http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. News that the people in charge, the corporations and your government want to keep from the public eye.
------
Fair.org :
"Former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller wrote his paper's obituary for Nelson Mandela. As you might have guessed, it glosses over the CIA's role in helping the apartheid government catch Mandela: 'Upon his capture he was charged with inciting a strike and leaving the country without a passport' is all the depth he goes into, although the Times has in fact covered this little-known story in the past. You have to ask yourself: If the secret police of an ostensibly democratic society helped put someone viewed as one of the great heroes of the past century in prison, isn't that something the public ought to know about?
Keller did go into more detail about Mandela's armed efforts to overthrow the apartheid state, seemingly in an effort to belittle them:
'Mr. Mandela's exploits in the 'armed struggle' have been somewhat mythologized. ... The ANC's armed activities were mostly confined to planting land mines, blowing up electrical stations and committing occasional acts of terrorism against civilians.'
Mandela, as it happens, went into great detail at his 1964 trial–where he was convicted of sabotage, not 'acts of terrorism against civilians'–about the African National Congress' decision to abandon its commitment to nonviolent resistance and turn to armed struggle. ..."
-->The NY Times trying to trash Mandela's image, while protecting the reputation of the CIA. How predictable this coverage is in the empire's newspaper.
------
Mail & Gardian: South Africa
"Many heads of state would not miss internationally renowned peace icon Nelson Mandela's funeral, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will do just that. His reason: it is too expensive to travel to South Africa, according to Israel's Haaretz daily newspaper. ...
Netanyahu had initially notified the South African authorities that he'd join his other counterparts to honour Mandela but made a last minute cancellation because the $2-million needed for his transport and security alone was just too steep. ...
The decision to cancel the trip to South Africa during such an important period is likely to raise suspicion and remind many of a difficult relationship Tel Aviv has with Pretoria. ... Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa and took power from the apartheid government, which was Israel's strong ally when most countries of the world rebuked racial segregation."
-->The NY Times, like Netanyahu, ducked out of this story at the last minute. Why remind readers that Israel was South Africa's best friend during apartheid, supplying them with weaponry and advising them on strengthening their regime of all white rule.
------
NBC News Investigations:
"From the White House to the halls of Congress, U.S. government officials have responded to the death of Nelson Mandela with a hail of testimonials to the late South African president’s leadership in the struggle for freedom and human rights.
Until five years ago, however, the U.S. officially considered Mandela a terrorist. During the Cold War, both the State and Defense departments dubbed Mandela’s political party, the African National Congress, a terrorist group, and Mandela’s name remained on the U.S. terrorism watch list till 2008. ...
The terrorist designation finally proved too embarrassing for the U.S. government to ignore. In April 2008, during the last year of the George W. Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a Senate committee that her department had to issue waivers for ANC members to travel to the United States."
-->The NY Times always puts the empire's image above its readership's right to know. Our newspaper of record relegated this story to one of its blogs rather than put it into print.
