(Documentary | Director: Barbara Trent | USA 1992 | 91 min.)

The election of Donald Trump as US president causes the share prices of major banks, tech companies and the arms industry on Wall Street to explode. His ultra-reactionary, authoritarian and racist chauvinism is not deterring European heads of government from repeating their values-based allegiance to the self-proclaimed beacon of “freedom and democracy” in the world.

The rest of the world, on the other hand, has been well aware for decades that the Western incantation of “freedom and democracy” is synonymous with the power-political enforcement of vile economic profit interests and often means war. The same phraseology has been used to crown each of the countless military invasions of the NATO bloc and in particular the USA in the countries of the so-called Third World since 1945, in violation of international law, with seemingly higher consecrations.

The Republic of Panama, formally independent since 1903, fared no differently in 1989 - albeit with little global attention. After targeted propaganda and media preparation, over 20,000 US soldiers landed in the largest cities of the Central American country on the night of December 20. They occupied the Canal Zone, the strategically most important transportation routes, radio stations, television stations, newspaper editorial offices and universities, arrested head of government Noriega, crushed the Panamanian military, set fire to entire residential areas and pursued any protests against the occupation with bloody violence.

The Oscar-winning documentary “The Panama Deception” by US directors Barbara Trent and David Kasper impressively sheds light on the real background, context and consequences of this military invasion, which was either hushed up in the media or glorified as a heroic action to liberate the Panamanian people from the corrupt military ruler and drug dealer Noriega.

Full announcer: https://schluss-mit-austeritaet.de/event/filmseminar-the-panama-deception