Torched radio station forced off air by threats (Honduras)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reporters Without Borders

Torched radio station forced off air by threats
Published on Tuesday 18 January 2011.

Threats from local authorities and security forces, which tried to take over its management, forced a local radio station in Honduras temporarily to stop broadcasting on 14 January.

The station, Radio Faluma Bimetu – Radio Coco Dulce in Spanish - belongs to the Honduran community of African origin (Garifuna) of Triunfo de la Cruz.

A delegation from the municipality of Tela, backed by police officers, turned up at the community on 12 January to impose a new, hand-picked board of management (patronato).

The community of Triunfo de la Cruz had already planned a vote on 28 January to designate its future representatives. When the community refused to recognize the procedure, threats were made to burn the station down.

The threat was a reminder of the arson attack that destroyed the station on 6 January 2010.

Read more: http://en.rsf.org/honduras-torched-radio-station-forced-off-18-01-2011,39344.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. Now, WHO could be unrec'ing an article about the torching of a radio station in Honduras...

...except a fascist who APPROVES the torching of community-run radio stations?

This was MORE than a threat to burn the radio station down. The report goes on to say:

"The threat was a reminder of the arson attack that destroyed the station on 6 January 2010."

WHO could support this, and oppose news about it? We know what happened to news organizations in Miami that tried to be objective in reporting about the Cuban revolution, and to free-thinkers and dissenters--human feces in their newsstands, bombs in their stores. Real lovers of "free speech"--the Miami mafia. So that would be my first suspect--we have a Miami mafia operative (and maybe more than one) at DU--unrec'ing news about similar fascist repression of free speech in Honduras. We also more than likely have far rightwing "Mad Tea Partyers," CIA censors and multinational corporate operatives at work here, including possibly the multinational media operative who wants to kill community radio in Honduras and take over every public airwave. It could even be John McCain himself.

In any case, it is nuts. Poor folks running a little community radio station in Honduras. Fuckwad Honduran "Mad Tea Partyers" burn it down and come back and threaten to burn it down again. Who is letting this happen? Who is encouraging this to happen? Who totally fucked over Honduran democracy, recently--as well as fucking it over for decades? The biggest corporate/war profiteer operative of all--the U.S. government, which has the audacity to claim that it supports democracy and free speech. Pay attention, friends! Know what's really going on!

KICKED AND RECOMMENDED!

[fascisthunter]

2. probably one of the Anti-Chavez crowd

ones bitching about Chavez being a dictator, yet for some odd reason they never mention any leaders from south America that are or were right wing.

[Peace Patriot]

3. I love how they defend RCTV--the bloody coupsters themselves!

--the corporate-run TV station that applauded suspension of the constitution, the courts, the national assembly and all civil rights, that colluded in the kidnapping of the president and the end of Venezuelan democracy, that hosted the coupsters, that lied for them and put false video footage on TV!

Use of the public airwaves has responsibilities that are imposed with licensing requirements in every country in the world. There IS no "right" to corporate "speech" on the public airwaves.

In fact, corporations have no rights at all. They require charters and licenses from the PUBLIC--the true "sovereigns," "we the people," acting through our elected governments--to do business. They have no inherent right to exist. They have no right to do business. They are PERMITTED to do so, by the People, if what they are doing is in the public interest.

That's the theory anyway. And that's how the laws are written. And that's how it should be in any democracy. That's how it is in Venezuela. But that isn't how it is here, any more, despite the laws that say so. Here, media corporations not only get to use their news/opinion departments in the interest of their own profits, with no requirement for providing objective news coverage, balanced political opinion or public service, like we used to require, but they also have MONOPOLIZED the PUBLIC airwaves, so that they are the only ones who get to speak and their viewpoint is the only one people hear. This is outrageous! And it is why the Chavez government's efforts to get some kind of balance in the use of the public airwaves has been so vilified by the corpo-fascist press. They want THEIR speech to be the ONLY speech. THEY are the tyrants!

I just saw this in a Rotters article--treating Rafael Correa's, president of Ecuador's, weekly TV show in which he counters their criticisms of his leftist policies as if it were an assault on free speech. I couldn't believe it. The president bothers to talk to the people, to explain his policies, to counter criticism--and they can't stand it! He's a "dictator," too, don't ya know? He dares to speak!

When the RCTV coup occurred in Venezuela in 2002, they refused to let any members of the Chavez government speak on TV. They banned everybody in the legitimate, elected government! Then they started crying about "free speech" when the Chavez government finally took their license away--the sob heard round the globe.

It would be funny if it weren't so lethal. (Cuz the next thing they were gonna do was kill all the leftists. They had lists of Chavez government members and key supporters and their locations and put them on TV to direct the rightwing mobs!)

Free speech, my friggin ass!

And, yes, there are DUers and operatives of various kinds at DU who support this corporate crap--that it is Chavez who opposes free speech and not RCTV and not the New York Slimes and the Associated Pukes and Rotters and the whole lot of them! And come here and unrecommend a post telling us of yet more rightwing violation of other peoples' rights, and yet more rightwing tyranny, that is enabled by, and supported by, these so-called 'news' organizations and our own government.

Sneakily, anonymously unrecommending that others pay attention to this.