General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAn Open Letter to the Media on the 'Irony' of Snowden's Request for Asylum in Venezuela and Ecuador
he supposed “irony” of whistle-blower Edward Snowden seeking asylum in countries such as Ecuador and Venezuela has become a media meme. Numerous articles, op-eds, reports and editorials in outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and MSNBC have hammered on this idea since the news first broke that Snowden was seeking asylum in Ecuador. It was a predictable retread of the same meme last year when Julian Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and the Ecuadorian government deliberated his asylum request for months.
Of course, any such “ironies” would be irrelevant even if they were based on factual considerations. The media has never noted the “irony” of the many thousands of people who have taken refuge in the United States, which is currently torturing people in a secret prison at Guantanamo, and regularly kills civilians in drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and other countries. Nor has the press noted the “irony” of refugees who have fled here from terror that was actively funded and sponsored by the U.S. government, e.g. from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, and other countries.
But in fact the “irony” that U.S. journalists mention is fantastically exaggerated. It is based on the notion that the governments of Venezuela under Chávez (and now Maduro) and Ecuador under Correa have clamped down on freedom of the press. Most consumers of the U.S. media unfortunately don’t know better, since they have not been to these countries and have not been able to see that the majority of media are overwhelmingly anti-government, and that it gets away with more than the U.S. media does here in criticizing the government. Imagine if Rupert Murdoch controlled most U.S media outlets, rather than the minority share that his News Corp actually owns – then you’d start to have some idea what the media landscape in Ecuador, Venezuela and most of Latin America looks like.
The fact is that most media outlets in Ecuador and Venezuela are privately-owned, and opposition in their orientation. Yes, the Venezuelan government’s communications authorities let the RCTV channel’s broadcast license expire in 2007. This was not a “shut down”; the channel was found to have violated numerous media regulations regarding explicit content and others – the same kind of regulations to which media outlets are subject in the U.S. and many other countries. Even José Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch – a fierce critic of Venezuela – has said that "lack of renewal of the contract [broadcast license], per se, is not a free speech issue." Also rarely mentioned in U.S. reporting on the RCTV case is that the channel and its owner actively and openly supported the short-lived coup d’etat against the democratically-elected government in 2002.
More: https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/07/18-3#.UentkQuJWUo.twitter
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Fight the Power: Venezuela's Maduro Responds to Obama's Nominee for UN Envoy
By Ryan Mallett-Outtrim
Mérida, 19th July 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described comments made by US President Barack Obama's nominee for envoy to the United Nations as “despicable”, and demanded an apology.
Yesterday Maduro criticised the nominee Samantha Power's testimony to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. During the speech, Power called for a “contesting” of what she described as a “crackdown on civil society being carried out in countries like Cuba, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.”
“Power says she’ll fight repression in Venezuela? What repression?” Maduro responded on Venezuelan television.
“There is repression in the United States, where they kill African-Americans with impunity, and where they hunt the youngster Edward Snowden just for telling the truth,” he stated. His comments come in the wake of a Florida jury acquitting George Zimmerman on 13 July for the killing of Trayvon Martin.
He also called for an “immediate correction by the US government”.
“And the U.S. government says they want to have good relations? What tremendous relations they want,” Maduro stated.
...
This work is licensed under a Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Creative Commons license
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/9869
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)and what a shame that we get yet another terrible appointment from this administration.
Venezuela could teach us here something about Democracy. And that they know and that is what scares them. All the propaganda has failed so badly maybe it's time to give it up and start acting like adults and deal with the fact that the old cold warriors are dying off and the younger generation, many who know that history, are no longer influenced by the propaganda.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Last edited Sun Jul 21, 2013, 11:34 PM - Edit history (1)
They got it.
They said they wanted housing. They got furnished housing and subsidized rents for the poor.
They said they wanted healthcare. They got free healthcare, doctors, nurses, neighborhood clinics.
They said they wanted education. They got teachers, schools, and "missions" for grass-roots development programs in all the barrios.
