The War on Democracy in Latin America
By John Pilger and Edu Montesanti
Source: Counterpunch
March 25, 2016
Evidencing the democratic character with profound social transformations in Venezuela, in this interview John Pilger tells of his experiences in the cradle of the Bolivarian Revolution. Children were learning about history and the arts for the first time; Venezuelas literacy programme was the most adventurous in the world.
He also speaks of his experiences with then-President Chávez, interviewed by the filmmaker as well as several ex-CIA agents who took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries in the region. I traveled with Hugo Chavez across Venezuela. I have never known a national leader so respected and held in such affection as Chavez. He was an extraordinary man, who never seemed to sleep, who was consumed by ideas. ( ) He was also, incorruptible and tough tough in the sense that he was brave.
Edu Montesanti: Thank you, John, for granting me this interview; I am so very honored by it. Would you comment please your new documentary The Coming War between America and China, to be published? What will it bring to us, what motivates you and whats your aim?
John Pilger: The new film describes a dangerous and unnecessary cold war between the United States and China: the same cold war thats directed at Russia. It examines President Obamas Pivot to Asia the shift of two thirds of American naval power to the Asia-Pacific by 2020 as a military response to the economic rise of China.
John Pilger: Modern era imperialism is a war on democracy. Genuine democracy is a threat to unfettered power and cannot be tolerated. Most of the governments the US has overthrown or attempted to overthrow since the end of World War two have been democracies; and Latin America has been its theme park of corrupt power and imposing its will. One US success was the destruction of the Arbenz government in Guatemala in 1954.
Jacobo Arbenz was a democrat and modest reformer who didnt believe the United Front Company should run his country and reduce the lives of his people to peonage. To Washington he represented what later said of Nicaragua under the sandinistas; democracy in Guatemala was the threat of a good example. This was intolerable to the US, and Arbenz was overthrown, personally humiliated and expelled from his own country.
That set the pattern for the entire continent.
Countries in Latin America with progressive governments have lived under the constant threat of the color revolution, a non-violent method to overthrow governments perfected by the American Gene Sharp, a North-American professor of Political Science. Given also the opposition pro-US victory in recent elections in Venezuela, Argentina and in a referendum in Bolivia, do you fear a new dominance of US interests in the region? What is your prospect for Latin America, and what does the Bolivarian Revolution mean for the region?
John Pilger: This is a dangerous time in Latin America. The gains made by the social democracies are more precarious than ever. The US used to refer to Latin America as its farm, having never accepted the independence of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and, of course, Cuba.
The US wants its farm back. There is much to lose. I read the other day that, according to the Bolivian Ministry of Health, 85,000 lives had been saved in Bolivia by Cuban doctors. Its an achievement on that scale that is at risk now.
They need our voices and support as never before.
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-war-on-democracy-in-latin-america/
SoLeftIAmRight
(4,883 posts)...
Igel
(35,300 posts)Not a, e, i, o, u, or even schwa?
Not high front or rounded mid front or unrounded short back?
Not tense or lax? Diphthongal or monophthongal? Not perhaps creaky or breathy?
But "never again"?
Excuse me, is that a rhotic vowel? Nasal?
And is the use of "never again" as a vowel recursive? Are the 4 vowels in "never again" themselves all "never again"?
(And why does the spell check software insist that "diphthongal" and "rhotic" are not words? Surely, linguistics-based software should, at a minimum, include linguisticky words.)
Judi Lynn
(160,525 posts)The only "respect" show any Latin American leaders is toward the puppets, and it's not genuine, clearly, since they are placed there to serve US American interests.
As has been explained repeatedly for years, by real leaders, the Americas are happy to work with the US as partners, but not as a master/slave relationship, which won't work at all.
Thank you, polly7.
polly7
(20,582 posts)highoverheadspace
(307 posts)of our time. No doubt about it. Thank you for this post Polly.
polly7
(20,582 posts)a la izquierda
(11,791 posts)in Latin America this week. I envision a class full of very depressed college students over the next few weeks.
polly7
(20,582 posts)I'm almost too depressed over all of it to even read the Latin American forum much lately.
I hope it goes well for you and your students though ....... there's sure a lot of complicated history to draw from.