[Marxism] A Few Facts About the Honduran Military Coup—By Ken Silverstein (Harper's Magazine)

[Greg McDonald]

http://harpers.org/archive/2009/07/hbc-90005301

A Few Facts About the Honduran Military Coup

By Ken Silverstein

    1.

       There’s very little truth to anything you’ve read about the  
coup in American newspapers.
    2.

       President Manuel Zelaya is no radical. He approved a big  
minimum wage increase, which was desperately needed in a country  
where so many workers are poor, but he otherwise has been a very  
cautious, ineffectual reformer. The intensity of the reaction against  
him by the Honduran elite — as seen in the coup — reflects the feudal  
mentality of the traditional economic and political leadership, not  
Zelaya’s politics.
    3.

       Zelaya was not seeking to stay in power by unconstitutional  
means; even if his political reforms had succeeded, he would have  
been out of power within the year. The only side guilty of  
unconstitutional action is the coup plotters.
    4.

       Based on his response to events in Honduras, Barack Obama may  
as well be Ronald Reagan or George Bush when it comes to coups in  
Latin America. The Obama administration initially managed to muster  
“concern” about the coup, and has been acting in a cowardly fashion  
ever since. The only reason it has moved at all was that it was  
forced by the united front by Latin governments of left and right. If  
Zelaya is returned to power, it won’t be because of anything Obama did.
    5.

       The American media does not believe in democracy, as seen in  
the routine portrayal of a moral equivalence between the elected  
government and the coup plotters. The Washington Post is the worst of  
the pack. For its editorial page, “democracy” is strictly  
utilitarian; it’s OK when our side wins; otherwise, we will justify  
vote-rigging or military action by the other side, even while  
pretending we support constitutional order.

But what else would you expect from a newspaper that fired its only  
opinion writer who was right about Iraq and that has offered to sell  
its reporters to the highest bidder? Maybe the Honduran military is  
buying up advertising space in the Post in order to ensure favorable  
treatment from Fred Hiatt & Co.