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Roberto Jordan considers the Accra Confession from the perspective of Latin America    [10-1-07]

Following the presentations Tuesday morning on the Accra Confession, and on the way some of its ideas are being put into practice the Cameroon, we heard again from Roberto Jordan, offering his perspective as an Argentine citizen and one of the drafters of the Confession, on both the Confession itself and the wider framework of ideas that accompany it.

Roberto Jordan on "This is not a pipe":

The Accra Confession seen from Latin America
[10-1-07]

For the full text of Jordan’s presentation >>

Links in the summary that follows will take you to the corresponding sections of the full text.

Following the presentations Tuesday morning on the Accra Confession, and on the way some of its ideas are being put into practice the Cameroon, we heard again from Roberto Jordan, offering his perspective as an Argentine citizen and one of the drafters of the Confession, on both the Confession itself and the wider framework of ideas that accompany it.

Jordan began by expressing his surprise and delight at his recent week at Ghost Ranch, as one of the leaders of the Week for Peace, Justice and Creation. "My week at Ghost Ranch was a conversion in many ways," he said, as the participants in the seminar challenged his stereotypes of Americans. He found people there "a wonderful group of people" who knew they would soon be going home to face difficult situations and feelings of loneliness. It was disturbing, he added, to feel he was receiving a vote of confidence from people who didn’t even know him, but were willing to put trust in him.

He then called our attention to a picture that was distributed to the participants: Rene Magritte’s painting of a pipe, which is titled "This is not a pipe." And, said Jordan, just as you can’t put tobacco in a picture of a pipe and smoke it, so an affirmation of "Being Neighbors" (as in the theme of the conference) is not the reality. The reality of being neighbors is more than being close to one another; it involves "sharing our different gifts and being willing to learn from each other, to respect others." And the Accra Confession was an effort to do just that: to move from representations of reality – as in the Empire’s affirmation of "the good life," which is really not life at all, but death – to real life, the kind of life affirmed by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches when they talked about "Fullness of Life for All."

Roberto Jordan then described some of the difficult process by which the WARC gathering in Accra came to approve the Confession and related documents. He mentioned specifically the statement on spirituality, which sets forth to call to "hearing the cry for life in our joy and our pain"; the document on mission, which provides the definition of Empire on which the Confession builds; and the statement on "Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth," which includes the "Confession."

One of the long series of meetings, held in London, saw the whole project nearly derailed by a number of delegates who had been elected by their churches with the apparent goal of stopping the document. (This led him to point out to us all that the selection of delegates to international conferences can be far more important than it may seem.)

Once the Accra General Council had passed the "Covenanting for Justice" statement by an overwhelming majority, it took only half an hour for the drafting committee to be brought under intense pressure to soften the language. These people wanted "we reject" to be changed to something like "we strongly object." And they clearly did not like the term "neo-liberalism," which they said meant nothing to them and their people of the North, although the meaning of the term is all too clear to people of the South.

To Jordan, this was simply one more example of the fact that "we all have ideologies," but the most dangerous people are those who don’t acknowledge that reality.

Why was there such intense opposition to this statement? It was, he said, that the Accra Confession not only makes faith statements, but also condemns injustice. One reflection of this attitude is that churches from the North are quite willing to fund WARC staff positions in many areas ... but not in the area of economic justice.

Jordan then gave us a quick and sobering tour through the history of Latin America, both for its own sake and as an example of the experience of the whole of "the South" as that vast part of the world came under Northern dominance. Highly developed cultures were wiped out; entire people were decimated (which was why the Europeans needed to import Africa slaves to South America); the local economies came under the control of Northern corporations, and then of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He then spoke more specifically about the role of the U.S. in Latin America – demanding free access to markets while protecting its own markets; punishing any government that defied its demands by a coup; training South American military officers in torture and coup-making. (So, he noted, the Argentine army was unable to defend the nation in the Falklands conflict, because it was not trained for its most basic task of defense of the nation.)

The churches have become accomplices to this, Jordan added, when they defend an economic policy more than they defend the people who are being hurt by it. So they have gone along with the global North, supporting dictatorships in Latin America that have been based on a system of fear, whose results continue to lead people even today to choose "not to get involved." The system of Empire needs masses of people who cannot read or write, and are in poor health – good slaves. "This is how the Empire builds the pyramids of the 21^st century – with the new slaves."

