The War on Democracy

Students of Uncle Sam's doings in Latin America from the overthrow of Allende or earlier will find little new in Pilger's first big screen documentary. But its message needs to repeated again and again and as widely as possible: that "freedom" and "democracy" loving US regimes have stolen or overridden the rights of the poor in every part of the world, perhaps most of all in the "back yard". I saw the movie in a white liberal middle class district of London where the normally reticent audience gave it a round of applause. Preaching to the converted maybe. It needs to be shown as widely as possible. Viva Pilger!

I'm dual nationality US & UK, I've spent half my life across each nation and have always been far prouder of my American heritage but by that I mean the country, it's people but not it's government.

Let me clarify, the British government is atrocious and highly corrupt but the leaders over the pond have taken it to the next level ever since their creation.

This fantastic piece by British journalist John Pilger is about Americas direct influence into Latin American countries such as Chile and Venezuala and the atrocities they have caused to better their own interests.

Heartbreaking, powerful and eye opening if you aren't aware of the steps the US go to further their economy this is essential viewing.

The USA for anyone with any awareness is the proverbial boy who cried wolf. They manipulate their people using the media to such an extent with their lies that every time a new story comes out you do have to question it.

They've been lying about the middle east for decades and still are. At time of writing how much of what we are told about North Korea is true? And how much is to sway public opinion to their own personal agendas?

The Good:

Professionaly made

Great interview segments

Essential viewing

The Bad:

Doesn't make for the easiest watch

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The US has attempted to overthrow 50 governments, more than I had originally believed

I had been waiting for the film for several months, and when I finally got to see it (through google video), I was in awe. This proved to be one of the best, if not THE best film of all times in my opinion. By far the best documentary I have ever seen. When the US is allowed to behave the way it wants, the results will be terrible, as history classes normally don't teach us, but that doesn't mean that the US is behaving well. It only has good PR and propaganda in place world wide. The US is in effect the Evil Empire, and the sooner it is put to sleep, the better it would be. For as long as it is allowed to do things the "American way", the rest of the world will be suffering greatly. America is fascist, has been so for as long as it has existed, and will probably continue to be so, because the American public is not willing or able to understand the way their country is construed. There is nothing democratic about the US or the way it attacks other countries economically or militarily. It is pure fascism. The American public accepts whatever they are told by their handlers, because then they don't have to take responsibility for anything. (true cowards). Fortunately the US will be defeated, and my hope, along with most of the world, is that their defeat will be so great, that no other nation will ever behave like the US has and does. Any human being who watches this film, will have watery eyes when it is over.... the international terrorism caused and carried out by the US is no less to day than it was 30 or 50 years ago. It is sickening they have been enabled to carry out their hideous crimes. Millions murdered around the world, so that the US can maintain it's "leading role". It doesn't matter what the president of the US is named or what party he comes from, it's the whole BASIS for the country which is rotten to the core. Disgusting country which ... if possible... should be launched into space, towards some big black hole where it would disappear forever.

Watch the film and see the truth about it all.

The bottom line for John Pilger's WAR ON DEMOCRACY documentary = Go See It! Then you can talk about it.

I am addressing these remarks in the first place to law-abiding people, as most sharply distinguished from war criminals. The definition of a crisis = a period in which, in order to abide by that law which serves justice only, one must be prepared to enforce it. This extraordinary duty occurs because the official agencies with their names in the upper case --DoJ, DoD & CIA, for example-- have been captured by a bloody tyranny which utterly perverts such basic political concepts as those of justice, defense and intelligence. (Spook HQ is now officially named the George Bush Center for Intelligence, which is located two doors down from the Wilt Chamberlain Home for Short People.) These general reflections very much pertain to the subject of Mr.Pilger's masterpiece.

