Saturday 26 December 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on How to Tackle Climate Change: “We Must Go from Capitalism to Socialism”

Monday 21st December 2009, by Amy Goodman - Democracy Now!

We speak with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez about climate change, the Copenhagen summit and President Obama. Chavez calls the COP15 summit undemocratic and accuses world leaders of only seeking a face-saving agreement. “We must reduce all the emissions that are destroying the planet,” Chavez says. “That requires a change in the economic model: we must go from capitalism to socialism.”

Watch the video here:


Venezuela and China Consolidate “Strategic Alliance,” Expand Bilateral Trade

[Venezuelan and Chinese government officials and business leaders met in Caracas this week to discuss bilateral relations. As a result of the accords signed at the meeting, Venezuela will increase its supply of oil to China to more than 600,000 barrels per day next year, and China will increase its investments in Venezuelan agriculture, infrastructure, mining, and energy production.]


Friday 25th December 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, December 24th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan and Chinese government officials and business leaders met in Caracas this week to discuss bilateral relations. As a result of the accords signed at the meeting, Venezuela will increase its supply of oil to China to more than 600,000 barrels per day next year, and China will increase its investments in Venezuelan agriculture, infrastructure, mining, and energy production.

In a press conference, Venezuelan Planning and Development Minister Jorge Giordani called Venezuela’s growing economic relationship with China “a consolidated strategic alliance based on the premise of equality and mutual respect that will be consolidated even more by two countries that have a shared vision of a multi-polar world.”

(click here to view entire article)


Tuesday 15 December 2009

Venezuela: What is happening in the Copenhagen Summit is Unacceptable

[The Venezuelan delegation to the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, denounced Tuesday the attitude of developed countries in the world meeting for not committing to reduce emissions of polluting gases because this would presumably affect their economies.]

Venezuela: What is happening in the Copenhagen Summit is Unacceptable

Tuesday 15th December 2009
, by Telesur - Venezuelanalysis.com

Telesur, December 15, 2009 - The Venezuelan delegation to the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, denounced Tuesday the attitude of developed countries in the world meeting for not committing to reduce emissions of polluting gases because this would presumably affect their economies. The delegation said that developing nations “will not let them get away with it” because it is unacceptable that they do not take into account that they are responsible for the future of the planet.

In an interview with Telesur, Claudia Salerno, director of the Venezuelan Environment Ministry’s Office of International Cooperation, explained that the 30 industrialized countries have the potential to “change the destiny of the world, but today they are telling us that it is too expensive and they are unwilling to let the GDP of their economies be impacted by the response measures to climate change.”

“That is unacceptable, I not only point out to them, but I accuse them… not only are they going to be responsible for climate change but they will be responsible for the future of this planet,” said the official.

(click here to view entire article)

A Decade of Propaganda? The BBC’s Reporting of Venezuela

[Researchers at the University of the West of England, UK, have exposed ongoing and systematic bias in the BBC’s news reporting on Venezuela. Dr Lee Salter and Dr Dave Weltman analysed ten years of BBC reports on Venezuela. Their findings so far show that the BBC’s reporting falls short of its legal commitment to impartiality, truth and accuracy.]

A Decade of Propaganda? The BBC’s Reporting of Venezuela

Monday 14th December 2009, by Lee Salter -Venezuelanalysis.com

Researchers at the University of the West of England, UK, have exposed ongoing and systematic bias in the BBC’s news reporting on Venezuela. Dr Lee Salter and Dr Dave Weltman analysed ten years of BBC reports on Venezuela since the first election of Hugo Chavez to the presidency in an ongoing research project, and their findings so far show that the BBC’s reporting falls short of its legal commitment to impartiality, truth and accuracy.

The researchers looked at 304 BBC reports published between 1998 and 2008 and found that only 3 of those articles mentioned any of the positive policies introduced by the Chavez administration. The BBC has failed to report adequately on any of the democratic initiatives, human rights legislation, food programmes, healthcare initiatives, or poverty reduction programmes. Mission Robinson, the greatest literacy programme in human history received only a passing mention.

(click here to view entire article)

Thursday 26 November 2009

First Extraordinary Congress of the PSUV - Chavez calls for the Fifth International

[At the opening session of the PSUV congress Chavez made a very radical left-wing speech, calling for the setting up of a new international, explaining that it was necessary to destroy the bourgeois state and replace it with a revolutionary state, but also referring to the bureaucracy within the Bolivarian movement itself.]

First Extraordinary Congress of the PSUV - Chavez calls for the Fifth International

November 23rd 2009, by Alan Woods - In Defence of Marxism

At the opening session of the PSUV congress Chavez made a very radical left-wing speech, calling for the setting up of a new international, explaining that it was necessary to destroy the bourgeois state and replace it with a revolutionary state, but also referring to the bureaucracy within the Bolivarian movement itself. It was clearly a speech that reflects the enormous pressure from the masses below who are getting tired of talk about socialism, while real progress towards genuine change appears to be frustratingly slow.