While the macro economic picture in Argentina looks better today than a few years ago, said Jordan, the people are still poor because the system of distribution leaves them out.

This powerlessness and suffering are not what God wants for the world, Jordan insisted. Faced with all this, the Reformed Churches were called to respond with a "decision of faith commitment," which we now have in the Accra Confession. After all, we worship a God who hears the cries of the people and comes down to set them free from slavery in the Empire of Pharaoh.

So, said Jordan, we have to define what we believe – and what we reject. That means a total change of life, repentance, change of life-style, and working together. But some nations are accustomed to leading, not listening.

So he called on us – in the church of North America – to analyze the situation of our own country from the point of view of the victims. After all, he added, faith is not security, but vulnerability, even to the point of being afraid. To do this analysis we must be suspicious, because "they may not be telling you all the truth." So we need to acknowledge that we are formed by our culture – and that it is not sacred. We need change, and that can happen only as we gain some freedom from the image of reality that the Empire has been giving us. That image, he said again (remember the pipe?) is only an image, and not the reality. We are called to choose between Fullness of Life, and Empire.

The full text

Roberto Jordan on "This is not a pipe":

The Accra Confession seen from Latin America
[10-1-07]

Witherspoon Society
Louisville, September 2007.
 

This is not a pipe

                                                         René Magritte

René Magritte, born in Belgium November 1898 and died in Brussels, August 1967. He painted the famous painting “This is not a pipe” in 1928/29 and you can see this painting in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Magritte himself said, “This is a representation; you cannot fill this pipe and smoke it”. When you have -side by side- this representation of a pipe and a real pipe you clearly see the difference. In the context of this Conference, it would be the need to clearly affirm that “Being Neighbours” is not simply being close to each other; it refers to sharing our different gifts and being willing to learn from each other, to respect others.

This is how I understand the role of the Accra Confession. In a world in which economic injustice is manifest in so many different ways, in a world in which Creation is at risk, in a world in which war, death, destruction are presented as the ways to sustain the life-style of a small proportion of the world population and a world where the majority of the world population is condemned to hunger, slavery, fear; where lack of health and education are the norm… and all this is done in the name of life, it is time to say: This is not life, is it some people’s representation of life, but it is not life. Life is something quite different. The World Alliance of Reformed Churches met in Accra, Ghana, in August 2004 under the call of “Fullness of Life for All”. The General Council approved three fundamental documents, which were then and still are today the Reformed Family’s voices which say: this is not a pipe; this is not life as the world says it is life. These documents are:

1. Spirituality: hearing the cry for life in our joy and our pain;
2. Mission;
3. Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth –the Accra Confession.

Each one of these is part of the overall vision though when the three are read together one realizes they point in a challenging direction, which calls for changes, for commitment and for a different way to live our faith, service and the proclamation of the Good News and to the way we live hope in these troubled times. All this has gained many followers and at the same time number of rejections.

The Accra Confession

The Accra Confession is the result of a long and difficult process. Back in 1995 in Kitwe – Africa – there emerged an urgent call to “recognize the increasing urgency of global economic injustice and ecological destruction” (AC 1), which was received by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches General Council 1997, that met in Debrecen, Hungary. This meeting heard the cries and recognized the struggles of women and men the world around suffering under the rod of injustice and put into motion a process of “recognition, education and confession” calling all churches to do something.

When the World Alliance of Reformed Churches met once again in General Council, this time in Accra, Ghana, and after a long struggle shared with partners, and with stops at Seoul/Bangkok, Stony Point, Buenos Aires, London-Colney, delegates felt the time was ripe for a major affirmation on Economic Injustice and Ecological Destruction. That will be a moment I will never forget, having been part of the team that drafted the Accra Confession. The moment when the show of cards made counting absolutely unnecessary: it was clear that the great majority of delegates in Accra approved the document, and for many people there was a sense that history was being made.

