A Letter from Tim Meehan of Pot TV

Gentle Readers:

I am writing this letter to you on behalf of something I feel is very dear to all of us - the continued existence of NarcoNews.com and the training of Authentic Journalists.

I know of no other news source - be it print, radio, TV or the Internet - that provides more up-to-the-minute and verifiably honest reporting on issues concerning Latin America and the so-called war on drugs than our own NarcoNews.

What is it worth to us to have this resource flourish and extend its expertise to the training of more Authentic Journalists?

What is it worth to us to sponsor and participate in a new model of journalism and democracy?

I want you to think about those questions, seriously. We are at an historical crossroads with a unique chance to encourage and develop the evolution of democracy. It is time for those of us who have been marginalized and disenfranchised to stand up against those who would keep us down. Every one of us has a stake in this historic moment and I know you won't want to miss this opportunity.

Ourselves, our children and our grandchildren will live to reap what we have sown here - each of us contributing what we can to something that could literally change the world.

We can each do our part with a contribution to The Fund for Authentic Journalism, toward the work of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, via this PayPal link.

Or we can send a check to:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA

It isn't often we get a chance like this, so please take advantage of your moment in history and make a donation to the Fund for Authentic Journalism today. It doesn't need to be thousands of dollars, whatever amount you can comfortably give will be well-used. The future of democracy depends on you!

In Solidarity from Canada,

Colleen Glynn

To donate in response to the Colleen Glynn Letter on behalf of the School of Authentic Journalism click here.

Dear Narco News Readers,

This time it is Laura Del Castillo Matamoros writing to you - from a strange country called Colombia - located on the side of the world that the bosses of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund see as the antithesis of the sacred Western civilization: the "underdeveloped" world.

In this country that the international community views as one of the most violent places on earth, I have lived ever since I was born. This is where I learned to walk, a child of the pale 1980s, while the Left fell with the Berlin Wall and the extreme Right consolidated its power by dressing up as "democracy" to bring a New World Order that, at this moment, has begun to emerge.

Due to an absurd turn of the wheel of fortune, I grew up and ended up studying journalism. But never, prior to attending that university, had I been charged so much money in exchange for such mediocrity. The great majority of the classes that I attended taught the necessary tools to become a worker in corporate mass media, on behalf of the interests of the market. Some of my friends gave up their studies before going crazy with so much garbage, while the rest of my friends continued attending classes without questioning anything, pleased to study a career that did not demand that they think too much and that only viewed the bleeding of this country as if it were "last call" in a bar.

If I stayed in journalism school, it was only to not throw my family's investment in my "formation" into the trash. The University became a true nightmare for me. After that, I did not have the slightest interest in becoming a journalist.

Once again I was back at the beginning: Without knowing what to do, a passive witness, far from the political, social, and economic, hecatomb where my Colombia finds itself; of a civil war that is already fifty years old and where nobody knows who is who; of the injustices and crimes against humanity committed against the most vulnerable sectors of the population under the auspices of the State; of all those who could have generated a change having been shot down or tortured or disappeared or exiled; of the traditional Colombian Left seeming to touch the borders of the Right and of this land where eighty percent of the population seems resigned to be mere slaves of their possessions and what the mass media calls "the good life."

After various personal defeats, I chose to avoid sadness and form part of the universal morass. I began to think about reality as a movie that was so bad that nobody would even remember it. Time passed and I ended up doing what I didn't want to do. I worked, fortunately for only a few months, in the local corporate media. The truth is that I felt very happy when it was over. Once more I could stay at home watching cartoons, while I tried to forget what I did not realize was boredom, or disillusion, or a mix of the two.

It was precisely in those days of boredom, two years ago, on a day in October, when surfing the Internet I found, by accident, a link to something called Authentic Journalism. How strange! I thought, "Authentic Journalism"? At first I did not look, but something motivated me to open it and it was then, from that moment on, that my perception about what it means to be a journalist turned around by 180 degrees.