They said they wanted a say in how the means of production are run. They got that and they got strong unions and labor rights.
They said they were tired of going to bed with empty bellies. They got state subsidized restaurants and state subsidized stores selling chicken, beef, and imported goods for the poor and the middle class.
And their elite is seething. Hoarding staples like toilet paper trying to get people to betray their own interests.
We said we wanted healthcare. We got an insurance scam.
We said we wanted housing. They gave our homes to the banks and protected the banks from our wrath.
We said we wanted to improve our schools. They're cutting them and firing teachers across the nation.
We said we wanted more nutritious food at an affordable price, we got bankrupt family farms replaced by huge agribusiness and its unlabeled GMOs.
We said we wanted peace. We got war, drones, war, missiles, mass surveillance and more fucking wars.
And our elite is absolutely rejoicing, while they throw Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian to distract and entertain us so they can jet around the world bathing in champagne from joy.
Their lackeys sleep well at night. They have no social conscience, except to pretend every 4 years that they do.
People like Samantha Powers sleep very well on their 1500 count Egyptian sheets at night. Their steady paycheck comes from serving the 1%.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)people as opposed to one that is by, for and of the Corporate State. Should be an OP.
Maybe one day we too will finally have enough as the people of Venezuela did and find a leader who is actually a true Democrat who cares more about the people who elect him/her than about the owners of the country, or thieves would be a more accurate description.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)That alone will be a huge battle and with the mass surveillance going on now, I don't see us winning anytime soon but we can't stop trying. There's no way people are going to sit back and allow this forever. I think people are wrong to disparage the younger generation now as if they don't care. They strike me as very aware and very determined to change things. Thanks Sabrina.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Catherina
(35,568 posts)Any suggestions for improvement? I write it rather hastily and welcome your suggestions.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)The only thing I would suggest would be to add a few short stats where most practical for improvements in country conditions such as nutrition, literacy rates, access to health etc. during recent years in Venezuela. Those are available in one place on line in the . . . cough, CIA Factbook or World Bank country reports. No need to overburden it with numbers. Just a little seasoning for taste.
Thanks for your good work. 
Catherina
(35,568 posts) 
mc51tc
(219 posts)has been chosen #1 for the last three years as the best place retire. Thousands of U.S. citizens have moved to Cuenca, Ecuador since 2008.
http://internationalliving.com/2011/09/cuenca-ecuador-the-best-city-in-the-worlds-top-retirement-haven/
"Flowers bloom everywhere, and not one but four rushing rivers bubble over rocks to feed the lush vegetation. In Ecuador—the country that tops this year’s Global Retirement Index—nature is ever-present. And you can enjoy it fully in the city of Cuenca, where those rivers trail amid mountain surrounds.
The colonial churches, grand mansions, shady parks, and fountain-anchored plazas have earned Cuenca world-wide recognition for its beauty. A mild climate makes for comfortable living year-round. Average daily temperatures reach into the 70s F, and the nights are cool and fresh.
And Ecuador is one of the most affordable countries in the world. You can rent a furnished, two-bed apartment in an historic center for $220, or buy a large condo for $66,000. You can live well for $600 a month…and like royalty for double that."
Sounds wonderful! No wonder Edward Snowden picked Ecuador first!
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Last edited Sat Jul 20, 2013, 02:31 AM - Edit history (1)
Ecuador is up and coming. Looks like they shook off the US shackles well and are living the good life. Wished I was younger.... I'd be packing my bags.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)and has lifted millions out of poverty,building schools, hospitals, housing instead of skyscrapers.
While America has spent the last ten years waging illegal wars, killing innocents with drones, spying on everyone and financially raping the majority for the benefit of a miniscule few, EQUADOR has got its shit TIGHT.
GDP up 7.8% in 2012... unemployment down 4%... a million Ecuadorians brought out of poverty (in a nation of 15 million) since Correa arrived... net emigration of Ecuadorians prior to Correa now = net immigration.... wages up 3% last year.
