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Volume 13, No. 29, 24 July 2014 |
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Red Alert The world battle for hegemony - information and culture: The SA media and the role of the public broadcaster |
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By Ismael Mohammed
As Karl Marx and Frederick Engels state in the 1848 Manifesto of the Communist Party, the ruling ideas of each age are the ideas of its ruling class. It does not take rocket science to notice that a large section of the media in South Africa is biased towards the ruling class. This is the angle from which the story of South Africa and the world story is (by and large) being told. But if the print media, for example, is, dominantly, privately owned, why are we then concerned about its class embeddedness in telling the story of our history? The contention arises from the principles of objective, fair, balanced and accurate reporting. All media houses say they uphold these principles.
The ruling class seeks to control what the oppressed see and hear as one of the levers for exercising its class hegemony. In this regard the media – electronic, internet, cell phones (used for advertising), radio and television; the print media; and so on – is a critical non-coercive ideological instrument of the ruling class. Determined to impose its ideas, the ruling class constantly seeks to condition and shape both our thinking and worldview. This agenda is so entrenched, to the extent that there are many "INDEPENDENT" analysts not only in South Africa, but across the world, who propagate the ideas of the ruling class as if such are objectively theirs. In other words, the aim is to liquidate thinking work proper on the part of the oppressed and substitute their ideas by those of the ruling class, which must be seen to be internalised. The goal, is to oppress us in perpetuity.
Our task in this battle of ideas is to fight against the indoctrination, being hollowed out both of our ability and capacity as thinking beings. But as Karl Marx states in A contribution to the critique of political economy, it is not human consciousness that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness. Therefore we will not succeed in the battle of ideas, we must say, without simultaneously intensifying the struggle against the system of oppression – economic exploitation being its prevailing essential content in South Africa – and the set of material conditions that it produces and imposes over the exploited (i.e. the oppressed). This cannot be any other struggle but the struggle to complete the revolution (its present phase being national democratic revolution) and achieve socialism.
The most important and immediate task in the realm of public broadcasting is to save the SABC. The SABC must not be a conveyor belt of private personal and accumulation interests, Western imperialist interests being no exception but one of the foremost targets. Our public broadcaster must not be an appendage of Western news agencies. Neither must it be a conveyor belt of Western or any imperialist culture which is based on the exploitation of one person or group by another. On the contrary, the public broadcaster must take a lead in the media in developing our own culture with solidarity as the central principle. It must advance public interests, including our vision for transformation as encapsulated in the Freedom Charter. Therefore the role, governance and administration, and the workings of the SABC, must all be looked at anew. While funding is a major issue that must be addressed, it would be naïve to attribute all the problems of the SABC to it.
Perhaps we must also relook at the licensing conditions for private, including free to air, television broadcasting, radio and even the pay TV.
The State must stop pumping money in keeping the hostile and antagonistic private print media afloat and profitable through spending millions of Rand daily, weekly and monthly in advertisement. In the US they say they put their money where their mouth is, and they do this openly. What is right with them but wrong with us in doing the same things? The US media, as clearly evidenced in its global news agencies, promotes US interests, and so is the entire Western imperialist world media. In fact in the US there is a war chest for the media through corporate sponsorships. It is in this context that some global television channels that promised an alternative worldview when they emerged were swamped away. Some news agencies actually appear to have been bought to manipulate the public by presenting the Western imperialist narrative. Aljazeera, for example, has become the opposite of its original-self.
Learning from the other BRICS countries Brazil, Russia, India and China, RT – the television channel which is available on DSTV in South Africa offers both hope and a model for telling the story differently with an alternative worldview that is marginalised by Western media agencies, NOT what the SABC is doing. In South America, there is another good model, teleSUR, covering member states to the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean (ALBA). These are the models the SABC must follow.
