plotinus

I just watched "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" tonight, and it was exciting! An amazing film: you see the coup against Chavez from the inside, and also how so much of the success/failure of the coup depended on controlling the media. A particularly striking scene was seeing the Chavez supporters in the Presidential palace after it had been re-taken by the legitimately elected rulers, as they watched the mass media (and CNN) reporting that the dictator who staged the coup was still in complete control--these words being watched by the very people who had undone the coup from within the Presidential palace--the are living the truth that the lie they see on the news is trying to erase. The documentary fills a gaping whole in most US citizens' complete ignorance of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez. I should note that you can see the whole documentary for free on google video at video.google.com/videoplay [video.google.com/videoplay]

UPDATE (2007): Chavez seems to be getting more and more dictatorial of late--not a good sign. But he's got a good role model here in the US. (And it still doesn't erase the US-backed-coup in his country...)