Opposition did not take too long to manifest itself. Less than half an hour after the session had been closed, the drafting team was under strong pressure to change a word here, a word there, to clarify that when the Confession said “we reject” what we really wanted to say was “we disagree”… you just cant imagine the pressure, but what was clear in each of our minds and hearts was that what the Accra Confession said, is what we felt should be said. Where you read “we reject” we mean exactly that: “We REJECT”. Where there is reference to the “neoliberal economic globalization” we realize this may be a strange concept to some people, but is a life-and-death issue for many people. When “empire” is described and denounced, it is because it is the devastating reality of the life of millions; where ideology is spelt out, it is a call to understand our own ideological positions.

Why, then, such a reaction in such a short time? It was clear; the Accra Confession defines not only theological positions it also denounces complicities and silences, even within our churches. This affects the life of people and structures who benefit from situations of injustice, and have done all they can to empty the Accra Confession of any “punch” and of any financial funding.

Where does all this start

Let me go back in history, so as to explain why the South not only demanded a clear stance on these issues, but supported and supports still what this represents. I will concentrate on Latin America, but I do so in the conviction that much of what I will mention for this region is applicable to most of the South. When I say South I mean not only South of the world, but all South even in the North. And when I say North it includes the North lifestyle of those in the South.

Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, in his heartbreaking book Las venas abiertas de América Latina (The open veins of Latin America), begins by saying: “the international division of labour consists of the fact that some countries specialize in winning and other countries specialize in losing. Our region of the world, which we today call Latin America specialized in losing from the earliest times in which Europeans leaped through seas and sunk their teeth into the region’s throat”¹

Latin America was once a region rich in human culture and diversity, abundant in natural and mineral resources, confident in its present and in its future and developed to the highest standards of the time. Back in 1982 visiting the Anthropological Museum in Lima, Perú, I saw a skull which had visible signs of brain surgery, carried out by the Incas before the arrival of the Spanish to the area, and the piece of bone taken out to reach the brain had been replaced by platinum. The famous Aztec calendar, which was in use in what today is Mexico, before the arrival of the Spanish, was a much more accurate division of time than what Europe had. What happened between then and now?

Galeano once again points out: “We lost, others won. But what happened was that those who won, did so thanks to the fact that we lost: the history of Latin American underdevelopment is the history of world capitalism”.² What used to be the gold and silver, rubber, sugar and coffee of the past, is now drinkable water, timber, human resources, foreign debt and military-political and economical intervention.

Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, what today is Latin America was a rich and diverse region. A social structure that was based on a respect for nature that still inspires us. But the empire of the time arrived with sword and cross, to take possession of the land and the lives of the people. Pope Alexander VI – a Spaniard- named Queen Isabel the lady and owner of the “New” World.

From that time on, when the ‘conquistadores’ arrived they read to the aboriginal people who came out to meet them the Requerimiento (the request). This document ‘invited’ the people to convert to the holy catholic faith and “if you do not do so, or if you put this off maliciously, I certify that with the help of God I will powerfully enter and push war to all places I can, put you under the weight of the yoke and obedience of the Church and her Majesty the queen, take your women and children, enslave you and as such will sell you, and dispose of you as the queen indicates, and take your possessions and cause as much damage as I possible can”. The alternatives were clear, as were the real intentions of the Conquista.

Within a few years a great debate took place between Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Sepúlveda. The question was: did the aboriginal people have a soul. If they did, then there was an urgent need to establish a Christian mission to them; if they didn’t have a soul they were as animals and could be sent into the depths of the earth in search of gold and silver, and it did not matter what happened to them. What do you imagine was the result of such a theological controversy? The church declared they did not have souls and so could be used as animals. Those who always win, do so because there are those who always loose!

Aztecs, Incas and Mayas: between 70-90 million people when the conquistadores arrived; a century and a half later they had been reduced to 3.5 million people.³ And in about 3 centuries, the Potosí mines had taken the lives of 8 million people. Together with the Spanish, came also the Portuguese, and later the English and the Dutch…all after the riches of the region, and when the aboriginal people had been exterminated, the slave trade from Africa provided the new labour force, which contributed to the emergence of the capitalist economic system. In such a way that the accumulated capital of triangular commerce –manufactured goods, sugar and slaves- contributed to the invention of the steam machine, as James Watt was subsidised by merchants who had amassed their fortunes this way.

