Palast & Pilger on Colonialism & Democracy

New World Notes #291 (October 1, 2013):

Broadcast-quality MP3 (40 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

(L to R:) Hugo Chavez (Venezuela),
Fidel Castro (Cuba), Evo Morales (Bolivia)

In brief

Two dispatches from South America show progress from (1) colonialism to (2) neocolonialism to (3) neocolonialism disguised as democracy to (4) democracy.

Greg Palast reports from Ecuador (Stage 3), ruthlessly exploited by & practically a colony of the World Bank and global financial institutions.  John Pilger reports from Bolivia, which has recently and tentatively arrived at Stage 4.  The US should be so fortunate!

Notes, credits, & links

We play selections (on Bolivia) from John Pilger's film, War on Democracy, adapted to radio by Lyn Gerry for the Unwelcome Guests Collective (http://unwelcomeguests.net).  Many thanks.  KD reads passages on Ecuador from Greg Palast's book, Armed Madhouse.

Music added: Chumbawamba, "The Bad Squire"; Sam Cooke, "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Pilger film theme-song)

This is a replay of NWN #71 (July 2009).

Journalist/filmmaker John Pilger