Change? Not in America's Backyard!Barack Obama's Reactionary Stance on Latin AmericaAs progressives in the United States are riding a wave of excitement about Democratic hopeful Barack Obama and his promise of change, the people of Latin America have much less to be excited about. In fact, given some of his recent comments, Latin America might expect an even more aggressive policy from Barack Obama than what they saw under the Bush administration.US policymakers, from the Monroe Doctrine to the Truman Doctrine, have long seen Latin America as a strategic region with vast natural resources and lucrative markets which must remain inside the US sphere of influence, regardless of the desires of its people. Barack Obama apparently feels the same. Continue reading... |
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Chavez After Nine Years: The Numbers Speak for ThemselvesVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave his own "state of the union" last week before the Venezuelan National Assembly where he gave some examples of the social achievements of his government in the last nine years. The results are fairly well-known by any serious analysts, but continue to be ignored by most major media, and are perhaps a surprise to anyone who has accepted the mainstream accounts of the Bolivarian Revolution. You can see the numbers for yourself. |
"They Want To Make Us Disappear" - How Free Trade is Destroying Mexico |
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The agricultural policies of
NAFTA went into full effect on January 1st, 2008, forcing a full
opening of Mexico's agricultural sector to US and Canadian imports. The
free trade agreement calls for all protections on goods to be removed
for "free" trade between the three member countries of NAFTA: Mexico,
United States, and Canada.
Mexico's farmers, however, have burst into protest. They claim that NAFTA has done nothing but worsen living conditions in Mexico, and insist that the removal of protections on things like corn and beans, crops that have shaped their traditions and culture for thousands of years, will be the end for thousands of small farmers across the country. They have vowed to block corn and beans from crossing the US-Mexico border, setting up road blocks along the border on January 1st. "We will say again clearly to
the government of Mexico that NAFTA has not brought us benefits and we
will not be deceived by the fraudulent government of Felipe
Calderón, who insists that the free trade agreement does not
hurt us," said Victor Quintana, of the Chihuahua Democratic Front of
Farmers (FDCCh). "We are going to rescue Mexico and the national
economy to favor honest, simple people."
The farmers claim that NAFTA has been harmful to most Mexicans, only benefitting large businesses and multinational firms, but stress that millions of small farmers that used to make up Mexico have been hit the hardest. Max Correa, leader of the Cardenist Farmers organization (CCC), said that only a minority of large producers have benefitted. "250 thousand producers that had the tools, technology and infrastructure to compete have benefitted," said Correa. "But the 750 thousand small producers and 3.5 million more that lived at a subsistence level, don't have any chance of competing." Correa pointed out that the changes in 2008 will only worsen an already miserable situation that began 14 years ago with the beginning of Nafta. "In 1994 we had 12 million poor
people and now there are 50 million. Of them, almost 20 million, in
extreme poverty, are living in the countryside," he said. "That year
they determined that there was a migration to the US of about 26
thousand Mexicans per year. Now, we have almost 600 thousand per year.
One farmer loses his life every day trying to cross the border."
On top of the negative social effects, Mexico also stands to lose their cultural heritage. Corn was originally domesticated by the Mexicans thousands of years ago, and there are literally hundreds of varieties grown around the country. If Mexican corn production gets replaced by imported corn from the US and Canada, many of these varieties, staples of the Mexican diet and the center of their culture, will disappear forever. Quintana lamented the fact that much of Mexico's cultural identity is being swallowed up and privatized by multinational corporations. "When I was little I never thought I would drink commercial water. We all went to the lakes and the streams. But now they have been bought up and privatized." "Now the multinationals say they are going to plant a lot of trees to produce oxygen because of the climate change. And surely, although it seems crazy, now they are thinking about charging for that oxygen. I say it because it already happened with the water, and they want to keep privatizing the natural resources, the land, and the seeds that have given us our cultural identity." "They want to make us farmers disappear," he said. |
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The Truth About Venezuela's Student Movement |
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| In the
national and international media they have given the image that here in
Venezuela a student movement for "freedom" and "democracy" has emerged
against an "authoritarian dictator." But in the last few years, several
journalists have been writing about how this student movement shares the
same objectives and characteristics of other students movements
that have been supported and backed by Washington in the various Color