I opened the page and found a text, preceded by a quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky, that said: "The deepest urge of human beings is the revolt against definition and the fixities of life."

At that moment I thought, "that is the most anti-journalistic phrase I have ever seen." A guy named Alberto Giordano had written it: Once I started reading, I couldn't stop my eyes from opening wider and wider… He spoke of the possibility of attending an intensive course in journalism during ten days on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where, on the practical level, we would report from the Drug Legalization Summit, in the city of Mérida. And best of all, everything would be gratis… A journalist who publishes an online newspaper who openly supported the legalization of drugs was inviting people to take a free course in journalism on the Yucatán. It was crazy.

But that text seduced me for the incredible force with which it was written. Giordano let it be known, with argument, his rejection of the Commercial Media and the servile behavior of journalists faced with the dynamics of the market: He spoke of journalism schools as "a big business." And what moved me even more and perhaps (although it seemed strange) to apply for the scholarship in the School of Authentic Journalism was that part of the text where the author wrote: "I headed South of the Border, to the rebel, indigenous, communities of Chiapas, México, so disillusioned with the media that I told the people I met, 'I'm an ex-journalist.'" This guy was definitely the antithesis of my university professors who were more a species of journalist-sheep. I would have liked to have had made them to read that text so that they would be able to give a real journalism class, but already it was too late.

Finally, with fear in my heart, I applied for the scholarship that same October. When, a month later, I learned that I was in the group of 25 scholarship recipients, I couldn't believe it. And I still didn't quite believe it until that trip, a year ago, in February 2003, to the Yucatán Peninsula, where I had the opportunity to meet that gringo with an Italian last name who had moved the earth beneath me with his manner of writing. And also, there, I met other people, not necessarily journalists, among them professors, students, and staff members in charge of the logistics, who came from different latitudes of the earth and who, like him, also rejected the servile journalism of a New World Order that promotes inequality, injustice, and exclusion.

It's worth mentioning that while I reported on the summit, as part of the requirements of the course, I realized that I had no idea how big the drug legalization movement was throughout the world, including: activists, congressmen, farmers, and academics. All of them were focusing on the consequences of prohibition from the widest number of perspectives. Listening in the different conferences that took place, and having had the opportunity to interview a senator from my own country who had expressed publicly, on different occasions, his disagreement with anti-drug policies, were experiences that motivated me to investigate deeper into what was hidden behind the "war on drugs" that has been waged on my country.

The Summit lasted four days and when it ended the entire J-School headed to Isla Mujeres to attend so-called "classes." They were classes where many times the students ended up being professors and the professors, also, students. And I can say that I learned more about journalism in those ten days than during my five years poorly spent in a university.

But beyond the academic and professional support that the School of Authentic Journalism gave me I was able to know, thanks to being there, the people who returned to me something that I had lost over time: Hope.

I can't say that the demon of sadness has been definitively lifted from my life, because evils like that can't be cured so easily. Let's just say that after attending the School of Authentic Journalism I don't pay so much attention to them and when things get too heavy I just think of all these people who I met, who made me conscious of the enormous commitment of journalists in a world where injustice is so commonplace.

Right now I work for Narco News as a reporter in Colombia. I feel very proud to work with, and to have worked with, people like Al Giordano, the publisher (who, in spite of my many deviances with order and discipline, still expresses confidence in my work), and with Luis Gómez, the former Andean Bureau Chief, who was my faculty advisor during those days of the J-School, and later became my boss. He has never stopped being my teacher and invaluable counselor who, with enormous patience, helped me to survive the travails of being a rookie journalist. And, now, I work, also, with Alex Contreras, the South American Bureau Chief of Narco News. Thanks to each of them I have learned about this big lie called the "war on drugs" and how it has worsened the social, political, and economic situation that challenges my country.

