North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?
US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty Anti-Empire >>
Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
Britain?s War on Free Speech Echoes Its Darkest Past Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:15 | Richard Eldred With free speech on shaky ground and censorship creeping back in, Britain risks sliding back to a time when speaking out was dangerous and thought crimes were punished, warns Robert Tombs in the Telegraph.
The post Britain?s War on Free Speech Echoes Its Darkest Past appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Raw Egg Nationalist: ?Reproduction May Become Impossible? Sun Jul 13, 2025 09:00 | Laurie Wastell For decades men's sperm counts have been in precipitous decline. By 2050 they will be effectively zero and reproduction may become impossible, the Raw Egg Nationalist tells Laurie Wastell.
The post Raw Egg Nationalist: ?Reproduction May Become Impossible? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
German Greens Demand Price Controls on Ice Cream Because Their Own Policies Have Made it Unaffordabl... Sun Jul 13, 2025 07:00 | Tilak Doshi Greens in Germany are demanding price controls on ice cream so poor kids can afford the treat made unaffordable by their own disastrous energy policies. You can't make this up, says Dr Tilak Doshi.
The post German Greens Demand Price Controls on Ice Cream Because Their Own Policies Have Made it Unaffordable appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Sun Jul 13, 2025 00:29 | Will Jones A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Emergency Exit at English Heritage Sat Jul 12, 2025 15:00 | Mike Wells Nick Merriman OBE quietly quit English Heritage on June 24th "for personal reasons" after just a year as chief executive. Mike Wells wonders if other factors are at play as the woke quango runs out of money.
The post Emergency Exit at English Heritage appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en
Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en
The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Amnesty forced to withdraw Chavez Documentary amid threats of violence
international |
arts and media |
news report
Monday November 24, 2003 17:12 by D

Amnesty international Vancouver have been forced to withdraw the documentary on Hugo Chavez amid threats of violence Amnesty Forced to Withdraw Chavez Documentary from Canadian Screening amid Threats of Violence.
Last year two Irish filmmakers were eye witnesses to one of the most extraordinary events in recent Central American history. Donnacha O’Brin and Kim Bartley had travelled to Venezuela to film an intimate portrait of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. They found themselves in the middle of a coup staged by elements in the military, powerful forces in the privately owned oil companies and the privately owned media.
Venezuela is the US’s fourth largest supplier of oil, and the largest outside the Middle East, but despite this is an impoverished nation, with a massive gulf between rich and poor. Chavez, a former military officer, is a populist President and was elected with a mandate to nationalize Venezuela’s oil. This has enraged the US government and the large conglomerates who own both the oil and the entirety of the private media in Venezuela.
Donnacha and Kim were inside the presidential place as the coup unfolded in April 2002, and they captured extraordinary scenes during and after the coup. They witnessed how the private TV stations actively aided and supported this military coup, and the way in which events were manipulated and twisted on air. Most importantly the two filmmakers captured the scenes as millions of ordinary citizens in Caracas rose up within days and restored the elected president, Hugo Chavez, to power.
The resulting Film “The Revolution will not be televised” has been shown around the world on television and at festivals. It has won numerous awards http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/film/awards.htm
including the prestigious, Banff and Greisens awards.
However the documentary has been subjected to fierce criticism. Wolfgang Chalk, A Venezuelan TV Producer and Engineer, has spearhead a campaign backed by Venezuelan private television producers, Generals and the Caracas Chief of Police. They’ve campaigned on the internet with a petition calling for the film to be banned. They have harrassed film festivals and TV stations who have planned on showing the film, calling on them to withdraw the film. Judges from one important documentary award have told of receiving phone calls demanding they don’t choose this film in the days before votes were cast.
This group seized on a decision by Amnesty International in Vancouver to withdraw the film from it’s forthcoming Human Rights Festival. Schalk’s, curiously well organised pressure group took this as “proof” of their claims that the documentary was “lying” and began another round of calls to festivals and TV stations on the strength of the withdrawal.