On Saturday November 21, the First Extraordinary Congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) commenced its sessions with the attendance of 772 red-shirted delegates. The majority were workers, peasants and students, elected by around 2.5 million voters (the total membership on paper is seven million!). The atmosphere was one of enthusiasm and expectation.

After a warming up session of revolutionary songs and a couple of opening speeches from visiting dignitaries from Nicaragua and El Salvador, Hugo Chavez opened the proceedings with a five hour speech that finished shortly after midnight.

(click here to view entire article)





Venezuela’s Reformed Communal Council Law Aims at Increasing Participation

[On Tuesday the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a reform to the Community Council Law transferring the financial management of the councils from communal banks to finance commissions, and aiming to solve the problems that arose during the councils’ prolific expansion over the past three years.]
Venezuela’s Reformed Communal Council Law Aims at Increasing Participation

Published on November 25th 2009
, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, November 25th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- On Tuesday the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a reform to the Community Council Law transferring the financial management of the councils from communal banks to finance commissions, and aiming to solve the problems that arose during the councils’ prolific expansion over the past three years.

Discussion of the law reform began early this year. The first proposal was submitted to scrutiny in 2,500 local discussion forums in which more than sixty thousand spokespeople from tens of thousands of existing community councils participated, according to the president of the National Assembly Commission for Citizen Participation, Dario Vivas.

(click here to view entire article)



Friday 6 November 2009

Venezuela Says Israeli Criticisms of Its Relationship with Iran Lack Moral Authority

[The Venezuelan Foreign Relations Ministry expressed its “repudiation” of remarks made on Tuesday by Israeli Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Dani Ayalon, who said Venezuela had become “a base for the Iranian advance on the American continent.”]

Venezuela Says Israeli Criticisms of Its Relationship with Iran Lack Moral Authority

5th November by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, November 5th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan Foreign Relations Ministry expressed its “repudiation” of remarks made on Tuesday by Israeli Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Dani Ayalon, who said Venezuela had become “a base for the Iranian advance on the American continent.”

The Ministry’s official statement said the Israeli official’s comment constituted “a new aggression against the Venezuelan people” and “a demonstration of the rude, interventionist, and aggressive attitude that characterizes the representatives of the international right wing, and of the violence of the campaigns that they permanently mount against peaceful peoples and governments like that of Venezuela.”

(click here to view entire article)




Official US Air Force Document Reveals the True Intentions Behind the US-Colombia Military Agreement

[An official document from the Department of the US Air Force reveals that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon with “…an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America…” This information contradicts the explainations offered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the US State Department regarding the military agreement signed between the two nations this past October 30th.]

Official US Air Force Document Reveals the True Intentions Behind the US-Colombia Military Agreement

Wednesday 5th November 2009, by Eva Golinger

An official document from the Department of the US Air Force reveals that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon with “…an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America…” This information contradicts the explainations offered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the US State Department regarding the military agreement signed between the two nations this past October 30th. Both governments have publicly stated that the military agreement refers only to counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations within Colombian territory. President Uribe has reiterated numerous times that the military agreement with the US will not affect Colombia’s neighbors, despite constant concern in the region regarding the true objetives of the agreement. But the US Air Force document, dated May 2009, confirms that the concerns of South American nations have been right on target. The document exposes that the true intentions behind the agreement are to enable the US to engage in “full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies…and anti-US governments…”

The military agreement between Washington and Colombia authorizes the access and use of seven military installations in Palanquero, Malambo, Tolemaida, Larandia, Apíay, Cartagena and Málaga. Additionally, the agreement allows for “the access and use of all other installations and locations as necessary” throughout Colombia, with no restrictions. Together with the complete immunity the agreement provides to US military and civilian personnel, including private defense and security contractors, the clause authorizing the US to utilize any installation throughout the entire country - even commercial aiports, for military ends, signifies a complete renouncing of Colombian sovereignty and officially converts Colombia into a client-state of the US.

(click here to view entire article)

Thursday 22 October 2009

This is about terrorism and corruption – it is not persecution

[Claims that Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez is carrying out a witch-hunt are unfounded.]

This is about terrorism and corruption – it is not persecution

Thursday 22nd October 2009, by Samuel Moncada - The Guardian 

Your article presents a disturbing picture of political freedoms under attack in Venezuela (Chávez accused of turning tyrant as even former allies languish in jail, 13  October). Allegations of a politically driven judicial system are backed up with a quote claiming: "There are 38 people in jail for political reasons disguised as corruption or public disorder offences."

If true, Venezuela would have political prisoners and such a substantial article into its democratic health would be warranted. But it is not. Among these 38 cited cases are people convicted of the murder of a public prosecutor investigating the 2002 coup; military personnel convicted for placing bombs in the Colombian and Spanish embassies; and police chiefs convicted for ordering gunfire against civilians on peaceful demonstrations with the aim of justifying a military uprising.

