John Pilger: The War on Democracy
This documentary, made by renowned [some might say notorious] left-wing journalist John Pilger, is out on DVD on 4th February. The film uses the USA's treatment of Latin America over the second half of the 20th century as evidence that the US is fighting a war against democracy in the region known as "America's backyard." His film shows us the flipside of Bush's "War on Terror," where the US's efforts don't even pretend to be for the greater good.
A reviewer of his 2006 book, Freedom Next Time , said of Australian-born, London-based Pilger:
John Pilger is a very unusual journalist. He writes about people on the receiving end of grisly western policies - whether bombs or economic "advice" - and then exposes the motivations of those who are responsible. One might think Pilger is just doing his job. In fact, it is an indictment of western journalism that this way of working is rather unusual and Pilger unique. He opens by writing: "This book is about empire..."
He also opens the film by talking about the "American Empire." It follows the same themes, showing us some graphic footage of the aftermath of massacres and emotional interviews with the victims of state-sponsored torture in Chile and Venezuela.
Early on in the film, footage of George W. Bush is shown, with him saying: "America will not impose our own style of governent on the unwilling," a 2005 statement that is relevant to several other parts of US foreign policy.
Pilger does not pretend to be neutral on these subjects, and his support of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is clear in scenes of a chummy interview, between two people who clearly know each other very well. For someone immersed in American media, however, this would be a side of Chavez that s/he would not have witnessed before. Pilger makes sure that Chavez lists the triumphs of his socialist government, and none of the faults. The former include: free healthcare, literacy initiatives and payments to poor housewives. The film does not , however, shy away from portraying the continuing problems of huge disparities in wealth in the oil-rich city of Caracas.
The socialist nature of governments in Chile and Nicaragua has scared US administrations, just as the fear of communism spreading led America to Vietnam and to surreptituous support of Afghanistan in the 70s and 80s. In Latin America, the means of attack were even murkier; the National Endowment for Democracy provided money for coups. One official denies that this constitutes support of unrest in these countries; the film suggests otherwise. This is how we get to the terrible testimonies of the victims of torture, rape and mass murder. Chillingly, early 80s CIA chief, Duane Clarridge , denies many of these events in an interview shown in the documentary; this is despite tha fact that he was behind attacks on Nicaragua in 1981-4, one of which led to the Hague's condemnation in 1986. The CIA Latin American branch under him also plotted against the left-wing Sandanista government.
It is doubtful whether those whose eyes would really be opened by this documentary would actually want to see it; Pilger is a polarising figure because of his stridently anti-American, left-wing views. Still, it is important to look critically at any powerful nation's foreign policy, and wonder if words like "empire," "democracy" and "terror" truly fit, because much of the mainstream media, especially in America, will never do this for us.
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