In addition, the state must also establish a public print platform in the same way as we have public radio and television (SABC). The millions of Rand that the government at municipal, provincial and national level as well as state agencies and public enterprises spend in enriching the hostile print media must all be redeployed towards the proposed public newspaper which can be weekly and later daily.
Ismael Mohammed is an NGO activist based in Durban, his keen research interest is in bridging the digital divide with focus on Africa. He is presently working on a project study on the analogue to digital television broadcasting migration.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 crash
By Alex Mashilo and Ian Beddowes
In South Africa, the media follows a dominant narrative of Western imperialism and its embedded news agencies in claiming that the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 air crash in the Donetsk (now declared a republic by those fighting against imperialism), was undoubtedly the work of the 'rebels' or even the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, personally. Putin must be held accountable, the West goes on to say. Unfortunately, these are the views we are being bombarded with. Business Day's editorials, "Let Russia do the right thing" and, the "Second Take", straight from the New York Post, "Time to rein in Putin is now" (Tuesday 22 July 2014, p. 8) are typical examples. The sentence has been handed down here, as the title "Time to rein in Putin is now" clearly spells out.
But who conducted the investigation and prosecution and what legal and moral standing do they have? There was no such. This comes in the same way as that BIG LIE: Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
We must be returned to the era of George W. Bush's unilateralism and military aggression, this is the way forward, we are being told. "Resurrect Bush administration plans to deploy a missile-defence system in Eastern Europe", so says "Time to rein in Putin is now" published by the Business Day. What is not being said, however, is that it is exactly this same plan and its associated manoeuvres by the US and its West European allies and their support for neo-Nazi rebels who staged a coup d'état against a democratically elected government, followed by mock elections to legitimise the coup, that led to a war in Ukraine. Were it not of this imperialist interference and regime change, the war in Ukraine, as in Syria, would probably not have occurred. This also applies to the consequences, such as the apparent downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 - if it is later confirmed by independent and scientific investigation that it was indeed shot down. There can be no doubt that those who would have committed such a deadliest attack against civilians have violated fundamental human rights - the important of all, the right to life, as well as international law.
The culprits therefore have to be found, and justice must prevail, all within the framework of international law. But the short-cut with which Obama and his European allies rush to conclusions is dangerous and must be condemned. This type of propaganda has been used before, to deviate attention from, and conceal, the truth. It has also been used to make war and kill millions of people. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, to mention but a few, were imposed in a similar manner.
In fact almost a year ago, heart-rending photographs of Syrian children poisoned by sarin gas were posted throughout the world and Syrian government forces were blamed. The United States was preparing to bomb Syria based on this report. Later it was proved conclusively that those children were Alawite children kidnapped by US sponsored Jihadists fighting to bring down the secular government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Not only was it strange to see that the gassed children were together in rows without any adults, parents of those dead children positively identified a number of them. It was also reported quite definitely that the Jihadists (only a minority of whom were Syrians) had access to sarin gas - something denied by the US and its European allies who continue to finance these disgusting terrorists.
Back to Ukraine: during the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists, mostly from the region of Western Ukraine around Lviv, led by Stephan Bandera, formed the Ukrainian Waffen SS Galician, Nichtengall, and Roland Divisions that collaborated with the Nazis. They were known for their extreme brutality to Jews and Poles. They were hated in particular by the people of Eastern Ukraine who supported the Soviet Union and fought bravely and ferociously against the Nazi occupation.
Backed by the US and West European governments, the democratically elected (but admittedly weak) government of President Yanukovych was overthrown in a coup d'état by the Banderovtsy Nazis. Not surprisingly, many Ukrainian citizens (not only ethnic Russians) have resisted Nazi rule and have established the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Fighting for their very existence, these people had no military capacity - according to Donetsk Prime Minister Alexander Boroday - even the kind of missiles that can bring down a civilian aircraft from above the clouds. Clearly the only people to benefit from the bringing down of the airliner are the Ukrainian Nazi government and its Western backers.
The recent press conference held by Boroday has not been mentioned by the South African media.
