La izquierda progresista en Mexico. Sábado, Sep 16 2006

Antes de continuar narrando aventuras, quiero dejarles este artículo del Periódico El Universal, en el que transcriben una carta de Cuahutemoc Cárdenas, sobre las razones por las que disiente de AMLO en respuesta a un artículo de Poniatowska, a quién yo acostumbraba respetar.

Yo voté por el PRD cuando Cárdenas fue candidato, y en esta ocasión por el PAN. No apoyando a Calderón, sino por considerarlo el menor de los males en comparación con lo insensato de López Obrador.

Les dejo la carta íntegra, que me parece muestra de manera más atinada de lo que yo mismo puedo escribir, la izquierda progresista en México.

Carta de Cárdenas a Poniatowska

6 Responses »

 

Esperanza Sábado, Jul 22 2006

Este es Myllyjärvi (se lee Muluyarvi), es el pequeño lago al que voy a nadar continuamente por que se encuentra a escazos 100 metros de mi casa. Finlandia ha logrado lo que muy pocos paises en el mundo, lograr mezclar una naturaleza pristina junto con avance tecnológico y urbano; detras de esos árboles hay una carretera, y 100 metros del otro lado de mi casa hay un complejo de supermercados y una autopista. Vivo a 5 kilometros del centro de Jyväskylä (Se pronuncia yubaskula). La gente que vive alrededor viene a nadar al lago, trae a sus perros, pesca hacen pic-nics y se llevan su basura al terminar, es un muy bonito lago muy tranquilo y el agua es helada.

Es muy fácil aislarse del mundo y de todos los males que le aquejan en estos bosques finlandeses. Todos los conflictos se sienten muy lejanos, como si fueran en Marte, uno escucha de ellos, pero no llegan hasta este pequeño lago en este alejado rincón en el norte del mundo.

El movimiento y el caos de la Ciudad de México en la que crecí aparecen en mi mente como combinaciones azarosas de luces, ruidos, anuncios publicitarios, murmullo de gente, autos, noticias de políticos y relojes. Desde que vivo en Finlandia, no uso reloj (casi nadie usa por cierto), y aun asi llego a tiempo a todas mis citas (como casi todos), el tiempo y la realidad transcurren diferente.

Sin embargo, la tranquilidad es una trampa. El mundo sigue, y aislarse en un pequeño bosque no es la solución, por más que suene de hecho increible. Uno no puede simplemente pretender ignorar lo que sucede en el mundo y esperar que le pase de largo, que solito se componga.

Desgraciadamente mis únicos contactos con lo que sucede en el exterior son los medios de comunicación y su distorsionada visión del mundo. Sobretodo los infames CNN y FoxNews nen cualquiera de sus miles de rostros; se salva ligeramente más BBC pero no demasiado. En ellos, la ventana al mundo exterior está plagada de imágenes de soldados muertos, que parecen ser más valiosos que los cientos de miles de civiles, tambien muertos, en alguna ciudad o algún desierto en medio oriente. Hasta mí llegan palabras repetidas sin cesar como políticos corruptos, explosiones, atentados y el particularmente incongruente término “terrorista”. Los gringos aprendieron bien, cualquiera puede caber en ese término si no esta de mi parte, y nadie se puede identificar positivamente con ellos, a diferencia del concepto “comunista”, que suena a que le importa la comunidad”. Inclusive los programas pacíficos están plagados de desigualdades dónde celebridades que gastan fortunas en fiestas, mansiones y en pintar sus autos, y son tratados como dioses encarnados.

A veces dan ganas de quedarse en el bosque, en los lagos, a veces pareciera que no hay solución. Pero esto me lleva al título del post: Esperanza.

El mundo tiene gente que incansablemente trabaja todos los días para construir una sociedad mejor, más organizada, más pacífica y más justa, simplemente no aparecen en las noticias. Todos los días heroes anónimos dedican su vida a mejorar y proteger este planeta, su diversidad cultural, su diversidad ecológica y a ayudar a solucionar el sufrimiento: 1. NGOs como Cruz Roja Internacional, Aministia Internacional, Fair Trade Foundation, 2. Instituciones Humanitarias como los diversos programas de la ONU, 3. –Algunas– organizaciones solventadas por organizaciones religiosas entre muchos, muchos otros.

Cuando fui paramédico voluntario en la Cruz Roja, me percaté de muchisimas cosas sobre lo que nos hace ser humanos, y conocí a muchisima gente que me enseñó que la respuesta no está en ignorar los problemas y refugiarse en la rutina, el entorno, o en los propios problemas, actuar SI hace la diferencia.

Uno no tiene tampoco que dedicar toda su vida a una organización como tal, para propiciar un efecto mariposa, hacer trabajo voluntario, donar por una causa, limpiar la basura en nuestro lago favorito, ayudar comprando productos locales y regionales o no regatear por la artesanía en algún pueblo, son solo algunas cosas con las que de manera responsable podamos contribuir.

Espero haber hecho mi parte en este blog, y propiciar que alguna persona se de cuenta de que hay esperanza, y la solución está de hecho, en sus propias manos.

Apoyar comprando responsablemente,
no de grandes megacorporaciones,
sino de productores locales

7 Responses »

 

Esperanza Viernes, Jul 21 2006

Este es Myllyjärvi (se lee Muluyarvi), es el pequeño lago al que voy a nadar continuamente por que se encuentra a escazos 100 metros de mi casa. Finlandia ha logrado lo que muy pocos paises en el mundo, lograr mezclar una naturaleza pristina junto con avance tecnológico y urbano; detras de esos árboles hay una carretera, y 100 metros del otro lado de mi casa hay un complejo de supermercados y una autopista. Vivo a 5 kilometros del centro de Jyväskylä (Se pronuncia yubaskula). La gente que vive alrededor viene a nadar al lago, trae a sus perros, pesca hacen pic-nics y se llevan su basura al terminar, es un muy bonito lago muy tranquilo y el agua es helada.

Es muy fácil aislarse del mundo y de todos los males que le aquejan en estos bosques finlandeses. Todos los conflictos se sienten muy lejanos, como si fueran en Marte, uno escucha de ellos, pero no llegan hasta este pequeño lago en este alejado rincón en el norte del mundo.

El movimiento y el caos de la Ciudad de México en la que crecí aparecen en mi mente como combinaciones azarosas de luces, ruidos, anuncios publicitarios, murmullo de gente, autos, noticias de políticos y relojes. Desde que vivo en Finlandia, no uso reloj (casi nadie usa por cierto), y aun asi llego a tiempo a todas mis citas (como casi todos), el tiempo y la realidad transcurren diferente.

Sin embargo, la tranquilidad es una trampa. El mundo sigue, y aislarse en un pequeño bosque no es la solución, por más que suene de hecho increible. Uno no puede simplemente pretender ignorar lo que sucede en el mundo y esperar que le pase de largo, que solito se componga.

Desgraciadamente mis únicos contactos con lo que sucede en el exterior son los medios de comunicación y su distorsionada visión del mundo. Sobretodo los infames CNN y FoxNews nen cualquiera de sus miles de rostros; se salva ligeramente más BBC pero no demasiado. En ellos, la ventana al mundo exterior está plagada de imágenes de soldados muertos, que parecen ser más valiosos que los cientos de miles de civiles, tambien muertos, en alguna ciudad o algún desierto en medio oriente. Hasta mí llegan palabras repetidas sin cesar como políticos corruptos, explosiones, atentados y el particularmente incongruente término “terrorista”. Los gringos aprendieron bien, cualquiera puede caber en ese término si no esta de mi parte, y nadie se puede identificar positivamente con ellos, a diferencia del concepto “comunista”, que suena a que le importa la comunidad”. Inclusive los programas pacíficos están plagados de desigualdades dónde celebridades que gastan fortunas en fiestas, mansiones y en pintar sus autos, y son tratados como dioses encarnados.