In the early 1800 Latin American countries gained independence – mainly from Spain, and this was greeted by the other countries of the region, mainly England, as it opened up new markets. Argentina gained independence between 1810 and 1816; the emerging governments were at once cornered by economic offers to affirm independence. In 1824 the first president of Argentina, Bernardino Rivadavia, contracted from Baring Brother, a loan for one million pounds sterling. The repayment of this loan did not conclude till 1904. The beginning of the history of Argentine Foreign Debt. Guarantee of this loan, all the public land of the province of Buenos Aires was mortgaged.⁴

As a result of this loan, the agreement with the British government included authorization for churches to be established, which would attend the spiritual needs of the British citizens who would be arriving to the River Plate; the only condition being that services would be in English only, not affecting the local population who were Spanish speakers and Roman Catholic. This was how in 1825 the Anglican (= Episcopalian) Church and in 1829 Presbyterian Church of Scotland established in the country. The connection between politics, economy and religion was always present in the region!

This continued all during the 19th and 20th centuries. Empires of the 1800’s were replaced by the new Empires of the 1900’s, methodology remained. The two world wars modified the socio-political panorama of the world and two super-powers emerged and the so called Cold War tore the world to pieces, and Latin America was caught in the middle of the struggle. And the new world financial order, established in Bretton Woods in 1944, creating the International Monetary Fund and what was later called The World Bank⁵, institutions which in the years that followed would press for the neoliberal economic policies which devastated the region, and most of the world. In 1948 the Marshall Plan to help rebuild Europe after WWII, but due to old rivalries the government of the United States of America introduced a clause by which it prohibited the use of dollars entering Europe to be used in commerce with Argentina.⁶ Europe and the United States of America have always protected their own economic interests, but demanded that countries of the South open their economic frontiers for the benefit not of local interests but of the interest of the so called “centre”.

Soon Latin America discovered that if it did not obey the instructions coming down from Washington, that if the region developed its own ideas, its own policies; thought its own thoughts and protected its own markets; that if these countries did not follow the dictums from “above” (above being not heaven but Washington), the US Marines would make quite sure that these “disobedient” governments could be toppled, and so a series of coups were installed in Latin America, financed and sustained by the different governments of the United States of America, and supported by the very willing local oligarchies who were conservative in politics and morals but neo-liberal in economics, and willing to follow instructions and pocket the money.

And when internal force was needed the School of the Americas (or the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, as it is now called) made quite sure there was a trained generation of local military leaders at hand, who had become experts in torture, and greed, and created a completely new category: “los desaparecidos”, the thousands of people who disappeared after kidnappings, rape, torture and mass graves. It was the military who ruined their countries and as the Malvinas war in 1982 proved, did not even know how to defend the country in what was expected of them as Armed Forces. All in the name of so called “Western Christian values” made clear in the Doctrine of National Security. People disappeared, foreign debt increased, social-economic-cultural injustice developed as never before, creation was devastated, the poor became poorer; the rich became richer.

In the midst of all this, there was an accomplice church, which stuck to its privileges and supported the military dictatorships and benefitted from the economic devastation of the countries: silence where a loud voice of protest should have changed the situation. But there existed also a church which was prophetic, whose presence with those who suffered, those excluded from the system, led to persecution. There were a number of priests, nuns, even some bishops; a great number of committed lay people who suffered torture, who were murdered and even disappeared. The prophetic church was part of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights and the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights, and many in the church have been at the forefront of denouncing all Human Right violations and have demanded justice, and continue today to do so.

Such a painful situation has led Elsa Tamez to say that “in Latin America and the Caribbean we are living under a sky with no stars.” “Absence” also defined as lacking, omission, distance, separation, departure, abandonment, retreat, flight- seems to be the word that defines reality…at least on the macro level, because among the excluded, the aboriginal people, black people, women, it is clear there are lights in the night, though the sky that covers the continent and the Caribbean cries this absence. Absence of bread, love, justice, solidarity, peace, utopias^”7.

The result

The dictatorships in Latin America worked on a system of fear, and created a generation of people who live – still today – in fear, the fear of what might happen again and that is why so many people do not get involved in anything social. In all regions, one of the consequences of the system was the installation of a ‘fundamentalist’ structure. I know many people would prefer another word instead of fundamentalism, but in the region this is clearly understood by most. Fundamentalism in politics, economics, religion, and culture… fundamentalism which divides the world in two: them-us; where tolerance, dialogue, respect are often understood as betrayal.

