[act-ma] 12/15/09 RFM recording of Chomsky on Honduras

[Roger Leisner]

Radio Free MainepresentsChomsky on HondurasThe Coup and Its Impact on Democracy Here and in Latin America
On November 29, 2009, elections were carried out amidst defacto military
 rule in Honduras.  For four and a half months the country has suffered media censorship, widespread human rights violations, brutality against women and the LGBT community, and targeted assassinations of resistance leaders.  Though Barack Obama initially condemned the coup which ousted democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya, his administration expressed no qualms with these abuses, and has recognized the farce
 elections.  With this we witness the inauguration of a new model: overturn the leftist and replace him with the oligarch.  So long as elections are realized, regardless of the conditions, the US will support you.  This is a betrayal of the sovereignty of Latin American, proving to the world that the superpower, even under Obama, will support military coups and mass
 brutality so long as they bolster US interests.
Noam Chomsky introduced by Vistiting Professor
 at Harvard and Honduras Minister of Culture in Exile Rodolfo Pastor In his introduction, Pastor acknowledges Chomsky’s great assistance and empathy with the people of Honduras, and poses four questions for Chomsky to address:1. Claiming that the Poll scheduled for June
 28th was “a vote” or was “a referendum” and that its purpose was to allow President Zelaya to extend his term or be reelected is a lie.2. It’s a lie that the President’s forceful removal was not a coup
 because various “Independent institutions” in Honduras backed this organized conspiracy and that it constitutes a peaceful “Constitutional Succession”.                                 3. Whoever claims that the
 November 29th elections were legitimate because they had been “called for” before the Crisis, and its results “express the will of the people”, lies. The U.S. State Department has embraced this lie in the name of pragmatism, because supposedly it helps solve the problem.4. Finally, there is the consummate lie. U.S. Undersecretary of State Valenzuela declared last week that, “since June 28, the U.S, has been consistently principled” with respect to Honduras, it has worked with multilateral
 organizations, condemned the Coup, continued to recognize Zelaya as President throughout the crisis and that it would have wanted to have him restored and was “disappointed” by the Congress’s decision against restoration.
During Q&A, Radio Free Maine told of how citizens influenced the Governors of Maine,
 Massachusetts and Colorado to refuse to send their state’s National Guard units to Honduras during the mid 80s due to the widespread belief that Reagan was going to use the National Guard soldiers as pawns to start a US war in Central America.  In response, Chomsky noted that many of the peace and justice movements started at that time are still in existence.  In response to a question about Columbia, Chomsky delivered a long critique of America’s War on Drugs.
Pastor speaks for 20 minutes, Chomsky speaks for 45 minutes and the Q&A period is 54 minutes.
Sponsored by the Committee in Solidarity with the Honduran Resistance and the Western Hemisphere Project
Recorded by Roger Leisner on December 15, 2009 at M.I.T in Cambridge, MA
For information on how to order a copy of this recording, please contact
rleisnerrfm at yahoo.comor call 207-242-0643

Roger Leisner
Radio Free Maine
P.O. Box 2705
Augusta, Maine 04338


      
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