Image: European Union is a Prison with no Free Speech
By: Tony Cartalucci
Source: Global Researchhttp://www.globalresearch.ca/eu-censors-alternative-news-in-bid-to-dominate-us-nato-war-narrative/5308461
Western
media quietly attempts to censor growing global opposition, begins with Iranian
media.
Iran’s Press TV reported in their article, “Press TV viewers slam EU move to ban Iran
channels as illegal, hypocritical,” that “Press TV viewers have
condemned as illegal and hypocritical the ban imposed by the European officials
on the broadcast of several Iranian satellite channels.” Nearly no mention is
made in the Western media regarding the blatant act of censorship – an act that
runs contra to all perceived notions of “Western values,” and an act that
directly undermines the narratives of the West supporting “freedom” and
“democracy” around the globe
Image: The West has spent billions trying to leverage
“freedom of speech” and “human rights” as a means to undermine, destabilize,
overthrow, and replace governments around the world, from the US-engineered
Eastern European “color-revolutions” after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the
latest US-engineered “Arab Spring,” and all across Southeast Asia. Now with the West
pursuing its own campaign of censorship, it is clear that these “values” were
merely selectively and opportunistically manipulated.
….
The news has been buried under reports regarding a new
round of sanctions passed by the EU which was recently awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize even while pursuing multiple wars across the globe, including
continuing operations in Libya, the subversion of Syria, and a
decade long occupation of Afghanistan which sees weekly civilian massacres by
NATO air strikes on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border. In fact, the
most recent NATO atrocity occurred not even a week ago, killing 3 children in
the Helmand province. Of course this was absent in Western headlines, but it
did make headlines in Iran’s Press TV, and
indicates a more realistic explanation to the EU’s decision to ban the Iranian
news service.
Clearly the
EU has no qualms over endangering civilian lives – its concerns over “human
rights” are a selectively applied value it uses against its enemies with
demonstrably no intention of holding itself to similar standards. Now, the EU
has applied this same selective application of supposed “Western values” to
“freedom of speech,” curtailing it when that speech endangers its own
interests, and pursuing “freedom” when it advances their agenda. And it is this
hypocrisy that the increasingly popular Press TV news service has been
illustrating, as a counterweight to the uniformly biased and compromised
Western press.
It was US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who
stated that censorship incurred “long-term economic and social
costs,” with oppression leading to “civil unrest and not security.” Many
Western politicians executing corporate-financier driven policy
have stated that a regime’s pursuit of censorship was a sign of weakness and
fear – an indicator that its opposition was gaining ground and that more overt,
visible, even desperate measures needed to be implemented. Censorship,
according to the West’s own narrative, is part of a self-defeating cycle where
legitimacy and the mandate to lead increasingly is fading.
With that
consideration in mind, the censorship of Iran’s Press TV should be a sign that
Iran’s efforts to balance global public perception skewed by the vast resources
of Wall Street and London are succeeding. Along with Russia Today (RT), Press
TV has provided nations who aspire to live in a mulipolar world where the
primacy of the nation-state prevails, a model to follow in combating the
unwarranted power and influence of Western media houses.
Above all,
it should be noted that a key contributing factor to Press TV and RT’s success
is the growing alternative media – media by the people and for the people –
whose legitimacy and reputation is measured in accuracy, consistency, and
objectivity, not slick graphics, expensive suits, and million-dollar studios.
The alternative media has provided content for growing national news agencies
seeking to challenge the West’s hegemony over information, and while national
news agencies ultimately pursue national agendas, the content they are drawing
on generally come from people simply seeking the truth.
The EU’s
act of censorship against Press TV is in turn a strike against the alternative
media. Instead of being seen as a setback, it should be seen as a success and a
signal to redouble our efforts as individuals to assert our own will and vision
for the future over that of the miniscule global elite who have so far gone
unchallenged in their designs and aspirations. The alternative media should be
only the first in a series of people-driven alternatives
systematically undermining and replacing existing corporate-financier dominated
paradigms.
Ways to watch Press TV in Europe
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/18/267357/how-to-watch-press-tv-in-europe/
You can find more by Tony Cartalucci here:
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/
NOTE:
Press TV is a voice that speaks for billions of people and
should be allowed to express the views of others on air or we descend into
another dark period when freedom of speech was not allowed in Europe.
Please sign the petition to maintain freedom of speech in
Europe
http://www.change.org/petitions/press-tv-viewers-save-press-tv-in-europe
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