A veces dan ganas de quedarse en el bosque, en los lagos, a veces pareciera que no hay solución. Pero esto me lleva al título del post: Esperanza.

El mundo tiene gente que incansablemente trabaja todos los días para construir una sociedad mejor, más organizada, más pacífica y más justa, simplemente no aparecen en las noticias. Todos los días heroes anónimos dedican su vida a mejorar y proteger este planeta, su diversidad cultural, su diversidad ecológica y a ayudar a solucionar el sufrimiento: 1. NGOs como Cruz Roja Internacional, Aministia Internacional, Fair Trade Foundation, 2. Instituciones Humanitarias como los diversos programas de la ONU, 3. –Algunas– organizaciones solventadas por organizaciones religiosas entre muchos, muchos otros.

Cuando fui paramédico voluntario en la Cruz Roja, me percaté de muchisimas cosas sobre lo que nos hace ser humanos, y conocí a muchisima gente que me enseñó que la respuesta no está en ignorar los problemas y refugiarse en la rutina, el entorno, o en los propios problemas, actuar SI hace la diferencia.

Uno no tiene tampoco que dedicar toda su vida a una organización como tal, para propiciar un efecto mariposa, hacer trabajo voluntario, donar por una causa, limpiar la basura en nuestro lago favorito, ayudar comprando productos locales y regionales o no regatear por la artesanía en algún pueblo, son solo algunas cosas con las que de manera responsable podamos contribuir.

Espero haber hecho mi parte en este blog, y propiciar que alguna persona se de cuenta de que hay esperanza, y la solución está de hecho, en sus propias manos.

Apoyar comprando responsablemente,
no de grandes megacorporaciones,
sino de productores locales

7 Responses »

 

Elecciones en México 2006… Mi postura Viernes, Jul 14 2006

Aun viviendo en Finlandia, he seguido con detenimiento las noticias y reacciones acerca de las elecciones en México.
He leido los foros en Internet, en especial en éste video dónde partidarios de ambos partidos actuan como si las elecciones fueran un simple partido de futbol, actuan ambos bandos de una manera particularmente irresponsable, sin considerar que lo que está en juego es mucho más que un color amarillo o azul, sino el verde, blanco y rojo.

Un comentario elitista y provocador como este:

silencio NACO, estas ardido porque tu dios PEJE no gano jajajajaja me cago de risa de ti INDIO y de los demas NACOS e INDIOS que como tu votaron por el PEJE. ARDIDOS!!!!
Diego, 22 años, panista opinando en Youtube (dmiramon)

Es respondido por otro comentario como este…

uy cabron, se nota ke eres ignorante, y un fresota hijo de papi, ojala te quedes pobre en este sexenio para ke veaz, como gano calderon, me ire a vivir a amsterdam, este pais se esta llendo a la mierda por gente como tu
MoonShinobi, 22 años, PRDista, opinando en Youtube

Para iniciar debo de admitir que lo que me da una profunda tristeza es la rapidez con la que se puede destruir la confianza en las instituciones que tanto esfuerzo, y tantos años tomaron para ser construidas. AMLO está en todo su derecho de impugnar la elección, eso está previsto por la ley, y no es una muestra de debilidad del sistema, sino por el contrario de certeza jurídica y gobernabilidad. Sucedió en US, dónde Bush ganó en Florida por 537 votos de diferencia, y en las últimas elecciones en Alemania; sin embargo, estas impugnaciones se deben de realizar conforme a derecho, por la vía institucional, no con movimientos en las calles.

Es preocupante que en el estilo que tanto le ha caracterizado desde que realizaba cierres de pozos petroleros en Tabasco, realiza movilizaciones masivas y se declara presidente él mismo. Ha destrozado sin ningún miramiento la confianza en las instituciones, principalmente el IFE que en algún momento llegó a tener más credibilidad que la Iglesia. Es capaz de arremeter inclusive contra su propio partido sin ninguna prueba (Diario Monitor 12-Jul-2006)

El IFE ha ratificado la validez de su sistema, han presentado documentación que indica que el margen de confiabilidad comparado con la elección del 2000: El PREP, los Conteos Rápidos, y los Conteos Distritales son confiables (pueden visitar el documento en PDF en este link, y la nota del Universal) más allá de los algoritmos realizados en la cocina que presentan en El sendero del Peje. AMLO puede impugnar casos específicos dónde hayan habido irregularidades, en casillas específicas, o en distritos específicos, pero no es justificable en ningún sentido sostener que “Las Elecciones son un cochinero”, y acusar a todos, hasta a las empresas de usar spots “subliminales” en su contra (El Universal 14-Julio-2006).

La imagen internacional de México, se ve terriblemente dañada, AMLO podría realizar la misma impugnación por la vía institucional, sin necesidad de generar la mala atención que actualmente ofrecemos.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador may have lost the vote counting after the 2 July presidential election in Mexico. But he is still the big winner on the streets of the capital city BBC News

Sin embargo, en lo personal, lo que más me preocupan no son los arrebatos de AMLO, o inclusive las peleas entre los partidos, lo que más coraje me da es el uso de movilizaciones. Yo soy un convencido del uso de las garantías individuales para poder manifestarse, pero en este caso, es terriblemente irresponsable por parte de los líderes partidistas mover a tanta gente en las calles, aunque sea de manera pacífica. No hace falta más que un muerto en esas manifestaciones para que la gente se salga de control, nadie puede ser tan ingenuo como para pensar en que se puede subir y enardecer a la gente y después decirles, ahora vayanse a sus casas. Los sindicatos ya no piden un recuento, sino que se reconozca, por el medio que sea, la victoria de su candidato.

Diversas organizaciones sindicales y campesinas anunciaron que realizarán movilizaciones en todo el país y llegarán a la resistencia civil si no se reconoce el triunfo del candidato presidencial de la coalición Por el Bien de Todos, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, en las pasadas elecciones del 2 de julio. (El Universal 14-Julio-2006)

A este paso, pronto no pedirán únicamente el recuento de votos, sino como El barón menciona en su cuento acerca de una hipotética “Huelga de Fe

Una multitud de feligreses apostados afuera pidiendo el inmediato cese de acciones del Padre Memo, junto con un pliego petitorio en el que se llegó a considerar pedir hostias de sabores y la adición a los textos sagrados de tres nuevos sacramentos que no sobrevivieron a la destrucción de dicho pliego.
El Barón detrás del espejo, Round 4

En conclusión, espero sinceramente que este hecho solo se convierta en una anecdota más y que en realidad la brecha entre los amarillos y azules no crezca más. El país dividido entre clases sociales, gracias a escuelas privadas como el ITESM, (del que soy graduado), dónde cobran como colegiatura más de 3 salarios mínimos al mes, y del uso extensivo de ghettos de ambos tipos… colonias vardeadas dónde no se entra si no se es de sangre azul, y colonias perdidas dónde el agua potable es un lujo.

Espero sinceramente que esta situación nos haga darnos cuenta de las injusticias sociales, y que estas se resuelvan bajo un marco de legalidad, de confianza en instituciones, y no se muestras prepotentes del estilo. “Yo la tengo más grande por que muevo a más gente que tu en las calles”. Por un México trabajando unido.