The School of Authentic Journalism and Narco News became my life raft when I was about to desert the profession. And, certainly, on some corner of the world there are other people who are also natural born journalists but at the point of giving up: Or if they haven't given up, and they want to practice journalism, they can't do it because they don't have a degree or the money to get one; or they are ready to declare war on the system, but don't know how to do it; or they are simply alone and feel too tired, and don't even know why…

Thinking about all of them, Narco News, together with The Fund for Authentic Journalism, has decided to announce the next session of the School of Authentic Journalism, which will take place in South America in late July and Early August. They count with some of the funds, but still not enough to meet all the demand from the most talented journalists for the scholarships that could be filled if you respond today with your contribution.

I wanted to share my testimony with you today because I know various people who are in the same situation that I was… who want to change the structures, but, who seeing themselves as alone and without backing end up sitting in the waiting room of life, watching the world fall apart. I know how they feel.

They need a hand, and that hand is yours, kind reader. The future of the opposition to journalism that is corrupted by the market depends on your support and collaboration. Don't stop now. If it is possible that the School of Authentic Journalism can count with your contribution, please give today, via credit card, through this PayPal link.

Or, send your check through the mail to:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA

Somewhere in this world there is a former journalist adrift on the oceans of disillusion, thinking that there is nothing more that can be done. Will you allow her or him to drown?

Think about it, carefully, please… Just about that.

Fraternally,

Laura Del Castillo Matamoros
Graduate, Narco News School of Authentic Journalism

To donate in response to the Laura Del Castillo Letter on behalf of the School of Authentic Journalism, click here.

Dear Friends,

The Fund for Authentic Journalism, the stem from which Narco News blooms anew, calls out for sustenance. Narco News, the scourge of media manipulators, of the traffickers in lies and distortions, of corrupt bankers, of shiftless bureaucrats and bureau chiefs, of thieving technocrats and scheming embassy staff, must grow. It must not be allowed to wither from lack of care, nor perish on the vine.

Who can forget the Zapatistas marching on the Zocalo? Or the streets of Caracas spilling over with people to return their elected government in Venezuela? Or the Bolivian people seething in revolt against ‘Goni’? I count myself among the many readers who will reply simply: “I cannot.” Working ceaselessly, Narco News and its correspondents have delivered us these stories and countless more.

Dear friends, now is the time to give what we are able in support of this effort. Please remember this effort is not just for an independent media: it is for an authentic media, for a revolution in media, which rejects what Stig Dagerman, anarchist and authentic journalist, rejected a half-century ago when he wrote:

“Journalism is the art of showing up too late, as soon as possible. I’ll never practice that.”

In similar fashion, our friends at Narco News embody the struggle not just for a independent journalism, but for an authentic journalism which shows up on time, in real time, while there’s still time.

For these reasons, Narco News, whose appearance heralds a bright spring for democracy, transparency, honesty, decency and common sense throughout our hemisphere must flourish. Let's shine a bright and burning light on the squirming tentacles of the Empire. Let us donate to the Fund for Authentic Journalism.

Please visit the website www.authenticjournalism.org to make an online contribution, or just click here.

Or you can send your contribution by mail, making your check out to "The Fund For Authentic Journalism," and by sending it to:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA

In Solidarity,

Nate Johnson
Bellingham, WA

There are alarming anti-democratic tendencies oozing from the banner of the stars and stripes these days. Haiti has just entered its bicentennial in a most ignominious way. The more I learn about its poignant history, the more deplorable I find the current situation. Narco News has covered the history, origins of conflict and unfolding events better than any news source. Venezuela may very well be next and this site will most assuredly inform you thoroughly. These countries and stories cannot be overlooked at this moment if you are a supporter of democracy in the Américas.

In The Narcosphere, bloggers hash out the news in this hemisphere from several sources, perspectives and angles. The cream rises to the top with an easy-to-use rating system. News unfolds and sometimes some of us are right (some more than others), but it is a true “vox populi” where people contribute in a streaming seam of unbeatable coverage with hemispheric consciousness.

