Mina Khanlarzadeh: "then what is the difference between Hugo Chavez and Fox news? they both ignore atrocities commited by their favorite governments."
Another demonstration of how imperialist pressure distorts people's thinking. To put an equal signs between the white genocide against native peoples or the crimes of American imperialism in Afghanistan and Iraq today and the alleged rhetoric of Ahmadinejad around the holocaust or the supposed repression in Iran betrays complete disorientation. And I say "alleged rhetoric" and "supposed repression" because, as we say in Spanish, "a mi no me consta": I do not know these things for a fact. And I've been in the journalism racket long enough to be suspicious of reports about an alleged outrageous statement that do not have the direct quote in the second sentence. And I am also suspicious of alleged "tweeter revolutions" in countries where 99% of the people don't have Internet and the local language doesn't even use the same character set as English. That raises the very interesting question: ¿who are these rank and file demonstrators who supposedly send reports IN ENGLISH to U.S. and other imperialist news organizations? As to "what is the difference between Hugo Chavez and Fox News," the difference is precisely this: Hugo Chavez is the president of Venezuela, Fox News is a right-wing journalistic outlet. This raises the question of why Hugo Chavez is expected to comment on these matters that in no way involve Venezuela. He isn't a bourgeois calumnist nor a talking head gasbag on TV: there is a world of difference between what a president is supposed to do and what a TV news network is supposed to do. In the specific case of Chavez, his commitment is to defend the interests of Venezuela as a nation and of its working people. I know this is a difficult concept for many on the left (and especially I think from the Trotskyist tradition) but commentary from the sidelines is not the essence of politics. The essence of politics is relating to real live forces. In this regard, Chavez is undoubtedly correct to try to develop and solidify a common front of Third World countries and not join in imperialist campaigns to isolate a country like Iran. Especially at a time when Iran is under growing imperialist pressure and even threats of military attacks. Joaquin ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
