Hugo Chavez Show: Part 8 of 8

Ten Years On, Serious Social Ills Remain
Kidnappings and murder, unequal distribution of oil wealth, food shortages – yet the poor still believe things would be worse without Chávez.

“Chinese Democracy” banned in China

Who would have thought that Axl Rose would be in the headlines again?

Ok, so this article is not about democracy per se, but I think there may be a closely related story here. According to the Wall Street Journal, an official at the Chinese Ministry of Culture reportedly sent word that record distributors shouldn’t bother stocking the album, stating that any title with the word democracy is “not going to work”.

If you were wondering why the name of the recent Guns n’ Roses album, here you go: the title track from the album includes lyrics with references to Falun Gong, a meditation practice banned in China, and the line “if your Great Wall rocks blame yourself,”which has been interpreted as a critique of the Chinese government’s authoritarian rule.

I dont know if the album is any good or if the Chinese people are actually missing out on anything, but they should at least have the opportunity to choose.