Freedom of speech? Argentina's leader 'lifted' lines straight from the West Wing
The Guardian|October 05, 2024
Argentina's rightwing populist president, Javier Milei, has been accused of plagiarising a chunk of his recent speech to the UN general assembly from the political drama The West Wing.
Tom Phillips
Freedom of speech? Argentina's leader 'lifted' lines straight from the West Wing

"It seems like fiction, but it isn't," the left-leaning Buenos Aires newspaper Página 12 reported yesterday, claiming Milei had "copied, word for word, a monologue" by the television show's fictional president, Josiah "Jed" Bartlet.

Suspicions over Milei's address surfaced this week when the political columnist Carlos Pagni flagged the "extraordinary" similarities between part of the president's speech and words uttered by Martin Sheen's Bartlet 21 years earlier. "Didn't anyone else notice?" Pagni wrote in the newspaper La Nación before transcribing the words of both men.

Addressing world leaders on 24 September, Argentina's libertarian leader said: "We believe in defending everyone's lives. We believe in defending everyone's property. We believe in freedom of speech for everybody. We believe in freedom to worship for everybody. We believe in freedom of trade for everybody... And because in these times what happens in one country quickly has an impact in others, we believe all people should live free from tyranny and oppression, whether in the form of political oppression, economic slavery or religious fanaticism. This fundamental idea must not be mere words - it has to be supported by deeds: diplomatically, economically and materially."

This story is from the October 05, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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This story is from the October 05, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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