Another of the effects of the neoliberal economic and social policies established in the 90’s was the devastation of the educational and health systems which benefit those people who least have. This was done for a reason; the economic system of the Empire can only survive if there are people who have no access to education, who cannot read or write, who are not aware of their rights. Added to that the system needs people whose health is ruined and have no access to medical care. This is how the Empire builds its pyramids of today, on the slave labour of those whose rights are abused and a society who is either indifferent to their suffering or afraid to speak up against such a system.

Over the years the United States of America has been seen as a sort of ‘paradise’, identified with the so called “American-way-of-life”, which has attracted millions of people, who sometimes were welcome and often were rejected. Migration has become a big issue for both parts. On one hand it contributes to the economy in many different ways, while on the other hand racism and xenophobic policies cause persecution, discrimination and even death.

Situation in Argentina

Argentina collapsed in December 2001, due to the result of the economic policies of the past and the pressures of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank decisions were taken that affected the people in such a way that they openly protested in the streets in what came to be known as “el cacerolazo” (the pots and pans manifestations). Again people were killed by the repressive forces and in just under one month Argentina saw the resignation of the constitutionally elected president, who was replaced by the Head of the Senate but as the crisis continued we saw 5 presidents in 3 weeks, till Parliament named a care-taker president whose mission was to call elections in the following 18 months.

Argentina has recovered somewhat. Macro economic numbers seem to be doing well, but there is a great problem of distribution, which means the life of the people is still very much affected. About one third of the economically active population suffers unemployment or sub-employment. Poverty is rampant. Argentina has been described as a rich country totally impoverished. As was reflected in the caption of a popular cartoon: ‘I relieve the problem is not one of the unjust distribution of wealth. On the contrary it’s the problem of the generous distribution of poverty’⁸.

Empire seeks to survive

This devastating system seeks survival, and one of the ways to achieve this was pointed out in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches meeting in Debrecen, Hungary back in 1997 when it referred to the “colonization of minds”. The neoliberal globalised world system is also sustained by a particular World Information Order, in which few conglomerates own most of the means of communication: radio, television, newspapers, cable television, music, sports programmes, printing press⁹… the information we depend on to understand the world today is part of a deliberate programme in the hands of few people, who support a particular form of ideology which upholds a determined form of political leadership.

Back in the 1980’s when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called for a new world order in Communication, and the McBride report was produced, both the United States of America and Great Britain withdrew from UNESCO and since then have pushed the United Nations to subject it to their fancies, using the veto power of the Security Council to subject the world to their particular projects, and when this cannot happen they threaten with the withdrawal of financial contributions.

The United Nations, even with its limitations and clear imperfections, is still the best solution to the current world situation. A forum in which no one country can be accepted as “parent” of others, rather a forum in which we meet as neighbours, recognizing our differences and putting these differences to the service of an improved world. The different agreed Treaties and organizations set up by the United Nations should be respected and upheld: The “Kyoto Agreement” which refers to Climate Change; the International Criminal Court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; the agreement of the Security Council before action is taken; the relinquishing of veto power within the group of 5 nations of the Security Council… this and much more should be the alternative to the current Empire power game.

All these are part of a plan of world domination which carves up the planet in two: those who are not for us, are against us. Something you yourself know about and suffer; imagine what that means to the rest of the world which has been the victim of the Empire powers for over 5 centuries, be it Latin America, be it Asia, be it Africa; be it the minorities the world around. Ask women what they think of a patriarchical, imperial and dominating system they suffer.

And now, what?

What I have sketched so far is only the “point of an iceberg” within the world reality, which is much worse than this. It is clear that this is NOT what God wants for creation. This suffering world was the one that demanded from the churches some form of response. That is why the Accra Confession is the answer to “the horrors of repression and death. The cries of 'never again' are put to the lie by the ongoing realities of human trafficking and the oppression of the global economic system” (AC 3). Faced with all this, the only possible answer the Reformed Churches was a “decision of faith commitment” one we now call the Accra Confession.