16 Responses »

 

Elecciones en México 2006… Mi postura Viernes, Jul 14 2006

Aun viviendo en Finlandia, he seguido con detenimiento las noticias y reacciones acerca de las elecciones en México.
He leido los foros en Internet, en especial en éste video dónde partidarios de ambos partidos actuan como si las elecciones fueran un simple partido de futbol, actuan ambos bandos de una manera particularmente irresponsable, sin considerar que lo que está en juego es mucho más que un color amarillo o azul, sino el verde, blanco y rojo.

Un comentario elitista y provocador como este:

silencio NACO, estas ardido porque tu dios PEJE no gano jajajajaja me cago de risa de ti INDIO y de los demas NACOS e INDIOS que como tu votaron por el PEJE. ARDIDOS!!!!
Diego, 22 años, panista opinando en Youtube (dmiramon)

Es respondido por otro comentario como este…

uy cabron, se nota ke eres ignorante, y un fresota hijo de papi, ojala te quedes pobre en este sexenio para ke veaz, como gano calderon, me ire a vivir a amsterdam, este pais se esta llendo a la mierda por gente como tu
MoonShinobi, 22 años, PRDista, opinando en Youtube

Para iniciar debo de admitir que lo que me da una profunda tristeza es la rapidez con la que se puede destruir la confianza en las instituciones que tanto esfuerzo, y tantos años tomaron para ser construidas. AMLO está en todo su derecho de impugnar la elección, eso está previsto por la ley, y no es una muestra de debilidad del sistema, sino por el contrario de certeza jurídica y gobernabilidad. Sucedió en US, dónde Bush ganó en Florida por 537 votos de diferencia, y en las últimas elecciones en Alemania; sin embargo, estas impugnaciones se deben de realizar conforme a derecho, por la vía institucional, no con movimientos en las calles.

Es preocupante que en el estilo que tanto le ha caracterizado desde que realizaba cierres de pozos petroleros en Tabasco, realiza movilizaciones masivas y se declara presidente él mismo. Ha destrozado sin ningún miramiento la confianza en las instituciones, principalmente el IFE que en algún momento llegó a tener más credibilidad que la Iglesia. Es capaz de arremeter inclusive contra su propio partido sin ninguna prueba (Diario Monitor 12-Jul-2006)

El IFE ha ratificado la validez de su sistema, han presentado documentación que indica que el margen de confiabilidad comparado con la elección del 2000: El PREP, los Conteos Rápidos, y los Conteos Distritales son confiables (pueden visitar el documento en PDF en este link, y la nota del Universal) más allá de los algoritmos realizados en la cocina que presentan en El sendero del Peje. AMLO puede impugnar casos específicos dónde hayan habido irregularidades, en casillas específicas, o en distritos específicos, pero no es justificable en ningún sentido sostener que “Las Elecciones son un cochinero”, y acusar a todos, hasta a las empresas de usar spots “subliminales” en su contra (El Universal 14-Julio-2006).

La imagen internacional de México, se ve terriblemente dañada, AMLO podría realizar la misma impugnación por la vía institucional, sin necesidad de generar la mala atención que actualmente ofrecemos.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador may have lost the vote counting after the 2 July presidential election in Mexico. But he is still the big winner on the streets of the capital city BBC News

Sin embargo, en lo personal, lo que más me preocupan no son los arrebatos de AMLO, o inclusive las peleas entre los partidos, lo que más coraje me da es el uso de movilizaciones. Yo soy un convencido del uso de las garantías individuales para poder manifestarse, pero en este caso, es terriblemente irresponsable por parte de los líderes partidistas mover a tanta gente en las calles, aunque sea de manera pacífica. No hace falta más que un muerto en esas manifestaciones para que la gente se salga de control, nadie puede ser tan ingenuo como para pensar en que se puede subir y enardecer a la gente y después decirles, ahora vayanse a sus casas. Los sindicatos ya no piden un recuento, sino que se reconozca, por el medio que sea, la victoria de su candidato.

Diversas organizaciones sindicales y campesinas anunciaron que realizarán movilizaciones en todo el país y llegarán a la resistencia civil si no se reconoce el triunfo del candidato presidencial de la coalición Por el Bien de Todos, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, en las pasadas elecciones del 2 de julio. (El Universal 14-Julio-2006)

A este paso, pronto no pedirán únicamente el recuento de votos, sino como El barón menciona en su cuento acerca de una hipotética “Huelga de Fe

Una multitud de feligreses apostados afuera pidiendo el inmediato cese de acciones del Padre Memo, junto con un pliego petitorio en el que se llegó a considerar pedir hostias de sabores y la adición a los textos sagrados de tres nuevos sacramentos que no sobrevivieron a la destrucción de dicho pliego.
El Barón detrás del espejo, Round 4

En conclusión, espero sinceramente que este hecho solo se convierta en una anecdota más y que en realidad la brecha entre los amarillos y azules no crezca más. El país dividido entre clases sociales, gracias a escuelas privadas como el ITESM, (del que soy graduado), dónde cobran como colegiatura más de 3 salarios mínimos al mes, y del uso extensivo de ghettos de ambos tipos… colonias vardeadas dónde no se entra si no se es de sangre azul, y colonias perdidas dónde el agua potable es un lujo.

Espero sinceramente que esta situación nos haga darnos cuenta de las injusticias sociales, y que estas se resuelvan bajo un marco de legalidad, de confianza en instituciones, y no se muestras prepotentes del estilo. “Yo la tengo más grande por que muevo a más gente que tu en las calles”. Por un México trabajando unido.

16 Responses »

 

Discusion con el "Estadounidense" parte 1 (Inicio del tema y su correo inicial) Jueves, Feb 16 2006

*******
Por petición popular, a continuación posteo la discusión con el estadounidense acerca de la situación de los cubanos en el hotel Sheraton, que después se transforma en un argumento sobre la censura en los medios de información estadounidenses… Es una línea de 4 posts bastante largos, pero si tienen tiempo de leerlos se los recomiendo. sobretodo al final se ponen muy interesantes.

Comienza con el envio de las noticias a la lista de correos de mi maestría en comunicación intercultural, el asunto no es solo político, sino que discutimos su trascendencia en mi campo de estudio. Los primeros 2 correos no son mu interesantes ya que son muy locales, pero son necesarios para entender el contexto de la conversación.

el post 4 lo recomiendo ampliamente pues me tomo un par de horas de insomnio armarlo y es un argumento sobre censura en los medios estadounidenses.

Si van a dejar algun comentario sobre el tema déjenlo en el post 1 que es este, de hecho agradecería mucho su participación.

*******

Hei! all

I’m sending to you a document with the timeline of the situation when an official delegation of cuba was meeting with US business men, and were expelled (the cubans of course) from the Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City, because of a direct order from Washington to the headquarters of the hotel in Phoenix.

It is very interesting to see, how external and historical elements influence intercultural communication… at the end, the exit of the mexican government is ver clever. enjoy the reading.

Im sending this because it was used as example in class, and I think is good to share this kind of information.

Unfortunately is in spanish, and is too long to translate; but is a very good excuse to learn spanish!

