Cynthia McKinney's Dissertation: Hugo Chavez, White Supremacy, COINTELPRO and Wikileaks

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Photo: Dr. Cynthia McKinney (second from right middle row) graduated with Dr. Brenda Manuelito (third from left front), Dine' from Tohatchi/Naschitti area of Navajo Nation and Dr. Carmella Rodriguez (second from right front) of Nambe, NM, creators of nDigidreams, an Indigenous-grounded digital storytelling company focused on survivance, liberation and healing.

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio -- Cynthia McKinney has broken dangerous ground since leaving Congress, challenging the US bogus wars, spider web intelligence and the junkyard media that makes it all possible.

Now, Dr. Cynthia McKinney has released her new dissertation, examining the life of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, with an analysis of white supremacy, COINTELPRO, Operation Condor, Wikileaks and more. 

McKinney visited us in Tucson in 2007, urging impeachment of Bush and Cheney. 

Responding to comments from fellow Congressmen, she said, "If I succeed then they know that there is life after political death, which really isn't death at all." Her words eight years ago were a forerunner to years of travel that took her through the Middle East.

She has not only succeeded, but she has done it well.

The title of Dr. McKinney’s dissertation is “’El No Murio, El Se Multiplico!’  Hugo Chavez:  The Leadership and the Legacy on Race.”  

Former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney

Completes PhD in Leadership and Change

at Antioch University

Graduating from Antioch University’s PhD program in Leadership and Change on August 1, 2015, Cynthia McKinney fulfilled a lifelong dream to complete her education with a terminal degree.  Cynthia is pictured here in Yellow Springs, Ohio, the school’s main campus, with the other graduating members of the PhD program.

Cynthia McKinney among the 2015 graduates of Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change

In keeping with her interests in U.S. policy, Dr. McKinney wrote her dissertation on the leadership challenges faced by President Hugo Chavez as he asserted the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s right to sovereignty.  President Chavez’s mission as leader of Bolivarian Venezuela caused him to tackle the tough issues of U.S. domination, notions of White Supremacy, and the long-suppressed human rights of Venezuela’s Indigenous, African, and mixed populations that, together, constitute the majority of the people in the country.  The title of Dr. McKinney’s dissertation is “’El No Murio, El Se Multiplico!’  Hugo Chavez:  The Leadership and the Legacy on Race.”  

Dr. Peter Dale Scott, University of California at Berkeley Professor Emeritus, served on Dr. McKinney’s dissertation committee and his influence can be seen as she sets the context of Hugo Chavez’s leadership by exploring the intricacies of Deep Politics in U.S. foreign policy in the past—COINTELPRO (The Counter Intelligence Program of the U.S. government, spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation), Operation Condor—and in the present.  After the U.S. Justice Department prosecuted and imprisoned journalist Barrett Brown for publishing WikiLeaks documents, McKinney was unsuccessful in her effort to use extremely revealing U.S. diplomatic cables and other key information in her dissertation that had also been published by WikiLeaks; this information was important because it exposed contemporaneous U.S. attitudes and behavior toward Hugo Chavez, in particular, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in general.

Dr. Al Guskin, former Chancellor of Antioch University, credited with inspiring President Kennedy to found the Peace Corps of the U.S. Department of State, served as Cynthia’s dissertation committee chair.   

Also serving on Cynthia’s dissertation committee were Dr. Philomena Essed, noted scholar on Critical Race Theory and Dr. Joseph Jordan of the University of North Carolina who has extensive experience in Latin American issues.  As a part of her research, Cynthia interviewed prominent scholars, activists, and individuals who knew or knew of Hugo Chavez’s leadership and legacy on race.

Dr. Cynthia McKinney Speaks

Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change program is one that fosters scholarly inquiry and knowledge for personal and community liberation.  The philosophy of Antioch University can be summed up in the words of the first Antioch College President, educator and Congressman Horace Mann of Massachusetts:  “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

Antiochians also count the famous among their number:  Comedian Dave Chappelle’s father taught at Antioch College and before that, Coretta Scott studied education there in the days before integration was legal and before she married Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. McKinney has written two books and several articles, some listed below:

Cynthia’s Books:

a) Illegal War on Libya, Clarity Press, 2012 

b) Ain't Nothing Like Freedom, Clarity Press, 2013 

Cynthia’s Chapters and Articles

a) Chapter: "Libya, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine: Another War Based on Lies, Pretexts, and Profiteering?" in Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony risks World War III, edited by Stephen Lendman. Clarity Press, 2014

b) Article: "Je ne sais pas qui je suis: Making Sense of Tragedies Like the Charlie Hebdo Incident When the Government Narrative Doesn't Make Sense," Plymouth Institute for Peace Research, 21 March, 2015.

c) Chapter: "Hugo Chavez: Liderazgo para Venezuela; Liderazgo para el Caribe," El ALBA-TCP: Origen y fruto del nuevo regionalismo latinoamericano y caribeño, Maribel Aponte García. Gloria Amézquita. [Compiladoras]. 2015

Dr. McKinney served twelve years in the U.S. House of Representatives.  

Her dissertation can be downloaded here:  http://aura.antioch.edu/etds/208/

Author ORCID # http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9785-7830