And you should see what those third world pinkos are blowing all the money on... infrastructure, women’s shelters, schools, hospitals, the elderly, the disabled, all that booty that could be sending young Equadorians overseas to kill people being wasted to 'better the plight of of its citizenry'. Lame.
And homicides down 27% between 2008 and 2012. It now has a rate of 12.14 cases per 100 000 inhabitants.
A 90% approval rating, the highest in the world. It kills them. I love it.
Posted on February 13, 2013
By William K. Black
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has the special ability to drive our most elite media nuts. Failures are self-refuting. It is the successful that drive their opponents to distraction, and much of the media can barely contain its eagerness to write that Correa has failed. In 2009, The Economist practically licked its lips in eager anticipation of what it hoped would be Correa’s (and Ecuador’s) failure due to the “country’s acute financial problems.”
“Mr Correa appears to be uncorrupt. The giant increase in public spending he has overseen (it rose by 71% last year) has resulted in new schools and hospitals. Testing of teachers, with pay linked to results, has been introduced. When talking to an educated audience, Mr Correa stresses the need to improve the country’s economic competitiveness.
All this has led some American diplomats to hope that Mr Correa can be detached from the orbit of Mr Chávez. But his anti-Americanism is visceral. His father spent time in an American prison for transporting drugs and committed suicide after returning to Ecuador.”
The problem is that Correa, and Ecuador, refuse to fail. Indeed, the most popular elected head of state in the Americas is Correa – by a considerable margin. Correa was never in Chavez’s “orbit.” Correa has long been an independent intellectual leader of progressive movements in Latin America.
...
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2013/02/correas-and-ecuadors-success-drive-the-economist-nuts.html
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Inspiring, people oriented action is a real pleasure to read about.
Correa sounds like an FDR. Maybe even better. Wish we had someone like that here in the US.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)The police, whose chiefs were always chosen by the US Ambassador, instigated a coup and held him prisoner for 12 hours, I think, in a police hospital. Correa changed immediately stripped the US Embassy of those kinds of power afterwards.
Here's a short video of that night and of President Correa standing in the window, opening his shirt and daring them to kill him (minute 1:48).
He is awesome. He's got a couple masters and a PhD in Economics and he's not buying any of that Free Trade bs.
Judi Lynn
(164,122 posts)posting here, attempting to mock Correa on behalf of the fascists. Maggots.
He DID manage to get through that one, aided by some very loyal citizens, as did Chavez with the military which rescued him from the oligarchs' coup in Venezuela.
Latin American progressive leaders not only have to overcome the horrendous disadvantage the US-supported oligarchs created for the poor, they have to try to protect themselves from a barrage of weapons coming at them from the bully to the north in various forms. Astonishingly, complexly difficult. They are courageous people, armed with so little to protect themselves.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Maggots is the only term for backing a coup against Correa. I'm so happy they've formed all those blocs like Mercosur, Petrosur, Unasur to stand united against that kind of aggression and grow in strength together. The people's courage is inspiring. We could learn a thing or two.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)Our history is ALWAYS to back the ones who will subjugate the people for the benefit of US corporations. I am not aware of any significant exceptions.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)it took years, it took a whole lot of foot-dragging and the UN, and we sent him back shackled by the same neoliberal policies he was fighting. Other than that I got nothing.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)And I would note that there have never been a lot of giant corporations licking their chops to get into Haiti.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)here, actually managed to use their resources to turn their countries into good places for their own people to live, rather than places to be looted, as this is one is, by a few greedy, unethical, moronic, sociopaths who for some reason are being protected by our Government while the people here are losing more and more.
No wonder young poeple from countries like Spain eg, whose Autherity Criminals have bankrupted that country also, are moving to Venezuela to find work and a new life rather than to this country.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)They asked him why he could make such astounding changes for his people and Obama couldn't. His answer was that US Presidents are selected by the system to manage a system whereas they're elected to lead and make changes. He said it more elegantly but that was the gist of it and it struck me.