Why?
It has not been mentioned by the Western media anyway.
The press conference offers an alternative view to what we are being bombarded with from Western news agencies. We have the excerpts of the statement in this issue of Umsebenzi Online. It is argued that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 was shot down from the air by the neo-Nazis who took over Ukraine supported by the US and its West European allies.
Mashilo is SACP spokesperson and Ian Beddowes is ZCL General Secretary
The question of Palestine
By Alex Mashilo
On Monday the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Pretoria issued a statement on Israeli war crimes in Palestine. What follows are the excerpts from the statement.
Since the beginning of July, at least 510 Palestinians have been killed by Israel. This includes over 120 children, and about 85 women. More than 3 600 Palestinians have been injured in the bombardment by Israel from air, sea and land. Many of the victims are in critical condition, and will never live normal lives again as hundreds have required amputations in order to save their lives. More than 2 000 Palestinian homes have been demolished, or severely damaged. Schools, hospitals and health centres, ministries and religious sites have been destroyed. Over 135 000 people have been displaced. Israeli destruction of electricity, water and sanitation infrastructure has affected 95% of the population in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Embassy characterised this as a "genocide on a large civilian population". Israel claims "to be limiting civilian causalities". On the contrary, it in fact often clearly targets them, "such as the 4 Palestinian boys under the age of 12 who witnesses say were deliberately killed by an Israeli strike while they were playing football on the beach". Last Saturday night alone, the Israeli campaign claimed at least 100 Palestinian lives in Shejaeyya. lmages of dead children with their heads blown open flooded the streets, while ambulances had difficulty reaching the injured and dead due to the dangers of entering the area and due to the sheer size of the pile of rubble they had to search between to pull the bodies out from.
The Ministry of Health in Palestine has reported that Israel has been using illegal poisonous gases, such as sarin gas, suffocating its victims. This is not the first time Israel has used illegal weapons on the civilian population, while denying these claims even though clear evidence is presented. The brutality of the Israeli aggression on the people of Gaza has caused a medical humanitarian crisis as those hospitals that have not been bombed are short of medication to help the overwhelming influx of injured civilians. These hospitals are also without electricity, exacerbating the desperate medical crisis.
What does Israel, its principal backer the US and its allies, and supporters say?
"This is self-defence".
Is that so?
In the first place Israel has been established in Palestine just after the Second World War. It was given a large land area compared to the people of Palestine. But has since been advancing its expansionist policy in the territory. More and more Israel has actually been making conditions impossible for the right of the Palestinians to have their own state. Over the years, Israel has expropriated more Palestinian land. Atrocious such as massacre and the brutality highlighted from the excerpts of the Monday statement by the Palestinian Embassy in Pretoria for decades been part of Israeli strategy.
The crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 exposed the hypocrisy of the US and its allies. US President Barack Obama and his European allies were not only quick to condemn the crash, but also to opportunistically start pointing fingers, masquerading as the world's human rights police. This they did while, on the other hand, they are the ones who in the first instance caused the war in Ukraine, consequently, if the flight was shot down, also the conditions for this war crime. The US and its European allies have supported one of the sides in the war, the neo-Nazis who overthrew the democratically elected government through a coup d'état and organised mock elections to legitimise it. Similarly, the US and its European allies are part of the forces that have been providing support to Israel.
What is to be done?
The Israeli genocidal campaign, altogether with other killings, must stop with immediate effect. Israel must immediately evacuate all occupied Palestinian territories, dating back to the pre-1967 period. This must pave the way for the establishment and immediate recognition by the United Nations of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. Politically, the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel must be intensified across the world. In South Africa this is more urgent than ever, given our direct experience of apartheid. Israel is today's apartheid state, just as South Africa was in the past. The difference is that apartheid, which is declared a crime against humanity, has become worse in Israel than it was in South Africa.
Mashilo is SACP Spokesperson
Press-conference of Alexander Boroday, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Donetsk. 20 July 2014
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Can I start?
