Just a couple of weeks ago, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, demonstrating his contempt for the principle of free speech, “announced that foreigners who visit Venezuela and criticise his government will be escorted to the airport and expelled.”
Sean Penn doesn’t have anything to worry about.
Penn has visited Venezuela and been warmly received by Chavez. It’s fairly certain he had nothing critical to say to the man who has openly embraced Robert Mugabe, who has declared Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarus “a model social state.”
Styling himself as brave and bold dissenter, Penn is in fact a bootlicker.
There is a noble left-wing tradition of opposing authoritarianism in all its forms — a tradition that this blog seeks to venerate and continue. Of course, there is also a left-wing tradition of excusing and supporting dictatorial regimes, and this is the path that Penn has chosen, making a mockery of everything he purports to represent.
Comments are closed.