Thousands back Mexico’s Obrador

[Judi Lynn]

Thousands back Mexico’s Obrador
Web posted at: 11/24/2009 9:17:14
Source ::: AFP

MEXICO CITY: Thousands of Mexicans rallied yesterday to show support for “shadow president” Manuel Lopez Obrador—who believes his country’s top job was stolen from him in 2006 -- at the mid-point of his would-be presidential term.

A 56-year-old leftist former Mexico City mayor, Lopez Obrador’s hopes of leading this country of about 106 million were dashed when official results showed he lost the 2006 race by just some 230,000 votes. He charges that a careful recount of the vote was carefully avoided by those who had the authority to duly pursue one.

Poised to emerge as a potential alternative to the conservative PAN party of President Felipe Calderon in 2012, Lopez Obrador has pushed on, day after day, insisting that he is, in fact, Mexico’s legitimate president.

He works out of an elegant office in an old mansion in Mexico City, in front of a portrait in which he is pictured wearing the presidential sash.

Tens of thousands of supporters packed Mexico City’s landmark Zocalo square Sunday to hear Lopez Obrador underscore that power has been usurped from the Mexican people, by—in his view—a “mafia” of powerful colluding political and business interests. “They themselves know that this movement is the only thing that can take them on, and that can stop them,” he told a sea of supporters. Lopez Obrador claims 2.3 million supporters have signed up in support of his movement nationwide.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+%26+South+Asia&month=November2009&file=World_News2009112491714.xml

[Peace Patriot]

1. Gee, if you read only our corpo-fascist press, you'd think Amlo and his 2.3 million active

supporters had fallen off the face of the earth!

I read one corpo-fascist article not long ago, purporting to be a "political analysis" of Mexico's upcoming elections, that didn't even mention his name!

Kind of amazing, since he came within 0.05% of winning the last presidential election!

So, I was trying to think why Agence France Presse (which can be as bad as the Associated Pukes, when it comes to pushing the corpo-fascist agenda) would resurrect Amlo in corpo-fascist illusion-land (and I'm wondering, too, if this has been published anywhere else besides Qatar).

Guess: Since the article says...

"He even has a complete shadow cabinet, and has been active in keeping the protest movement alive—so much so that the traditional leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution has distanced itself from him."

...the opposite is probably true, that Amlo and the PRI are close to making an alliance.

Cuz it doesn't make sense. If Amlo has "kept the protest movement alive," and the PRI is also leftist, why would the PRI "distance itself" from him? You'd think that the PRI would instead be taking advantage of all that organizing and all that leftist energy. The PRI was a disgraced party. That's why the "free traders" were able to stay in power (with a little help from election fraud). The PRI had gotten very entrenched and corrupt in its 50 or so years of rule. They were still in disarray during the Amlo-Calderon election. And they NEED Amlo and his many supporters to make a comeback. So, what makes sense is an alliance, not "distance."

This reminds me of the latest corpo-fascist "talking point" about South America, that Venezuela (Chavez) and Brazil (Lulu) are at odds. It is so not true as to be laughable. But the corpo-fascists WANT it to be true, so they SAY it's true, because they think they have the power to MAKE it true. They do have power to lie, disinform, distort, brainwash and write false narratives (WMDs in Iraq, Chavez is a "dictator"), and sometimes their grand illusions stick well enough to accomplish some corpo-fascist goals, but this has been LESS true--a lot less true--in Latin America (where the rancid press is largely ignored by voters) than in the English-French-German speaking world. But they keep trying to apply their rancid tactics to Latin America, while also trying to keep the northern world in the dark about what is really happening in Latin America (historic leftist democracy movement). And they keep trying to drive wedges amongst leftist leaders and amongst countries that have elected leftist governments (many)--and, in this case, between the two leftist movements in Mexico that, combined, would overwhelm the corpo-fascists (the US-allied "free traders" and "war on drugsters").

Whatever the corpo-fascist press says is true, the opposite is true--is a pretty good rule of thumb. Not infallible--but often useful for figuring out what's really going on.

So, ask yourself: Why would the PRI "distance itself" from a massive protest force on the left? This is either a superficial read on what's going on in Mexico (a possibility), or it's disinformation. One clue as to which it is will be if this article on Amlo makes it out of Qatar.

I did a quick Google search and see that it's in a few other odd places (a few in Asia, one in Uganda, one in the UK), that's it. The AFP may have made a mistake giving Amlo so much ink, even if the purpose was "divide and conquer." We'll see.

I once read an Associated Pukes article on Chavez that treated him quite fairly. The reporter even got in the car with him--on a long drive through the countryside to some public event--and had a lengthy, substantive conversation with him about the poor and his anti-poverty policies, and his own dirt-poor background, as well as his dislike for the necessary security procedures that were restricting his personal life, his freedom and his contact with people. Very unfortunately, I didn't think to save the article and didn't note the reporter's name. This was some years ago, and little did I know that this an HISTORIC article--unique in all the world as to fair treatment of Chavez. It was picked up by only ONE newspaper (an obscure one, as I recall), and I don't know what became of the reporter's career.

