US Hegemony Exposed: The War on Democracy

Sulphur, bottom of page.

You may by now be familiar with my pathological aversion to hypocrisy. Well it abounds throughout John Pilger's 2007 film, The War on Democracy (Wiki) and from all the usual sources, those sources being, unsurprisingly, every US President and every US politician that has been within living memory.

The same can't be said however, for the CIA operatives charged with the task of undermining democratically elected governments in South America during the same period. No, not a hint of hypocrisy, other than of course, playing down the death toll resulting from US backed coup d'etats or US trained death squads that operated throughout Latin America.

No, from the CIA, only arrogance, sheer bloody arrogance, and on a scale that truly boggles the mind. There are other CIA talking heads throughout the film, but pride of place in the arrogance stakes has to go to Duane Clarridge, CIA operations officer and supervisor for thirty years. (Wiki)

There being no need to embrace my opinion on this, you will no doubt form your own after watching just three minutes of this arrogant turd spout his American exceptionalist shite. Having watched this performance, I think you might find it hard to disagree me, but you may also experience that which I did, the overwhelming desire to grab the murdering little cocksucker by the collar and punch his lights out. Such fucking arrogance!





Before leaving the US side of things, I would be greatly remiss if I didn't make mention of Roger Noriega. (Haiti Action) I have watched many shabby pols lie through there teeth over the years, nobody, but nobody, can hold a candle to this fellow when it comes to, not just lying, but unadulterated barefaced lying as displayed by Noriega in an interview with Pilger, of all people.

Having supported and funded the 2002 attempted coup against Hugo Chavez through such organisations as USAID and the much misnamed, National Endowment for Democracy, Noriega gives such a performance that I think even John Pilger had a problem getting his head round it.

A more indepth profile/bio of Roger Noriega can be found at Right Web. And if ever there was a must read about what I could only describe as Washington's man from hell, then it has to be this article.



Hugo Chavez: I saw nothing in Pilger's film that gave me reason to change any of my previous held beliefs regarding Hugo Chavez. Quite the opposite in fact, what I witnessed during Pilger's interview with Chavez only strengthened and endorsed those beliefs.

Chavez came across as a genuine man, a genuine statesman in fact, that enjoys the undeniable support and affection from the majority of Venezuela's people. As Pilger notes, little wonder Chavez is hated by Washington, implementing as he has, free full time schooling for all children, free health care for all, adult literacy classes throughout the country and many more things beside.

For those that may not have the bandwidth, I'm going to take the captions from the sub titles and post that part of the interview between Pilger and Chavez.

Starting off in English, though soon turning to Spanish, Chavez has a bit of craic with John Pilger.

HC: You want a cup of coffee?

JP: Yes, Yes,

HC: That was one of my English lessons in secondary school. Do you want a cup of coffee? Do you want a glass of milk? Do you want a glass of water? English lesson one!

JP: Let me ask about you,,,personally, I mean, travelling with you for the last couple of days, I've seen a man who's clearly deeply committed to what you want for the Venezuelan people. Could you describe where that came from?

HC: I was born in a very poor home,a peasant home, so I experienced poverty. I was a poor child, barefoot. My father was a teacher at a rural school, and my mother too.I had a beautiful grandmother, she was Indian, she filled me with love.

My grandmother taught me a lot, and I learned from her about solidarity with other people, about sharing the bread even when there's little to eat.

Later, I went into the army,the military academy, and I became a soldier. And there I found out about Bolivar and started to realise what the truth was. Simon Bolivar is venerated in Latin America as the liberator from Spanish colonialism.

Bolivar believed that freedom only came when people united against all invaders,
no matter their disguise. Today the people of Latin America are again rising up against an empire built on an extreme form of capitalism known as the Washington Consensus

Whole countries have been privatized put up for sale their natural wealth sold
too foreign companies for peanuts. In Venezuela they said "No more"

Program cuts. It was this below that really impressed me with Chavez. In his talking about giving dignity to the people, Chavez displayed a dignity of his own that I have seldom, if ever, seen in any political leader of any country.

JP: When you drive in from the airport at Caracas, the one thing that shocks a first-time visitor are the barrios, the numbers of poor people. Why is it, in Venezuela, which earns so many billions of dollars in oil money, that there still is this poverty, in spite of all the changes you've made?

HC: The poor of Venezuela carry on being poor, yes, I always say that we don't want to be rich, our aim is not material wealth, it is to live with dignity, of course to come out of poverty, and to come out of extreme poverty above all, And to live, to live with dignity, this is the objective.

Not to become millionaires, the American way of life, No, that is stupid, I'm telling you this because the issue of poverty affects us deeply, it's most of our daily struggle.

Program cuts. And here, Chavez displays a dignity combined with humility that the likes of it I have never witnessed before. And I beg you, don't think me naive, I'm far too cynical a bloke to be accused of that. But on this occasion, how nice to leave that cynicism behind.

HC: I think the supreme test was the coup d’état of 2002, I was made a prisoner, they took me away and I thought I was going to die.

Now, the Venezuelan people, the poor without weapons, went in, hundreds and thousands went onto the street to ask for my life, asking for Chavez to return.

And so, I have nothing left to do, especially after that, but dedicate all the life I have left to those people, and above all the most deprived, the poorest.

The film does move on from Chavez and Venezuela to cover other American involved coups and the mass murders, resulting therefrom.

And finally, before we get to the video and links and things, the media in Venezuela.

Having watched the program, the section covering the media (pre-coup) is no less an eye opener than any other chosen part of the film. And having watched it, I'm not surprised Chavez put the mockers on the media, it was truly outrageous. I think I would have done the same, as you might have done, if you witness it yourself.


Below then, the blurb and a pretty average embedded video, or see below for file links.

Award winning journalist John Pilger examines the role of Washington in America's manipulation of Latin American politics during the last 50 years leading up to the struggle by ordinary people to free themselves from poverty and racism. Since the mid 19th Century Latin America has been the 'backyard' of the US, a collection of mostly vassal states whose compliant and often brutal regimes have reinforced the 'invisibility' of their majority peoples. The film reveals similar CIA policies to be continuing in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. The rise of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez despite ongoing Washington backed efforts to unseat him in spite of his overwhelming mass popularity, is democratic in a way that we have forgotten or abandoned in the west. True Democracy being a solid 80% voter turnout in support of Chavez in over 6 elections.

The War on Democracy

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a documentary about the 2002 coup and well worth watching. Unfortunately I can only find poor quality versions on Youtube, but I thought it worth a mention anyway.

A couple of Hugo and Polly pics from past posts.

Full speech here: It Still Smells of Sulphur Polly