I speak Spanish and briefly represented the U.S. State Department in Chile in 1964 & '65. In its hour & a half, WOD covers Latin America from El Salvador to Chile with a focus on Venezuela led by Hugo Chavez and a stop in Bolivia. For those new to this continent, WOD's an absolutely essential introduction. For those who already know it (among the group whom I'm addressing, please remember), they will be overjoyed to see an intelligent and artistically coherent story of their homelands on the Big Screen. We're talking about a place more than twice the area of the USA with more than half a billion people, hundreds of millions of whom are dirt poor and many of whom have had relatives murdered by thugs trained by the US Army at the "School of the Americas", which has recently changed its name out of embarrassment.

When Pilger says that the CIA puppet regime in Guatemala slew "thousands", he is grossly understating the case, since the best estimate's ~250,000. Naturally he spent more time in countries where it's safer to film. Once we understand that we should all bring everybody we know to see this movie, then we can acknowledge that it's an opening of the door to a vast realm. Many more such features need to be made even to begin to do justice to the material.

A criticism: In discussion with a Chilean physician who was a torture victim, Pilger uses a phrase about being "ensnared in fascism". IMHO he should simply forget the F word. As a matter of historical fact, Benito Mussolini, who created the concept of Fascism and led that Party in national power for a quarter of a century, had a lot more going for him than did the traitor Generals Rios Montt of Guatemala or Augusto Pinochet of Chile, to name only two of the dozens of US puppets in the region. The CIA's Guatemalan Genociderals in particular in their atrocities by far exceeded any acts of repression which Il Duce ever carried out in Italy. In other words, from Ronald Reagan until now the U.S. Government gives Fascism a bad name.

Anyone who wants to have a head's up 'tude toward such a big part of our human race will definitely want to check out John Pilger's well-informed portrait of the irresistibly rising forces of the Western Hemisphere. Alert supporters of Barack Obama, Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney will want to give thought to tying in WOD to their candidates' campaigns.

OTOH white supremacists & jingoes who think that slaughtering the families of foreigners is still cool, especially if they themselves can get a piece of the financial action, well, such "Chicago boys" as SonnaBush calls them in WOD, they will pan Pilger's product as skillfully as they can manage.

A labor of love on the part of Pilger, a long-time activist for peace and freedom for all, Pilger journeys into several Latin American countries-Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile, and documents efforts being made to broaden the accessibility of freedom. He documents the populism promulgated by leaders by Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, the President of relatively poor Bolivia, to promote the values of true democracy, in which the poor are franchised and invested in the well-being of the country. Pilger talks to people who were adversely affected by CIA-backed coups in many of these same South and Central American countries during the second half of the 20th century, making a powerful witness to the deleterious effect of greed and the disproportionate allocation of power in the hands of a few. The work of the CIA on behalf of US corporately acceptable "leaders" is documented; much of this is not new, but Pilger's main accomplishment is collating and connecting the material on so many foreign interventions by the CIA.

A wise cinematographic decision by Pilger is to interview and show the people of these nations. They appear decent and it is important for Westerners to realize that they have a lot in common with the so-called impoverished. Beneath our different exteriors, we share many characteristics. Also, the footage of the countries, and often just the day-to-day lives are lovely and the mountainous backdrops of Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, are beautiful. Pilger makes a strong case for government conducted on behalf of the people and interviews Chavez, allowing him to make his case for such a rule-of-law. Pilger interviews a couple of CIA sources, including the head of the CIA in South America during the mid-1980s. He asks him whether the ouster of Allende had been justified and the man states that the ends had to justify the means. He also said that US interests were protected via the installation of Pinochet, failing to recognize the contrast between US claims of respect for democratically elected governments and US intervention when the US, oh.....felt like it. Pilger's decision to refuse to interrupt while the man put his foot in his mouth and re-affirmed the importance of protecting US interests over even sovereign governments, seems wise. The man only seems all the more out-of-touch and arrogant for his unapologetic defense of autocracy. This is a powerful indictment of greed and of the possible benefits available to ALL if the US will allow sovereign governments to work autonomously. Notably, the film is available via Google Video for those interested.