From: Alejandro Valle Baeza (valle@SERVIDOR.UNAM.MX)
Date: Mon Jun 04 2007 - 21:36:41 EDT
Dear Friends and Comrades,
In the context of the international campaign against the
government of Venezuela, I urge you to support the following statement
and to circulate it widely. Please send your full name, nationality and
profession to centrointernacionalmiranda@gmail.com
<mailto:centrointernacionalmiranda@gmail.com> .
in solidarity,
michael
IN FAVOR OF DEMOCRACY IN THE MEDIA, OF THE LEGITIMATE RIGHT OF THE
VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT TO DECIDE WHO SHALL BROADCAST ON ITS AIRWAVES
In the mid 70s the non aligned countries demanded a New World
Information and Economic Order. Some time later, this decision led the
United States to withdraw from UNESCO. For many decades only five or so
monopolies controlled flows of information. It is only now that the
demand to understand information as a human right and to democratize
access to the media is being seen as a necessary requirement for
building systems that are really democratic. The existence of media like
Telesur or Al Jazeera, the proliferation of community radio and
television stations, the expansion of computer networks and free
software and the efforts states are making to take back control of their
airwaves are all part of this effort to democratize the airwaves,
This is why we respect CONATEL's (The National Telecommunication
Commission of Venezuela) decision to not renew the broadcast license of
the private television channel Radio Caracas (RCTV) which was taken in
complete accordance with Venezuelan domestic legislation and
international standards. Far from being an argument in favour of
renewing its license to broadcast, the biased manner in which RCTV used
this frequency for 53 years was an invitation to find an alternative use
for it. Besides, RCTV still has the option to continue broadcasting on
cable and satellite, if it so wishes.
Similarly, we are concerned to note that the attacks to which this
sovereign decision by the Venezuelan government is being subject are
related to the attempts --started by the FAES foundation and repeated by
other right-wing organisations in Europe and America-- to
"democratically defeat the socialism for the 21 century project". The
Venezuelan government's fair decision not to renew RCTV's broadcast
licence can be explained by what RCTV did during the April 2002 coup
d'état in Venezuela -to wit, giving airtime to the coup backers,
distorting the facts and ignoring acts which were an attack on freedom
of expression. The events RCTV ignored included the violent take-over of
the state TV station, thus silencing and disrespecting its journalists
(RCTV also ignored the people's reaction to the massacre in the
streets). What the station did during the coup also permits us to
understand why, today as yesterday, right-wing forces all over the world
are closing ranks with the Venezuelan right.
Democratising the media is something our democracies have yet to do. The
information given out abroad about Venezuela and President Chávez
clearly demonstrates the manipulation of information that affects all of
our peoples. We unflinchingly defend our peoples' freedom of expression
and their right to be informed but we do not confuse this with the
freedom of media companies --and the political and economic
conglomerates who are their allies-- to manipulate information to suit
their interests and aims.
So, for all of the above reasons and while once again repeating that the
Venezuelan government has the legitimate right to decide on the use of
the airwaves that belong to all of its citizens, we demand that an
urgent debate be started on the means of communication to put an end to
the exaggerated manipulation that we see today which seeks to attack a
legitimate decision taken by the democratic government of Venezuela.
1 de junio de 2007
Caracas,
Luis Bonilla Molina, Escritor, Presidente del Centro Internacional
Miranda, Venezuela.
Marta Harnecker, Escritora. Chile.
Michael Lebowitz, Profesor Emérito Universidad Simon Fraser, Canadá.
Fernando Bossi, Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos (CBP), Argentino,
Monica Saiz, Argentina, Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos (CBP)
Haiman el Troudi, Escritor, Venezuela.
Víctor Álvarez, Economista, Venezuela
Juan Carlos Monedero, Profesor Universidad Complutense. Madrid. España.
Maximilien Arvelaiz, Venezuela.
Janet Duckworth, politóloga, Reino Unido
Gilberto Giménez, Venezuela.
Selma Díaz, Arquitecto, Cuba.
Jorge Gantiva, Educador, Colombia
Miguel Sanchez, Educador, (Chile)
Pedro Luis Gonzalez, Politologo, Venezuela
Jonathan Montilla, Venezuela.
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Director, Programme in 'Transformative Practice and Human Development'
Centro Internacional Miranda, P.H.
Residencias Anauco Suites, Parque Central, final Av. Bolivar
Caracas, Venezuela
fax: 0212 5768274/0212 5777231
http//:centrointernacionalmiranda.gob.ve
mlebowit@sfu.ca
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