Renowned academic Noam Chomsky dismantled the US and European propaganda on Venezuela on 2 March.
“Unimaginable”
Speaking on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, Chomsky labelled the coverage “atrocious”:
By now the media barely even pretend to be covering the situation…. the New York Times, the Washington Post, it’s true of the European major media. They’re simply journalists for the opposition. That’s what they describe… It’s a really atrocious situation.
The author of over 100 books also said the propaganda is hardly a new trend. Chomsky pointed out that the corporate media has been geared towards toppling the Venezuelan government ever since former president Hugo Chávez rose to power:
Ever since the beginning of the Chávez years the media have been virtually an open voice for the anti-Chávez opposition. In ways that are almost unimaginable. For example in 2002… there was a military coup… which threw out the government, threw out the president, dismantled the parliament, threw out the Supreme Court. The US of course openly supported it. Take a look at the media, the New York Times, they applauded it. They thought this is wonderful we’re getting back to freedom and democracy. Well, the coup was pretty quickly overthrown by a popular uprising. Has anyone ever withdrawn their praise for the military coup?
The UN envoy to Venezuela, Alfred de Zayas, agrees there is a problem with the mainstream media coverage. Speaking to The Canary, de Zayas said that Western war propaganda is illegal:
Sabre-rattling and agitation… violate article 20(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates: ‘Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.’ The government is engaging in such propaganda – as is the mainstream media.
“Devastating” sanctions
Chomsky also took a no-nonsense approach to the US sanctions imposed on Venezuela:
Then came the sanctions, which are harsh, brutal, devastating… Rodríguez – the chief opposition economist… he points out that the sanctions have turned a crisis into an humanitarian catastrophe… the latest sanctions literally, bar the government from almost any resources. It’s an effort to starve the population into submission.
De Zayas, who became the first UN special rapporteur to visit Venezuela for 21 years in 2018, also said this economic warfare is illegal:
Article 20 [of the Organisation of American States charter] stipulates that:
‘No State may use or encourage the use of coercive measures of an economic or political character in order to force the sovereign will of another State and obtain from it advantages of any kind.’
As usual, Chomsky has cut through the corporate propaganda. There is a relentless attempt to destabilise and ultimately overthrow the democratically elected Venezuelan government. And the corporate media is key to these regime change efforts. It’s down to us to set the record straight.
Featured image via Democracy Now
