Independent
media outlets tend to pose alternative viewpoints that conflict with
the narratives espoused by mainstream media. But when it comes to
Venezuela, whose socialist government is in danger of being
overthrown, they are parroting the mainstream line or ignoring the
issue altogether.
by
Whitney Webb
Part
4 - Alex Jones’ war on socialism
Another
well-known conservative-leaning alternative news site is InfoWars,
led by the firebrand radio host Alex Jones. While Jones is certainly
a polarizing figure, there is no denying his popularity nor his
success as a figure in alternative media. Jones often speaks against
U.S. regime change efforts, criticizing such attempts by the U.S.
“deep state” practically across the board.
However, for
InfoWars, Venezuela is different, largely because of the site’s
strong dislike for socialism. Indeed, InfoWars has warned its readers
that the crisis in Venezuela would also befall the U.S. were Bernie
Sanders elected U.S. president, as Venezuela’s crisis is the result
of “democratic socialism.” They have also warned that “socialism
kills.”
Beyond that,
InfoWars has published glowing portrayals of the Venezuelan
opposition protesters, often referred to as “anti-socialism”
protesters, even though those same protesters are often U.S.-funded
and violent. Opposition protesters have burned people alive,
threatened business owners who won’t join their cause, and
threatened journalists from Venezuela and abroad. Yet, InfoWars has
had no problem reporting on the U.S.-funded and violent armed
opposition in Syria, for example.
Interestingly,
InfoWars has debunked its own narrative on Venezuela. In 2008, it
published a story regarding journalist Eva Golinger’s documentation
of U.S. efforts to discredit and destabilize the Chavista government,
efforts that InfoWars now seems to support. It has also admitted that
the U.S. engineered an economic crisis against another Latin American
democratic socialist, Salvador Allende of Chile.
A 2012
article by Kurt Nimmo published on the site correctly states that
former President Richard Nixon “had ordered the CIA to ‘make
the economy scream’ in Chile to ‘prevent Allende from coming to
power or to unseat him.’” This included manufacturing
shortages of goods, food and medicine in supermarkets and other
stores, much like what has transpired in Venezuela. Allende was later
removed in a violent U.S.-backed coup in 1973.
In addition,
We Are Change (WRC), an alternative media organization that made a
name for itself confronting face-to-face various politicians and
other figures of the U.S. and UK political elite, has also taken an
anti-Venezuelan government position in recent years. In a 2016 video
titled “You Won’t Believe What We Saw In Socialist Venezuela”
and filmed in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Luke Rudowski of WRC
says at several points that he is convinced that the Venezuelan
government is criminal and that its problems are just part of the
socialist “endgame.”
Rudowski
argues that the crime wave in Caracas was “brought on by the
government as a way to control the people.” His evidence for
this claim, however, is threadbare. Essentially, Rudowski cites the
common presence of public signs denoting “gun-free” zones –
despite high crime rates – are tantamount to the government
actively encouraging violent crime.
In addition,
actual footage of crisis in Venezuela is minimal throughout the video
and fails to show or support some of the more wild claims it makes.
Compare this to recent footage taken by journalist Abby Martin in
Caracas in which she interviews a variety of people with different
viewpoints, as well as visits various stores and locales throughout
the capital city.
Source,
links, videos:
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