(click here to view entire article)

Video: The Indigenous University of Venezuela Struggles for Recognition

22nd October 2009, by Michael Fox, Silvia Leindecker, and Carlos Martinez


Michael Fox and Carlos Martinez are co-authors of the upcoming book,"Venezuela Speaks! Voices from the Grassroots" to be released in December by PM Press.

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Venezuela is No Tyranny

[Dictatorship has returned to Latin America in Honduras, not in the genuine, if imperfect, democracy of Venezuela.]

Wednesday 14th October, by Francisco Dominguez - Comment is Free (The Guardian)

As Latin Americans witness the return of dictatorship – with Honduras suffering political executions, widespread repression and condemnation from human rights organisations about curtailing of press freedoms – it seems a strange time for the media to repeat opposition allegations that Venezuela is becoming a tyranny.

Venezuela is far from the "dictatorship which has a facade of democracy" described by General Raúl Baduel, who has been accused of corruption. What kind of tyranny oversees a 70% increase of participation in presidential elections, as Chávez has, or the government holding 13 free and fair elections in 10 years?

Of course, Venezuelan society and democracy is imperfect. One example is that corruption remains a very real problem. Opponents have tried to use this issue to disparage the government, though it pre-dates the Chávez era. It is therefore ironic that when measures are taken to tackle it, as is the case in legal prosecutions, these are cited as examples of a clampdown on political freedoms. Many Chávez-supporting politicians are under investigation and it paints a distorted picture to focus only on prosecutions against those opposed to Chávez

(click here to view entire article)

Tuesday 13 October 2009

A Slow Coup in Venezuela

Sunday 11th October, by W. T. Whitney Jr - People's Weekly World

U.S. measures for resisting progressive changes in Latin America have included funding of rightwing opposition groups, military deployment throughout the region, and the Fourth Fleet for monitoring a continent. This year seven new bases have been announced for Colombia, one in Peru and two in Panama.

Efforts to destabilize Venezuela's socialist government have been part of the mix. Assets include despondent, formerly entitled Venezuelans and Colombian military force. The failed coup to remove President Hugo Chavez and attempted shutdown of the state oil company were early signs seven years ago. Since then Colombian paramilitary formations, in league with the U.S. puppet government there and rightwing elements in Venezuela, have embarked upon mayhem. 

First hand testimony suggests paramilitaries plotted to assassinate President Hugo Chavez.

El Nuevo Herald of Miami recently published a prison interview with Geovanny Velásquez Zambrano. The ex-paramilitary said he attended two meetings almost 10 years ago at which Manuel Rosales, then mayor of Maracaibo, offered $25 million for killing Chavez. He hinted at U.S. sources. Velásquez reported that paramilitary chieftain Jorge Iván Laverde - known as "el Iguano" - accepted the offer: "I have the guys to kill this gentleman."

The plotters established a training camp in Catatumbo to prepare for forays into Venezuela. Velásquez' own group entered Venezuela in 2000. According to the Nuevo Herald, Laverde, also a prisoner, accused high Colombian Army officers of orchestrating paramilitary ventures.

From 2000 to 2008, Rosales governed border state Zulia. In 2006 he was the rightist candidate in a losing bid for the presidency and that year allegedly met again with Colombian paramilitaries in a border town. He escaped to Peru in April.

In late September, a video rendition of Velasquez' testimony before Colombian prosecutors appeared on the Al Jazeera web site, along with lawyer Eva Golinger's commentary. Interviewed by TeleSur, she characterized paramilitary intrusion into Venezuela as "part of what the United States classifies as irregular war [using] military groups to promote violent actions." She saw the 2004 assassination of Venezuelan chief prosecutor Danilo Anderson as one example. Citing a U.S. Southern Command document dated April 13, 2003, Golinger accused Washington of creating a new "United Self Defense Forces of Venezuela" organized by paramilitaries of the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia.

(click here to view entire article)



 

Thursday 24 September 2009

Review of Venezuela Documentary 'Inside the Revolution' by 'Lenin's Tomb'

Review of Venezuela Documentary 'Inside the Revolution' by 'Lenin's Tomb'

Thursday September 24th, by Lenin's Tomb

What to make of the Bolivarian revolution? Despite its limitations, it has achieved real decreases in poverty, higher social spending per capita, elements of grassroots democracy, and a widespread radicalisation among Venezuela's working class. The revolution has thus far withstood various challenges from the right, including a coup, largely because of the solid backing the Chavez government receives from the poor. Unlike previous efforts at social transformation in Latin America, this one has not been drowned in rivers of blood. Is Venezuela therefore a model for others to follow, as well as an inspiration in its own right?

The new documentary Inside The Revolution (trailer here) deals with precisely this question. This sort of film could so easily just re-tread old ground. It could just as easily lapse into uncritical adulation. Or it could just be very cliched, with various pleasing sentiments structured around a 'story so far' narrative. Already, films about Venezuela are characterised by some very familiar vistas: the red t-shirts, the smiling Chavez supporters, the scandalously abusive corporate media footage, and the slums, all overlaid with cheery joropo music. And if these were to be the fixtures of a genre that ossified the exciting and conflict-ridden social processes of Venezuela into low budget entertainment for leftists, then the Bolivarian revolution would have been done a disservice. But Inside The Revolution takes the argument deeper than previous films, making an effort to gauge what kind of example Venezuela provides for the left. It has less glamour and polemical bite than Pilger's The War on Democracy, for example, but is intellectually more challenging.