Well. I think all of you are interested in the dismal situation concerning the airplane. I have the following to say:
First, yesterday the team of experts still did not arrive, except for those experts that were already present, the fourteen representatives of OSCE and four experts from the Ukrainian side that are solely concerned with the technical aspects of the catastrophe. That is why yesterday in the evening we had to take the decision and start removing the bodies from the site of the tragedy since, as I already explained [the day before -- G.B.], we could not wait any longer. The heat is 30 degrees Celsius, the victims' bodies are scattered over a huge territory, and we cannot ensure their preservation even in the most basic sense of the word, because the territory is rife with wild beasts and stray dogs. All of that compelled us, despite the absence of expert observers, who are so long in coming, to start organised removal of the bodies of the deceased.
As of today, 196 bodies of the victims of the crash have been removed from the site and transferred, in a railway refrigerator car, to the city of Torez, where they are presently kept. Right now, or at least as of an hour ago, a group of OSCE observers is working in Torez, who are examining the bodies. There are still _no other_ experts on these subjects on our territory. The only news I can bring is that we have established contact with a group of experts from Malaysia, who, 12 persons in number, are expected to arrive later today. They are coming via some convoluted route, but at least they _are_ coming. I hope that they will arrive here, and first of all will start by examining the victims' bodies and performing all the necessary procedures concerning these bodies.
Other than that, I remind you that the OSCE group, contrary to what foreign media reports, has started its work quite some time ago. They are now operating on the site of the crash for the third day consecutively. They are present there today, they were present there yesterday, they were present the day before yesterday. Yesterday in the evening we had a meeting with the OSCE representatives. They expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to work; the only complaint they had was that together with them we allowed a number of journalists to the site. The OSCE observers were extremely unhappy that journalists are present. They called this situation a circus. We questioned their opinion on the freedom of press, whether they are against that; they claimed they were not against, however they would rather not see representatives of the press near them. We are not enemies of free press either, so we do not see it as our duty to deny the journalists access to the site. Thus the OSCE observers will have to work at the site of the tragedy together with you.
I expect that you also have numerous questions concerning the so called "black boxes". As you see, I anticipate those questions. I can inform you that our side has discovered, as of today, certain technical devices on the plane, which we suppose to be these "black boxes". I have to stress: since the People's Republic of Donetsk has no specialists on the subject of airplane security, we cannot be certain. However we conjecture that these objects are the devices in question. These objects have been transferred to Donetsk and are placed under my personal supervision. We are awaiting for the representatives of a specialized organization, in this case ICAO, to hand over these pieces of airplane equipment. We are _waiting_.
I receive various rumours disseminated by the press that the bodies of the victims that we are now continuing to collect from the site will in the nearest future be transported to Kyiv, Mariupol or someplace else. This is not so. We have no intention to transport these bodies anywhere until the experts arrive. We are awaiting the expert observers. We are now awaiting them for the fourth day. We hope some of them will reach us. We have the information about the 12 people from Malaysia, but we have _no definite information_ about the other expert observers. We cannot understand why they are still staying in Kyiv. I stress it once again that we are ready to do everything in our power to ensure their security. The territory controlled by our forces is relatively safe for them. I use the word "relatively" because our country is in the state of war with Ukraine. The war is undeclared, but it is a full-fledged war. However we will do everything in our power in order to ensure the safety of observers and experts and give them the opportunity to perform their duties.
I would also like to make the following statement. It is our opinion that the Ukrainian side, by various means, deliberately delays the arrival of experts to the site of the crash, because it does not want the world community to learn the truth of this horrible tragedy.
Alexander Boroday, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Donetsk, declared so early this year Ukraine after the people in large parts of the east and other areas in the country did not accept the coup by the neo-Nazis
World balance of forces leaning leftwards?
By Tom Wheeler
We know that President Jacob Zuma participated in the BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, last week, where the BRICS Development Bank was launched.
