No more awards
I would like to propose that governments impose a moratorium on granting awards to people from other countries, particularly when those people show evidence of doing the opposite of what the award is supposedly celebrating.
The latest was Hugo Chávez being given a press freedom award in Argentina, but there are plenty more. Of course, Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, and Obama awarded Alvaro Uribe with the Medal of Freedom. And who could forget the Libyan human rights award, won by that paragon of liberty Fidel Castro? And don't bother offering a prize to Cubans because they're so free that they aren't even allowed to attend.
4 comments:
Greg, pretty sure Bush bestowed the medal upon Uribe before leaving office.
They gave a Nobel prize to Arafat. That makes it pretty much worthless.
It was made worthless when they gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Kissinger.
Well, what is "freedom of the press"?
Does it mean that only the rich are allied to widely disseminate information?
I would say that Chavez has increased the more democratic flow of information in the Americas, and I would back it up by showing evidence how Telesur has expanded the range of debate, and how the Venezuelan government, as per Chavez and his allies policies, have expanded the range and acres to engage in debate and dissemination in his country.
As usual, you are looking at press freedom through an imperialist/capitalist lens.
The goal should be to widen access to a wide variety of information, as well as to widen and deepen acres to participate in social debate. Chavez's tendency and pattern of behavior is within and congruent with the ideal development of these democratic goals.
Of course, when the oligarchy enjoys a monopoly position, they will scream that they are being denied freedom. This is hypocritical, but it fits the pattern of anti-democratic behavior.
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