© 2005 Greg Kaiser
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News Report: November 05, 2005
Reporting on the News
Violent demonstrations mar President Bush’s attendance at the economic "Summit of the Americas" at Mar del Plata in Argentina. A newscaster of a prominent 24 hour cable news channel interviewed a South American journalist via satellite. Delusanews will refer to the newscaster as "24." We’ll call the journalist "30." In the spirit of equal time we respectively try to protect the guilty and the innocent.
The scene opens with 30 standing in front of a broken department store window with a fiery display on its stage. The harried looking journalist is holding a microphone and looking into the camera. The burning manikins are over his right shoulder.
24 - "30, can you tell US why the daemonstrators turned violent one hour ago?"
30 - "Pardon me, 24, I’m a little out of breath. I’ve been dodging tear gas canisters for two hours. When the po . . ."
24 - "Sorry to interrupt, 30, but the American people need information on why the people of South America oppose the free trade that will save them from their poverty and the war that will free the Middle East? And especially, why are they violently disruptive of the free market democratic process? Do they despise freedom?"
He got the hint. 30 nodded his head slowly. He wisely took another tack. He seemed, to this observer, to suspect that the satellite link might develop problems if he described the scene as he saw it rather than the "right way." The perspective of Americans must be protected by any media personnel that value their positions.
30 - "I’m not sure. Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, has spoken out against what he calls U.S. Imp . . ."
24 - "Then you’re saying that there’s been agitation against U.S. sovereignty in the region? Is Fidel Castro behind this?"
30 - "Castro is the only regional president who wasn’t invited to the meeting. He did send a large contingent in support of the parallel meeting. A source told me, ‘A People’s Summit has been organized to counter the Summit of the Americas and thousands of people staged a protest rally today that will be addressed by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona joined other celebrities late on Thursday aboard a Chavez-sponsored private train headed from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata, to lead the march. Speaking to reporters, Maradona blasted Bush’s’ . . ."
The sound broke up at this point and 24 announced, "I’m sorry, we’ve lost our satellite feed. -- Now we move on to Michael Jackson in the news!"
In the interest of an informed public, Delusanews will reprint an excerpt from a transcript of the Democracy Now broadcast of Nov. 4, 2005. [Apparently, this was also "30's" source.]
* Daniel Katz, mayor of Mar Del Plata:
"It reassures me that Maradona is coming, it reassures me that people come to participate in the Summit of the People, because there is also an attempt to demonize the People's Summit, that is to say, that the violence will be generated from there. And the architect Perez Esquivel [DNews Ed. note: Nobel Peace prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel] said to me from the first day the watchword is to generate consensus, not violence. And it seems to me the presence of respected, popular figures at the front of this march is going to guarantee just that."
Cuban leader Fidel Castro was the only leader excluded from the Summit of the Americas which was sponsored by the Organization of American States. However, Cuba sent a large contingent to the People"s Summit. Among the Cubans participating is Cuba’s world record-holding high jumper, Javier Soto Mayor.
JAVIER SOTO MAYOR: [Translated from Spanish] Above all, because of the march on the fourth day to say 'No to the F.T.A.A., no to Bush, yes to the ALBA [Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas], yes to a new and better Latin America.’
* Patricia Diaz Bialet, who organized a contingent of artists taking part in the protests:
"We artists, intellectuals and writers repudiate the presence of Bush in Argentina. We say ‘No’ to those responsible for the genocide in Iraq and guilty of the hunger and poverty in the world."
ADOLFO PÉREZ ESQUIVEL: [Translated from Spanish] This is the third Summit of the People. We have people from all over the continent, and we are constructing alternatives to hunger, and we say 'No to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, no to militarization.’ And Bush is guilty of crimes against humanity. He invades countries, he starts wars, and he ignores the United Nations.
When asked what he thought of mainstream U.S. news media, "30" declined to comment.
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