Less known is the opportunity the Summit created for presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia also to visit well-disposed countries in Latin America. These visits were hardly made mention of in the mainstream press.
Before arriving in Brazil for the Summit, Putin visited Russia's Soviet era ally, Cuba, for the first time.
This was an important occasion for the Cubans, as Putin announced that Russia would “forgive” 90 per cent of Cuba's long-standing debt to Russia and, at the same time, would provide funding for oil and gas exploration in the waters off the north coast of Cuba.
If significant amounts of oil and gas are found, Cuba might be relieved of its dependence on importing these resources, and a possible source of export revenue for the island state might be developed.
Another unannounced stop-over was made in Nicaragua, where Putin briefly consulted President Daniel Ortega. After his election for second term as president in 2007, Ortega aligned his country with other left-leaning Latin American states, including becoming a member of the Venezuelan sponsored Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
Putin's next stop was in Buenos Aires where he signed an agreement with President Cristina Kirchner to assist Argentina with issues related to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. These included the dismantling of outdated nuclear power stations and the sale of a new Russian nuclear plant.
Following South Africa's lead of extending invitations to other African states during our hosting of the previous BRICS Summit in 2013, Brazil invited the heads of state of other Latin American states to meet leaders of the BRICS in the capital Brasilia after the Summit.
On this occasion Putin held a meeting with the Bolivian president Evo Morales, among others.
His final port of call was Caracas, capital of Venezuela, before returning to Moscow.
The visits to Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are all in line with Russia's negotiation with those countries to obtain refueling facilities for its naval vessels and long-range bombers in the region. Russia has engaged in naval and air manoeuvres in the area as far back as 2008.
Putin's choices of destinations to visit and leaders to meet in bilateral meetings were intended to show to the world Russia's interest in strengthening relations with countries in what have always been considered to be in America's backyard. The long-standing Monroe Doctrine, which prohibited major countries on other continents from intruding on the US sphere of interest, is largely being ignored.
The Chinese leader followed much the same itinerary, visiting Cuba, Argentina, Venezuela, and of course, Brazil for the BRICS Summit.
It is probably little known that Raul Castro has declared himself a follower of the Chinese model. He is moving Cuba away from an orthodox Marxist-Leninist state toward a Deng Xiaoping-inspired state, one with a strong ruling party on the one hand, but also with the ability to introduce and implement economic reforms. Signs of these reforms have become apparent in recent times.
But unlike Russia, the Chinese president seemed to focus more on trade-related issues. As in the case of Africa, China needs South American resources, such as soya from Argentina and oil from Venezuela. In addition China needs markets for its manufactured products. Already Brazilian companies are demanding tariff protection against less expensive Chinese goods.
At the same time, the Brazilian government, which would prefer a hegemonic role over other Latin American countries, now considers China a competitor for influence in Latin America. Such tension between the two countries at a bi-lateral level undermines a desired model of cooperation as members of the BRICS.
As Victor M. Mijares, professor of international relations at the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela, has pointed out, China also has a distinct political agenda in Latin America.
Meanwhile, on his return to Moscow, Putin was faced with the crisis caused by the shooting down of Malaysian flight MH17. Questions are being asked about whether the Russian-speaking separatist were supplied advanced missiles by Russia to bring down the commercial flight.
Despite these as yet unconfirmed allegations, one must wonder whether the successes achieved on Putin's Latin American visits may be seriously damaged by this tragedy.
Tom Wheeler is an independent commentator and a former chief director for Latin America at Department of International Relations and Corporation (DIRCO). This piece was first published by The New Age
Hold US President Barrack Obama accountable for barbaric acts of genocide against the people of Palestine
By Phatse Justice Piitso
The world nation states have a moral obligation to hold the President of the USA Barrack Obama accountable for the barbaric acts of genocide against the people of Palestine. We have to challenge the hypocritical and treacherous leadership role of the US led imperialism in the arena of the international politics.