However Amnesty’s reasons for the withdrawal have nothing to do with Schalk’s harassment and in their own statement they say: “In the final two weeks of October, we received from individuals and groups calls for the cancellation of the screening of the film. During this time we were also contacted by the chair and director of the Venezuelan section who requested us not to show the film. AI Venezuela believed the screening of the film created the perception of an association between Amnesty International and the views portrayed in the film. At the time of the showing, in the highly polarized climate in Venezuela, the perception of association created a security risk for AI Venezuela staff and members, described by the Director as “a real threat against our security and safety.”
Amnesty’s reasons for withdrawal of the documentary had nothing to do with the content of the film but rather to do with the very real threat of violence against members of Amnesty International Venezuela, if they went ahead with the screening. Their reasons for removal are being misrepresented by a group of people who wish to suppress “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”.
The film is currently on a limited US cinema release, with distributors under pressure from powerful lobby groups demanding it’s withdrawal.
Donnacha and Kim are angry about this stating: “It would seem that whoever is behind the campaign was determined at all costs to get AI to act in this way, and then to “spin” the story to suit their own purposes.” These two filmmakers dedicated their prize at the recent Irish ESB media awards to “media activists everywhere and the Indymedia Ireland Collective”.
Read the statement from the filmmakers and the full text of the Amnesty
statement here:
http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/film/amnesty.htm
Further Background on Venezuela and the Film
http://www.chavezthefilm.com
Forthcoming Screenings
http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/film/screens.htm
Article on the withdrawal of the film from the Vancouver film festival
in the UK Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1090702,00.html
Detailed accounts of the Coup, the role of the Private Media and the Aftermath from NarcoNews:
http://www.narconews.com/docs/ven_archive.html
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1it's slow, but it's free.
explanation @
http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2003/12/8106.php
download at link below.
the server is slow, so it is recommended you put on a harddrive rather than watch it in stream or whatever it's called.
"the movie is in DivX format which is presently one of the formats that allows for compression. to watch it use DivX Player (http://www.divx.com) with computer type Pentium II de 500 Mhz or more. With computers which are slower, you could try asking your mammy for something nice from Santa becuase with the current heap of shite you can't take a full and useful part in the global revolution. However you could try downloading it as a MPEG-1, that's called a "VideoCD". The file is 750 Mb and is here:
http://aristoteles.ing.ula.ve/publico/revolucion.mpg
or... you could do it with "Nero" at this link
http://aristoteles.ing.ula.ve/publico/revolucion1.nrg
and the site of the movie is at http://www.chavezthefilm.com
Por favor, difundan esta información.
=
please difuse this information.
{info like DU is a better weapon when diffused}
it's slow, but it's free.
explanation @
http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2003/12/8106.php
download at link below.
the server is slow, so it is recommended you put on a harddrive rather than watch it in stream or whatever it's called.
"the movie is in DivX format which is presently one of the formats that allows for compression. to watch it use DivX Player (http://www.divx.com) with computer type Pentium II de 500 Mhz or more. With computers which are slower, you could try asking your mammy for something nice from Santa becuase with the current heap of shite you can't take a full and useful part in the global revolution. However you could try downloading it as a MPEG-1, that's called a "VideoCD". The file is 750 Mb and is here:
http://aristoteles.ing.ula.ve/publico/revolucion.mpg
or... you could do it with "Nero" at this link
http://aristoteles.ing.ula.ve/publico/revolucion1.nrg
and the site of the movie is at http://www.chavezthefilm.com
Por favor, difundan esta información.
=
please difuse this information.
{info like DU is a better weapon when diffused}
If someone could tell me where i can get a copy of the film i'll show it for free in UCD to anyone who wants to watch it.
Reactions of local social justice campaigners available at this link:
http://resist.ca/story/2003/11/11/223458/36
......they should seriously consider shutting up shop.
read this for a full explanation
http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/film/amnesty.htm
Why don't they just show the film, if it's worth showing?
I think there's more to this than meets the eye.