Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Freedom Rider: Hybrid Warfare in Bolivia and Beyond
Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
13 Nov 2019
Freedom Rider: Hybrid Warfare in Bolivia and Beyond
Freedom Rider: Hybrid Warfare in Bolivia and Beyond

The violent coup in Bolivia, like all of Washington’s regime-change and dirty tricks operations, has been aided and abetted by corporate media’s masters of euphemism.

“The government’s lies must be many and they must be promoted constantly.”

It was recently revealed that a Twitter executive is also a British army reservist whose unit specializes in "information warfare" and “non-lethal" ways of conducting war. That is the very definition of hybrid war.

It is problematic to invade, occupy, overthrow and impose deadly sanctions on helpless civilians when average people can easily access information for themselves. Getting and keeping public support for evil doing is a risky proposition. That is why governments tell lies. They can’t assume a thumbs up from the public when they kill and destroy. They need propaganda and at this stage of history when the United States and its allies can’t expect to get what they want, the lies must be many and they must be promoted constantly.

We see this dynamic in action in Bolivia where a right wing coup aided and abetted by the United States forced president Evo Morales out of office and out of his country in fear for his life. The coup makers were stealthy, and used their scribes in corporate media and institutions like the Organization of American States (OAS) to vilify Morales and claim that his recent election was fraudulent.

“Getting and keeping public support for evil doing is a risky proposition.”

They know what to do. Threaten and browbeat the members of puppet organizations like the OAS and force them to give legitimacy to their ill gotten ends. They use bots and an aggrieved exile community to tell lies on social media. After the elected president fled, the corporate media engaged in euphemisms such as “stepped down from office” instead of being truthful about military interference and attacks on his supporters. That is coup making 101.

But this phenomenon is not unique to American meddling against those nations deemed to be in its “back yard.” U.S. allies use the same methods to misdirect and to fool the gullible. The rulers in the United Kingdom have a serious problem. Millions of people there are angry about years of austerity that have impoverished them and ruined their lives. This anger was one of the reasons that they voted to leave the European Union. The turn of events was unexpected and the ruling elites are engaged in a constant effort to keep their shaky project together and prevent Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn from becoming prime minister.

The need to cover up for one of their favorites recently took on a comical turn. When prime minister Boris Johnson ruined what should have been an easy photo opportunity the BBC sprang into action to protect him. Johnson arrived for a Remembrance Day event looking disheveled, missed his cue and walked to the monument too soon, walked back in line and when he finally laid a wreath it was upside down.

“Millions of people in the UK there are angry about years of austerity.”

The public observance of Remembrance Day is treated with the utmost seriousness. The British media will point out any trivial departure from accepted behavior. But when Johnson did everything except fall flat on his face, the BBC used footage from 2016 when Johnson was foreign minister. Of course viewers noticed and the official government network issued the unbelievable explanation that the use of three-year old footage was a mistake. 

Britain is little more than a U.S. sock puppet and does everything that its masters in Washington demand. They are still in the business of engaging in spycraft at every opportunity. The day after the Bolivian coup a former MI6 operative named James Le Mesurier died from a fall while in Turkey. Le Mesurier was the founder of the White Helmets, the fake relief agency that operates in Syria with the blessings of the U.S./NATO axis and their jihadist friends.

Obviously no one at this early juncture knows if Le Mesurier suffered from an accident, foul play, or suicide but his role in Kosovo, Syria and Turkey is proof that the White Helmets were one of the biggest intelligence operations in the world. The now famous photos of babies covered in blood or dust are fake. Reports of chemical weapons use are fake too and Le Mesurier was the ring master of the fraud. 

“The White Helmets were one of the biggest intelligence operations in the world.”

But the lies become harder and harder to maintain. Whistleblowers from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have confirmed what was long suspected. Reports of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government are highly suspect. Any debates over the findings of official reports were silenced and any evidence giving credence to unofficial narratives were covered up.

The empire finds itself in a difficult position. There is pushback from rivals who have the strength to counter the U.S. and its allies. The liars are like hamsters on a wheel, forced to keep running as they declare fake presidents in South America or broadcast sketchy footage on the BBC. 

