Fwd: Réplicas a Documental: "The Revolution will not be Televised"

De: "Jessica Rosenberg" jessica@obraweb.com Fecha: Mie, 9 de Abril de 2003, 7:44 pm Para: jessica@obraweb.com

Copio dos excelentes cartas escritas a la BBC con respecto al documental "Chavez: Inside the Coup" o "The Revolution will not be Televised".

Este documental tendrá un efecto muy negativo sobre la imagen que se tiene de la oposición en el exterior. ¿Por qué es importante la opinión pública internacional? Una oposición legítima es un sustento a las potenciales acciones de la OEA, del Grupo de Amigos, de los tribunales internacionales y de los organismos y personalidades en general. Es un pilar fundamental de nuestra lucha... Mientras no surja un documental justo que le haga contrapeso a éste, debemos al menos tratar de expresar nuestro desacuerdo masivamente para que entiendan que no es una élite contra el "pobre" Chávez sino un país entero manifestando su descontento. Jessica Rosenberg

Pueden escribirle a los productores directamente a chavezthefilm@hotmail.com. Si prefieren contactar a la BBC, pueden hacerlo a este mail: storyville@bbc.co.uk o en: www.bbc.co.uk

Dear Mr. Fraser,

Have you ever been to Venezuela?

In your review of "Chavez: Inside the Coup", you write: "On one side stand the Versace wearing classes, rich from many decades of oil revenues, and on the other the poor in their barrios and those within the armed forces who support Chavez." Are you aware, Sir, that all polls indicate that between 70% and 80% want Chavez out of power? At the same time, are you aware that 70% of our country is poor? (and that number is increasing.) So how do those numbers jive to you? Could it be that plenty of the poor want Chavez out too?

I'm going to assume that even if you've been to Venezuela, since many British people can afford to travel and wear Versace (and from the looks of your photo, so can you), you haven't attended a protest against the government. If you had, you would have noticed the middle class and poor marching side by side. What, no mention of rich? Oh, I forgot to say that only a tiny fraction of the country is rich. Do you think that Chavez would have come to power if the majority were rich? Who are the millions that march against him on a day's notice, by the way? Who are the millions who left their house to sign petitions asking for a recall referendum? Are those millions the Versace-wearing bunch? Because if they are, then the world's economists have focused on the wrong countries to emulate. Even the United Nations should take notice.

Do you understand our economic structure? How is it that a tiny class can get rich from our oil revenues, when our oil industry is nationalized? Nationalized means that the state, not a small group, owns the oil industry. Those who grow wealthy from it are either corrupt bureaucrats, politicians, or hardworking contractors. Upper and middle level managers also make a nice living, as anyone who is educated and works hard should. Don't you agree? However, I've yet to see a PDVSA professional in a Donatella design. Have you?

The events of April 11 are lamentable, because people died. However, a president is always responsible for what happens in his country. It's an issue of governability, and no one has the right to blame anyone else when governability disappears, especially the media. (I'm shocked I have to point this out to someone who writes on a BBC site!) The opposition made some mistakes that day, but it was precisely because no one was expecting something so horrible and despicable to happen. Everyone acted in desperation, because the military removed Chavez from power when people started dropping like flies. What would you do if someone handed you reign of an entire country? Wouldn't you make mistakes? Or are you a icon of British perfection?

This video that you rave about will cleverly try to pin the April 11 deaths on the opposition, saying that the victims were government supporters. Have you heard of Mohammed Merhi? His son was shot in the head. Mr. Merhi has camped in front of the Supreme Court on hunger strike, demanding justice for his son, who was protesting against the government on April 11. Are you aware that the families of the victims are suing Chavez, that a Spanish Court recently referred the cases to an International Court, since it deemed his actions too severe to be tried in Spain? Have you seen any of the footage of that day, or the days that followed, or are you basing your slick opinions of a country's pain on a documentary by "some young Irish filmmakers?"

An Internet posting is serious business these days, Mr. Frazier. Over time, the world will know what truly happened in Venezuela on April 11-13. You make your living from people like me, who read your stuff. Your credibility is all you have. Without it, you are like background noise or a Pop-up that people click out. I'm certain you wouldn't want to reduce yourself to that level, by basing your opinions solely on one documentary.

I would encourage you to visit Venezuela. Even London has a healthy opposition, so why not sit down with Alek Boyd, president of Proveo.org, and discuss this issue? Unless you have an agenda, which I'm sure you don't.

Remember, Mr. Fraser, that one documentary does not history make. The last thing that you'd ever want is for Storyville to be perceived as Liesville.

Alexandra Beech

Dear BBC and Mr.Nick Fraser,

I saw your program about Venezuela last night, and with great disbelief I saw how you too wasted the opportunity of a lifetime. We, the civil society of Venezuela missed the chance to rid ourselves of an authoritarian man who advocates destruction in order to accumulate personal power. You lost the opportunity to be praised for serious journalism. It's sad to see the strength of the division and polarisation in Venezuela, but sadder to see how it can permeate to outsiders who, like us can no longer see any good in the other side.

It was very weak journalism to try to build a case against the Venezuelan opposition and the local private media for being biased against the president by simply being biased against them. I really expected better from the BBC. If you are going to criticise one-sidedness you can't be one sided yourself, so don't expect any respect from your viewers when using that logic.

I believe BBC owes Venezuelans an apology for interfering in a conflict rather than reporting about it, for leaving more than half of the facts out, for promoting more hatred and division in a conflict that it is not yours. I don't expect you to understand what Venezuela is going through, but I do expect respect and journalistic integrity, so if you are going to tell the story, at least have the courage to present both sides of it. If not, I would really appreciate it if you just stayed out of it. We have enough poison amongst ourselves, we really do not need you fuelling it.

I agree that your journalists had a once in a lifetime opportunity to be at the presidential palace the night of April 11th 2002. It was a pity they didn't have the chance to be outside to see over a million people marching for democracy, something never before seen in Venezuela. It's a pity they weren't there long enough to see how in the four years since Mr. Chavez took office, oil income was at an all-time high, poverty and unemployment levels increased to levels unknown before and corruption multiply a hundred fold.

It's unfortunate that as your journalists were trapped in the presidential palace with all the chaos, they didn't have the chance to hear the head of the military at the time, Mr Lucas Rincon,a very close ally and friend of the president, read a statement informing the nation that the president had resigned.

Unfortunately your journalists missed so much of the story that they wasted their opportunity of a lifetime, and their version lacks credibility and deserves no praise. They are simply two more Chavistas telling their story, no more no less.

If the BBC was ever serious about doing a documentary about the situation of Venezuela please feel free to contact me and I would be glad to help so you can have first hand accounts for both sides. You can make history by choosing to share both sides of the story, therefore you still have an opportunity of a lifetime.

Kindest Regards,

Cristina Granier London