INVITATION: Rebel Youth Festival, Sept. 6-7: let's celebrate alternative and progressive media!

Special to RY 

It is increasingly clear that corporate media empires considerably reduce our ability to access quality information. Big corporations and the ruling class love it. With the commodification of information, they control the editorial line of major media groups by financing them generously.

This kind of media is presented as being moderate and holding the truth. This is in the context of the rise of the extreme right (of which it is a major sponsor) and while the dangers of imperialist wars and the destruction of the environment (which it does not seriously challenge). There is no doubt that promoting an alternative, militant and combative press is a necessity.

Syria: Manipulation for war

Ajit Singh

A couple weeks ago, a Palestinian child was beheaded by the "moderate rebels" in Syria, created, funded, and backed by the United States, Canada, and NATO. Western states and the corporate media tried to minimize and downplay this beheading, going so far as to suggest that he was a member of a Palestinian militia supporting the Syrian government and therefore this was understandable conduct.

Last week, the US and UK funded "non-governmental organization", the “White Helmets”, which was founded by a British military officer, shared images of a Syrian child appearing to be bloodied. In addition to these dubious connections, photos circulating on social media show the photographer posing with the same militant group who captured and beheaded the Palestinian child in Aleppo. However, unlike the beheading where the child’s suffering was swept away, the corporate media is now flooding us with a story, saying: "Look at this poor child! The Syrian and Russian governments are barbaric! We must act!" [1][2][3]