El Nacional, one of the few remaining independent media outlets in Venezuela, ceased print publication last week after the government choked off access to paper.
"Existing laws grant the government power to suspend or revoke concessions to private media if 'convenient for the interests of the nation,' allow for arbitrary suspension of websites for the vaguely defined offense of 'incitement,' and criminalize expression of 'disrespect' for high government officials."
That yet another socialist government seems unable to tolerate criticism should surprise absolutely nobody.
"Because socialist society aspires to be a good society, all its decisions and opinions are inescapably invested with moral import. Every disagreement with them, every argument for alternative policies, every nay-saying voice therefore raises into question the moral validity of the existing government, not merely its competence in directing activities that have no particular moral significance," wrote widely read socialist economist Robert Heilbroner in a 1978 article in Dissent.
What did in the newspaper was the economic power that socialist governments exercise through their centralized control over buying, selling, and the means of production.
Having nationalized the telecommunications giant, Cantv, Venezuela's government exercises similar control over online information.
Of course, the country's socialist government jails political opponents, beats demonstrators, and uses its legal power and economic control to stifle dissenting opinions that "Smack of heresy" in a system in which there is no "Relatively inviolable non-state employment sector" to serve as "a condition for political freedom."
http://reason.com/archives/2018/12/18/venezuelan-government-crushes-dissent
"Existing laws grant the government power to suspend or revoke concessions to private media if 'convenient for the interests of the nation,' allow for arbitrary suspension of websites for the vaguely defined offense of 'incitement,' and criminalize expression of 'disrespect' for high government officials."
That yet another socialist government seems unable to tolerate criticism should surprise absolutely nobody.
"Because socialist society aspires to be a good society, all its decisions and opinions are inescapably invested with moral import. Every disagreement with them, every argument for alternative policies, every nay-saying voice therefore raises into question the moral validity of the existing government, not merely its competence in directing activities that have no particular moral significance," wrote widely read socialist economist Robert Heilbroner in a 1978 article in Dissent.
What did in the newspaper was the economic power that socialist governments exercise through their centralized control over buying, selling, and the means of production.
Having nationalized the telecommunications giant, Cantv, Venezuela's government exercises similar control over online information.
Of course, the country's socialist government jails political opponents, beats demonstrators, and uses its legal power and economic control to stifle dissenting opinions that "Smack of heresy" in a system in which there is no "Relatively inviolable non-state employment sector" to serve as "a condition for political freedom."
http://reason.com/archives/2018/12/18/venezuelan-government-crushes-dissent
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