In these texts and videos, we see how in different ways human rights groups emerge across Latin America during the 1970s and onwards with clear targets. We see how when states become weak and are unable or unwilling to recognize human rights, violence, protests, and speaking up through mediums of communication technologies come about. In the first video, a TV news interview, the sight, sounds and passion are portrayed, capturing the global attention as the mothers craft their narratives. The second document, a text that shows a movement closer to nature, more egalitarian and of a more primitive communism where they rebel against the Mexican government. The third document reveals a confrontation between the Guerrero (Mexico) state police and a group of peasants in a place called Aguas Blancas. The police ends up killing 17 members of the Southern Sierra Peasant Organization (OCSS). The video captures the entire event from start to finish, portraying the process of the killing and showing how intentional it was. This I found to be very interesting because it seems that the power of new forms of media are beginning to be used to bring truth to the country and the importance of communication technologies in creating a world in which cover-ups and conspiracies become almost impossible for states to create and control narratives and with it the flow of information. In the fourth and fifth documents, we see the music videos of the No Campaign assuring viewers of the happiness that will flourish in post-dictatorship Chile. In the sixth document, a collection of Chilean students who took their protest over tuition hikes and university governance to a global audience in 2011 is displayed through dancing. The seventh txt offers a possibility that the drug war simply could not be won, and thus reminds people that the war had placed one of the essential elements of a democratic society– a free press. Finally, the last document, a poet whose son was killed along with seven other youths in March 2011. He expresses his feelings towards the government whose interests he thinks should dramatically change.
Dealing with all these different mediums of communication technologies (videos, photographs, letters, internet, etc) how do you think the state has controlled the flow of information and promise of greater transparency today?
These texts all do show how easy it is to disseminate information in todays world. Information can be collected and seconds later spread over the entire world. This phenomenon has become so powerful that no government in the world can completely control this flow. Censorship on a complete level is almost completely impossible. I think now most governments focus on image control and propaganda versus censorship as a way to guide public opinion.
I agree with David that no information can be kept from all people by the state. However I think control is necessary, and is implemented by all states regardless of ideology and development. State can control the media in a bad way, stifling discussions and escaping supervision, but it can also control in a good way for its nation, strengthening nation bond and stopping disruptive intention from outside, or exposing problems and raising awareness.