Spain is turning into such a joke. They're as insolvent as Portugal with Latin America as their most lucrative trade partner but they still had the imperial arrogance to lackey for us and ground Morales' plane. That thing still isn't over. All the ALBA countries are consulting now over throwing out the Ambassadors of those countries. Whether they do or not, they're all still forging ahead on lucrative dea;s with China and Russia. We're being short-sighted and foolish. Unlike us, they don't forget history every 4 years and vote tp *move on*. You'd think some overpaid MBA in DC would point that out to our politicians.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Good to know they are not going to let that insult go. Throwing out US Ambassadors might be a good thing, and trading with other countries other than the US, who tend to use these trade agreements like a bully uses lunch money, is the best idea they've had so far.
Let the US threaten, when Latin America doesn't need us anymore, and it's likely very close to that scenario, what will they threaten then?
Bullies, they are reprehensible but they can be taught to behave themselves, out of self interest if nothing else.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)worried.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)There are many stories, many issues. It is not all about him. But, he has definitely become an important story. The US effort to get him has become a story.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Joe Hyperion
(58 posts)If it wasn't, why in the world did you say that it was Snowden reminding anyone about anything?
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)whining considering that's all some people here wanted to talk about. Now they DON'T want to talk about him?
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)I disassociate myself from this view. The level of press freedom in Venezuela is irrelevant to the question. (And probably less rosy than the article suggests.)
Snowden is not seeking asylum in Venezuela or Ecuador because they are famously super-free countries.
They are a) the only countries to have talked about offering asylum, and b) better than prison.
This article is just as foolish as the anti articles because how free the press is in these countries is irrelevant to the question of why Snowden has considered them.
Nobody else offered.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)The letter makes an excellent point.
First we heard that Hong Kong was identical to mainland China; therefore a human rights abuser; therefore an "ironic" place to which one might flee.
Then Russia. Oooh. Another "bad guy" country, old-school. How could there be better than here?
Now it's South America bashing, under the longstanding U.S. rubric that South American countries are full of evil leftists, whom the U.S. has beneficently fought against, albeit in the filthiest and most murderous ways, often on the side of brutal rightwing dictators, in order that banana companies might flourish.
It's disingenuous bullshit. What IS actually ironic is that the U.S. is becoming a place people flee FROM to avoid political persecution.
The smug assumption that anywhere but here is a less free and human-rights friendly environment floats glibly past the fact that this is no longer true for some people, and moreover, WHY is that?
So, no, it's not a contest as to which country is better. Go, USA. Still richer and thus safer than most, for many people. But the "irony" in the fact that someone would choose to leave here to go -- yes, ANYWHERE ELSE -- is not in favor of the U.S.
cprise
(8,445 posts)ronnie624
(5,764 posts)because of press freedom there, so you're disassociating yourself from a nonexistent view. Maybe you should read it again for clarification.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Countries with abysmal human rights records and worse press freedoms. Not that he's choosing to go there.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)ronnie624
(5,764 posts)Ecuador and Venezuela are not responsible for the wholesale destruction of other countries and the deaths of millions throughout the world, like the US is.
gulliver
(13,985 posts)...stampeding to Ecuador and Venezuela and few if any leaving those two countries to come here.
Or you're wrong.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)And you false statement re Latin American countries shows how little you know about them SINCE THEY THREW OUT their infamous human rights abusers, like Pinnochet, one of OUR favorite genocidal maniacs in Latin America. Do you know anything at all about that part of the world because your comment says otherwise? Are you aware that what you are talking about re human rights abuses in Latin America happened when we were supporting their Dictators there, ever hear of the School of the Americas, Death Squads eg, all gone now, thankfully and the resources no longer being stolen by Western Global interests through their Dictator allies.
treestar
(82,383 posts)gitmo, etc. aside, we are still much more run by the rule of law than Venezuela or Ecuador. We have a First Amendment and that makes us much freer.