Thought Crime
Here’s how the big boys do it:
- Declare that voicing a legitimate public concern is an act of terrorism.
- Have the highest authority in the land endorse this theory.
- Have key institutions proceed inmediately against the evil-doers.
- Order the media to face up to their “responsibility”.
- Have a court order rubber stamp your request.
- Threaten vague “possible consequences” if your order is disobeyed.
- Sit down and wait for the whole thing to blow over.
And in case there’s a hitch, like this little constitutional nugget (Art. 58):
“…everyone has the timely, truthful and impartial information, without censorship, in accordance with the principles of this Constitution…”.
just ignore it. After all, the Constitution is good for everything. Even to bypass it.
I wonder if we’re not letting our spleen run away with us in condeming Gustavo’s #5, though.
Of course, it’s loopy that it should be a court to mandate that any news on drinking water quality should be backed with lab results.
But isn’t there an opportunity locked up in there somewhere? Shouldn’t some editor somewhere show the smidgeon of creativity, outside-the-box chops and just plain gumption to actually take a water sample, send it off to the lab and publish the actual results instead of just playing stenographer to whatever blowhard talking head wants to talk straw about the water?
In our rush to condemn the abuse of power involved, aren’t we missing the nub of good common sense at play here?
Totally agree but:
- Is there a risk for a local Lab if it is identified as providing results proving water is contaminated? (such as getting a sudden inspection from sanitary authorities)
- there is also the option of sending the sample to a Lab abroad, but certainly it would be deemed a CIA-linked lab…
The thing is that the request of “technical support” is so vague, that it could be left open for more changes afterwards. A superior court could demand that only “official Ministry reports” are accepted. If the government refuse to give reports, then there’s nothing to say unless the journalist risks going to jail and the outlet to be fined or even shut down. It’s a very dangerous precedent.
BTW, the court’s jurisdiction is the metropolitan area of Caracas, so this decision was made to affect only national media like Globovision or major newspapers. The regional media is left out of the loop… for now.
It’s loopy that a court is mandating anything related to news. Particularly as there is no ongoing panic. Even Boooring! All people boil their water if they can in Venezuela because it’s definitely not safe to drink, and hell yes, Venezuelans are more worried about Lead Poisoning, and not from the gasoline.
In fact, the news media could ask for laboratory analysis, just not at a ministerial institution (conflict of interest anyone?). And also the government, if they are so sure that there’s no problem.
News and opinion and belief should be ruled by only one law: That they are the business of the interlocutors exclusively, and that no law should be made about any aspect of them.
I think one of the premises of the ban-on-talking-about-contaminated-water is that the tests had to came from “competent” organisms. Apparently, with competent they mean Ministerio del Ambiente, Hidrocapital, etc., ruling out any other lab in the country, including USB and UCV…
If this is so then I’m the one talking straw…
Thugs.
Pero estoy casi segura que el laboratorio de la PETA (planta experimental de tratamiento de aguas) en la UCV es certificado por el Ministerio del Ambiente para estudios de calidad de Agua. Es uno de los pocos. De todas formas, no veo como un usuario cualquiera, por ejemplo, la Gobernación de Monagas o la Alcadía de Baruta no pueda enviar una muestra privada de agua a cualquier laboratorio de Calidad de Aguas del país y según los resultados exigir por ley que se investigue el caso. Un poco difícil en el caso de Caracas, porque lo difícil sería encontrar la muestra de agua adecuada. En cambio, es más fácil esclarecer el estado de contaminación del agua de red de Maturín, porque según tengo entendido nuestro sistema de potabilización de agua NO tiene nada para remoción de hidrocarburos, porque se supone que el agua que entra al sistema a ser potabilizada NO debería tener hidrocarburos. Otra cosa, el Ministerio del Ambiente, POR LEY, debe investigar cualquier denuncia pasada por ESCRITA, recibida por esta institución. Habría que ver cuantas denuncias escritas sobre estos casos se le han pasado.
Gracias por el aporte.
Thugs.
Thumbs up for a number of independent labs, foreign and domestic, to do analysis but it’s not a simple as it seems. While we’re at, you’d want to test the water before and after it comes out of the facility but also want to know how it arrives at destination — prior to being stored in your own, possibly filthy, citstern. Filtrations en route, etc are also state responsibility, right?
