash... thus, they don't serve the majority.
So, my view is that if we say "alternative" in the Northern part of América,
people are going to get the wrong idea and underestimate what is really going
on... because the yardstick which they have to use to understand the term
is weak and broken.
For this reason, and others, the Authentic Journalism renaissance was born,
a movement that says, "hey, we're not the 'alternative!' We're the real thing!"
In any case, whatever words you use, Aporrea is also the real thing. Give
'em hell!
from somewhere in a country called América,
-AG
Link Post new comment |
Narconews has set the standards for authentic
journalism and exposed the frauds that are far too many in corporate media.
Link Post new comment |
Here is a reply found in the CIAdrugs Yahoo
Group public archive. Someone named Bob replied to eco man's comment and
the forwarded NarcoNews article.
From: Bob
Date: Wed Apr 23, 2003 4:58 am
Subject: Re: [cia-drugs] NarcoNews. APORREA, Voice of Venezuelan People.
Free media!
"newest member of the Narco News Team... our
internationally renowned Editorial Cartoonist-in-Residence"
Boss Tweed wasn't brought down until
Thomas Nast the
cartoonist communicated with Tweed's constituency.
Tweed said he didn't mind newspaper exposure but
his illiterate constituents could understand Nast's cartoons.
-Bob
eco man wrote:
Excellent article on alternative media in Venezuela. A must-read. Especially
as the Bush Republicrat coup takes deeper control of the mass media through
ClearChannel, etc, etc.. The alternative media and organizations in parts
of South America seem light years ahead of the sheep in the USA. It explains
why there is so much drug reform bubbling up in Brazil, etc.. That reform
is bubbling UP, not directed from above by fossils from the past. Nor by begging
the corporate media to print a letter or two.
Link Post new comment |
Anyone who knows about the practices and philosophy
of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) knows all they need to know about the Lehrer
News Hour, which they have been sponsoring for years. ADM is at the forefront
of the "globalization movement", an international exploiter and despoiler
of immense proportions. Only the most naive among us can believe that sponsors
like ADM will allow real debate on the "talking heads" portion of the show,
or real pictures of the war (instead of the pious "silent moment" at the
end where U.S. dead are shown, in uniform, before getting their brains scrambled
or their heads blown off). What we get is a "learned discourse" between
two or three or four "experts", all of whom represent some aspect of the
status quo.
So why be surprised when Frontline, by all odds along with Nova among the
most expensive and prestigious of PBS shows, pimps for the New York Times?
Sure, there are exceptions such as some of Bill Moyers' commentaries, but
by and large, PBS is just another duck-and-cover scaredy-cat interested only
in its own survival. It might be interesting for someone to reaearch possible
interlocking directorships between the boards of some of the larger PBS contributors
and the NYT.
Forero? He gives prostitution a bad name. I'd have more respect for him
if he stood out on a street corner in hot pink short shorts.
Link Post new comment |
Two wire stories have caught my eye in the last
couple of days. I read both of these from links appearing on the website
www.caracasnews.com.
One, by Andy Webb Vidal working for Financial Times gives creedence to the
notion that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is perhaps causing a rift with
Colombia to divert the public's attention from the bad economy. In true form,
Webb subtely damns Chavez with various unflattering appellations: "bombastic,"
"militarist," etc.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, however,
is given a free pass as being a US-educated "workaholic," an office and policy
nerd, bravely fighting "terrorist" groups like a modern day, middle aged,
Clark Kent.
Another story story by Pascal Fletcher (of Associated Press) raises questions
that Venezuela might be a hub for Middle East terrorists.
The drum-beat is rising again. Look for an onslaught of corporate yellow
journalism depicting Chavez as a Latin American Saddam.
Dow Jones, Reuters, AP, CSM, and others have consistently shown that they
will skew the facts according to the poltical adgenda of the people that
fund them.
Get ready Americas--dissect the news, question the "facts", the "reality"
presented by the master.
Steven Hunt
Link Post new comment |
Click here to add your
comment
Kind Reader,
Narco News launches an experiment to receive your comments about the news
and commentary we publish: Here it is! Your comments page.
Here, you can offer your opinions and ideas in response to our reporting on
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You can disagree or agree with our writers. We insist that your comments be
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When you post a comment here, you will receive an automatically generated
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The opinions expressed on these comments pages are exclusively those of the
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They are pure opinions, and not endorsed statements of fact.
We may, on ocassion, edit comments for grammar, spelling, brevity, and clarity,
but we may also, on ocassion, leave errors intact. The burden is on you,
the writer, to make your comment coherent. We reserve the right to reject
or accept any comment for any reason, without implying our agreement or disagreement
with its contents.
Thank you for participating in the Authentic Journalism renaissance.
from somewhere in a country called América,
Al Giordano
Publisher
Narco News
For more Narco News, click here.
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