Now is the time to take care of our continent, North and South.  One of my great concerns as an ecologist and Latin Americanist has been the effects of the drug war. That is what brought me here. With the stories that Narconews provides, one can also learn of the issues of social justice that this “war” has created. The implications are huge. In Bolivia and Peru, popular outcry has prevented widespread spraying of coca plants. However, as Al points out about Plan Colombia using a recent U.S. government report, “close to 120,000 hectares of Colombian land - that's 463 SQUARE MILES - were sprayed over the past year… There is more, so much more, to be said and to be done about this ecological disaster underway.” I agree wholeheartedly.

Whether it be the drug war, Haiti, Venezuela or corrupt government officials (North and South), Narco News is the best place to inform ourselves about these issues. With enough “critical mass” this may, one day, even be the best place for organizing action to raise consciousness of other people. As the old slogan goes, El pueblo unido jamas será vencido.

Being back in school for the first time in over ten years, I am alarmed at the excuse of “lack of time” that people use in keeping themselves ignorant of the issues. Academic colleagues have told me that I should drop the Haiti issue and focus on class materials, methodology and theory…

Good people of the Américas, unite behind the ideals of a transparent democracy, the freedoms we hold dear will bear fruits of social justice if we care enough about learning the truth. When the CIA has become the beacon of light in American government (see "CIA expected Plan Colombia to fail and said Saddam Hussein posed no threat unless attacked"), then we have somehow let leaders fail us. When leaders fail, people must lead.

Therefore, I ask you to join me in considering what contribution we each can make to keep the voices of truth and justice in the Américas heard, by donating online via this link.

Or you can send your contribution by mail, making your check out to "The Fund For Authentic Journalism," and by sending it to:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA

Although this is a plea for monetary contributions, I would like to see as many thoughts about the developments of events in the Américas as possible, even if you don’t feel like you know enough about the story. I want to be able to express my opinions and hear others voice there own. I want to make Narco News one of the first places we all check when we log onto the Web.

I applied for my Narco News Co-publisher's account through this link.

And, ever since, I've been able to comment freely, ask questions, and get questions answered, on all the news reports and Reporter's Notebook entries that spring up daily from the widely respected Authentic Journalists on the Narco News Team. The "Narcosphere" makes Narco News like no other newspaper in the world in that it involves us, the readers, as active participants in the reporting, refining, improving, and making of the news.

Look through your expenses (I found my useless AOL automatic charge to be the perfect conversion to my monthly pledge to The Fund for Authentic Journalism) and ask yourself “Do I really need this?” If you don’t, please consider diverting those funds here.

Trevor Top
New Orleans, Louisiana

To respond to the Trevor Top Letter with your contribution, click this link.

Dear Friend,

If most people in the USA, France, and Canada, had known the basic facts of the predicted coup in Haiti, I don’t think it would have happened.

Many lives could have been saved. The democratic experiment would have continued for a people who, in the rare times they have gained power, have made great choices. Like when they ended slavery while winning a revolution.

It’s a heavy burden to live with: how things could have been different, how people might not have been murdered, a nation not forced still further into desperate, killing poverty, if only the truth had been known.

If, in other words, Narco News had never stopped publishing, but had continued its good, honest reporting; if this had grown to include solid news and analysis about Haiti; if these reports reached at least as many people in the US as now vaguely know that yeah, something happened in Haiti.

If, if, if…

The first ‘if’ is taken care of: Narco News is back with great articles. The third ‘if’ is something that’s going to take a lot of work: building a physical or person-to-person network that can get authentic news to every person, at least on big events like a coming overthrow of a true democracy. The second ‘if’ is the purpose of this e-mail: expanding authentic journalism to everywhere in the Americas, starting with the places most in need.

This is the raw material of an informed world citizenry— news of what matters to people’s lives before it is too late to change it. This is the raw material the School for Authentic Journalism teaches people how to produce.