Drinking a glass of tap water is puerile, whether or not the MPP got diahrrea off stage. Boiling can do away with bacteria but not with chemical residues. In my part of rural Caracas outskirts, many drink and use untreated water illegally syphoned off on its way from through Camatuy to Caracas, convinced that if it doesn’t kill them on the spot, it’s ok. I’m willing to bet this happens in many other parts of the country, where presumably 95+% of the population has access to drinking water. Who knows what long term health damage industrial residues, like lead, etc., will wreak in the future.
Not my field at all but I wonder and worry. So yes, lab analyis is more than welcome.
How can the millions of Chavez supporters be convinced that the Chavez government is withholding the truth or being outright dishonest and that this hurts them and their families?
Chavez wants Venezuelans to keep their eyes and ears closed [Thank you, come again -ft]
Many chavistas knows that Chavez and the government lie all the time, and they even accept it as a tactic against the “right-wing”. They’re not supporting a clean government, they’re supporting a president they feel care about the poor and the country way more than the opposition. Of course this attitude also mirrors the way many would support a family member and deny his wrong-doings against strangers.
Diverging a little bit from the main topic, I think the big failures that most chavistas DO refuse to acknowledge are:
1. The Chavez government fails hard not only because the people around Chavez fails, but because Chavez himself is a horrible administrator, planner, organizer, executor, delegator, minister-picker etc with outdated, destructive political models.
2. Corruption is much much worse than during the 4th republic (I wasn’t here during the 4th, but it is my impression that it is worse now).
3. PDVSA is almost destroyed.
4. Agriculture is being destroyed.
5. Economically the country is close to drive off a cliff, meaning poor people will be worse off in the near or mid term.
One could argue that it’s a question of seeing that loyalty is not worth much if the quality of the government is shit. Unless Chavez stays in government for many years, and 3, 4 and 5 are fully expressed in a complete economic crisis, hard-core chavistas might never accept these five points. They will eternally blame derecha, saboteo, corrupcion, los venezolanos mismos, derecha endogena, la falta de cultura etc. The challenge is to sway those who support Chavez but aren’t completely blinded by loyalty, to get a favorable election result before it is too late.
Another point which most chavistas are completely blind to is the fact that Venezuela is slowly becoming a somewhat feudal society, where citizens have little rights unless they are or know the right people. Chavistas hate being told what to do, but if this government continue, they will end up with a society where you will have to ask (and pay) for permission to do anything, because basically anything is potentially illegal. The opposition might benefit from making some videos interviewing exiled Cubans telling how much communism humiliates them. Chavistas would be able to relate to suffering from power-abuse and scarcity, because that is something which is very much a part of the venezuelan historical, cultural and emotional narrative. Somebody should go and talk to the farmers of Sur del lago, to connect the Cuban experience with a similar experience in Venezuela, lived by “regular people” (as in not “the portuguese store-owner”, or “the Jewish shopping mall owner”).
The incompetence only compounds itself by supressing criticism and shooting the messenger.
Right, but shooting the messenger would be an utter violation of the reason behind #1 on Paal’s list (which is a nice list, btw) – that Chavez and only Chavez is the man in charge, and he must remain in charge. Which in itself is a big reason for the problems in #1. Even if he weren’t utilizing “outdated, destructive political models,” his micromanagement and refusal to delegate would still cause significant problems. Whichever way you look at it, it’s all about him.
Technically sepaking, it is not as simple to make a laboratory test. It is easy to do it regarding content of salts, sodium magnesium, chlories, sufates etc. , as you can note on any mineral water but to make an analysis of microorganism, thesmaple has to be taken professionally, kept cool (best iced), until it arrives to the laboratory.
Would this be a good opportunity for HCR to go to Monagas and express concern and talk to people about their take on the water situation? Every issue that the oppo brings against the governement just gets filtered through noise of pundits either completely condemning it on one side, or claiming terrorism on the other without any real rational discussion.
This is how HCR has been identifying himself, so his take on this highly publicized issue would be good.
He already went there. It was the first stop of his current “house to house” campaign, after winning the primary. It was like 3 weeks ago, more or less.
http://hayuncamino.com/monagas/capriles-radonski-visito-casa-por-casa-en-maturin/
Here’s the report from his campaign website.
The visit was almost a month after the oil spill but before the split of “El Gato” and PSUV.
Ot. Chavez is heading to Cuba. I think he wants to meet the pope while he is visiting the island and get a blessing. Just wait for the photo op.
Many years ago I worked for a short time at a testing laboratory. We tested soils, water, concrete, etc. I have noticed many of these labs have closed.
Now, the government even hints at the opposition is poisoning the water- c’mon
this if too rediculous.Chavez minions call anyone who questions water quality
as terrorists- again- beyond rediculous.
This IS like 1984.