Make the economy scream ... in Venezuela

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For one more year, the blog had the opportunity to watch new, interesting documentaries at the 21st Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, held on 1-10 March.

Among them, the new documentary Make the Economy Scream by Aris Chatzistefanou, creator of impressively revealing documentaries such as Catastroika, Debtocracy, FASCISM INC and This is not a coup.

From the description:

A Greek journalist travels to Venezuela trying to figure out why the politicians of his crisis-plagued country debate on whether there is enough toilet paper in Caracas or not. Through several trips, which bring him from the shanty towns to the borders of Colombia and back to Europe, he discovers a reality that differs from the mainstream media narrative.

https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/movie-tdf/movie/12080

The creator travels not only in Venezuela, but also in other places, seeking answers about the real causes behind the problems that this Latin America country currently faces. The answers he gets reveal a reality far more complex than the simplistic description often presented by the Western mainstream media. A description which could be easily considered a propaganda of the worst type.

The documentary highlights the similarities with the 1973 Chilean coup as a result of the US economic war against Salvador Allende's administration. The US economic war against Venezuela has started many years ago when Hugo Chavez was elected for the first time and continued under Maduro's administration.

The documentary explores to what degree Venezuela is indeed a "Socialist" country. The conclusion is rather that it is not, and actually is quite far from being Socialist. Furthermore, some support that this exactly Venezuela's problem: that it is not Socialist enough.

Yet, most mainstream media, especially in the US, are continuously bombing heavily the mind of the average American with slogans of the type 'Socialism has failed in Venezuela'. We suspect that this anti-Socialist hysteria is related to the rise and increasing popularity of political figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

During the discussion with the creator, we asked him if he thinks that the mainstream media propaganda regarding Venezuela and other issues is still effective. He believes that the propaganda is not very effective among the Greek audience, but it is still quite effective in the US and elsewhere.