Latin America
Related: About this forumJazz musician Marsalis cancels Venezuela show amid tensions
American jazz legend Wynton Marsalis has canceled a concert in Venezuela at a time of rising tensions between the two nations.
The New York-based trumpeter and composer was scheduled to perform Friday the first of two concerts in Caracas alongside the Simon Bolivar Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. He was also was supposed to lead a series of workshops with Venezuela's world-famous El Sistema network of youth ensembles. Both organizations are supported by Venezuela's socialist government.
Greg Scholl, executive director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, said that he regretted the last-minute scratch of Caracas from its 12-city South American tour and that its visit would be rescheduled at a later date to avoid becoming a distraction amid the recent political turmoil.
Jazz is a powerful tool to bring people across cultures and geographies together, he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/jazz-musician-marsalis-cancels-venezuela-show-amid-tensions-194208679.html
Mika
(17,751 posts)Gee. I wonder who'd do that?
Judi Lynn
(160,621 posts)Thank goodness this is America, the land of the totally free!
Clearly you're accustomed to how things "evolve" in some sectors when there's any hint of socialism mentioned.
Zorro
(15,749 posts)and bashing the USA with it. But that's freedom of speech for ya.
Mika
(17,751 posts)... that the anti Cuba crowd here uses as the gospel truth.
Good for the goose = good for the gander. Deal with it.
It has been verified that some people say that the threats to Marsalis came from Miami's intransigent exile community, because Marsalis played music in Castro's Communist Cuba.
"It has been verified that some people say..."
Very funny.
Mika
(17,751 posts)Elizardo Sanchez confirms that some people said that one of their cousin's friends heard from someone who said that he was told that ...
Judi Lynn
(160,621 posts)The Venezuelan opposition intimidated Amnesty International's showing of the film, The Revolution Will Not be Televised, due to an onslaught of their threats, insisting they withdraw it from the Vancouver Film Festival in British Colombia.
It's mentioned in this interview with one of the people involved in the filming:
Rod StonemanThe author of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: A Case Studies of Politics and the Media speaks exclusively to LWLies.Marlon Dolcy
Tuesday, December 02 2008 18:24 GMT
~snip~
LWLies: Why do you think the film was so controversial, considering the BBC and Ofcom reports and the withdrawal of the film from Amnesty Internationals film festival?
Stoneman: The BBC inquiry saw nothing wrong with our documentary, but an inquiry had to be made because they invested in the film and they had to protect their name. In the case of Amnesty International, I dont entirely blame them for withdrawing the film because they came under increased intimidation, where threats were made to their staff in Caracas. However, I am a little disappointed that they did not have stronger nerves to fall at the first hurdle of the films reception.
http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/features/interviews/rod-stoneman-2250
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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Why is Amnesty Not Screening a New Documentary About the Failed 2002 Coup in Venezuela?
Today we take a look at a controversial new documentary about the unsuccessful 2002 coup in Venezuela. The film titled, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" received a rave review from The New York Times but the organizers of the Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver have canceled a planned screening of the film that was scheduled to open today.
Main opposition parties in Venezuela organized a petition against the film and garnered 7,000 signatures.
The documentary tells the tale of one of the shortest Presidential overthrows in Latin American history. On April 11, 2002, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was removed from power by a coalition of military officials and business leaders. But the attempted coup detat failed and Chavez returned to office two days later.
The documentarys two Irish filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain happened to be in the Presidential Palace both when Chavez was removed and when he returned.
Tape: "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Excerpts of the new documentary about the unsuccessful 2002 coup in Venezuela.
Don Wright, Organized the Amnesty International film festival in Vancouver, Canada.
Eva Golinger-Moncada, Executive Director of the Venezuela Solidarity Committee in New York. She has come out strongly against the Amnesty Film Festival in Vancouvers decision to take the award-winning documentary The Revolution will not be Televised off their screening list.
Alexandra Beech, Venezuelan-American who writes for the Daily International News Review of Venezuela which is posted on one of the main Chavez opposition groups websites www.11abril.com . She has written extensively on the flaws in the documentary that Chavez opposition groups are claiming re-write history to favor Chavez.
More:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5168.htm
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CanPalNet Statement on the Cancellation of
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
by Amnesty International
Amnesty International (AI) has organized a film festival in Vancouver (Nov 6 to 9) at Pacific Cinemateque. One of the films being shown is "Israel's Secret Weapon", a film that Canpalnet premiered in Canada with the presence of the producer, Giselle Portenier. It is a film we are pleased is being shown at the AI film festival. We encourage people to see it whenever possible.
But Amnesty International also has peremptorally cancelled the showing of another important film they had advertised, scheduled, and which is available. This film deals with the violations of the human rights of Venezuelans by those who orchestrated an unsuccessful coup to overthrow that country's elected president, Hugo Chavez.
Amnesty had been pressured by pro-coup forces to cancel the film and has capitulated. Amnesty now says that the human rights of ordinary Venezuelans are too controversial and "political" a matter for them, and therefore they have cancelled the showing of the acclaimed documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". Though they lack the determination to resist political pressure for censorship, AI still acknowledges that the film is relevant to the human rights concerns they had wanted to "highlight".
This selective attention to human rights is contrary to the avowed mandate of Amnesty. We regard the human rights of Venezuelans no less important than those of Palestinians, or our own. And we understand well that a world in which the rights of some can be sacrificed is a world in which the rights of all are unacceptably insecure. So we choose solidarity instead of selective concern.
More:
http://www.canpalnet.ca/archive/amnestystmt.html