Carlos

Dear Carlos,

The 1996 Helms-Burton law prohibits Americans from conducting business with either Cuban businesses or with the Cuban government either from within U.S. borders or from outside U.S. borders. I’m sure the U.S. business “men,” as you describe them (are they in fact males or business “people,” there seems to be a stereotype in action here), were well aware of this law and were attempting to skirt it even if the meeting was exploratory in nature. Many American tourists go around the present travel ban by entering Cuba from another country, and asking the Cubans not to stamp their visas : ) Even so this is risky. Complicating the present matter is that the hotel that hosted the meeting is American owned, in effect placing themselves into or finding themselves in the morass. Whilst the meeting was successfully relocated to another venue, I am sure the U.S. businesspeople involved will have to explain their activities to the American government. And now the respective parties have the opportunity to sort out the matter from their own legal perspectives.

Any attempt to persuade the U.S. government to lighten its stance on the present Cuban government will first have to go through the millions of Hispanic people in the U.S., and particularly foremost through the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens that comprise the post-1950s Cuban exiles and their now extended families. These are the citizens that are pressuring the U.S. government to maintain a strong anti-Cuban government stance; one which should be pointed out is not an anti-Cuban people stance. Sadly, people are always at the tail end of these matters. These Cuban-Americans have their own deeply personal voices and experiences that must be heard in the discussion of this political matter, and I detect here that you ignore this important historical context even though you point out the importance of “external and historical elements.”

Speaking of political matters, I fail to see how this incident, which is clearly a political matter, has much to offer a classroom in intercultural communication. While there were likely some interesting critical incidents at hand during the attempted meeting, I can find no account of them in the press from a Google search. All of the stories I have found discuss the matter in purely political contexts. As I personally view our profession, interculturalists are professionals that attempt to bridge cultures by facilitating communication between individuals. Suggesting that we (those in the ICIR list) should assume “of course” that it would be the Cubans that would be expelled from the premises, or that one side of the dispute is “clever,” or that we should “enjoy” reading about the situation being discussed has the appearance of politicizing the matter by injecting your own political views into the discussion. Perhaps I am mistaken about my perceptions of your comments, but I believe that ordinarily it should not be our objective to openly politicize a communication setting, any more than a translator would inject their own thoughts while translating for a client. Even so, separating our own political views from our work is particularly challenging but remains an important aspect of our own intercultural awareness and sensitivity in professional contexts.

Regards,

6 Responses »

 

Discusion con el "Estadounidense" parte 2 (mi respuesta) Jueves, Feb 16 2006

Dear ???????,

You were not in class, so you do not understand the context in witch it was mentioned, so of course I do not wonder why is difficult to see the connection…

We were in the middle of a discussion in which the main idea was to observe that there are some situations where it is impossible to conduct effective communication no matter how competent you can be, some situations simply are related to other phenomena, as power issues or direct orders. (We were talking also about the Mohammed cartoons in Denmark.)

The Cuban representation was expelled from the Sheraton Hotel in the middle of a meeting with Valero Energy Corporation, and members of the Department of the Economic Development of Louisiana and the Corpus Christi port in Texas.

The US can impose any law to their citizens if it is approved by the US congress, but it cannot be enforced outside their borders without an international treaty, in this case it came into a conflict with Mexican law against any kind of discrimination and the impossibility to confiscate
assets from particulars in Mexico without a federal order, as they confiscated the money from the representation.

The clever part of the history is that in order to avoid any diplomatic conflict, the Mexican government avoided any kind of confrontation with the US from this issue, and signaled as a conflict between individuals, but, to indirectly enforce the fact that in Mexico there will be no discrimination and asset confiscation based on nationality within the borders of the country, they sent all kind of inspectors from the municipality to the hotel, to find out if they are actually operating legally. They found out that the hotel has major problems with licenses, fire control systems and was using more land space than the concession allowed. So, it will be closed for a while.

I do not wonder also that you cannot find it in English speaking media, as the issue is mainly domestic and fairly non transcendent as the Mexican government dismissed it as a conflict between individuals, and (yes I will say it) there is major censorship in US media on this kind of controversial issues. That’s why I sent the news attached as a document.

You say “I detect here that you ignore this important historical context even though you point out the importance of “external and historical elements.”" ( I wonder if you are able to detect that from a 4 lines email.) Racism exists, discrimination exists, negative stereotyping exists, and of course the Cubans were expelled, and not the US citizens who were those who actually broke their own law because of historical elements. Let’s not forget the Florida situation in the Bush – Gore elections. It’s a sad reality, but is reality.

You say: “I believe that ordinarily it should not be our objective to openly politicize a communication setting, any more than a translator would inject their own thoughts while translating for a client.” I frankly differ in your opinion that an interculturalist is the same as a translator, and I fail to see why it is so important to separate politics from communication discourse analysis. If you want to professionally study world of values is a personal choice, but in my case I try to contextualize whenever possible, studying phenomena including the historical and social contexts. I may be wrong, but if the IC field only explores communication as an abstract being without including socio-economical factors and avoiding the political situation from an objective standpoint where the phenomena is taking place, then I think that the scientific process is not completed.

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Discusion con el "Estadounidense" parte 3 (su argumento) Jueves, Feb 16 2006

Hei Carlos,

Thanks for the reply and your explanations. I would have enjoyed participating in the class.

In my own teaching practice I employ both etic and emic perspectives. I present the weaknesses and strengths of both and I don’t promote one over the other. I use literature, film and ethnographic studies as my preferred immersive tools. I am not a values orientations junkie and I advocate combining the emic and etic perspectives in research. Once a year I have been asked to teach specifically about values orientations in our ICIR program. In my MA thesis I used qualitative methods to conduct a critical review of an etic theorist. I’m not sure where you are coming from regarding your comments about values studies but it seems you don’t know my work very well.

I thought that I detected some argumentation and cheerleading against the U.S. in your ICIR post. It wouldn’t bother me in a political science class and of course you are free to say whatever you want. But I am uncomfortable about taking sides in an IC class. I have no intent in my reply to respond directly to your accusations. And telling me that people in the United States are unable to obtain objective news information due to censorship is precisely what I was suggesting we should avoid in an IC classroom setting. There is no link to science in making such a provocation and I see that you chose to do so off the ICIR info list. The ICIR list is not used as a pulpit for argumentation. This list includes many alumni of the program from the last ten years or so. Your very broad declaration of censorship in the U.S. is an unsubstantiated and quite subjective opinion that could not easily be proven. It would not be surprising, however, if the news was indeed different across cultures since most everything is.

One does not have to look far in U.S. news sourcing to find just about any slant or bias imaginable. In this sense our press is “free” to say what it wants, and this often reflects the views of editors. The U.S. government, through its myriad spokespeople, does decide what to say and what not to say officially. The Mexican government does the same based on its own national interests. But this is true of every sort of large organization, not just governments. I doubt that you could prove direct U.S. government censorship of the media any more than I could prove Mexican government censorship.

Based on my years in the newspaper business, my own subjective assessment would be that there are a range of editorial slants in U.S. news reporting, comprising the full range of liberal, centrist and conservative perspectives. Even so, the U.S. press is mostly viewed as liberal and also skeptical of governments both at home and abroad. Readers are quite aware of editorial leanings and most do not rely on a single news source. Many Americans also use news sources located outside U.S. borders. Embedded reporters in war theaters are subject to government censorship, but most journalists in conflict theaters act and report independently. Government censorship is not the same as editorial slant, and is an increasingly difficult thing to conduct in the Internet age. Western media companies are dealing with this same issue now in China. There have been occasions where the U.S. government has asked news organizations at home to curtail or delay reporting events in which elements of the story have national security consequences. In these cases the news organizations in the end have to make a decision about what to do or not do.