The people of the world can no more be spectators when a handful leaders of the superpowers are violating fundamental laws which are a guarantee to international peace and stability. The truth is that President Barrack Obama has the skeletons of the innocent lives of the Palestinians massacred by the vicious racist state of Israel in his cupboard.
The US President has all the powers vested in him to stop the carnage, the reign of terror and manslaughter of innocent people in the of the GAZA strip. The fascist government of Israel is the colonial outpost of the US led imperialism in the Middle East.
When he was elected the first black President ever in the history of the American politics, the millions of our suffering people became overwhelmingly hopeful that the world would no more be the same again. Little did we appreciate that his was just an election of another chief operation officer of the US led imperialism.
The people of the world were naive to assume that his election was a turning point and the beginning of a new era for the transformation of the USA into a modern state of the 21th century. A modern state of our times whose foundations are based on the fundamental values of the respect of human rights.
Some, or perhaps many, thought that the descendant of the African slaves in the American hemisphere, President Barrack Obama, would equal the task of making the world a better place for humanity. They thought his foremost task would advance to bring humanity together in the building of a new world social order.
The US administration under President Obama has become worse than ever before. It is even worse than the times when the world was plunged into the first and the second world wars.
The continuing ground and aerial bombardment of the innocent population in the GAZA strip by the fascist regime of Israel is the declaration of war to the peace loving people of the world. It has indeed a catastrophic consequences on the immediate possibilities for international peace and stability.
Indeed historical events have proven that by its nature and character imperialism is the most hostile and aggressive against human life. It is gruesomely awesome, it kills without mercy and has no regard to the respect of human life.
The Obama administration is sponsoring the fascist government of Israel with massive financial support to sustain the implacable acts of genocide against the people of Palestine. His administration is responsible for the starvation, degradation and humiliation of the millions of innocent people of the independent state of Israel.
What is the reason the world must hold the sitting President of the USA Barrack Obama accountable to the atrocities and crimes against humanity perpetuated against the innocent people of Palestine?
In 1860 the American Republican convention included in their electoral platform, on which Abraham Lincoln ran for President, the following statement"
We brand the recent re-opening of the African slave trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by the perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity".
In 1890, George Washington Williams used the phrase" a crime against humanity" describing the treatment of the Africans in the Congo basin under King Leopold ii of Belgium.
During the First World War, the allied powers issued a joint statement announcing for the first time a commission of the crime against humanity in response to the Armenian genocide. The Ottoman government was warned of the personal responsibility of the acts of crime against humanity during the war.
In the year 1976, the united nation general assembly declared the systematic persecution of one racial group by the other, such as the one perpetuated by the Apartheid South Africa, a crime against humanity.
This historic declaration come into being against the background of the USA sponsoring the vicious racist Apartheid regime to unleash a civil war against the innocent people in the Southern tip of our continent.
Millions of people were massacred in Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana as the US-led imperialist forces fought against the liberation movement in the region.
The Rome Statute of the International criminal court defines crimes against humanity as"
Particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part of either of a government policy or a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.
Murder, extermination, torture, rape, political, racial, or religious persecutions and other inhumane acts reach a threshold of crime against humanity only if they are part of a widespread systematic practice".
Even if the US is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, in solidarity with the people of Palestine, Cuba, SAHARAWI, and many of the victims of the US led imperialism across the world, the world nation states must hold the President of the USA, Barrack Obama accountable for crimes against humanity.
The horrible acts of genocide by the Israel government is a systematic violations of the fundamental rights of the people of Palestine. The President of the US is obliged to protect the dignity and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people.
President Obama still has an opportunity to rewrite a new chapter in the history of the world. He still has a moral responsibility to give the people of Palestine and many others across the world the freedom and dignity they deserve.
Phatse Justice Piitso is the former Ambassador to the republic of Cuba and the former provincial secretary of the SACP writing this article on his personal capacity.
