On February 29, 2004, the United States government completed its
coup d'etat against Haiti's democratically elected government of Jean-Bertran
Aristide. Since Aristide's reelection to the Haitian presidency in 2000,
the Bush administration had led an effort to destabilize Haiti by inititating an
economic aid embargo, providing massive funding and political support for both
paramilitary forces and opposition groups led by Haitian elites, as well as
spearheading a propaganda offensive against Aristide.U.S. efforts to destabilize Haiti culminated in January as
millions of Haitians celebrated the bicentennial. Right-wing opposition
groups who reportedly received millions of dollars from both the European Union
and the U.S.'s International Republican Institute, rallied for Aristide's
removal. In the forefront of opposition protests was Andre Apaid, a
well-connected Haitian-American businessman and Chalabi-like political operative
who created the "Group of 184," which was organized specifically to call for an
end to the democratic government in Haiti. Apaid, a U.S. citizen who owns
numerous sweatshops in Haiti, led the unsuccessful fight to prevent Aristide
from doubling the minimum wage and was known as a prominent supporter of the
1991 coup against Aristide.
The above is from p. 273 of "Haiti: The Untold Story" by Lyn Duff and Dennis Bernstein which is included in Censored 2005 by Peter Phillips and Project Censored. It's time for "Five Books, Five Minutes." Sort of. Due to delays and other issues, we're focusing on one book.
Participating are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jim, Jess & Ava,
Thomas Friedman is a Great Man's Betty, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Kat of Kat's Korner, Mike of Mikey Likes It! and C.I. of The Common Ills.
The book being discussed was suggested by reader Tina in New Mexico.
Mike: I'm supposed to do the two to three sentence summary so I'll start out by noting if you're a Greg Palast fan, he's writing the introduction and the book has Tom Tomorrow's cartoons throughout. The first section is the 25 most underreported stories of the year 2004. The rest of the book is critiques and discussions of how issues play out in the media and resources that you can turn to for real news. How was that?
Jim: Perfect. We chose the Haiti section because there's always a story breaking somewhere and it's easy to get distracted from Haiti.
Dona: Small country, not physically attached to the US and whose events don't register large on the US mainstream media's radar.
Jess: And that's what can you expect from the book. Stories you should know about but you don't. Or if you do know them you either know only parts of the story or you're already seeking out alternative media like Democracy Now!
C.I.: And LeftTurn which has devoted a great deal of space to Haiti.
Betty: What I got from the book was this conception of how much we never get told about. I've been following Democracy Now! since February and I'm usually watching and thinking, "Another thing that my paper's not talking about." But this book just made me think about how much it was and about how much gets covered on Democracy Now! which on a day to day basis I can really start to take for granted. But if I start going down the week, or like looking at one of the Spanish and English posts, it really hits home how much news is being delivered from that show and how little is coming out from elsewhere. For someone like me who's not real media savy, this book is like a bolt of lightening.
Jim: Picking up there, I really enjoyed the essay on junk news and they do that roundup in each edition.
Dona: This is put out yearly.
Jim: Right and look at the headlines they mention in junk news and ask yourself how you know those topics and details about them, like Britney's wedding, even if you're not making a point to follow the mainstream news.
Ty: Because you can't get away from them. I'll be listening to a station to hear some hits, an urban station I won't name because they have a good mix of music, and the junk news is what I'll be hearing between the songs.
Ava: But take it on out of the media because, and C.I. and I have had long coversations about this, and focus on your day to day life. The junk news is what gets covered so much and it's what people end up talking about.
C.I.: And partly because they want to be "informed" or appear that way. So if, for instance, Today is leading with Britney's wedding, to use Jim's example, they're watching and thinking this is serious news. So they're going to talk about it.
Ava: To appear informed. This isn't blame the public. This is the public picking up on what the mainstream news tells them is important and worth following.
Ty: It's crisis management. "Look over here, not over there." Look over there, behind the curtain, you might find that the great and powerful Oz isn't great and powerful.
Rebecca: And that's what make the Project Censored's annual publication so important. Regardless of who is in the White House, important stories are always ignored. I think it's gotten worse since the Bully Boy, but it wasn't that good before. People should pick up this book and, if they enjoy it, follow up by reading earlier books in the series.
Kat: It goes to educating yourself and participating in the world around you.