December 10, 2002, 2 a.m. ET
Please Distribute Widely

BREAKING NEWS

Dear Colleagues,

Alex Main reports from Caracas that masses of Venezuelans have peacefully surrounded all the commercial TV stations in the country to protest the dishonest simulating efforts by these media giants to provoke a coup d'etat:

 http://www.narconews.com/

The Narco Newsroom will not sleep tonight as immediate history turns in our América. Within the next hour, we will file a more detailed report.

We serve notice to the corporate "press freedom" organizations and other professional simulators that the vocal defense of the public's right to free speech and peaceful assembly is the foundation of all freedom of speech:
Enough already with the double standard. Peaceful demonstrations outside of TV stations are healthy for democracy and healthy for journalism.

We urge our readers to be vigilant in the coming hours and to combat the inevitable distorted reports with our own free speech and press.

What is taking place right now in the streets of every major Venezuelan city is a scenario championed by Narco News last Spring in our Second Mission Statement, "The Masses vs. the Media." Venezuela's people are the inventors in what has become a giant "immedia laboratory" as described in that report:

 http://www.narconews.com/themasses.html

For Authentic Democracy, like Authentic Journalism, to survive, an open and popular confrontation with the discourse - and power - of simulating news corporations, their owners, and their agents, is necessary. Tonight's unmasking of the true powers behind this week's attempted coup that posed falsely as a "strike" marks a key turning point in that struggle, our global struggle, and yours.

That battle is being fought tonight in Venezuela. By morning, the terms of the international debate over media will be born anew. Watch and participate with us in the rebirth of Authentic Democracy tonight and in the days to come, right here on Narco News, in solidarity with Civil Society on a street called América.

from somewhere in a country called América,

Al Giordano
Publisher
The Narco News Bulletin
 http://www.narconews.com/
 narconews@hotmail.com

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editor's note: as of 8 am east coast time CNN of america had NOT publicized this story.=MH