The argument is more distinctive than the material, most of which can be found in useful texts such as Bart Jones' biography of Hugo Chavez - cryptically entitled ¡Hugo! - and Gregory Wilpert's Changing Venezuela By Taking Power (an excellent counterblast to the Holloway thesis). Thus, you get a very brief account of the history of Venezuelan politics, from the Jimenez dictatorship to the highly controlled liberal democracy during the oil boom of the post-war era, to the social collapse and soaring poverty from 1978 onward. You get a discussion of the radicalisation in 1989, a counterpoint to the general demoralisation on the Left as the Berlin Wall fell. There is footage of Chavez's attempted coup in 1992, and his 72 second speech to the nation upon surrendering in which he famously said that his goals could not be achieved "por ahora" (for now). This statement became a catchphrase for millions, as Chavez became a hero to the poor and, upon his release, he began to build up support for a presidential campaign. He wins, brings about constitutional changes, faces down the hysteria of the ruling class, defeats a coup, braves a referendum defeat, suffers electoral setbacks, but continues to make progress. So far, so familiar - and accurate too.

(click here to view entire review)

Monday 21 September 2009

The Guardian Retracts False Claims that Hugo Chavez is a "Pariah"

The Guardian newspaper has had to retract false claims made by Ian Black, the Middle East Editor, which labelled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a “contender for the ‘pariah’ status Gaddafi held for so long."

Ian Black made his claim, which is without any basis, in an article titled Shadow of Megrahi hangs over Libya’s mass celebration of Gaddafi’s 40 years on 31 August 2009.

Following calls by Samuel Moncada, the Venezuelan Ambassador in London, for a retraction, Siobhain Butterworth the Guardian Reader’s Editor, has explained that the newspaper has “removed the sentence from the web article and added a footnote documenting the change.”

This is the second time that a British publication retracts from previous accounts in relation to Venezuela. Last month The Economist retracted from an inaccurate statement about alleged participation of Venezuelan troops in military activities in Bolivia.

Samuel Moncada said: “I am pleased that The Guardian has retraced its false claim that President Chavez is a pariah. Unfortunately there is too much inaccuracy and distortion in the British media about developments in the Venezuela. There will be ongoing efforts to counter these misrepresentations. Whatever views are held on the changes underway in Venezuela today, these should be reported accurately and honestly to allow the readers to make up their own mind"

Venezuelan Embassy Press Office 18 September 2009

Notes to Editors: 
1) The correction can be seen at http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/sep/17/corrections-and-clarifications 
2) The correction by The Economist can be found at http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14142418
3) For more details, please contact Mr Alvaro Sanchez at 0207-584-4206

Thursday 17 September 2009

Militarising Latin America

[Latin America has retained its primacy in U.S. global planning. If the United States cannot control Latin America, it cannot expect "to achieve a successful order elsewhere in the world." However, recently  South America has moved toward integration, a prerequisite for independence; has broadened international ties; and has addressed internal disorders-foremost, the traditional rule of a rich Europeanized minority over a sea of misery and suffering.]

Militarising Latin America

September 13th 2009, by Noam Chomsky - In These Times

The United States was founded as an "infant empire," in the words of George Washington. The conquest of the national territory was a grand imperial venture. From the earliest days, control over the hemisphere was a critical goal.

Latin America has retained its primacy in U.S. global planning. If the United States cannot control Latin America, it cannot expect "to achieve a successful order elsewhere in the world," observed President Richard M. Nixon's National Security Council in 1971, when Washington was considering the overthrow of Salvador Allende's government in Chile.

Recently the hemisphere problem has intensified. South America has moved toward integration, a prerequisite for independence; has broadened international ties; and has addressed internal disorders-foremost, the traditional rule of a rich Europeanized minority over a sea of misery and suffering.

The problem came to a head a year ago in Bolivia, South America's poorest country, where, in 2005, the indigenous majority elected a president from its own ranks, Evo Morales.

In August 2008, after Morales' victory in a recall referendum, the opposition of U.S.-backed elites turned violent, leading to the massacre of as many as 30 government supporters.

In response, the newly-formed Union of South American Republics (UNASUR) called a summit meeting. Participants-all the countries of South America-declared "their full and firm support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales, whose mandate was ratified by a big majority."

"For the first time in South America's history, the countries of our region are deciding how to resolve our problems, without the presence of the United States," Morales observed.

Another manifestation: Ecuador's president Rafael Correa has vowed to terminate Washington's use of the Manta military base, the last such base open to the United States in South America.

In July, the U.S. and Colombia concluded a secret deal to permit the United States to use seven military bases in Colombia.