I myself have an emerging but yet incomplete opinion about this hotel incident. I would not care to rush to judgement and remain open to developments. But trying to convince one another in IC class about which side is right or wrong does not further a solution in an IC classroom and may make things decidedly uncomfortable for participants. You said that the topics were discussed in class in order to demonstrate how impossible things can be, and this hotel incident does seem to be an impossible or at least extremely difficult situation to mediate. If I am wrong about my perceptions of cheerleading in your post then I must apologize. It did seem to me that you had put your foot in your mouth. If you did, then join the club. I’ve done so many times myself and I keep doing it.

These sorts of issues are, as you well point out, extremely interesting and bound in external and historical contexts, keeping in mind that recording and interpreting history are also culturally bound processes. Discussing these issues is important to me but taking critical stands either for or against specific cultures is not something I would feel comfortable doing in an IC class, either as a teacher or a student. I wonder if anyone spoke out against Islamic cultures in class regarding the Islam cartoon matter? We had a similar classroom dilemma in September 2001. How did the discussion go regarding the cartoons?

I do think you are incorrect about one particular aspect of this hotel incident-

“The US can impose any law to their citizens if it is approved by the US congress, but it cannot be enforced outside their borders without an international treaty, in this case it came into a conflict with Mexican law against any kind of discrimination and the impossibility to confiscate assets from particulars in Mexico without a federal order, as they confiscated the money from the representation.”

Although you are correct that the U.S. cannot physically enter Mexico to assert the the Helms-Burton law, those Americans and the American owners of the hotel are still bound by the law. The law is quite clear whether one likes the law or not (I do not). Your assertion seems to be that the U.S. government entered Mexican borders to enforce its laws. It appears that the “enforcement” in this matter was done over the telephone. I cannot arrest anyone over the telephone. I am mystified how the meeting ever came about, and I’m sure this is being explored in the background now. The U.S. government appears to have informed those involved, perhaps as the government became aware of it, and it seems to have been the hotel owners/managers that decided it was best to comply or face the consequences in the States. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. By the way, you and I are bound both by Finnish law and by our respective home laws and by mutually agreed treaties between Finland, the EU and our respective countries. I hope you are up on your Finnish and EU laws : ) If you decide to stay in Finland life gets a bit more complicated for you.

Ironically, it seems that your opponents in this matter are Cuban-Americans, the people that are putting most of the pressure on the U.S. government. The Hispanic population in the U.S. has exploded in the last two decades and now has significant political influence. I spent much of my time in 90s helping Hispanics acculturate in the U.S., and met very few people that were supportive of Castro’s government.

Why would the Mexican government want to handle the hotel incident indirectly, by conducting a site inspection and then producing defects in order to close the hotel? While this might seem clever in one sense, it leaves the moral issues unattended. I think the question regarding discrimination is worth pursuing, and apparently now will be limited to accusations. If there was money confiscated from the Cuban representatives by the hotel this would seem to be difficult to justify. If this did happen, was the money returned? On what basis would it be kept? I think it was good that the meeting was relocated. Some aspects of this situation seem to fit with a set up. If the meeting were first located properly then this would not have happened. I wonder who chose to locate the meeting at an American owned hotel, and wether such a move was politically motivated and designed to create a public crisis. And along these lines, I wonder how the U.S. government found out about it, and whether they were tipped off by someone with political motivations. The situation is ripe for all kinds of unpleasant yet interesting speculations.

As for me, I look forward to visiting Cuba one day. A Finnish friend and I have discussed it but I would have to skirt the ban unless I could arrange some sort of academic premise and obtain a permit. I spent last February in Ecuador, where the idea of a side trip to Cuba came up but the idea was lost in existing plans. At the same time I realize there are two sides to the Cuba question, and that there are tens of thousands of patriotic Cubans who are not welcome in Cuba by the present government.

Being over fifty, I feel that the cold war contexts that were centered on Cuba are now lost on most everyone. As you point out about historical contexts, how could one approach the current Cuban question without these contexts? The cold war was a tough period to grow up in. My father was on alert constantly as a fighter pilot, and I recall a pervasive fear that at any time the bombs would start falling. “Duck and cover” was the slogan for us kids at school. My family was literally between the wall and the sword during the Cuban missile crisis whilst my father was deployed. And to think that all of that came out of the embers of World War II, a war that we were most reluctant to become involved in. I admit that I have no idea what Mexico did during the two so-called world wars.

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Discusion con el "Estadounidense" parte 4 (mi última respuesta) Jueves, Feb 16 2006

Dear ????????,

Thank you for your extensive mail to explain your point of view. I am sorry for taking so long to reply, but the courses and book exams are getting tougher; I’ll use this time that I have insomnia to develop more the idea, as I do not want to think right now about university projects.

I do not try to make any provocations as you state, as I never said that ??????? was the one making or allowing censorship in US media. Criticism to ones home country should not be taken as a personal offense; some things are ok and others need to be corrected. How can I be offended if someone says that the Mexican bureaucracy is permeated by corruption if it is true?

I think that the topics are getting a little bit confusing, when a marginal comment in my email about media censorship got three paragraphs of argumentation as an answer. I believe that this discussion has actually 3 different topics:

i. The relevance of politics in the interculturalist work

ii. The nature of the incident of the Cuban delegation and

iii. The censorship argument in US media.

i. The relevance of politics in the interculturalist work: As I do not see any counter argument in your response about the relevance of politics in the interculturalist work, except perhaps when the part which I agree of being careful in the way how are introduced sensitive topics, I assume that this topic ended and you agree that it is very relevant not to be left outside.

__________________________________________________________

ii. The nature of the incident of the Cuban delegation: I want to state that I am not defending the Cubans, so I do not have any opponents among the Cuban-american population; they are free to decide their own form of government as they wish, and they are more than capable of defending themselves. But there are two arguments that I am supporting:

a. The historical elements that influence the communication and policies in US are more deeper and two sided than the mere opposition of Cuban Americans, and

b. The interference of an US Law in Mexican soil that led to an illegal action.

a. In the first point, I am surprised when you trace back the origin of the conflict to the Missile crisis in the cold war, this is very far from accurate. The conflict begins with the Spanish-US war, which the US won and gave military privileges to the US over the island, and led to US pointed dictators in Cuba, such as the General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar who among other things, sold half of the touristic places and basic infrastructure to US American corporations, and kept their own citizens without access to them; for example, Cubans had restricted access to beaches where the hotels were situated to avoid disturbing tourists, casinos and prostitution were allowed. Popular discontent led to the successful revolution of Castro, but I will not go as far as to say that now they are better, anyhow he nationalized foreign assets (mostly from US) which led of course to threats of invasion. The threats were materialized in the form of a failed CIA plot that was the invasion of Bay of Pigs, where the Cubans repelled the attack in an actual battle. Immediately Castro turned to the Soviet Union for protection, as the enemy of my enemy is my ally, and the direct consequence was the missile crisis, so I want to clarify then that the US actually attacked Cuba before the missile crisis. That is the beginning of the economic blockade that persists now and just fuels anti US feelings among Cuban citizens.

b. About the Law problem in point b, you say that people are actually subject to law from many governments, the original government and the host country, this is true to a certain extent when specific treaties are signed and ratified by both congresses, but the host local law prevail if not previous agreement because of the sovereignty attribute of the state and, I wonder how would you disagree if this is the very basic foundation of the US constitution?. I think that the best way to argue about that is illustrating the case: If in country X slavery is allowed and encouraged, and a slave goes to the US where it is not allowed, just because he arrives to the US then he becomes a free man, no matter what country X says. Correct me if I am wrong, it is the basic premise of the US civil war?

