Close to 200 people gathered at Mt. Pleasant Neighbourhood House in East Vancouver last night to hear a presentation by independent journalist Eva Bartlett. The forum was one of the stops on Bartlett’s Canadian tour sponsored and coordinated by the Canadian Peace Congress. This one in Vancouver was supported by the Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver.
Bartlett’s talk exposed the corporate media disaster narrative that omits many voices. She gave the example of Syria and compared the Syria narrative broadcast by the corporate media with that of its Venezuela narrative.
In sum, she described how the corporate narrative operates as part of the imperialist arsenal deployed with the objective of regime change. It creates the fake news of a crisis to justify calls for intervention. It demonizes enemies of imperialism to the level of caricatures while whitewashing terrorists, fascists and the extreme Right. It attempts to control this narrative while playing a role at destabilizing a society while deprivation of supplies and services and attacks on the local infrastructure go on. The corporate media, such as the BBC, are packaged as authoritative voices.
Discussing Syria, she highlighted these key points.
-other voices are portrayed as brainwashed or forced to say things, and prominent ones assassinated (the deaths of two priests were examples of assassinations)
-some individuals are bribed or intimidated or forced to make false statements to the corporate media
-the state is blamed for creating the shortage of food caused by terrorists stealing and hording food
-images and quotes are taken out of context and often manipulated (One video was exposed as having been filmed in Malta, not Syria, with a staged performance.)
-The narrative falsely claimed there was a major domestic conflict between Sunnis versus Shias.
-actual cases of starvation caused by terrorists hording supplies were omitted while false claims of starvation were circulated and blamed on the state
Comparison with Venezuela
-the corporate media recycled the line that an evil regime was starving its people (Bartlett’s investigation in March found no evidence starvation even in the poorest quarters; a state food program protects the most needy)
ex. Univision TV reporter Ramos reported that people near the Presidential palace were scrounging in garbage bins to get food, but his video was actually shot in an upper class neighbourhood 7 km away where food is too expensive for poor people and there is some dumpster diving)
–collectivos are demonized, portrayed as criminal organizations funded by the government by the corporate media while they are in fact community projects that may receive some state funding. Bartlett’s videos of such collectivos showed communal food production and livestock breeding, even energy production
-the corporate media keeps giving the impression that there is chaos in Venezuela, but Bartlett observed calm even during blackouts when people had to line up for several blocks to use an ATM or collect water from a natural source. People were going about their daily business and children were playing outside.
-Although the corporate media has kept blaming the state for the blackouts, even Forbes Magazine had to admit that the major blackouts could have been caused by cyberattacks and physical attacks. The most recent investigations by the state have revealed that sniping is also a cause. Statements by US leaders show that the US knew about the major power outages in Venezuela before they occurred. Generally, there have been intermittent smaller power outages because of problems caused by the sanctions.
-the corporate media omits criticisms of the sanctions and reports on the consequences they are having to the economy. Sanctions are part of an economic war, and the people appear to be well aware of it.
-blackouts in Venezuela are emphasized and blamed on the government while the blackouts in Palestine that cause serious hardship are ignored, as are the blackouts in Syria.
-While the corporate media reported mass discontent and internal conflict, the people’s mass demonstrations in support of the Bolivarian government and Pres. Maduro are largely omitted. Bartlett had trouble finding the demonstrations by opponents that the corporate media exaggerated.
Bartlett’s YouTube channel contains many full videos and reports on Venezuela and other situations.
JUST PEAce COMMITTEE 