(click here to view entire article)

Iniquitous Critics of Hugo Chávez

["In the end", said Martin Luther King, "we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends." His words are relevant to every social struggle and are especially pertinent to the ongoing fight for social justice in Latin America, where media manipulation and forces hostile to the positive changes of the last decade conspire to return nations such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Honduras to an imposed neo-liberal economic model.]

Iniquitous Critics of Hugo Chávez

September 16th 2009, by Colin Burgon - Tribune

"In the end", said Martin Luther King, "we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends." His words are relevant to every social struggle and are especially pertinent to the ongoing fight for social justice in Latin America, where media manipulation and forces hostile to the positive changes of the last decade conspire to return nations such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Honduras to an imposed neo-liberal economic model.

The survival of Hugo Chávez' government in Venezuela, the popular elections of Evo Morales in Bolivia and Rafael Correa in Ecuador and the campaign to restore Manuel Zelaya, the democratically-elected leader of Honduras, to power following a right-wing coup have all relied on solidarity at home and abroad and the courage to read between the lines of the disinformation pedalled by corporate media outlets.

The British labour movement has always played its part. From the Spanish Civil War, to the coup in Chile and the apartheid struggle in South Africa, and now the solidarity campaigns around Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela and Honduras, the British left has stood up for democracy and justice. This makes the present media manipulation around Venezuela even harder to stomach.

Against a background of increasing anti-Chávez propaganda an attack on the British left's support of Venezuela's revolution has emanated from Labour's benches in the House of Commons. Denis MacShane's critique in The Guardian (3 August) must be challenged. The Rotherham MP began with a call for all "Hooray Hugos", presumably including more than 50 Labour MPs and many national  trade unions, to rethink their support for Venezuela's leader.

According to Denis MacShane: "While the left in Spain, France, Italy and Latin America has always had doubts about the populist, demagogic style of Chavez, he has had a free run in Britain. Ken Livingstone organised meetings to worship him and got involved in a bizarre oil deal. The NUJ [National Union of Journalists] and Labour MPs have made pilgrimages to Caracas to buy the Chávez line."

It was a risible attempt to belittle the work of the solidarity movement which arose in response to the CIA-backed coup against a democratically elected Venezuelan leader, who has made the alleviation of poverty a priority.

(click here to view entire article; click here to view a longer version of this article)


Sunday 6 September 2009

Honduras: Has Obama Sided with Chávez?




by Calvin Tucker
 / September 6th 2009


http://21stcenturysocialism.com/

Has Obama sided with Chávez? That’s certainly the view of the leader of Honduran coup regime Roberto Micheletti, whose spokesman angrily denounced the 30 million dollar cut in US aid announced on Thursday.

Micheletti's spokesman added that Obama's decision “condemned the people that struggle against Marxist expansion in Central America”.

In the rest of Latin America the tougher US stance was welcomed, in particular the proposals to revoke the visas of members and supporters of the regime and the indication that the USA will not recognise the outcome of scheduled elections in November.

Yet despite coming under pressure from senior members of his own party, Obama has so far resisted calls to formally declare that the June 28 overthrow of President Zelaya was military coup.  Were he to do so, the US government would by law be required to make permanent its cuts in aid and suspension of visas.

However, a formal declaration would require ratification by Congress, and some analysts have suggested that Obama is desperate to avoid playing into the hands of right wing Republican lawmakers who are busy echoing the claims of the coup leaders that he has allied himself with Venezuela’s socialist president.

Whilst this may in part account for Obama’s reluctance to issue a declaration, others in his administration- most notably Secretary of State Hilary Clinton- are opposed in principle.

Clinton’s role since the coup has been opaque. She chairs the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation, which had continued to fund the regime until Thursday’s announcement prohibited all direct aid. In July, she denounced President Zelaya’s attempt to return to Honduras as “reckless”.  And her confidant Lanny Davis, who was chief fundraiser for her presidential campaign, has since been hired as a public relations spokesman for the coup regime.

(click here to view entire article)

Thursday 3 September 2009

Oliver Stone: 'The truth about Hugo Chávez'

[South of the Border is Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's record of a trip to Venezuela to meet the president, Hugo Chávez. Ahead of the film's premiere at the Venice film festival on Monday, Stone writes about his hopes for the film, and the future of US foreign policy in the region.]

(click here to view entire article)

Watch the Trailer for Oliver Stone's South of the Border

[South of the Border, which premieres at the Venice film festival on Monday, is the latest documentary in which Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone journeys to South America to see first-hand how their political system functions. In this film, co-written by Tariq Ali, he interviews Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez]

(watch the trailer here)

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Noam Chomsky Meets with Chavez in Venezuela


Professor Noam Chomsky (at left) and President Hugo Chavez in Caracas on Monday (ABN)

Noam Chomsky Meets with Chavez in Venezuela


August 28th 2009, by James Suggett


Mérida, August 27th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- U.S. author, dissident intellectual, and Professor of Linguistics at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology Noam Chomsky met for the first time with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas and analyzed hemispheric politics during a nationally televised forum on Monday.