If in Mexico discrimination is not allowed, and particulars cannot hold private money without a federal order, it does not matter if Bush himself calls the manager of the hotel in Mexico City, it is against the Mexican Law and it is prohibited without an international treaty, which is not the case.

__________________________________________________________

iii. About the censorship in US media. In this I have three basic arguments to support what is not an opinion, but what I consider a fact

a. As you must know if you worked many years in a newspaper, the majority of the media (TV broadcasters, local stations, newspapers, magazines, and books) in the US belongs to 5 players Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom, and the major news broadcasters belong to 3 huge corporations: Time Warner, News Corporation, and Viacom

b. The existence of “Interlocking boards of directors” which influences certain directions in editorial lines. Media corporations share members of the board of directors with a variety of other large corporations, including banks, investment companies, oil companies, health care and pharmaceutical and technology companies.

c. Historical evidence of this phenomena: During the buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, all 175 Murdoch-owned newspapers worldwide editorialized in favour of the war. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Keith_Murdoch) and (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,897015,00.html)

__________________________________________________________

a.

As fewer players control the broadcasting scenario, it is easier to manipulate information. Global conglomerates can at times have a progressive impact on culture, especially when they enter nations that had been tightly controlled by corrupt crony media systems (as in much of Latin America) or nations that had significant state censorship over media (as in parts of Asia). The global commercial-media system is radical in that it will respect no tradition or custom, on balance, if it stands in the way of profits. But ultimately it is politically conservative, because the media giants are significant beneficiaries of the current social structure around the world, and any upheaval in property or social relations–particularly to the extent that it reduces the power of business–is not in their interest. It is useful to remind ourselves that free expression is threatened not just blatantly by authoritarian governments and all those in the private sector who fear public exposure, but also more subtly by the handful of global media conglomerates that have reduced meaningful diversity of expression in much of the globe.

To sustain that this is happening I am listing the ownership of each major player in the US media, the whole list can be seen http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

*********News Corporation

K. Rupert Murdoch
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

From Forbes.com: Mr. Murdoch has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since December 22, 2003 and has been Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of News Corporation since November 2004. Mr. Murdoch served as Chairman of the Board of TNCL from 1991 until November 2004 and Executive Director and Chief Executive from 1979 until November 2004. He has been a Director of News Limited, News Corporation’s principal subsidiary in Australia, since 1953, a Director of News International Limited, News Corporation’s principal subsidiary in the United Kingdom, since 1969 and a Director of News America since 1973. Mr. Murdoch has been a Director of STAR since 1993 and served as Chairman of STAR from 1993 to 1998. Mr. Murdoch has been a Director of Fox Entertainment since 1985, Chairman since 1992 and Chief Executive Officer since 1995. Mr. Murdoch has served as a Director of BSkyB since 1990 and Chairman since 1999. Mr. Murdoch has served as a Director of Gemstar-TV Guide since 2001. Mr. Murdoch has served as a Director of China Netcom Group Corporation (Hong Kong) Limited since October 2004.

Television

Fox Broadcasting Company

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Other

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*********Viacom

Television

CBS Stations:

• KEYE-TV – Austin, TX
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• WJZ-TV – Baltimore, MD
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UPN Stations:

• WUPA-TV – Atlanta
• WSBK-TV – Boston
• WWHO-TV – Columbus
• KTXA-TV – Dallas
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• WNDY-TV – Indianapolis
• WBFS-TV – Miami
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• WLWC-TV – Providence
• KMAX-TV – Sacramento
• KBHK-TV – San Francisco
• KSTW-TV – Seattle
• WTOG-TV – Tampa
• WTVX-TV – W. Palm Beach

Others:

• KCCO – Alexandria, MN
• KCCW – Walker, MN
• WJMN – Escanaba, WI
• KUSG – Washington, UT
• KCAL – Los Angeles, CA

Cable

• MTV
• MTV2
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Television Production and Distribution

• Spelling Television
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• King World Productions

Radio

Infinity Broadcasting

Northeast

Baltimore
WBGR – AM
WBMD – AM
WJFK – AM
WLIF – FM
WQSR – FM
WWMX – FM
WXYV – FM

Boston
WBCN – FM
WBMX – FM
WBZ – AM
WODS – FM
WZLX – FM

Buffalo
WBLK – FM
WBUF – FM
WECK – AM
WJYE – FM
WYRK – FM

Hartford
WRCH – FM
WTIC – AM/FM
WZMX – FM

New York
WCBS – AM/FM
WFAN – AM
WINS – AM
WNEW – FM
WXRK – FM

Philadelphia
KYW – AM
WIP – AM
WOGL – FM
WPHT – AM
WYSP – FM

Pittsburgh
KDKA – AM
WDSY – FM
WRKZ – FM
WZPT – FM

Rochester
WCMF – FM
WPXY – FM
WRMM – FM
WZNE – FM

Washington D.C
WARW – FM
WHFS – FM
WJFK – FM
WPGC – AM/FM

South

Charlotte
WBAV – FM
WFNZ – AM
WGIV – AM
WNKS – FM
WPEG – FM
WSOC – FM
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Houston
KIKK – AM/FM
KILT – AM/FM