The attack is constant and everything from popular culture to the news media are used against us. Warfare is not just bombs and bullets. Twitter hires psy-op experts because they need them in order to keep the scam going. If not the people may wake up and ask inconvenient questions. They may even make demands. They just might rise up, and that is a risk that the war makers cannot abide.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com . Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.       

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]

Bolivia Coup

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Clau O'Brien Moscoso
Black Agenda Report Interview with Former Bolivian President Evo Morales
18 December 2024
The recent attempted assassination of Evo Morales, former President of Bolivia, is part of a larger attempt by the U.S.
It’s Payback Time for Bolivian Socialists
Peoples Dispatch Staff
It’s Payback Time for Bolivian Socialists
02 December 2020
The newly elected MAS government has opened investigations against several members of the coup-regime that seized power last year.
Black Bolivia and the Socialist Electoral Triumph
Erica Caines
Black Bolivia and the Socialist Electoral Triumph
28 October 2020
Indigenous and Afro-Bolivians spent every day resisting the coup to complete the socialist aspirations of their party. 
Elon Musk Is Acting Like a Neo-Conquistador for South America’s Lithium
Vijay Prashad and Alejandro Bejarano 
Elon Musk Is Acting Like a Neo-Conquistador for South America’s Lithium
18 March 2020
The billionaire is leading the scramble for Bolivia’s lithium resources under a coup government.
Pachamama and the Pope
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Pachamama and the Pope
18 December 2019
The violent coup in Bolivia may have been presaged by events at the Vatican, where right-wing Catholics rebelled against the Pope’s display of resp
A Letter to Intellectuals Who Deride Revolutions in the Name of Purity
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Ana Maldonado, Pilar Troya Fernandez, and Vijay Prashad 
A Letter to Intellectuals Who Deride Revolutions in the Name of Purity
11 December 2019
 Critics on the left in North America and in Europe gave the Chavez and Morales governments no time to breathe.
Abstract Leftism Leaves Bolivia and the Global South in Imperialist Crosshairs
Netfa Freeman
Abstract Leftism Leaves Bolivia and the Global South in Imperialist Crosshairs
11 December 2019
The phony US Left specializes in finding excuses to betray victims of US imperialism.
How the Global North’s ‘Left’ Media Helped Paved the Way for Bolivia’s Right-Wing Coup
Lucas Koerner
How the Global North’s ‘Left’ Media Helped Paved the Way for Bolivia’s Right-Wing Coup
11 December 2019
So-called progressives in the US can find every wart in foreign governments, but are blind to Washington’s regime change crimes.
Bolivia Coup: Hatred of the Indian
Álvaro García Linera
Bolivia Coup: Hatred of the Indian
27 November 2019
How did the traditional middle class incubate so much hatred and resentment towards the people, leading them to embrace racialized fascism centered
After Morales Ousted in Coup, the Lithium Question Looms Large in Bolivia
Vijay Prashad
After Morales Ousted in Coup, the Lithium Question Looms Large in Bolivia
20 November 2019
The main target in Bolivia is the nation’s massive deposits of lithium, crucial for the electric car.

More Stories


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    LETTER: Thank you, Mr. Howe, Ama Ata Aidoo, 1967
    07 May 2025
    Ama Ata Aidoo lands a knock-out blow to white neocolonial anti-African revisionism.
  • Jon Jeter
    The Only Language the White Settler Speaks: Ohio Police Say Grieving Black Father Avenges Son’s Slaying By Killing One of Theirs
    07 May 2025
    The killing of Timothy Thomas in 2001 ignited Cincinnati’s long-simmering tensions over police violence. This struggle continues today, forcing a painful question: When justice is denied, does…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment
    07 May 2025
    "DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Brittany Friedman’s Book, “Carceral Apartheid”
    07 May 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Brittany Friedman. Friedman is assistant professor of sociology at the University of…
  • Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    Black Politics and Mutual Comradeship: A Manifesto
    07 May 2025
    From Gaza to Sudan to the streets of America, the oppressors of our time demand mass resistance. Not just protest, but an organized, unrelenting struggle. Black radical politics remind us that only…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us