Chomsky is well known in Venezuela for his critiques of U.S. imperialism and support for the progressive political changes underway in Venezuela and other Latin American countries in recent years. President Chavez regularly references Chomsky in speeches and makes widely publicized recommendations of Chomsky's 2003 book, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance.


(click here to view entire article)

A New Model With Rough Edges: Venezuela’s Community Councils

[As the community councils gain experience, two processes fraught with tension are under way. First, marginalized and semi-marginalized sectors of the population gain confidence and experience in collective decision making. Second, steps toward institutionalization are designed to create viable mechanisms that monitor and guard against ill-conceived projects and misuse of public funds. But the effort to achieve incorporation, on the one hand, and institutionalization, on the other, is a complicated balancing act.]

A New Model With Rough Edges: Venezuela’s Community Councils

June 11th 2009, by Steve Ellner - NACLA

The main country road that passes by Las Cuadras, a poor rural area in the zone of El Valle, in the Venezuelan state of Mérida, sports a new roofed waiting area and sidewalk. Julio Cerrada, a spokesman for the Las Cuadras community council, shows me these and other recent projects, including a decorative arch at the neighborhood’s entrance and a large metal garbage container. Then Cerrada takes me to the end of the mountain road, where the community council of La Culata has constructed a pathway consisting of two paved tracks extending about 300 yards uphill, which allows potato and carrot farmers to transport their produce by vehicle and also opens the area to tourism. A small cooperative, called Paseos a Caballo de La Culata, takes tourists on horseback up the pathway, whose entrance is now marked by a large plaque celebrating the figure of Simón Bolívar. Cerrada tells me the cooperative is requesting state financing to construct a tourist station at the pathway’s upper end.

(click here to view entire article)

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Colombian Elites Fear Bolivaran Revolution

[As a result of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's decision to allow six U.S. military bases on his country's soil the propaganda war has heated up in the Andean region. When Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez slug it out rhetorically the two constantly employ historical references, in particular to the Great Liberator Simón Bolívar. Why is this Bolivarian rhetoric still so common and integral to politics in the Andean region? ]

Colombian Elites Fear Bolivaran Revolution

August 25th 2009, by Nikolas Kozloff - Counterpunch.org

As a result of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's decision to allow six U.S. military bases on his country's soil the propaganda war has heated up in the Andean region. In neighboring Venezuela, Hugo Chávez says Colombia is seeking to destabilize the border and has hinted that war could be imminent.

When Uribe and Chávez slug it out rhetorically the two constantly employ historical references, in particular to the Great Liberator Simón Bolívar. A leader of the independence struggle against Spain, Bolívar was a member of the Caracas aristocracy and liberated Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador from imperial rule in the early nineteenth century.

(click here to view entire article)

Sunday 23 August 2009

Venezuelan Education Law: Socialist Indoctrination or Liberatory Education?

[Venezuelan opposition activists allege that the new Education Law is unconstitutional, anti-democratic, politicizes the classroom, threatens the family and religion, and will allow the state to take children away from their parents for indoctrination. Are they correct?]

Venezuelan Education Law: Socialist Indoctrination or Liberatory Education?

August 21st 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuelan opposition activists allege that the new Education Law, which the National Assembly passed unanimously shortly after midnight on August 14th following an extended legislative session, is unconstitutional, anti-democratic, politicizes the classroom, threatens the family and religion, and will allow the state to take children away from their parents for indoctrination. Are they correct?

In defense of the law, Education Minister Hector Navarro told several national media outlets that the opposition's claims are not only incorrect, they "form part of a campaign that seeks to generate fear in the population so they will be against the [Education] Law."

(click here to view entire article)

Colombia: U.S. Bases Stoke the Flames of Regional Conflict

[It was a moment that promised to define a new era in U.S.-Latin American relations: Obama greeted Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the Americas with a smile and a handshake, and Chávez responded with a gift and a heavily accented "I wanna be your friend." But a nearly completed agreement to grant the U.S. military access to Colombian bases is rapidly undermining whatever diplomatic progress was made in that fleeting moment.]

Colombia: U.S. Bases Stoke the Flames of Regional Conflict

August 19th 2009, by Roque Planas - NACLA

It was a moment that promised to define a new era in U.S.-Latin American relations: Obama greeted Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the Americas with a smile and a handshake, and Chávez responded with a gift and a heavily accented "I wanna be your friend." The Cold War-style chasm between Washington and the leftist leaders of the Andes that had widened during the Bush administration finally seemed to be narrowing a bit.

But a nearly completed agreement between Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the Obama administration to grant the U.S. military access to Colombian bases is rapidly undermining whatever diplomatic progress was made in that fleeting moment.

(click here to view entire article)

Tuesday 18 August 2009

The State of the Venezuelan Worker - 2008

[Proceeding with the information from the Venezuelan Central Bank's report on the Venezuelan economy for 2008 I would now like to review some data on Venezuela's workforce and how its workers faired last year.]