Orlando
WJHM – FM
WOCL – FM
WOMX – FM

San Antonio
KTFM – FM
KTSA – AM

Tampa
WLLD – FM
WQYK – AM/FM
WRBQ – FM
WSJT – FM
WYUU – FM

West Palm Beach
WEAT – FM
WIRK – FM
WJBW – FM
WMBX – FM
WPBZ – FM

Austin
KAMX – FM
KJCE – AM
KKMJ – FM
KQBT – FM

Dallas
KLUV – FM
KOAI – FM
KRBV – FM
KRLD – AM
KVIL – FM
KYNG – FM

Greensboro / Winston Salem
WMFR – AM
WSJS – AM
WSML – AM

Memphis
WMC – AM/FM
WMFS – FM

Atlanta
WAOK – AM
WVEE – FM
WZGC – FM

Midwest

Chicago
WBBM – AM/FM
WCKG – FM
WJMK – FM
WSCR – AM
WUSN – FM
WXRT – FM

Cincinnati
WAQZ – FM
WGRR – FM
WKRQ – FM
WUBE – FM

Cleveland
WDOK – FM
WNCX – FM
WQAL – FM
WXTM – FM

Columbus
WAZU – FM
WHOK – FM
WLVQ – FM

Detroit
WKRK – FM
WOMC – FM
WVMV – FM
WWJ – AM
WXYT – AM
WYCD – FM

Kansas City
KBEQ – FM
KFKF – FM
KMXV – FM
KSRC – FM

Minneapolis
KDOW – AM
WCCO – AM
WLTE – FM
WXPT – FM

St. Louis
KEZK – FM
KMOX – AM
KYKY – FM

West

Denver
KDJM – FM
KIMN – FM
KXKL – FM

Fresno
KMGV – FM
KMJ – AM
KOOR – AM
KOQO – FM
KRNC – FM
KSKS – FM
KVSR – FM

Las Vegas
KLUC – FM
KMXB – FM
KMZQ – FM
KSFN – AM
KXNT – AM
KXTE – FM

Los Angeles
KCBS – FM
KEZN – FM
KFWB – AM
KLSX – FM
KNX – AM
KROQ – FM
KRTH – FM
KTWV – FM

Phoenix
KMLE – FM
KOOL – FM
KZON – FM

Portland
KINK – FM
KLTH – FM
KUFO – FM
KUPL – AM/FM
KVMX – FM

Riverside
KFRG – FM
KVFG – FM
KVVQ – AM
KXFG – FM

Sacramento
KHTK – AM
KNCI – FM
KSFM – FM
KXOA – FM
KYMX – FM
KZZO – FM

San Diego
KPLN – FM
KYXY – FM

San Francisco
KCBS – AM
KFRC – FM
KFRC – AM
KITS – FM
KKWV – FM
KLLC – FM
KYCY – AM

San Jose
KBAY – FM
KEZR – FM

Seattle
KBKS – FM
KMPS – FM
KYCW – AM
KYPT – FM
KZOK – FM

The Viacom Outdoor Group

• TDI Worldwide
• Westwood One

Film

• Paramount Pictures
• Paramount Home Entertainment

Publishing

Simon & Schuster

• Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
• Atria Books
• Kaplan
• Pocket Books
• Scribner
• Simon & Schuster
• The Free Press
• The Touchstone
• Fireside Group
• Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
• Aladdin Paperbacks
• Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Little Simon
• Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Simon Pulse
• Simon Spotlight
• Simon & Schuster New Media
• Simon & Schuster Online
• Simon & Schuster UK
• Simon & Schuster Australia
• MTV Books

*********Time Warner

Time Warner – Books

Time Warner Book Group

• Warner Books
• The Mysterious Press
• Warner Vision
• Warner Business Books
• Aspect
• Warner Faith
• Warner Treasures
• TW Kids
• Little, Brown and Company
• Little, Brown Adult Trade
• Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Back Bay
• Bulfinch Press
• Time Warner Book Group UK
• Time Warner Audio Books
• Time Inc.
• Southern Progress Corporation
• Sunset Books
• Oxmoor House
• Leisure Arts

Time Warner – Cable

• HBO
• CNN
• CNN International
• CNN en Espanol
• CNN Headline News
• CNN Airport Network
• CNN fn
• CNN Radio
• CNN Interactive
• Court TV (with Liberty Media)
• Time Warner Cable
• Road Runner
• New York 1 News (24 hour news channel devoted only to NYC)
• Kablevision (53.75% – cable television in Hungary)

In Demand

• Metro Sports (Kansas City)

Time Warner Inc. – Film & TV Production/Distribution

• Warner Bros.
• Warner Bros. Studios
• Warner Bros. Television (production)
• The WB Television Network
• Warner Bros. Television Animation
• Hanna – Barbera Cartoons
• Telepictures Production
• Witt – Thomas Productions
• Castle Rock Entertainment
• Warner Home Video
• Warner Bros. Domestic Pay – TV
• Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
• Warner Bros. International Television Distribution
• The Warner Channel (Latin America, Asia – Pacific, Australia, Germ.)
• Warner Bros. International Theaters (owns/operates multiplex theaters in over 12 countries)

Time Warner Inc. – Magazines

• Time
• Time Asia
• Time Atlantic
• Time Canada
• Time Latin America
• Time South Pacific
• Time Money
• Time For Kids
• Fortune
• All You
• Business 2.0
• Life
• Sports Illustrated
• Sports Illustrated International
• SI for Kids
• Inside Stuff
• Money
• Your Company
• Your Future
• People
• Who Weekly (Australian edition)
• People en Español
• Teen People
• Entertainment Weekly
• EW Metro
• The Ticket
• In Style
• Southern Living
• Progressive Farmer
• Southern Accents
• Cooking Light
• The Parent Group
• Parenting
• Baby Talk
• Baby on the Way
• This Old House
• Sunset
• Sunset Garden Guide
• The Health Publishing Group
• Health
• Hippocrates
• Coastal Living
• Weight Watchers
• Real Simple
• Asiaweek (Asian news weekly)
• President (Japanese business monthly)
• Dancyu (Japanese cooking)
• Wallpaper (U.K.)
• Field & Stream
• Freeze
• Golf Magazine
• Outdoor Life
• Popular Science
• Salt Water Sportsman
• Ski
• Skiing Magazine
• Skiing Trade News
• SNAP
• Snowboard Life
• Ride BMX
• Today’s Homeowner
• TransWorld Skateboarding
• TransWorld Snowboarding
• Verge
• Yachting Magazine
• Warp
• American Express Publishing Corporation (partial ownership/management)
• Travel & Leisure
• Food & Wine
• Your Company
• Departures
• SkyGuide
• Magazines listed under Warner Brothers label
• DC Comics
• Vertigo
• Paradox
• Milestone
• Mad Magazine

Online Services

• CompuServe Interactive Services
• AOL Instant Messenger
• AOL.com portal
• Digital City
• AOL Europe
• ICQ
• The Knot, Inc. – wedding content (8 % with QVC 36% and Hummer
• WinbladFunds18%)
• MapQuest.com – pending regulatory approval
• Spinner.com
• Winamp
• DrKoop.com (10%)
• Legend (49% – Internet service in China)

Time Warner – Online/Other Publishing

• Road Runner
• Warner Publisher Services
• Time Distribution Services
• American Family Publishers (50%)
• Pathfinder
• Africana.com

Time Warner – Merchandise/Retail

• Warner Bros. Consumer Products

Theme Parks

• Warner Brothers Recreation Enterprises (owns/operates international theme parks)

Time Warner Inc. – Turner Entertainment

Entertainment Networks

• TBS Superstation
• Turner Network Television (TNT)
• Turner South
• Cartoon Network
• Turner Classic Movies
• Cartoon Network in Europe
• Cartoon Network in Latin America
• TNT & Cartoon Network in Asia/Pacific

Film Production

• New Line Cinema
• Fine Line Features
• Turner Original Productions

Sports

• Atlanta Braves

Other Operations

• Turner Learning
• CNN Newsroom (daily news program for classrooms)
• Turner Adventure Learning (electronic field trips for schools)
• Turner Home Satellite
• Turner Network Sales

Other

• Netscape Communications
• Netscape Netcenter portal
• AOL MovieFone
• iAmaze
• Amazon.com (partial)
• Quack.com
• Streetmail (partial)
• Switchboard (6%)

__________________________________________________________

b.

Private interests are in favor of certain editorials that cannot be regarded as neutral or objective at all.

Media corporations share members of the board of directors with a variety of other large corporations, including banks, investment companies, oil companies, health care and pharmaceutical companies and technology companies. The following list shows board interlocks for June 2001 found in http://www.fair.org/media-woes/interlocking-directorates.html:

*********Disney/ABC

Boeing
Casella Waste Systems
CB Richard Ellis Services
City National Bank
Columbia/HCA Healthcare
Doubleclick
Edison International
FedEx
Jenny Craig
LM Institutional Fund Advisors I
Lozano Communications
Northwest Airlines
On Command Corp.
Pacific American Income Shares
Shamrock Holdings
Sotheby’s N. America
Staples
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Sun Microsystems
SunAmerica
Trefoil Investors
UNUM Provident
Verdon-Cedric Productions
Xerox

*********General Electric/NBC

Alcatel
Anheuser-Busch
Ann Taylor
Avon
Banco Nacional de Mexico
Cambridge Technology Partners
Catalyst
Champion International
Chase Manhattan
Choice-Point
Chubb Corporation
Coca-Cola
Community Health Systems
Dell Computer
Delphi Automotive
Fiat
Home Depot
Honeywell
Illinois Tool Works
International Speedy
Internet Security Systems
Invemed
Morgan Chase & Co.
Kellogg
Kimberly-Clark
Knight-Ridder
Microtune
Morgan Gauranty Trust
National Service Industries
New York Stock Exchange
Oglivy & Mather
Penske
Planet Hollywood
Scientific Atlanta
State Street Bank and Trust
Sun Microsystems
Texaco
TIAA-CREF
Total Systems Services
TRICON Global Restaurants
Unifi
Unilever
WinStar