Revolutions. Their objective is very simple: overthrow a
democratically-elected government. The strategy has been used in many
countries around the world to overthrow leaders who are unfriendly to
Washington's interests. Now the target is Hugo Chavez. Spanish journalist David Segarra Soler put together this short video named "New Faces, The Same Objective" revealing the connections that Venezuela's student movement has with various CIA front organizations, and right-wing political groups from around Europe. It clearly shows how the intention of this student movement is to follow in the footsteps of previous youth movements that were used by Washington to overthrow regimes in Serbia, Ukraine, and elsewhere, in the name of "freedom." It also shows how the media play a key role in distorting and manipulating events, using as an example the recent violence in the Central University of Venezuela, and how the truth was completely hidden and distorted. I have spent several hours putting English subtitles to this video so everyone can see it. So please watch it, and share it! |
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Chavez Gives A Lesson In Democracy |
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The Chavez proposal for
Constitutional Reform lost by 1.4% in a national vote last night. But
instead of crying about fraud and throwing stones in the street,
Chavez and his supporters accepted
their defeat, and went home peacefully. We might imagine what the
response from the opposition would have been had they lost. Caracas
would be in total chaos right now, with student violence leaving people
injured and dead, opposition parties denouncing "fraud", and the
private media supporting them. This is how the opposition behaves when
democracy doesn't go in their favor. Since Chavez became president, there has been a national vote, for one reason or another, almost every single year for the last 8 years; a deepening of democracy not seen anywhere in the world. While the Venezuelan oligarchy, backed by the United States, has a long history of preventing democracy in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has shown that real democracy includes consulting the people in frequent national elections, and accepting the results whether they go your way or not. The Venezuelan opposition has clearly shown that they are not willing to accept popular democracy. Chavez has clearly shown that he is. But Venezuela's popular democracy will always be a threat to those who refuse to accept the will of the people. |
Radio VenezuelaFor continued, real time
coverage of events this weekend during the
national referendum for Venezuela's constitutional reform, some friends
and fellow activists here in Venezuela have organized an online radio station
to give an on-the-ground, alternative view of events. As the campaign
leading up to the national referendum has given clear signs that
the opposition has developed plans to
destabilize the country, it will be important to have this alternative
source of information to combat the mainstream
distortion.
Listen to Radio Venezuela. |
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What is Venezuela's Constitutional Reform Really About? |
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The central focus of Venezuela's
constitutional reform and how it fits into the larger picture of the
political process being carried out in the country has been entirely
absent from mainstream accounts. By leaving out the larger context in
which this reform lies and how it plays an essential part of the
political program of the Chavez government, the major media have
created the image that the central purpose of the reform is to
concentrate power in the hands of the presidency. Once again,
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez appears as a power-hungry autocrat, a tin-pot
dictator sitting on massive oil wealth, this time reforming the
constitution as a means to install himself as president for life. But what is Venezuelan's proposed constitutional reform really about? Is it simply an ill-conceived power grab on the part of Venezuela's popular president? Or is there something deeper and more important to this wide range of constitutional changes? Only an understanding of the political project that Chavez plans to develop in the country, and the specific political, economic, and social structure that it entails, allows us to fit the constitutional reform into the larger context and understand the real role it plays in laying the groundwork for the future plans of the Chavez government. Read the article... |
Vote "Yes"The campaign for the Constitutional
Reform has begun, with both sides making their case
for or against the proposed reform to 69 articles of the national
constitution. While international media has distorted the truth
of the reform, Venezuelan
media has just told outright lies. Surveys
show that the "yes" vote has the advantage, although abstention could
be high, so it is hard to predict exactly what the final outcome
will be. But, as usual, the opposition has their own
surveys, which show something entirely different. Just as in
previous electoral contests in the past, the opposition distorts survey
results to make their viewers think that the pro-Chavez vote will lose.
But the tactic has been exhausted, leaving few Venezuelans doubting who
is going to win this one. To see more photos of the pro-reform march, click
here.
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Repress us! PLEASE!!!