The State of the Venezuelan Worker - 2008

July 15th 2009, by Oil Wars Blog

Proceeding with the information from the Venezuelan Central Bank's report on the Venezuelan economy for 2008 I would now like to review some data on Venezuela's workforce and how its workers faired last year.

This data is quite interesting and thought provoking. And as usual, some of it paints the accomplishments of Hugo Chavez is a flattering light and some of it paints him in not such a flattering light.

Before getting into the pages that specifically relate to the Venezuelan workforce it is important to give a key statistic which is found at the bottom of this page:

(click here to view entire article)

Latin America: Social Movements in Times of Economic Crises

[The most striking aspect of the prolonged and deepening world recession/depression is the relative and absolute passivity of the working and middle class in the face of massive job losses, big cuts in wages, health care and pension payments and mounting housing foreclosures. The Venezuelan social movements retain their vigor in part because of the encouragement of Chavez' leadership, but the movements are also held back by powerful reformist currents in the regime.]

Latin America: Social Movements in Times of Economic Crises

August 17th 2009, by James Petras

The most striking aspect of the prolonged and deepening world recession/depression is the relative and absolute passivity of the working and middle class in the face of massive job losses, big cuts in wages, health care and pension payments and mounting housing foreclosures. Never in the history of the 20-21st Century has an economic crisis caused so much loss to so many workers, employees, small businesses, farmers and professionals with so little large-scale public protest.

To explore some tentative hypotheses of why there is little organized protest, we need to examine the historical-structural antecedents to the world economic depression. More specifically, we will focus on the social and political organizations and leadership of the working class; the transformation of the structure of labor and its relationship to the state and market. These social changes have to be located in the context of the successful ruling class socio-political struggles from the 1980's, the destruction of the Communist welfare state and the subsequent uncontested penetration of imperial capital in the former Communist countries. The conversion of Western Social Democratic parties to neo-liberalism, and the subordination of the trade unions to the neo-liberal state are seen as powerful contributing factors in diminishing working class representation and influence.

(click here to view entire article)

Saturday 15 August 2009

Video: Covering the Honduran Coup (The Listening Post/Al Jazeera English)

Covering the Honduran Coup

Friday 1st 2009, by The Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

Watch it here.

Video: Venezuela's Troubled Media (The Listening Post/Al Jazeera English)

Venezuela's Troubled Media

Friday 14th 2009, by The Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

Watch it here.

Thursday 13 August 2009

Public Talk: Massacre in the Amazon: The Garcia Government vs Peru’s Indigenous (Thursday August 27th)


Alborada presents a public talk:

Massacre in the Amazon: The Garcia Government vs Peru’s Indigenous

On June 5, World Environment Day, Amazon Indians in Peru were massacred by the government of Alan Garcia in the latest chapter of a long war to take over common lands -- a war unleashed by the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and the United States.

Come and hear about the latest developments in Peru and what we in Britain can do to help Peru’s indigenous people and the wider social and environmental struggles taking place in the country.

“The Amazon struggle must continue, demanding respect for the rain forest. The Amazonian natives know that what is at stake is their own survival. We hope that the world population becomes aware that they are fighting in defence of all humankind, the Amazon jungle is the lung of the planet.”
-- Hugo Blanco (Peruvian social activist and director of ‘Lucha Indigena’ ('Indigenous Struggle'))

Speakers:
- Oscar Blanco (Son of Peruvian political figure Hugo Blanco)
- Derek Wall (Former Green Party Principal Speaker)

Thursday August 27th, 6.30-8pm (Talk starts at 7pm)The Exmouth Arms (Function Room), Starcross St, Euston, NW1, London (http://www.exmouth-arms.co.uk;%203/ 3 mins from Euston underground station). Free entry

::: More info: http://www.alborada.net/ / info@alborada.net / http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1910/76/

The Honduras Coup Is a Sign: The Radical Tide Can be Turned

[If this were Burma or Iran the assault on democracy would be a global cause celebre. Instead, Obama is sitting on his hands.]

The Honduras Coup Is a Sign: The Radical Tide Can be Turned

August 13th 2009, by Seamus Milne - Comment Is Free (The Guardian)

If Honduras were in another part of the world – or if it were, say, Iran or Burma – the global reaction to its current plight would be very different. Right now, in the heart of what the United States traditionally regarded as its backyard, thousands of pro-democracy activists are risking their lives to reverse the coup that ousted the country's elected president. Six weeks after the left-leaning Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped at dawn from the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa and expelled over the border, strikes are closing schools and grounding flights as farmers and trade unionists march in defiance of masked soldiers and military roadblocks.

The coup-makers have reached for the classic South American takeover textbook. Demonstrators have been shot, more than a thousand people are reported arrested, television and radio stations have been closed down and trade unionists and political activists murdered. But although official international condemnation has been almost universal, including by the US government, barely a finger has been lifted outside Latin America to restore the elected Honduran leadership.

