Demand Your teleSUR, RT, PressTV, and CCTV!
By Andre Vltchek Andre Vltchek
July 30, 2015 "Information
Clearing House"
- Mighty new television networks based in
South America, Russia, China and Iran are locked in what could only
be described as an epic battle against the omnipresent Western
propaganda and indoctrination networks.
Their programs can be seen all over the globe, and they have been
dramatically changing the lives of millions in Africa, Latin America
and the Middle East, even in some hubs of the Empire itself, like
New York and London. Lies of colonialist and imperialist demagoguery
are painstakingly challenged. Those who used to be voiceless are now
being clearly heard.
It is a breathtaking, truly beautiful battle, and those of us who
are at the front line of it, by making films, writing for or
speaking on the airwaves of the anti-imperialist networks, are
thoroughly determined to give our very best, and if necessary, even
to risk our lives!
Some of us went very close to death, in the toughest slums of
Africa, Asia and Latin America, or at the battlefields, at the
corners of the world where almost no one really dares to go. We
confronted the Empire. Some made that one extra step, crossed the
invisible line, and fell; never came back. Others managed to return,
just to be spat at by those who never left the couch, for not going
“all the way”, for surviving, for somehow managing not to die.
Why am I writing this?
Because much was already done, plenty was sacrificed! I just left
South America, departed from my beloved continent, a continent I am
fighting for, whose revolutions are also mine. And while, this time,
I worked really feverishly in Ecuador, Brazil, and Paraguay and
briefly in Argentina and Mexico, I realized that here, of all the
places, we – our media - are not yet managing to influence the
people as much we hoped to.
How little of RT, PressTV, CCTV, even teleSUR reaches ordinary
people!
Almost entire cable and satellite distribution is in the hands of
the right-wing ‘opposition’.
Even in Correa’s Ecuador, I hardly stumbled over those channels!
English language news coverage has been fully abandoned to the CNN
and FOX! And this was the case in all hotels where I had stayed. Not
surprisingly, I encountered identical situation in Paraguay, and
also, shockingly, in Brazil, which is one of the leading BRICS
countries.
Right-wing O Globo is literally everywhere, and the left-wing
television and radio stations are far in between. The English
language coverage is reduced to CNN and FOX, wherever I stayed: Sao
Paulo, Manaus, Belem, Recife, Fortaleza and Salvador Bahia. No
teleSUR in the major hotels where I stayed, and no RT!
To make it worse, hotel managers that I summoned, had no idea what I
was talking about. RT? CCTV? PressTV? I had to spell, write it down
and explain what they are.
When I was transiting at Lima’s Jorge Chavez airport, CNN en Español
was beaming support coverage for some of Venezuela's ‘opposition’
hunger strikers.
I went all the way - I summoned the airport’s top managers and
accused them of committing a hostile act against Venezuela, by
promoting right-wing US sponsored attempts to overthrow a
democratically elected government in South American country. I
managed to scare them. They apologized (although I felt that they
were totally confused; no idea what I was talking about). They
changed the channel immediately – to FOX Sport!
We had brief conversation about RT (they had no clue what it is
either), about the CCTV (close circuit cameras?) and the PressTV
(“press” sounded familiar to them). I demanded that they beam
teleSUR from all screens placed in public areas. They replied that
they would like to, but it is not part of their basic cable package!
One of them asked whether it comes from Patagonia?
*
Of course we all know what is going on. We heard it thousands of
times, and we wrote about it again and again: the Latin American
revolutions are being undermined by the ‘elites’ and by their toxic
pro-Western, right wing media. It has been happening in Venezuela
since the beginning, and in Ecuador and Bolivia, but also in Brazil,
Chile and Argentina.
The result is that the people in our revolutionary countries know
close to nothing about our own allies, including Russia, China, the
rest of South America and Iran. And what they know is exactly that
propaganda, which is being spread by the Western media, all over the
world. Almost all local newspapers are relying on EFE, Reuters, AFP,
AP and other manufacturers of Western “exceptionalist” narrative.
The voice of BRICS is almost not heard at all, all over Latin
America. It is extremely alarming!
And even when the information gets through, on the Internet, through
blogs of the RT and teleSUR, the sites are not coordinated
effectively, and as a result; well-organized and well-paid troll
commenters are heavily infesting them.
*
We need our people to hear about China from the Chinese people, not
from the Western propaganda media. We need Russians to explain
themselves, now that they are battling heavy onslaught of Western
imperialism. We need Iran to speak to our viewers about the Middle
East and Islam, and we need South Africans to tell us about
tremendous bloodshed that is taking place all over the African
continent, under appalling boots of the Western neo-colonialists!
Instead, it is again the West, telling us what to think about the
world! And even from the left: Latin American intellectuals still
trust much more some defunct pseudo left wing personalities in Spain
or the United States, then their Chinese, Russian, Iranian or
African comrades! Cuba is most likely an exception.
We need our allies to speak! Not those who want to divide and rule,
not those who were colonizing and ravishing entire planet for many
centuries. Not those who abandoned battles without real fight.
teleSUR is doing enormous work, explaining Latin America to the
world, and broadcasting wherever it can, for the people all over
Latin America.
But much more has to be done! Big fraternal media should be
promoted. It is huge; it is fun, and high quality. RT is lately
eclipsing some Western propaganda channels like BBC and CNN even
from major the cities of the Empire. PressTV is competing
successfully with the big-Gulf-buck al-Jazeera. CCTV has more
viewers than Japanese NHK.
I can watch teleSUR in Lebanon, so why not in Brazil!
El Mercurio had formed its alliance with Comercio and others like
them. So if El Mercurio can do it, why not teleSUR, RT, PressTV and
others?
*
Let us all protest, let us demand! If one person a day asks at Quito
airport for teleSUR, they will not listen. If ten were demanding,
they would have to comply.
The same with the hotels! Everyone who reads this essay: people,
whenever you stay in any hotel in Latin America, which does not
carry teleSUR on its “menu”, which does not “play” with RT, PressTV,
CCTV, be a pest; demand! Nag, nag, and nag!
Otherwise, we will never win this battle, this ideological combat.
Otherwise, nothing will really change! We will have progressive
governments, sure (at least for some time) but people will continue
to be brainwashed by the Western imperialist propaganda (and so
called “education”)! Latin Americans will be told how to perceive
their own continent. Westerners will continue telling Chinese people
how to judge their own country. The world will be told lies about
Russia, and even some Russian people will begin believing them.
Help our media to compete! Let us tell our own stories. We don’t
need someone in London or New York to define who we are!
Our television channels are now much better than those produced in
the West. Those who see them; those who have opportunity to see
them, love them! The only obstacle is that ridiculous ‘deficit’
created by the ‘elites’, through the distribution.
Demand! “Either you carry teleSUR or to hell with your cable
company!” Or: “Give us RT or no more paying for your satellite,
Compadres!”
And we will continue risking our lives, working day and night, in
order to give you our best, dear viewers. But please, please watch
us! Insist that our voices, not just those of the Empire, are truly
heard heart, “at home” and all over the world!
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker
and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in
dozens of countries. His latest books are: “Exposing
Lies Of The Empire” and “Fighting
Against Western Imperialism”. Discussion with Noam
Chomsky:
On Western Terrorism. Point
of No Return is his critically acclaimed political
novel. Oceania -
a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative
book about Indonesia: “Indonesia
– The Archipelago of Fear”. Andre is making films for
teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America
and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and
the Middle East. He can be reached through his website
or his
Twitter.
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