A group of organisations are campaigning in support of the award-wining documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, after the Canadian Pacific Region Chapter of Amnesty International (AI Canada) decided to withdraw it from the November 6-9 Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver.
The film has screened at film festivals and theatres around the world, and has been the recipient of numerous awards. It provides graphic fly-on-the-wall footage of the April 2002 coup against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, and reveals details of the unconstitutional and undemocratic overthrow of an elected leader that were omitted by the international corporate media.
An official from the Venezuelan chapter of AI described the decision by the Canadian chapter as "censorship". "There is no other word to describe it, they just want to avoid controversy due to the pressure from opponents of the Venezuelan government", said the official.
According to festival organiser Don Wright, AI Canada decided to eliminate the film from the festival because its subject matter "does not address human rights issues". However, the film confirms much of what appeared in AI's 2003 annual report (<http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/Ven-summary-eng>), which criticised the coup plotters. Wright also claimed that screening of the film would further polarise the Venezuelan people and potentially create more violence within Venezuela.
AI Canada seems to have yielded to pressure from right-wing Venezuelan opposition groups, which launched a campaign to discredit the film.
On November 7, several Canadian groups organised an "information picket" outside the theatre where the film festival is taking place.
An online petition in support of the documentary is at <http://www.petitiononline.com/vendoc/petition.html>.
[From <http://www.VenezuelAnalysis.com>.]
From Green Left Weekly, November 12, 2003.
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