*********Viacom/CBS

Akamai Technologies
Amazon.com
American Express
American Home Products Corp
Atlas Air
Avnet
Bank One
Bear Sterns Companies
Boston Properties
Cardinal Health
Care Capital
Chase Manhattan
CineBridge Ventures
Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.
CVS
Daimler Chrysler
Dell
DND Capital Partners
Downeast Food Distributors
Electronic Data Systems
Ezgov.com
Genuity
Honeywell
Morgan Chase & Co.
Lafarge Corp
Louisiana Marine Transport
Maersk Group
MBIA
MovieTickets.com
New York Stock Exchange
Orion Safety Products
PartnerRe
Pfizer
Polaris Venture Capital
Prudential Insurance
Rockwell International Corp
Sonesta
Ventro
Verizon
Visteon

*********Time Warner

Allstate
American Express
American International
AMR
Barksdale Group
Catellus Development
Chevron
Citigroup
Colgate-Palmolive
Community Health Systems
Dell Computers
Eagle River
Exult
Fannie Mae
FedEx
Forstmann Little & Co.
Hills & Co.
Hilton Hotels
Interpublic Group
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Lucent
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
New York Stock Exchange
Nextel Communications
Oakwood Homes Corp
Park Place Entertainment
Pearson plc
PepsiCo
Pfizer
Pharmacyclics
Sears
Sun Microsystems
TCW
Webvan
Westfield America Corp
XO Communications
ZG Ventures

*********News Corporation/FOX

Allen & Company
Bayou Steel Corp
Beijing PDN Xiren Info. Tech. Co.
British Airways
Championship Auto Racing Teams
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Compaq
Gateway
John Swire and Son Pty.
Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers
New York Stock Exchange
One.Tel
Phillip Morris
PMP Communications
RM William Holdings
Rothschild Investment
Sanoma of Finnland
Six Flags
Valence Technology
Western Multiplex Corp
Worldcom

__________________________________________________________

c.

As the support of my last argument, I just paste information found in wikipedia about Murdoch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch

Murdoch is often accused of running partisan media coverage for political parties that promote policies and decisions which favour his commercial interests. For example, it is believed that Murdoch tried to suppress publication of the memoirs of Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, in an attempt to curry favour with China. Patten’s book was critical of the Chinese government. Whatever the motives, the book was dropped from publication by Murdoch’s HarperCollins publishing company.

One way in which Murdoch has been accused of using his media to influence the democratic politics is in the revealing of damaging personal information about a particular political candidate. This may be illustrated by the case of Mark Oaten who is a representative of the Liberal Democrat party in the United Kingdom. The Murdoch-owned “News of the World” newspaper revealed in January 2006, that Oaten had been having a homosexual affair on an ongoing basis. Since the Liberal Democrat party holds political viewpoints contrary to Murdochs current position (specifically, the war in Iraq), some have speculated that Oaten was targetted in order destabilize the party to which he belongs.

Murdoch’s British media outlets generally support eurosceptic positions, and generally show contempt for the European Union. Murdoch publications worldwide tend to adopt anti-French, pro-Israeli and pro-American views. During the buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, all 175 Murdoch-owned newspapers worldwide editorialized in favour of the war. [8] Murdoch also served on the board of directors of the Cato Institute.

__________________________________________________________

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Discusion con el "Estadounidense" parte 1 (Inicio del tema y su correo inicial) Miércoles, Feb 15 2006

*******
Por petición popular, a continuación posteo la discusión con el estadounidense acerca de la situación de los cubanos en el hotel Sheraton, que después se transforma en un argumento sobre la censura en los medios de información estadounidenses… Es una línea de 4 posts bastante largos, pero si tienen tiempo de leerlos se los recomiendo. sobretodo al final se ponen muy interesantes.

Comienza con el envio de las noticias a la lista de correos de mi maestría en comunicación intercultural, el asunto no es solo político, sino que discutimos su trascendencia en mi campo de estudio. Los primeros 2 correos no son mu interesantes ya que son muy locales, pero son necesarios para entender el contexto de la conversación.

el post 4 lo recomiendo ampliamente pues me tomo un par de horas de insomnio armarlo y es un argumento sobre censura en los medios estadounidenses.

Si van a dejar algun comentario sobre el tema déjenlo en el post 1 que es este, de hecho agradecería mucho su participación.

*******

Hei! all

I’m sending to you a document with the timeline of the situation when an official delegation of cuba was meeting with US business men, and were expelled (the cubans of course) from the Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City, because of a direct order from Washington to the headquarters of the hotel in Phoenix.

It is very interesting to see, how external and historical elements influence intercultural communication… at the end, the exit of the mexican government is ver clever. enjoy the reading.

Im sending this because it was used as example in class, and I think is good to share this kind of information.

Unfortunately is in spanish, and is too long to translate; but is a very good excuse to learn spanish!

Carlos

Dear Carlos,

The 1996 Helms-Burton law prohibits Americans from conducting business with either Cuban businesses or with the Cuban government either from within U.S. borders or from outside U.S. borders. I’m sure the U.S. business “men,” as you describe them (are they in fact males or business “people,” there seems to be a stereotype in action here), were well aware of this law and were attempting to skirt it even if the meeting was exploratory in nature. Many American tourists go around the present travel ban by entering Cuba from another country, and asking the Cubans not to stamp their visas : ) Even so this is risky. Complicating the present matter is that the hotel that hosted the meeting is American owned, in effect placing themselves into or finding themselves in the morass. Whilst the meeting was successfully relocated to another venue, I am sure the U.S. businesspeople involved will have to explain their activities to the American government. And now the respective parties have the opportunity to sort out the matter from their own legal perspectives.

Any attempt to persuade the U.S. government to lighten its stance on the present Cuban government will first have to go through the millions of Hispanic people in the U.S., and particularly foremost through the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens that comprise the post-1950s Cuban exiles and their now extended families. These are the citizens that are pressuring the U.S. government to maintain a strong anti-Cuban government stance; one which should be pointed out is not an anti-Cuban people stance. Sadly, people are always at the tail end of these matters. These Cuban-Americans have their own deeply personal voices and experiences that must be heard in the discussion of this political matter, and I detect here that you ignore this important historical context even though you point out the importance of “external and historical elements.”

Speaking of political matters, I fail to see how this incident, which is clearly a political matter, has much to offer a classroom in intercultural communication. While there were likely some interesting critical incidents at hand during the attempted meeting, I can find no account of them in the press from a Google search. All of the stories I have found discuss the matter in purely political contexts. As I personally view our profession, interculturalists are professionals that attempt to bridge cultures by facilitating communication between individuals. Suggesting that we (those in the ICIR list) should assume “of course” that it would be the Cubans that would be expelled from the premises, or that one side of the dispute is “clever,” or that we should “enjoy” reading about the situation being discussed has the appearance of politicizing the matter by injecting your own political views into the discussion. Perhaps I am mistaken about my perceptions of your comments, but I believe that ordinarily it should not be our objective to openly politicize a communication setting, any more than a translator would inject their own thoughts while translating for a client. Even so, separating our own political views from our work is particularly challenging but remains an important aspect of our own intercultural awareness and sensitivity in professional contexts.

Regards,

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