Giordano and the Narco News team will be bringing a greater focus on the Caribbean to the next session this summer. We’ll be two-thirds of the way to helping people gain far more power over their own lives, to stopping the next US-backed coup attempt— perhaps to removing the new US-France dictatorship in Haiti.

That’s the situation we could have now.

If… We support the School of Authentic Journalism.

That’s why I’m asking you to send — or promise (see how you can get an interest-free loan, below, to support the J-School!) — money.

Some of you may not like fundraising on the front page of Narco News. I don’t like asking for money myself (I nearly didn’t write this letter; you might notice there are just three days left to meet this donation deadline). I don’t like asking for money. We’re in good company: Al Giordano and Luis Gómez, explaining Narco News’s then-indefinite suspension last October 18, wrote why they wouldn’t do fundraising: “asking for money with one hand, while trying to report the news with the other, ends up making people tailor their work to those who have money and, sadly, to abandon and to betray the majority that does not.”

Because good reporting still takes time, resources, and people (and is most useful if available free), some true civil society leaders stepped up and created the Fund for Authentic Journalism to provide support without Narco News’s solicitation. The Narco News team allows readers (such as myself) to reach out to other readers through the newspaper, The Narcosphere, and sometimes even its subscriber list. Only when it comes to the Fund’s campaign for the School of Authentic Journalism, the academic flank of this revolution in reporting, do Narco News reporters ask directly for your help: to train the next generation of journalists. The rest is up to us.

This isn’t a PBS telethon. It’s not nearly as annoying, I hope. More important, neither Exxon-Mobil nor the U.S. government will ever fund any part of Narco News. This means your money will have an impact here. It also means it is wholly up to us: to help the School for Authentic Journalism, which will help Narco News along its rapid path toward full reporting, not just on the drug war in Latin America, but on the larger war it is part of, the ongoing war for profits, power, and privilege in all of América.

As of my writing this letter, according to Treasurer Andrew Grice, the Fund is still $3,372 short of what it needs for the second $10,000 matching grant (that means you and I have already responded, collectively, with $6,628 dollars since February 5th). I have given more tzedakeh (“justice”) money to Narco News in the past weeks than to anything else I’ve ever supported. I am not going to see Narco News undercut one month after its return, when the stakes are higher than ever. Are you?

Don’t have the money to give before the 18th? Not sure your check will get there in time? I will front you the money. Because I have a $9.73 an hour job and still live with my parents, I have just enough in my savings account to do it. E-mail me with the amount you want to give and which fundraising letter you want to credit it to, if any, and I’ll PayPal it over to the Fund for Authentic Journalism. You have no excuse now. I’ve thrown emotion, logic, guilt, and interest-free credit at you.

We’ll give because we’ll have no say over the news content.

We’ll give because Narco News has a track record of great reporting.

We’ll give because Al will continue to assemble the greatest cast of fighters for truth, for the people— before, not after, it’s too late for the truth to do the people a lot of good.

Give. Please.

Here’s the link.

Or send your contribution to:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA

(And if anyone has any ideas for the third step toward pushing back against current and future coups — putting Narco News and other authentic journalism out there in such a way that every person in North America is minimally informed and knows how to know more — please e-mail me. Because ignorance is not a right and this stuff matters, to life, death, health, and hope.)

[Aside from everything on Narco News and my life experiences to date, the biggest influences on this letter were the coup in Haiti (of course), Al Giordano’s post Democracy, Dictatorship, and Definition in which he says we got beat in Haiti and vows to push back, and the quotation from Stig Dagerman included in Nate Johnson’s fundraising letter: “Journalism is the art of showing up too late, as soon as possible. I’ll never practice that.” Here’s to authentic journalism and showing up on time— which right now means giving (or promising me) your money by March 18th, this Thursday. Three thousand three hundred seventy-two dollars to go. Thanks for reading.]

Benjamin Melançon
ben_nn@melanconent.com