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The
anti-Chavez students are getting really desperate. But not because
they are suffering under a "repressive" regime, but because they just
can't seem to get the regime to repress them!!! They've tried everything,
but the terrible "dictator" just keeps letting them march
and protest, and doesn't do anything about it!! How dare
he! This is SUPPOSED to
be a brutal dictatorship, and the students are determined to make it
look that way! So yesterday, as I watched the anti-Chavez students marching through Caracas on TV, I asked myself, as usual, "What do these students want anyway?" This time the protest was about the new constitutional reform proposal that is being prepared for a nation wide debate. I thought to myself, if these students don't like the constitutional reform proposal, why don't they simply vote against it? It does, after all, have to be approved in a nation-wide vote. So why all the protests and marches? Why don't they just use their democratic right, and vote against this? Isn't that how democracy works? Well, no, it doesn't work that way. You see, these students know that they are a minority. That is, they know they will probably lose the national vote. And since their plan is to stop this thing "by any means possible" they intend to use any excuse to make the Chavez government appear like a repressive regime. How do they do it? By provoking violence, attacking the police, (see video at left) and then posing for the TV cameras as the police respond with tear gas. It works great, and the international media play right along, claiming that the government is "repressing protests." Yesterday the students actually took it one step further. A delegation of students was allowed to enter the National Electoral Council to submit a formal complaint to the electoral authorities. But as the anti-Chavez students were leaving, they attempted to chain themselves inside the building, creating a huge scene, and forcing the national guard to forcibly remove them, with the TV cameras rolling, of course. Its all a media show. The "regime" won't repress them, but that doesn't matter. They're determined to make it LOOK like they are repressed anyway! |
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Washington Nut-Jobs Make Propaganda Video on "Terrorist" Hugo
Chavez
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| In an
obvious attempt to build the case for a US military attack on
Venezuela, the wackos
at Washington's American
Security Council
recently released a video that basically links the Venezuelan president
to as many "dark" and "evil" things as they could possibly cram into a
short video. Terrorist? Yes. Dictator? Certainly. Drug lord? Apparently. Crazy fascist America-hater? Definitely. And the evidence? Well, no.... there's no evidence for any of these claims, but that doesn't really matter, does it? Actually, nearly everything these total whack-jobs say is exactly the opposite of what the truth is, but that's not the point. The point is to really SCARE THE FREAKING CRAP out of all the Americans who don't even know what continent Venezuela is on. "Vensswayla? Isn't that in Africa?" There is one point where they actually do tell the truth, which is when they talk about the "economic threat." The fact that there is a growing relationship between Venezuela and places like China is definitely a threat for the colonial power in the hemisphere. But, uh, that's a good thing....that is, unless you are a supporter of colonialism. Luckily, Eric Wingerter from the great blog BoRev.net made this comedic version of the video, with pop-up messages to respond to some of the most outrageous claims and just to make fun of these crazies. Check out Eric's blog here. |
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The Struggle to Industrialize VenezuelaLatin America has been told for
decades that free trade is the path to modernization. Hugo Chavez,
however, understands that free trade is unfair for the weaker, less
advanced nations, and that the true path to national development and
advancement is the strengthening of his own nation's industry and
production through direct state support, guidance and intervention.
Before free trade could ever be fair trade, Venezuela and the rest of
Latin America would have to become stronger. And toward that end, Hugo
Chavez is making significant efforts.
Read the full article |
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21st Century Socialism |
Calvin
Tucker, co-editor of the
website 21stCenturySocialism.com,
and staunch defender of the Bolivarian Revolution, appeared on a
television debate recently in England. Tucker,
with help from guest Francisco Dominguez, gives the doubting host, and
his
right-wing companion Cristina Palomares some excellent answers to their
weak criticisms, including an excellent answer to the doubts
surrounding the elimination of term limits in Venezuela. Palomares, from Aznar's conservative think-tank Fundacion FAES, gives some of the most typical gripes of the Venezuelan opposition, including the common claim that Chavez is a hypocrite because while he criticizes the United States, he still receives most of his state income from oil sales to the US. Yes, of course he continues to sell oil to the United States, and at quite a hefty price too! So, I'm not sure how this is hypocritical, especially since the U.S. now pays 10 times more than they did before Chavez, and ending oil sales to the world's largest market would only harm the Venezuelan people! Oh well, more decontextualized, baseless criticism of Hugo Chavez, what's new? Check out Calvin's website at www.21stCenturySocialism.com |
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How the Wealth of the West Was Built on The Expoitation of Others |
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| A recent
BBC documentary, Racism,
A History, made the rare, but true recognition that the
modern
wealth of
the
United States and Britain was built upon the
exploitation of distant lands and distant peoples, most recognized in
the exploitation of slave labor and the control of the raw materials in
other parts of the world. Many people seem to not recognize this simple fact of history, and believe that those countries that are wealthy today are that way because of "hard work" or superior cultural aspects. This is a hidden form of racism that blames the "inferior" victim for their own poverty. People in the United States especially seem to think that the US is prosperous because of its "democracy" or for its political and economic system. They conveniently ignore the simple fact that the wealth of West was, and still is, founded on the exploitation and domination of other nations; the control and domination of foreign markets and foreign resources. This is a historical truth that continues to be true today. Read more about it here and here. |
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How Venezuela Is Building the Best Health System In The World |
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about four years ago,
