The magic of ignorance promoted by a powerful elite and a self-gratifying international press

[R. A. Stegemann]

Dear list members,

"I share concern about Venezuela s current political process. I do not
support Chavez and worry about Venezuela s democratic future. However,
I am equally concerned with the hysterical tone of many foreign
commentators and think that much journalistic analysis such as Larry
Rothers article in today's New York Times--smacks of orientalism. Facts
are subtly distorted or presented in a tone that makes Chavez and his
supporters look irrational, emotional, erratic, childish,
disrespectful, and generally uncivilized."

David Smilde
University of Chicago
Universidad Central de Venezuela

Source:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mmarteen/svs/lecturas/chavezsmilde.html

Best wishes for the New Year!

R. A. Stegemann
EARTH's Manager and HKLNA-Project Director
EARTH - East Asian Research and Translation in Hong Kong
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/earth/
Tel/Fax: 852 2630 0349

On 30 Dec 2004, at 03:15, Harold F. Schiffman wrote:

>> From the NYTimes, December 29, 2004
>
> LETTER FROM THE AMERICAS
>
> Learn English, Says Chile, Thinking Upwardly Global
> By LARRY ROHTER
>
> SANTIAGO, Chile - In many parts of Latin America, resistance to
> cultural
> domination by the United States is often synonymous with a reluctance
> to
> learn or speak English. But here, where Salvador Allende was once a
> beacon
> for the left, the current Socialist-led national government has begun a
> sweeping effort to make this country bilingual. Chile already has the
> most
> open, market-friendly economy in Latin America, and the language plan
> is
> seen as advancing that process. The government has negotiated free
> trade
> agreements with the United States, Canada, the European Union and South
> Korea in recent years, is in talks with New Zealand and Singapore, and
> this fall was host to the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation
> conference,
> with President Bush among the leaders of 21 nations in attendance.
>
> "We have some of the most advanced commercial accords in the world, but
> that is not enough," Sergio Bitar, the minister of education, said in
> an
> interview here. "We know our lives are linked more than ever to an
> international presence, and if you can't speak English, you can't sell
> and
> you can't learn." The initial phase of the 18-month-old program,
> officially known as "English Opens Doors," calls for all Chilean
> elementary and high school students to be able to pass a standardized
> listening and reading test a decade from now. But the more ambitious
> long-term goal is to make all 15 million of Chile's people fluent in
> English within a generation.
>
> "It took the Swedes 40 years" to get to that point, said Mr. Bitar,
> adding
> that he sees the Nordic countries and Southeast Asian nations like
> Malaysia as models for Chile. "It's going to take us decades too, but
> we're on the right track." In any other Latin American country, a
> campaign
> to make English universal and obligatory would inevitably arouse
> protests
> about the destruction of the nation's sovereignty and cultural
> identity.
> In Brazil, for example, legislation has been proposed to prohibit the
> use
> of English in the names of stores or in advertisements and to create
> new
> Portuguese-language verbs to designate basic computer operations.
>
> Here, in contrast, what little criticism there is of the plan has
> focused
> on the argument that schools should teach children to speak Spanish
> better
> before they try to learn English. Only a very small number of groups
> have
> opposed the program on ideological grounds. "We're quite worried about
> this because it takes an economic hegemony and translates it into a
> cultural hegemony," said Sara Larran, a leader of the Chilean Social
> Forum, a coalition opposed to corporate-led globalization.  "Chile's
> insertion ought to be into the world at large, not into the U.S.
> empire.
> These are not Roman times, when Latin was the universal language."
>
> But the Chilean government has presented the English initiative as an
> eminently democratic measure, in Mr. Bitar's words "an instrument of
> equality for all children" in Chile. That argument seems to resonate
> deeply with working-class families eager to see their children prosper
> in
> an increasingly competitive and demanding job market. "This kind of
> program didn't exist when I was in school, which meant that only the
> rich
> kids in the private schools got to study English," said Fabiola Coli,
> whose daughter is now learning English at the Benjamin Vicua MacKenna
> Elementary School here. "If you couldn't afford to pay, and I couldn't,
> you were left out. This is better because everyone can benefit."
>
> At the school, kindergarten pupils are learning to count to 20 in both
> English and Spanish , and can already address a visitor in English: "My
> name is Araceli. What is yours?" The principal's office has a sign in
> English announcing itself as such, and various items in the classrooms
> are
> labeled in English "window," "emergency exit" and other things. At the
> college level, some universities are already requiring that all their
> students study English. Others are also beginning to teach courses in
> some
> majors, like foreign trade and hotel management, in English, and have
> plans to extend the use of English to math and science courses.
>
> "More than a choice, it's a necessity," said Patricia Cabello, rector
> of
> the University of the Americas, one of Chile's largest. "Our mission
> is to
> train professionals for an internationalized world, and this is the
> only
> way for this country to develop the way it wants." Though the main
> focus
> of the program is young students, the government has also sought to
> reach
> adults by encouraging businesses to offer English courses to
> employees. As
> part of the program, tax credits are to be offered to companies, and
> Rodrigo Fabrega, director of the effort, talks of "flooding the country
> with English-Spanish dictionaries and English-language textbooks."
>
> President Ricardo Lagos, himself a former minister of education, has
> done
> his part to set an example. Unlike the presidents of some neighboring
> countries, who insist on sticking to Spanish or Portuguese, he makes a
> point of speaking at least some English in public whenever he meets
> with
> Mr. Bush or Tony Blair or the foreign press.
>
> "We spoke about the English language and how important it is to be
> able to
> foster through our ministries the learning of English," Mr. Lagos said
> at
> a news conference last month after a meeting with Mr. Bush. "As a
> country,
> we want to be a bridge and a platform for flows of international trade
> and
> in the Asia-Pacific region."
>
> Government officials say that their biggest problem now is a lack of
> qualified teachers. But they hope to recruit volunteers from
> English-speaking countries to come here, and are also sending Chilean
> teachers to places like California and Delaware.
>
> "The first thing we have to do is train an army of English teachers,"
> said
> Mr. Fabrega. The quality of the English that will eventually be spoken
> here may not rival Shakespeare's, he conceded, but he said that did not
> matter. "We'll speak English Chilean-style, because the important
> thing is
> to understand English and to be able to use it as a tool in our favor."
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/29/international/americas/29letter.html
>