(click here to view entire article)

Sunday 9 August 2009

Avila TV Venezuela: Revolutionizing Television

Photo: Avila TV Mural
[In Venezuela they are a key force in the country’s ongoing media-war. Armed with video cameras, they are a team of some 380 young people working for Caracas television station, Avila TV. Started as an experiment just three years ago, according to one study it is now the third most watched station in the city. Funded completely by the government, they consider themselves a voice of President Hugo Chavez’s “socialist revolution.”]

Avila TV Venezuela: Revolutionizing Television

June 15th 2009, by Lainie Cassel - UpsideDownWorld.org

In Venezuela they are a key force in the country's ongoing media-war. Armed with video cameras, they are a team of some 380 young people working for Caracas television station, Avila TV. Started as an experiment just three years ago, according to one study it is now the third most watched station in the city. Funded completely by the government, they consider themselves a voice of President Hugo Chavez's "socialist revolution."

Located on Avenida Urdaneta, in the center of the city, Avila TV is in a large beautiful building bustling with young adults sporting Caracas' latest urban fashions. The building, a former bank, has been transformed with floors of state of the art equipment and walls decorated with elaborate murals and posters of well-known revolutionary figures.

(click here to view entire article)

Venezuela: Socialism for the 21st Century

[In 1998, Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela. He spoke strongly and acted against savage neoliberalism in his electoral campaign and after taking power but socialism was not a part of his vocabulary or program for his first few years in office. Since late 2004, he has been increasingly calling for Socialism for the 21st Century in Venezuela, and speaking out against capitalism and imperialism.]

Venezuela: Socialism for the 21st Century

August 5th 2009, by Peter Bohmer - Znet

For much of the 19th and 20th century, socialism was the hope of millions of working people around the globe, including the United States in the early part of the 20th century. This was the period of the growth of the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World, the IWW. Socialism has meant a society committed to meeting the basic needs of all people including health, food, education, and housing , where there is no poverty and full employment, where enterprises and firms are socially and publicly owned not privately owned by capitalists to make profits. It has meant a society where workers control how firms are run and where the economy is democratically planned to serve human needs. As a great socialist revolutionary, Rosa Luxemburg said in the early 20th century, socialism requires democracy, and democracy requires socialism.

In the 1980's, we were told by government leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, most economists, media pundits such as Thomas Friedman that there is no alternative (TINA) to unregulated market capitalism. This economic model and the related policies are called neoliberalism in Latin America.

(click here to view entire article)


Economist Backs Down over Misleading Readers on Venezuela

[On its July 18, 2009, edition The Economist on article on Bolivia ("Bolivia's divisive president. The Permanent Campaign", July 18), asserted that “Venezuelan troops helped quell a rebellion centred on the airport at Santa Cruz in the east in 2007.” The article did not bother to substantiate such a serious charge against Venezuela and is buried as one of several unjustified and unsubstantiated allegations against the president and government of Bolivia.]

Economist Backs Down over Misleading Readers on Venezuela

August 5th, by Francisco Dominguez - Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

On its July 18, 2009, edition The Economist on article on Bolivia ("Bolivia's divisive president. The Permanent Campaign", July 18), asserted that “Venezuelan troops helped quell a rebellion centred on the airport at Santa Cruz in the east in 2007.” The article did not bother to substantiate such a serious charge against Venezuela and is buried as one of several unjustified and unsubstantiated allegations against the president and government of Bolivia,
 
The piece "Bolivia's divisive president. The Permanent Campaign" does not even  pretend to be 'even-handed' or 'balanced.' Some of the statements in it are simply unalloyed anti-Morales propaganda. Putting the blame squarely on Evo Morales, for example, for the diplomatic difficulties Bolivia has been having with the US (without informing the readers that Bush unilaterally had ended Bolivia's export preferential treatment on some exports or that Bolivia expelled US ambassador Mr Phillip Goldberg because he had been actively supporting secessionist efforts in Santa Cruz), and with Peru (without telling readers that Peru gave asylum to Bolivian Cabinet minister indicted for civilian deaths resulting from military repression of protests six years ago during the government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada), but explaining them as a deliberate Morales drive to isolate Bolivia because, according to The Economist, "Many in the government dream of an economic autarky, powered by gas." The article goes even further by quoting government’s opponents in Santa Cruz, who describe Morales as an “indigenous fascist” with The Economist accepting such a highly inflammatory label with no qualification whatsoever. And, if there was any doubt as to where The Economist stands on the Morales government, the piece ends by sympathetically paraphrasing one pundit who says "Bolivia is suffering a classic bout of Latin American populism: personalised politics, mild paranoia, bad economic policy and a weak opposition." No journalistic objectivity or even the pretension of it. Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Kingdom, HE Samuel Moncada, responded to the allegation regarding the participation of Venezuelan troops in the suppression of a rebellion in Santa Cruz in 2007, with letter to Michael Reid, The Economist's Latin American editor, in which he stated that “Unfortunately, dangerous and negative consequences in the region may arise due to this blunder published in your magazine. I would therefore demand a correction of such fallacy”. (The Ambassador's letter can be found in full at http://www.vicuk.org/index.php?ption=com_content&task=view&id=503&Itemid=30). 


(click here to view entire article)