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been implementing and constructing
a whole new public health system in Venezuela: the Cuban
system. The
Cuban health system is world-renowned for its high quality and
universal care. The BBC has called it "one of the world's best health
systems." But the Venezuelan opposition seems to be very confused about
the Cuban system. They think the Cuban doctors are "not real doctors,"
that the health system is "very rudimentary," and has shown some pretty
fierce resistance to this policy as can be seen in the video. I recently watched a documentary film by filmmaker Connie Field called ¡Salud!. It is a look at the Cuban health system, and how this tiny island has not only created a tremendous health system for its own citizens, but has also made an unequaled contribution to health care in countries around the world. The first video is an exerpt about the Cuban system. In spite of some fierce criticism by the political opposition, the government of Hugo Chavez decided to implement the same basic health system in Venezuela, with the help of some 20,000 Cuban doctors sent from Cuba. The program in Venezuela is called Barrio Adentro and includes several stages of health care. So far Venezuela has built thousands of first-tier clinics in communities around the country, hundreds of second-tier clinics, and is now beginning to construct the third and fouth tiers of what will soon be an excellent national health care system, universal and free for everyone, and staffed by thousands of newly-trained Venezuelan professionals. See the video to find out how thousands of Venezuelans are being trained as doctors all over the country. |
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How the United States Overthrew Hugo Chavez |
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In his recently released movie,
The War On Democracy,
documentary
filmmaker and world-renowned journalist John Pilger explains how the
United States financed and supported groups inside Venezuela to
overthrow the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez. Pilger's movie goes
on to explain the history of U.S. imperialism in the Latin America, and
tells an amazing story of how the people of the region are now standing
up and fighting to break the chains of colonialism that have plagued
this region for centuries. The movie is spectacular, and a must-see for
anyone interested in Latin America and U.S. imperialism. The following
is an excerpt about U.S. involvement in Venezuela:
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Talking on Public Radio in CaliforniaI spoke on public radio station KPFA 94.1 in Berkeley, California today together with Eva Golinger about Chavez' proposal for constitutional reform and what it means for Venezuela.To listen to the 20 minute interview: Click here |
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Chavez Beware! The Resistance Is Here!That's right. They are now
here, and in full force. They might remind
you of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or perhaps these Afghani
women, but they are actually the "Venezuelan
resistance." Armed
with their posh Caracas accents, incredibly fiery and inspiring
rhetoric, and a pastel-colored motif, they plan to sweep through
Venezuela and turn this country back into the capitalist wonderland of
lower-class repression and marginality that it once was.
They state in the video that they "are not afraid of being identified," which begs the question, then why the masks? But, no matter, these guys are "not pacifists," and even claim to be "terrorists." They plan to use the strategies developed by the CIA and used in numerous CIA-backed "revolutions" to overthrow undesired regimes. Apparently the CIA is hoping to turn Hugo Chavez into another Slobodan Milosevic, or Viktor Yanukovych, and overthrow his government with a US-organized and financed student movement. They have their work cut out for them! |
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Noam Chomsky on SocialismDM: Critics tend to lump you together with the anarchists and libertarian socialists. What would be the role of the state in a real democracy?NC: We are living here and now, not in some imaginary universe. And here and now there are tyrannical organisations – big corporations. They are the closest thing to a totalitarian institution. They are, to all intents and purposes, quite unaccountable to the general public or society as a whole. They behave like predators, preying on other smaller companies. People have only one means of defending themselves and that is the state. Nor is it a very effective shield because it is often closely linked to the predators. But there is a far from negligible difference. General Electric is accountable to no one, whereas the state must occasionally explain its actions to the public. Once democracy has been enlarged far enough for citizens to control the means of production and trade, and they take part in the overall running and management of the environment in which they live, then the state will gradually be able to disappear. It will be replaced by voluntary associations at our place of work and where we live. DM: You mean soviets? NC: The first things that Lenin and Trotsky destroyed, immediately after the October revolution, were the soviets, the workers’ councils and all the democratic bodies. In this respect Lenin and Trotsky were the worst enemies of socialism in the 20th century. But as orthodox Marxists they thought that a backward country such as Russia was incapable of achieving socialism immediately, and must first be forcibly industrialised. In 1989, when the communist system collapsed, I thought this event was, paradoxically, a victory for socialism. My conception of socialism requires, at least, democratic control of production, trade and other aspects of human existence. However the two main propaganda systems agreed to maintain that the tyrannical system set up by Lenin and Trotsky, subsequently turned into a political monstrosity by Stalin, was socialism. Western leaders could not fail to be enchanted by this outrageous use of the term, which enabled them to cast aspersions on the real thing for decades. With comparable enthusiasm, but working in the opposite direction, the Soviet propaganda system tried to exploit the sympathy and commitment that the true socialist ideal inspired among the working masses. Read the whole interview in this month's Le Monde Diplomatique |
Venezuela's RCTV: An Instrument of the CIA?The
president of
Venezuela's RCTV, Eladio Larez, is no stranger to the
CIA. Back in 1989, Larez helped the CIA funnel money through Venezuela
to the Nicaraguan opposition as they worked to topple the Sandinista
government through massive violence and destabilization. Larez was
actually so kind as to set up a fraudulent foundation in Venezuela,
called the National Foundation for Democracy, as a front organization
to receive money from the CIA and pass it on to fund the operations of
a major opposition newspaper in Nicaragua.
