Two dispatches from South America show progress from (1) colonialism to (2) neocolonialism to (3) neocolonialism disguised as democracy to (4) democracy. Greg Palast reports from Ecuador (Stage 3), ruthlessly exploited by & practically a colony of the World Bank and global financial institutions. John Pilger reports from Bolivia, which has recently and tentatively arrived at Stage 4. The US should be so fortunate!
We play selections (on Bolivia) from John Pilgers film, "War on Democracy," adapted to radio by Lyn Gerry for the Unwelcome Guests Collective (www.unwelcomeguests.org). Many thanks thereunto. KD reads passages on Ecuador from Greg Palasts recent book, Armed Madhouse. "New World Notes" is produced by Kenneth Dowst for WWUH-FM, "Public Alternative Radio," at the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail dot com.
Songs-- Chumbawamba, "The Bad Squire" Sam Cooke, "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Pilger film theme-song)
Photos, drawings, & additional commentary supplement this installment. See them at our Web site (blog)--http://newworldnotes.blogspot.com . Permanent link to this blog entry-- http://newworldnotes.blogspot.com/2009/07/palast-pilger-on-neocolonialism.html. Weekly email newsletter free on request.
SERIES OVERVIEW -- Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for. "Date recorded" = date of first scheduled broadcast.