This article may suffer the same fate--for giving Amlo too much objective attention (or any attention at all), and its apparent little foray into "dividing and conquering" COULD be innocent. I can't rule it out (even if it's AFP). (France sometimes has a different corpo-fascist agenda than the U.S., and, when it comes to oil--a big issue in Mexico--this is very true of France.) The PRI thing is not the primary focus of the article. It is an aside. And maybe there is some truth to it on the surface. It's very vague and gives no clue as to what it's based on. (What does "distancing itself" mean?). It's sometimes hard to see into the black of holes of missing and dis-information, in the corpo-fascist press--but we need to try.

[Judi Lynn]

2. I haven't seen that article but here's an interesting snippet you might enjoy.

A MOMENT WITH HUGO CHAVEZ
by J.M. Sylvan
American Reporter Correspondent
Los Angeles, Calif.

~snip~
For our last day in Japan, Yuki planned a full day of sightseeing that included going to a large city park, filled with Sunday picnickers who'd come to view the bursting, beautiful cherry blossoms. We had tea in an ancient teahouse there and then joined the throngs taking photos of one another, each trying to capture the magic of the blossoms.

Yuki remembered my request for a side trip to the Imperial Hotel. After enjoying the park, sightseeing from a rooftop observatory in a tall government building and then a long lunch, we headed over to the hotel.

As we approached it, we noticed many official-looking security guys. The four of us wondered what important person was visiting the hotel. As I was taking photographs of the building and researching the possibility of having coffee at the café in the open lobby, I heard a commotion.

President Hugo Chavez and his bodyguards, translators and front men made their grand entrance. I searched for Annie and Yuki to alert them that the controversial president of Venezuela had arrived. I suggested to Yuki that she might want Annie to see all the hoopla. Once we got close to President Chavez, who was drinking espresso and talking to individual people in the crowd, his bodyguard pointed out Annie to him. He swooped down and picked her up, talking to her in Spanish. Yuki knows Spanish and was able to respond. What a photo op! Their picture appeared on a Website the next day.

Sydney was then determined to talk with him too and waited her turn in line, He moved to her next as she had her hand out to shake his. He stopped to talk with her at length. (Yuki said it was a good half-hour).

They discussed baseball; world peace and how we are all related like brothers and sisters. He asked her what she was doing in Japan and she replied, visiting her Mom, who just finished working for U.S. military families. President Chavez started to yell, "Where is Mom? Where is Mom?"

I had been fishing around in my purse for Sydney's Los Angeles City Council business card, with the intention of handing it to him as she spoke.

The three of us talked about children, especially children with disabilities. President Chavez reported to us that he consulted with Fidel Castro about outreach to disabled children. With his help, they were able to help 600,000 children that had been shamefully hidden by their families because of the stigma attached to disability. He then pushed away the microphones and cameras and spoke to us about his respect for President Obama and his hopes for the upcoming gathering where the two would meet.

Sydney and I were thrilled to be in the presence of such a charismatic leader. He has enormous presence. We came away from our fated meeting with him feeling more optimistic for a bridging of cultures and world peace.

This meeting would not have happened if I hadn't picked up Tom's book at the Misawa Bookstore. Isn't life grand and wonderfully surprising sometimes?!

AR Correspondent J.M. Sylvan writes about her travels, adventures and work as a child psychologist. Names and other identifying information have been changed to preserve the privacy of family and friends.

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:1emGcISNOw4J:www.american-reporter.com/3,809/116.html+reporter+car+trip+with+Hugo+Chavez&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Judi Lynn]

3. I think this is the one, Peace Patriot! Posted by "cal04" a coupla years ago!

cal04 (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-11-07 01:24 AM

AP Interview: Chavez Connects With Poor

The Toyota 4Runner pulled to a stop on the country road and a tinted window rolled down. Passers-by gawked, then broke into a run, screaming ``president!'' when they realized Hugo Chavez was at the wheel. ``I love you!'' cried a middle-aged woman with tears in her eyes, thrusting a fistful of flowers into the car.

The president clasped hands and planted kisses on cheeks, heads and hands of the people who turned out in the pouring rain to see him - an emotional connection that he called the driving force behind the socialist revolution that has pitted him against Washington.

``What hurts me most is poverty, and that's what made me a rebel,'' Chavez said during six hours of conversations with The Associated Press on Saturday during a road trip across the southern plains, a helicopter flight and a visit to a cattle ranch.

Throughout the trip, as he sipped coffee and sang folk songs, he stopped to talk with poor men and women of all ages who crowded around his car. Many asked Chavez for help - to build a home, to arrange medical care - and Chavez barked out instructions to his aides, who jotted them down.

Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x287409

The original Guardian link is kaput, here's another link which carried the article:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/AP+INTERVIEW:+Chavez+connects+with+poor-a01611362971

Thanks for mentioning this one. It will be a good one for a long time. (From AP, too, wonder of wonders!)

[Peace Patriot]

4. Yep, that's it! A truly historic journalistic work!

An AP article in which Chavez is allowed to speak for himself and in which the real issues of his presidency are presented fairly and objectively is WITHOUT PRECEDENT in the corpo-fascist media!

Too bad they don't say where it was printed. I recall that it appeared in only one obscure newspaper. The date of the article is 6/11/07. And the reporter--believe it or not--was none other than Ian James, who was appointed the head of AP's Caracas bureau in 2004, and has been spewing forth hundreds of anti-Chavez articles out of that office ever since--all but this one!--articles that exude bias, articles that drip with sarcasm and the desire for Chavez to fail, articles that are often as bad as the Miami Hairball's or the Wall Street Urinal's.

Consider this bit of journalistic homicide, for instance (April 2009), in which James becomes literally a cheerleader for the opposition:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/16/international/i120941S33.DTL&feed=rss.business

So, the writer of the ONLY article that I can remember that treats Chavez fairly is ALSO the writer of the unending stream of hit pieces from the Associated Pukes!

Amazing. Weird. Maybe, when that article was blackballed, he gave up his little venture into real journalism, and went back to producing the only kind of Chavez articles that corp-fascist editors would accept--articles that lie, distort and disinform people about the most successful leftist leader since FDR.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Good grief! We've seen his stinkers for years already! Someone took him to the woodshed

explained what it would take to keep his job, apparently.

Everything ELSE has been pure character assassinaton.

Found a tiny bio. on the guy:

11/ 01/04

Ian James named head of AP news operations in Venezuela


NEW YORK – Ian James, a correspondent for The Associated Press in San Juan, Puerto Rico, since 2000, has been named the AP's new chief of bureau in Caracas, Venezuela.

The appointment was announced Nov. 1 by Deborah Seward, AP's international editor.

James succeeds James Anderson, who resigned. James joined the AP in 1998 in Miami and transferred to the International Desk in 1999.

A native of California, he holds a bachelor's degree in public policy studies from Duke University and a master's degree from Stanford University's journalism program.

http://ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/pr_110104.html

~~~~~~~~
He may never be really well again after getting mentally, ethically poisoned from living in Miami!

[Peace Patriot]

5. And thank you for finding it, Judi! You are a wonder! nt

[Braulio]

6. Al Gore won in 2000

And he's not mentioned as a potential candidate anymore.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Is that right? We could have SWORN we heard otherwise in both 2004 and 2008!

How could we have been so silly!

~snip~
Presidential run speculation (2004 and 2008)

Gore was a speculated candidate for the 2004 Presidential Election (a bumper sticker, "Re-elect Gore in 2004!" was popular).<132> On December 16, 2002, however, Gore announced that he would not run in 2004.<133> Despite Gore taking himself out of the race, a handful of his supporters formed a national campaign to draft him into running. The draft movement, however, failed to convince Gore to run.<134>

The prospect of a Gore candidacy arose again between 2006 to early 2008 in light of the upcoming 2008 presidential election. Although Gore frequently stated that he had "no plans to run," he did not reject the possibility of future involvement in politics which led to speculation that he might.<135><136><137> This was due in part to his increased popularity after the release of the 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.<138> The director of the film, Davis Guggenheim, stated that after the release of the film, "Everywhere I go with him, they treat him like a rock star."<139> After An Inconvenient Truth was nominated for an Academy Award, Donna Brazile (Gore's campaign chairwoman from the 2000 campaign) speculated on the possibility that Gore might announce a possible presidential candidacy during the Oscars.<140> During the 79th Academy Awards ceremony, Gore and actor Leonardo DiCaprio shared the stage to speak about the "greening" of the ceremony itself. Gore began to give a speech that appeared to be leading up to an announcement that he would run for president. However, background music drowned him out and he was escorted offstage, implying that it was a rehearsed gag, which he later acknowledged.<141><142> After An Inconvenient Truth won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, speculation increased about a possible presidential run.<143> Gore's popularity was indicated in polls which showed that even without running, he was coming in second or third among possible Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards.<144> Grassroots draft campaigns also developed with the hope that they could encourage Gore to run.<145><146><147> Gore, however, remained firm in his decision and declined to run for the presidency.<148>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore#Presidential_run_speculation_.282004_and_2008.29

We also certainly discussed it here BOTH TIMES, referring to media articles and events at the time. We really could have certainly spared ourselves the trouble since no one metioned it, according to you.

[Braulio]

9. The MExican media does cover Obrador

Who cares about the gringo media when it's an internal Mexican issue?

[Peace Patriot]

10. Dude, go back to your video games.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x26964