CIA assistance enabled the paper to play a key role in the campaign against the government; the same role, in fact, that the CIA had cultivated in other countries that were victims of destabilization programs. The media could be a very useful tool in getting rid of popular, yet “undesirable,” governments. In Venezuela, Eladio Larez’ RCTV appears to be playing the very same role. Read more... |
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Venezuela Making Houses Out Of.....Oil???Yes, that's right. Venezuela is taking something it has an incredible abundance of, oil, and building something that it has a terrible shortage of, housing. As one of many new industrial projects initiated by the Chavez government, this project takes the abundance oil resources of the country and makes them into PVC material. Long PVC tubes are filled with concrete and put together to make these beautiful houses. The advantage of these houses is that they are much cheaper to build, and can be put together in only 8 days by the people themselves. Therefore, it seems like a pretty viable solution to the housing problem in Venezuela, where people in their own communities can replace their shanties with solid, quality housing. Besides these advantages, it has also produced jobs, and furthers the developing petrochemical industry in the country. Read more... |
A Tale of Two Bridges Sometimes history
sets us up with some interesting illustrations of how
the world works. Sometimes things happen in a way that give us a
natural comparison between two different countries, two different
governments, or two different political situations. But, seldom do we
get a coincidence as revealing as we got this week when a bridge
collapsed in Minneapolis, Minnesota (at right). Although it may not
appear to
reveal much, this tragic disaster is just one of the many clear
examples of media bias, of mainstream agenda-setting, and of how some
tragedies, some deaths, and some human beings, are apparently much more
important than others. The media coverage of a incident like this one
is quite illustrative of how we are all victims of an informational hegemony
that shapes the way we see the world.You might be wondering what in the world I am talking about right now. Well, it turns out, just over a year ago a bridge also collapsed here in Venezuela (below). If you don't live in Venezuela, or pay a whole lot of attention to Venezuelan news, you might not have known that. Who cares right? It's just some bridge in Venezuela. But everyone who lives in Venezuela knew about this bridge, because the collapse of this bridge was the fault of President Hugo Chavez. No, he didn't actually physically cause it to come tumbling down, but the collapse of a bridge was just an example of an "inept government," a government that was "letting the country fall to pieces." While the international media barely mentioned it, the media in Venezuela focused on this collapsed bridge for months on end. The Chavez government was responsible for "bad maintenance" and not investing enough money in infrastructure. The bridge in Venezuela was the main news item for as long as possible, and not out of concern for those affected, but to rail against the "corrupt," "inept," and "disastrous," Chavez government.  But when a bridge
collapsed in the United States this week, the whole
world knew about it. The news carried around the world, with in depth
accounts of the suffering victims and the feeling that a real tragedy
had occurred. But, was this the fault of an "inept" government that was
letting the country fall to pieces? No, actually George W. Bush wasn't
even held remotely responsible. In fact, Bush was almost seen as a
victim of the terrible incident as he and his wife visited the scene to
show their mourning for the people affected. George W. Bush was the
good
guy here, visiting the scene of the tragedy and consoling a nation in
mourning. And people around the world got the message, perhaps
subconsciously, that this tragedy was somehow more important than
similar tragedies in other parts of the world. The deaths of those
people in Minnesota are truly tragic, but are they more important than
the deaths of Venezuelans, Colombians, Indonesians, or Iraqis?So, for example, what about when an Iraqi bridge was the horrible scene of as many as 1,000 deaths in 2005. You don't remember? Well, that is because it wasn't very important: only 1,000 people, and only Iraqis after all! Or when 50,000 people were killed here in Venezuela in 1999 from massive flooding and landslides. You might remember that one, if you follow the news closely, but it didn't seem to be as important as Hurricane Katrina last year, which only took the lives of around 500 people. That is 100 times less people than were killed in the Venezuelan tragedy. But the Katrina tragedy merited weeks of intense coverage in international news. The 1999 tragedy in Venezuela got a brief mention. Or how about when 5,000 people were killed in a hurricane and floods in Haiti in 2004; ten times more people than were killed in Katrina. It was barely mentioned at all. Most Americans don't even know where Haiti is located. And even