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March 06, 2005
Counter-hegemonic
The other night I saw "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," provided to me by a source that will go unnamed. This Irish-produced documentary was originally conceived as a full-access, behind-the-scenes look at the Venezuela of President Hugo Chavez. Conveniently, for the filmmakers and viewers alike, the cameras were rolling during an abortive and controversial attempted coup in April 2002, when Chavez opponents removed the former paratrooper from office, only to see his return to power in the face of mass demonstrations a few days later.
I've had a hard time getting my bearings on Hugo Chavez. His charismatic, personality-driven, leftist brand of nationalistic populism has managed to excite both supporters and detractors to extreme levels, within Venezuela and abroad. Indeed, the very fact that his "Bolivarian Revolution" has taken place in Venezuela -- one of the world's leading petroleum producers and a top oil exporter to the United States -- makes the stakes even higher. Conservative outlets revile Chavez, ostensibly for his authoritarian tendencies and his friendly relations with foreign leaders such as Castro, Qaddafi, and Hussein, but also for his anti-Bush administration rhetoric and his perceived opposition to free-market principles. More liberal outlets love Chavez, not only for his nationalizing instincts and his expansion of social programs for poorer Venezuelans but also for his ethnic (non-white) background and his anti-imperialism rhetoric. The more sensational stories run from suggesting the United States sponsored the April 2002 coup attempt against Chavez to (somewhat relatedly) quoting the Venezuelan president as stating that Bush wants to kill him. In other words, feelings toward Chavez stretch across a very wide spectrum, with the same facts used in arguments both for and against him and other "facts" being in dispute outright. Thus for someone without a long-standing knowledge or familiarity with Venezuela, it can be uniquely challenging to develop an accurate, complete impression of Chavez from the media alone.
One of the best things about "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" was its insight into the Venezuelan media. Apparently, an array of privately-owned television stations continually rail against Chavez and manipulate images for the benefit of their white, middle- and upper-class benefactors. For Chavez and his primarily non-white, lower-class supporters, state-owned Channel 8 is their only means of competing on the airwaves. It's interesting, then, that a new, all-news cable channel being promoted as the "counter-hegemonic" alternative to CNN will have as the head of its board of directors Andres Izarra, who is perhaps more widely known in his day job as Venezuela's Minister of Information. To be sure, Telesur (mottto: "Our North is the South") will be a regional venture, with staff and support from across South America. Contradictions, perhaps inevitably, abound. Telesur will receive seed money from the state (presumably Venezuela), but it will not be managed by the state; it will receive additional financial contributions from large oil companies and will run advertisements from "private and public institutions," but "there will not be consumer advertisements." So for those of us yearning for a more objective, dispassionate, and complete view of Venezuelan politics, Telesur may fall short. At the very least, however, it will provide yet another source of information in a media environment that is arguably already over-saturated. While perhaps a strain on the senses, such a plethora of media sources -- and the patience required to wade through them all -- may be the only way to determine what's really happening in Venezuela.
UPDATE: The Washington Post has since picked up on Telesur, providing some helpful context.
Posted by Daniel Widome at 12:48 AM to Americas
