Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Judi Lynn

(160,217 posts)
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 06:07 AM Mar 2015

Chávez Supporters Mobilize For Venezuela Amid Coup Reports And Fresh Sanctions

Chávez Supporters Mobilize For Venezuela Amid Coup Reports And Fresh Sanctions

In addition to challenging the recent sanctions slapped on Venezuelan officials by President Obama, activists and political scientists criticize Human Rights Watch for “attacking Venezuela while turning a blind eye to abuses happening elsewhere.”

By Joe Catron @jncatron | March 16, 2015

~ snip ~

“As a matter of long-standing policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a Feb. 13 press briefing.

The claim drew incredulous reactions from journalists. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Associated Press reported Matt Lee exclaimed. “The U.S. has a long-standing policy of not promoting – what did you say? How long-standing is that? In particular in South and Latin America, that is not a long-standing practice.”

Psaki quickly backtracked, denying the Venezuelan claims “without getting into history.” By Feb. 19, a press statement from her office referred only to the present: “The United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means.”

Activists familiar with the U.S. government’s long history of supporting military takeovers in Latin America and elsewhere found the statement no more plausible.

“Like they denied being involved in the 1973 coup against Allende in Chile?” Kaufman responded rhetorically. “Like they denied being involved in the 1954 coup against Arbenz in Guatemala? Like they denied being involved in the 2002 coup against Chávez in Venezuela? Like they denied being involved in the 2009 coup against Zelaya in Honduras? U.S. government coup denials, I doubt, are believed by any informed person on earth outside the United States.”

More:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/chavez-supporters-mobilize-for-venezuela-amid-coup-reports-and-fresh-sanctions/203367/

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
I heard about this exchange during a press briefing, then saw it on TV. Exceptional!

2 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Chávez Supporters Mobilize For Venezuela Amid Coup Reports And Fresh Sanctions (Original Post) Judi Lynn Mar 2015 OP
"American Denial" or "American Imperialism" are movies I would definitely watch..because history is a great teacher. Fred Sanders Mar 2015 #1
yeah this Chavez supporter on a plane has a total meltdown uhnope Mar 2015 #2

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)
1. "American Denial" or "American Imperialism" are movies I would definitely watch..because history is a great teacher.
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 10:09 AM
Mar 2015

America has been sniping Latin American socialists and populists for generations, we have tape.

Some countries do have "Elizabeth Warren" and People Power in charge...those that oppose that in foreign lands would likely oppose that in America.....not friends of mine.

Greece is as socialist minded now as the 11 Latin countries that support Venezuela whole heartedly against the Imperialists and Bankers....same drum beat....different tune.

 

uhnope

(6,419 posts)
2. yeah this Chavez supporter on a plane has a total meltdown
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 01:43 PM
Mar 2015


http://wonkette.com/579947/lady-douche-professor-is-your-new-revolutionary-thoreau-by-being-a-dick-on-an-airplane

Lady-Douche Professor Is Your New Revolutionary Thoreau, By Being A Dick On An Airplane

Meet Penn State (Abington campus) associate professor of sociology Karen Halnon, who was on a flight from Nicaragua to Miami when the spirit (possibly distilled ones) moved her to make an inflight political announcement:

“The United States has declared war on Venezuela! The United States has declared war on Venezuela!” Halnon says in the video, as another woman reminds her she’s repeated the claim about “seven times.”

“My great hero, Hugo Chavez, nationalized the oil supply so that the people would own the oil,” Halnon continues. “Not Exxon Mobil. Tell Exxon Mobil to go away.”


Halnon was also recorded lighting up a cigarette, taking a few puffs, and then stubbing it out on the tray table in front of her, which was, we must note in her defense, at least stowed in a locked upright position.
...
After Halnon was arrested on landing, things continued in High Weird Mode; as she was being escorted off the plane by police, she shouted “F*ck you, this is not a democracy!”

Halnon, who has a prior arrest for public drunkenness in 2013, said that she had a wine and juice spritzer on the plane, but did not mention whether it was a single barrel or a full hogshead.

While Penn State officials had no comment on the incident, Halnon herself was happy to give an interview to Philadelphia Magazine, because at this point, why the hell not? She described her rant as “an act of civil disobedience,” and then proceeded to play out every possible stereotype about academic leftists. Asked why she felt it necessary to yell about Venezuela on an airplane, she replied,

"I’m very knowledgable about that part of the world. I teach about U.S. imperialism in Latin America. And the U.S. has declared war against Venezuela. That means military aggression. They tried to take out Hugo with a coup, and then they took him out with cancer."


She went on to explain that “Fidel agrees with me that the CIA had some involvement in giving [Hugo Chavez] cancer,” and that despite the corrupt U.S. government’s wishes, president Nicolas Maduro would carry on the Venezuelan revolution, and wouldn’t wimp out like the wimpy Castro brothers wimped out in wimpy Cuba. And her rant was a revolutionary act:

"The problem is U.S. military global domination. And they want the oil. And they want the water. And so I found that this act was a necessary Thoreau-like act of civil disobedience. I had to speak out now. The situation is dire and urgent, and any sacrifice I make for my own self, if it saves lives — there have been far too many lives lost due to U.S. global military domination."
...
We finally gave up on Halnon when she explained why lighting a cigarette was so key to her protest:

"Listen, the point is, I am a sociologist, and I live in an intellectual world. A sociologist always thinks in terms of symbols. And every revolutionary I know smokes. It was identifying with the revolutionary cause. And then, beyond that, it is a symbol that the United States is a smoking gun. The action was necessary. They are going to kill many more people […]

I am passionate about being an anti-imperialist. To follow Jesus is to be with the poor, to be with the suffering, to be with the oppressed, and to be anti-imperialist."

Which you apparently accomplish by being an asshole on an airplane, in imitation of the time that Archbishop Oscar Romero fashioned a crucifix out of airsickness bags and Skymall catalogues and then smoked it, to call attention to the conditions of the oppressed. A symbol? Look, we happen to have Umberto Eco right here, and he says you know nothing about semiotics.

We aren’t really sure here: mental illness? We’d feel pretty bad about mocking that, but she seems lucid enough, though unlike Fox News’s Keith Ablow, we are not professional psychiatrists who can diagnose people by watching a video.


The civil disobedient tries to blame the cigarette on the person seated next to her:



Latest Discussions»Region Forums»Latin America»Chávez Supporters Mobiliz...