less time is taken to explain that poor Haitians are so much more vulnerable to natural disasters and tropical storms because they don't have the infrastructure or safe conditions to deal with it. Nor do they explain that part of the reason Haitians have these conditions is because the United States invaded, occupied and installed brutal, corrupt dictators in that country that lasted for most of the 20th century. And then, when the people finally elected a popular president for the first time in Haitian history, the United States supported his overthrow. In fact, just 2 years ago the U.S. got rid of him a second time, this time kidnapping him, flying him out of the country, and dumping him in Africa. Studies showed that thousands of Haitians were murdered in the chaos that ensued. But none of that was ever covered in the news either. Paris Hilton is much more important. After all, we have to have our priorities. |
Just a coincidence??? |
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 Serbia, 2000 |
 Georgia, 2003 |
 Russia, 2005 |
 Venezuela, 2007 |
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| These are the logos of youth movements in different countries that have either removed, or are working towards removing, governments undesirable to Washington. All have been organized and funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, the Freedom House, and other CIA organizations. Washington was instrumental in strengthening and supporting these groups, as well as similar groups in the Ukraine, Belarus, and others. The objective is to co-opt popular youth movements against a controversial government in order to open the country to Washington's neoliberal interests. They have succeeded in many places, and though we don't have concrete evidence of CIA backing of the youth movement in Venezuela, we can see now that they are here in Venezuela as well. | ||||||
Venezuela produces cars for the first time everPrevious attempts failed, mostly because political parties in Venezuela have always been built on pacts with elite groups whose interests would be hurt by the substitution of Venezuelan cars for imported cars. In other words, they made money off imported cars, so it was against their interests to locally produce cars. Another reason was that U.S. auto makers never wished to cooperate with Venezuela's plans to build cars. U.S. automakers would have had to install productive factories in Venezuela with the intention of eventually trasferring the technology to Venezuelan hands. But, this was obviously against their interests as they didn't want Venezuela to become independent from imported cars. In the end, it takes a revolutionary government to get the job done, now with Iranian technology.As a product of economic agreements between Venezuela and Iran, the joint car company Venirauto released its first 300 units at an event in Caracas yesterday. The factory, located west of Caracas in Maracay, will produce some 25,000 cars per year using Iranian technology. Continue reading... |
 Chavez and his Iranian
counterparts take the new
Venezuelan-Iranian car for a spin. |
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Who are the real "freedom fighters" in Venezuela?Students dressed in black t-shirts, bowing down in front of lines of riot police, at times marching peacefully through the streets and at times confronting tear-gas with masks and rocks, even handing white carnations to the policemen, pleading for liberty, freedom of expression, and freedom from repression. These are the images of Venezuela’s “freedom fighters,” reminiscent of Tiananmen Square or Eastern European youth fighting the wrath of tyranny, of communist dictatorship, demanding freedom and human rights. Is this the same old story, the same classic situation of a courageous movement of freedom-fighter youth determined to overthrow a repressive, undemocratic dictator? |
You Must See This MovieJohn Pilger, one of my heroes and an excellent documentary film-maker, has come out with his most recent film, "The War on Democracy." The film, in my opinion, represents a real counter to the informational hegemony that we are all victims of. What Pilger presents here is a side of world events, of the U.S. and their foreign policy, that is never discussed in the mainstream, that most American's are unaware of, but that has huge effects in the world, especially the third world. Pilger focuses mostly on Latin America, and particularly recent events in Venezuela, with the 2002 coup that temporarily overthrew Hugo Chavez. Pilger has made more the 50 documentary films all over the world in some of the most brutal conflicts of the last 50 years. He is a fierce critic of Washington and U.S. imperialism around the world. Read more... |
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Chavez Announces "Petrochemical Revolution"A whole industrial revolution will "rain" raw materials down on Venezuelan industry. Chavez announced plans for a whole industrial revolution in Venezuela centering around oil derivatives. The government plans to build several petrochemical complexes in different parts of the country. "How many things can we make out of plastic?" Chavez wondered. That is what they intend to do. Build industry to produce a wide range of things from oil derivatives like plastic, rubber, etc. |
