[mobglob-discuss] Venezuelan opposition to the televising of the revolution

[michael a. lebowitz]

  [From eluniversal.com]

A media farce is unveiled
Thanks to the participation of Amnesty International, the transmission of 
the video at a film festival held in Canada was prevented

MANUEL LEBON
EL UNIVERSAL
On April 11, 2002, when Irish filmmaker Kim Bartley was preparing a 
documentary about the Bolivarian revolution, she got the opportunity of her 
life: the slaughter of the opposition march and the temporary absence of 
the Venezuelan President. From those terrible events, Bartley -together 
with her fellow countrywoman Donnacha O'Brien- created the documentary film 
"The Revolution will not be Televised." The film was backed by powerful 
European TV Corporations, including BBC, ZDF, RTE, Arte, and NPS. It was 
first broadcasted by Venezuelan state TV channel Venezolana de Televisión 
on April 13, 2003. Later, the government made 10,000 copies of the video in 
Cuba to show it in other parts of the world.
This film -clearly biased towards the revolutionary project of the current 
government- has been carefully analyzed by Wolfang Schalk, an engineer and 
film producer. Schalk spent four months studying the tape, scene by scene, 
and discovered a number of contradictions, omissions and manipulations in 
editorial stance. Helped by the well-known moviemaker Thaelman Urgelles, 
Schalk has made public the immense tall story that this documentary film 
presents.
Urgelles and Schalk have resorted to letters and online requests to stop 
this propaganda, disguised as an objective production.
Both are finishing a two-hour documentary. "The video completely refutes 
the film made by Bartley and O'Brien. It features alternative images 
interpreted by Thaelman and by me," Schalk explained. This video of the 
Irish filmmaker "constructs a story that resembles a Chávez' speech at the 
ONU," Urgelles says, since "it sells this idea: We have a president that, 
wanting to favor mixed-race and poor people, has gained the hostility of 
the white oligarchy, which is losing its privileges. According to the Irish 
video, this white oligarchy, supported by the U.S., launched a coup d'état 
against him on April 11, 2002. We can see that nothing from the video is 
wasted: black versus white, poor against rich and an emblematic ending in 
which the president is rescued by the people."
The audiovisual work "has a multimillionaire lobby, including the 
Venezuelan Embassies and even wealthy public relation agencies managing 
huge budgets. The aim of this lobby is to show the tape for free at 
universities and private theaters in cities such as San Francisco, Los 
Angeles, Chicago or New York. The government is successfully creating a 
communicational phenomenon with the video. It is like the film El Mariachi, 
a small film with a great promotion budget to take it all over the world."
A matter of freedom
The Venezuelan opposition won a victory when it prevented the showing of 
the video in September at a film festival held at Vancouver, Canada, thanks 
to the participation of Amnesty International.
On November 7, journalist Clodovaldo Hernández (from El Universal 
newspaper) wrote an article titled: "The Gag of the Worm," ensuring that 
the suspension of the broadcasting of the video in Canada was the first 
application of the so frequently mentioned Gag Law, but executed by the 
"The Worm of Light," which is the cultural section of the opposition 
organization Democratic Coordinator."
Urguelles replied to this assertion saying that "The Worm of Light was not 
the one who asked Amnesty to prevent the broadcasting of the video in 
Canada. According to him, it was due to an online petition that gathered 
about 8,000 signatures and that was the initiative of the organization 
Civil Resistance of Venezuelans Abroad. The justification of Amnesty- which 
usually maintains a neutral stance- to avoid the transmission was that the 
tape was too biased toward a political sector. Some people tried to cheat 
this organization. But, in view of the efforts of Venezuelan people, who 
warned that the film was not coherent with what they are supporting, the 
organization took actions."
A similar petition has been submitted to the five European TV channels that 
sponsored the video. This initiative presents in detail all the 
irregularities that the filmmakers have found on the tape and look forward 
to: an investigation of the film; an apology by its producers if the film 
proves to be a fraud; and the right to reply. More than 9,000 people have 
backed this petition at the electronic address 
www.petitionline.com/gusano03 - which is one of the most visited by 
Venezuelan expatriates and foreign people.

---------------------
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Office Fax:   (604) 291-5944
Home:   Phone (604) 689-9510


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