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Lifting the lid on brutal wars in America ’s “back yard”

The War On Democracy, (John Pilger 2007)

Reviewed by Jay Woolrich

Two strands run through John Pilger’s debut feature film. The first tells the story of the USA ’s brutal interventions in Latin America, focusing primarily on Guatemala and Chile .

The second, combining interviews with Venezuela ’s Hugo Chavez and grassroots activists like barrio resident Mariela Machado, highlights the ongoing resistance and the challenge it poses to North American hegemony. It captures both the precarious position of the progressive movements and also the wave of optimism sweeping through the region.

Central to this process is the question of US power. As Chavez puts it during his interview:

“To have a revolution without crashing against the empire – it’s impossible.”

Pilger provides an insight into the human cost of the US-supported coup in Chile through a tour of the national stadium with Roberto Navarette, a young student who was held there with thousands of others following the overthrow of Allende’s elected government in 1973. Navarette’s story, like that of fellow Chilean Sara De Witt, brings history into focus with chilling clarity.

Interviews with the victims of US-sponsored terror in Chile , Guatemala and elsewhere are accompanied by interviews with its orchestrators.

Most notable of these is ex- CIA agent Duane Claridge, a key player in the Contra war, whose utter indifference to the mayhem caused by the Agency is a fine example of imperial hauteur and thuggishness. Claridge makes a perfect witness for the prosecution.

But Pilger’s film is not just an account of US aggression. He also talks about the fightback, including the popular movement which thwarted the anti-Chavez coup in 2002 and forced the CIA-backed plotters to release the president.

Although much of this material is taken from an earlier film, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, it’s good to see the events covered in a mainstream feature.

Pilger weaves his interview with Hugo Chavez into an account of the grassroots changes taking place in the barrios, incorporating the voices and lives of ordinary people into the fabric of his film.

And it is to these popular voices that he turns in his account of events in Bolivia , where a vibrant movement of social change underpins the tentative reforms of the Morales government.

This film does for Latin America what Pilger’s previous documentary, “Truth and Lies in the War on Terror”, did for Iraq and Afghanistan . But here the message is more hopeful.

A powerful movement of resistance is sweeping the region, fuelled by the courage and hope of ordinary people.

Our task, Pilger concludes, is to engage with that resistance. This film is a weapon in the struggle.