Chavez Goes to Russia,
Belarus, and Iran
Not all foreign investment is created equal. Chavez, emphasizing the
difference between good foreign investment and bad foreign investment,
spoke in Russia last week about the exploitative nature of
neoliberal-style investment in Latin America in recent decades,
and his desire to obtain more productive investment in Venezuela to
help develop the country and increase production. Chavez hopes that
Russia will help Venezuela "in a stronger and more solid way, with its
technology, business, and development, to transform itself into a great
power." |
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Talking on Chicago Public RadioA radio show called "This is Hell" on WNUR 89.3 FM in Chicago interviewed me last Saturday to discuss recent events surrounding the case of the private Venezuelan TV channel RCTV. Listen to the 20 minute interview here. |
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Venezuela Launches Sale of "Bolivarian" ComputersThe Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez announced the launch of their "Bolivarian Computers" last week, consisting of four different models produced in Venezuela with Chinese technology. The new computers will run the open-source Linux operating system and will first be used inside the government "missions" and state companies and institutions but eventually are expected to be sold across Venezuela and Latin America.Four different models are being offered with a price range of US$ 405 (Bs. 870,750) to US$ 1,400 (Bs. 3,010,000). The processors will range in speed from 1.5 GHz to a 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV and the laptop will use a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Continue reading... |
Talking on Miami Public RadioLast Friday I spoke on Miami Public Radio show 'Sound Off with Sasha' about the current situation in Venezuela, the case of the Venezuelan private media channel RCTV, and the recent protests in the country. Here is the description of the program, listen to the interview here.Mainstream media reports say Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez proved he was a dictator by shutting down a television station after it criticized him. Those more familiar with the story question whether that station would get a license in any other democracy. Sasha’s guests are American reporter living and working in Caracas Chris Carlson followed by dean of the University of Florida’s International Center, Dennis Jett, commenting on recent developments in the field of diplomacy, and on changes in the World Bank. Listen here... |
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Venezuelan Civil Society Groups Accuse U.S. of Fomenting DestabilizationOrganizations, journalists, students, activists and intellectuals in Venezuela accused the national and international media of waging a campaign against Venezuela and of supporting destabilization plans that have been carried out in the country in the past few days. According to declarations made by various groups and individuals, the RCTV protests and media coverage of them have a hidden agenda directed by the United States and their Venezuelan allies to destabilize the country. Continue reading... |
Setting the Stage for Turmoil in CaracasWashington’s New Imperial Strategy In VenezuelaNations that do not give in to the demands of the empire and the expansion of global capitalism are targeted by an undercover, well-designed plan to change the political situation in the country, and open it up to corporate investors. U.S.-supported groups inside the country overthrow the president, making it seem like there is no outside intervention. And now, Washington has turned toward its new biggest threat: Latin America, and more specifically, Venezuela.Continue reading... |
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Destroying the Baseless Arguments of the Venezuelan OppositionOpposition blogger Caracas Chronicles wrote a fancy-schmancy reply to a recent Julia Buxton article. In the article, Buxton makes the argument that, regardless of what we think, according to polls Venezuelans love their democracy. Caracas Chronicles believes that he has refuted Buxton in his reply by saying that Chavez is 'cowing' people into supporting him. I addressed this argument in a recent reply to him: |
Dear Caracas Chronicles, I read through your response to Julia Buxton carefully, and thought about your argument. You bring up some points for reflection, but ultimately they can be refuted with basic logic. And, in fact, Buxton herself refuted everything you said in her original article. For sake of space I sum up your argument in the following quotes of yours. "you
can't assess Chavez's democratic
legitimacy without serious consideration of the procedural mechanics of
liberal democracy for the same reason you can't assess the legitimacy
of the Norrmalmstorg Square clerks' opinions without serious
consideration of the procedural mechanics of a bank robbery.