Reading the signs of the times where threats to creation and human life are on the increase, where God’s call to life is denied to many, where an economic system continues to privilege a few at the expense of most of the world population, where even people who consider themselves committed to life in fullness for all, continue to vote for a system that creates exclusion but at the same time need the excluded as cheap labour to maintain the system, in a world that pretends that it is ideologically pure and is not willing to consider the groans of the many on ideological reasons.

In such a world, the true church of Jesus Christ must take a stance, either it recognizes its origin in Jesus: born in a stable under the power of the Roman Empire, who walked the dusty roads of the towns of his time and attended to the needs of children, women, the sick, the rejected, the powerless, and who was condemned to death by the coming together of the religious authorities of the time and the Empire’s political and economic powers, but who was raised to life by the God “who hearing the cries of the people comes down to liberate them from oppression and slavery” (Ex. 3), or it responds to the powers of the Empire.

Because of this the Accra Confession is clear. It states what we believe and what we reject. It affirms the God we believe in as the God of life for all. This is why there has been so much rejection of this text. To live what the Confession says means a total change of life. As is pointed out in Romans 12, it means not living by the standards of the present time, but rather by the standards of God. It involves repentance for complicity and a dramatic change of lifestyle: mission, spirituality, proclamation, teaching, service.

The Accra Confession upsets people because it is a call to work together and not in a paternalistic or patronizing manner. It means learning from others, and due to the colonization of minds, so often the “others” have been seen as inferior. It means commitment to God who is the God even of the way we decide to use our time, spend our money and relate to others. This is not new of course, but it still means the way of God as above our ways.

I would urge you to analyse the situation in you country and its effects on the countries of the world from the point of view of the victims and by those authors who are recognized in the world as independent and critical thinkers: Edward Said or Noam Chomsky.¹⁰

The Accra Confession needs you all to be part of the change, where we have to announce what is “not a pipe” even when the system tries to impose on you and on the rest of the world its representation of a pipe, and keeps the true pipe for it self. The Accra Confession is a call to courage, in your own reality, so you can bring in change, and in sharing with others.

The people of the South need you to stand up to the powers of the time and say “no” when the world is presented as an enemy simply to support privileges gained at the expense of the rest of the world. Be suspicious of the power structure today, but don’t withdraw – participate, learn, get involved, commit to change even if it means less comfort for some. And vote when you have elections. Be informed of the issues that are left out of the political debates and do your best to include them in.

The part of the world which insisted the need for a statement such as the Accra Confession expects from the Churches and the Christian women and men of the North to choose to be part of a new way of being church and of being Christian. A new way that is as timely as God’s word to the people. This can only be possible with the acknowledgment that as human beings we are influence by culture, but that this is not sacred and as part of the Reformed heritage we confess all we are, all we have, all we think is under the sovereignty of God. The world needs changing, dramatically.

I firmly believe the Accra Confession is a challenge to this time in accordance to God’s will. The world cannot wait till be agree on the theology being precise or any other academic arguments that are used to minimize the Accra Confession. The signs of the times are loud and clear: the relation between economics-politics and religion are clear. Becoming neighbours, let us walk together even if you are not totally convinced, because the people of the world under so much suffering need clear signs of solidarity and commitment firmly rooted in God’s love: Life in fullness for all is the true measure of discipleship. So let us be clear: what the imperial powers of the world present to us today is not a pipe. A pipe is real. Life is real, even when under threat.


Notes

1 Galeano, Eduardo. Las venas abiertas de América Latina. Siglo XXI editores, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1975. p. 3

2 Idem, p. 5

3 Idem, p. 59

4 Pigna, Felipe. El historiador. http://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/biografias/r/rivadavia.php

5 http://www.clarin.com/suplementos/economico/2004/06/27/n-01001.htm

6 Romero, Luis Alberto, Breve historia contemporánea de la Argentina. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2001.

7 Tamez, Elsa. Bajo un cielo sin estrellas. DEI, San José – Costa Rica, 2004.

8 Fontanarrosa, Roberto. Inodoro Pereyra.

9  Consult: Columbia Journalism Review (Who owns what?):http://www.cjr.org/resources/; Media Channel: http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/; Free Press: Who owns the media: http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart.php

10 Chomsky, Noam. Hegemony or survival (2003); Imperial Ambitions (2005); Failed States (2006). Said, Edward. Orientalism (1978), Culture and Imperialism (1993).