Now, in the era of the Maisanta List, in a country where unflinching partisan loyalty is demanded of all military commanders, in the era of the hyperpoliticized, all-chavista Supreme Tribunal, Fiscalia, Defensoria, PDVSA, DISIP, IVIC, etc. etc., as we watch RCTV being shut-down and dissenting voices ghettoized increasingly ghettoized in the media... in a country where millions of poor people depend for their livelihood on access to state money... It might tell us that, as you believe, Chavez has radically empowered the poor, or it might tell us that he's merely paid off and/or cowed enough people into quiescence to solidify his hold on power." All of this is easily refuted. First of all, Buxton cites two INDEPENDENT surveys, one from Latinobarometro, a Chilean firm, the other from Datanalysis (which is said to be in opposition to Chavez) who both give very positive results on the majority support and approval of Chavez' politics and Venezuelan democracy in general, and completely legitimate the majority support of Chavez, as well as the 2006 electoral results. Now, unless you want to make the claim that somehow the Maisanta List, the lack of plurality in the National Assembly, or lack of balance of powers, had an impact on an independent survey company from Chile, well, your argument dies right there. Or, unless you think that somehow Chavez has enough control over people to make them LIE about how they feel about their own democracy when talking to a private polling firm, even one many times used by the opposition, then, again, your argument is hereby destroyed. Perhaps Chavez would be able to coerce people to support him in a national election, but you have to be joking if you think he could coerce people to lie to independent polling firms about how they feel about Venezuelan democracy. So we could stop right here. Your reasoning has been proven invalid. But, let's take a walk down fantasy lane for a moment and imagine that Chavez DOES have this god-like ability to control millions of people and make them lie, and vote for him over and over and over again as they have, nearly DOUBLING his votes from 3.7 million votes in 1998 to 7.3 million in 2006. (that's a lot of "cowing people into quiescence"!!) Let's imagine that he is simply using his control over public-sector jobs and "state money" to force people to vote for him, and, as you say "merely pay off and/or cow enough people into quiescence to solidify his hold on power." Well, if we look at Venezuelan history, and if you talk to any honest Venezuelan, they will tell you that these are not new tactics. Using public sector jobs and other forms of "buying" votes is nothing new in Venezuela, and certainly did not begin with Chavez. Forcing employees to support "the party" goes back a long way with both Copei and AD who played the same game. So one might ask the logical question "Why weren't any other presidents in Venezuelan history able to 'cow enough people into quiescence?'" One might ask, for example, about Marcos Perez Jimenez, who, even with his "national security" goons who violently repressed political dissidents, torturing and killing them, who shut down media, and destroyed the opposition, could not hold on to majority support during ANY PERIOD of his decade-long reign. So, for example, in 1952, after violent repression and opposition claims of an unfair electoral environment, Perez Jimenez held national elections. He lost, getting only 28% of the vote, but he refused to recognize the results, and did not step down. And later, in 1957, after having consolidated complete control over the state for nearly a decade, he held a national referendum on his rule. He lost again, and after releasing fraudulent results claiming victory, he was overthrown by a popular uprising. So, if it is true, as you claim, that the executive could be so easily controlling the will of the people by force, why was Perez Jimenez unable to do it, even when he was using MUCH greater force and control? And why has no other Venezuelan president since him been able to do it either? Betancourt, Caldera, Leoni, CAP, Herrera, Lusinchi... none of them could manage to 'cow enough people'. In fact, why has no other leader since Romulo Gallegos in 1947, in the first democratic election in Venezuelan history, been able to achieve such high approval ratings in Venezuela as Chavez? In the last election, Chavez nearly DOUBLED THE RECORD for the most votes in a presidential election in Venezuelan history. And those levels of support have been verified by numerous private, independent surveys, nationally and internationally. So, I guess in the end, there are only two possibilities here. Either Chavez is indeed a god, with magical powers... or your argument is baseless. You dig? Sincerely, Gringo in Venezuela |
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United States Lets Worst Terrorist in the Hemisphere Walk FreeLuis Posada Carriles has a long history of torture, killing, bombing, and assassinations. As a CIA agent he worked in Venezuela, torturing and killing dozens of people, and later bombing a Cuban airliner in 1976, killing 73 people. He did all of this while George H. W. Bush was the head of the CIA. Carriles later fled to Nicaragua where he would help the Contras in their war against the Nicaraguan government. He was captured in Panama trying to bomb an auditorium full of students where Fidel Castro was going to speak, but the Panamanian government, friendly to Washington, pardoned him and allowed him to escape to the United States. Everyone knows that the Bush Administration does not want Carriles to be tried because his long history of murder at the orders of Washington, and Bush's dad, would be revealed. Therefore, Washington will continue to protect one of the most ruthless killers of our time. |
An Explosion of Latin American IntegrationAt the ALBA Summit last weekend, the presidents of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti created a new model for integration with a flurry of proposals including a "federation of republics" that will unite the countries of the region. They discussed forming joint projects for health, education, industry, energy, commerce, and much much more. This is indeed very hopeful and one of the most interesting developments in the region. These countries are uniting politically and economically to oppose imperialism, to oppose the free trade model of Washington, and to create a new model focusing on solving the problems of their people and developing their countries.Read more... |
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Is The CIA Trying to Kill Hugo Chávez?In recent weeks, President Hugo Chávez has increasingly warned that the United States has plans to kill him and is stepping up its activity against him and his government. Could there be any truth to all of this? A quick look at the connections between the CIA and the Venezuelan General Ramon Guillén Dávila shows that it definitely is a possibility. |
