LSE IDEAS Centre presents
Latin America Initiative Seminar:
Venezuela's 'Bolivarian' Process: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects after 10 Years
6th May 18.00 – 20.00
Venezuela’s ambassador to the UK, his Excellency Dr Samuel Moncada and Dr Julia Buxton (University of Bradford) explore the achievements of the Bolivarian process and the challenges it faces within a regional and broader international context. They will then examine the future prospects of the process given the current political and economic environment.
The presentations will be followed by an open discussion.
6th May 18.00 – 20.00
LSE IDEAS Columbia HouseRoom B212
(Aldwych)
More info: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/IDEAS/events/forthcomingEvents.htm
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Monday, 27 April 2009
Venezuela: 21st Century Technology for 21st Century Socialism
[One of the cornerstones of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian revolution, as the process led by President Hugo Chavez of changing Venezuela to meet to needs of the poor is known, is the use of technology to improve the lives of the majority of the population that lives near or below the poverty line.]
Venezuela: 21st Century Technology for 21st Century Socialism
April 18th 2009, by Lainie Cassel - Green Left Weekly
Nestled in the heart of Barrio 23 de Enero, a large impoverished neighbourhood in Caracas, among the man-made ranchos with red brick walls and metal roofing, stands the Ramon Ismael Ramos Infocenter.
Filled with over 70 state-of-the-art computers and flat-screen monitors, the space offers a sharp contrast to the surrounding barrio.
One of the cornerstones of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian revolution, as the process led by President Hugo Chavez of changing Venezuela to meet to needs of the poor is known, is the use of technology to improve the lives of the majority of the population that lives near or below the poverty line.
In a country where nearly all major media outlets are controlled by a handful of the country's richest citizens, and are hostile to the process of change, the government sees access to technology as a crucial tool to democratise the media.
(click here to view entire article)
Venezuela: 21st Century Technology for 21st Century Socialism
April 18th 2009, by Lainie Cassel - Green Left Weekly
Nestled in the heart of Barrio 23 de Enero, a large impoverished neighbourhood in Caracas, among the man-made ranchos with red brick walls and metal roofing, stands the Ramon Ismael Ramos Infocenter.
Filled with over 70 state-of-the-art computers and flat-screen monitors, the space offers a sharp contrast to the surrounding barrio.
One of the cornerstones of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian revolution, as the process led by President Hugo Chavez of changing Venezuela to meet to needs of the poor is known, is the use of technology to improve the lives of the majority of the population that lives near or below the poverty line.
In a country where nearly all major media outlets are controlled by a handful of the country's richest citizens, and are hostile to the process of change, the government sees access to technology as a crucial tool to democratise the media.
(click here to view entire article)
Cuba, Venezuela, and the Quest for Socialism: One and the Same?
[When discussing Latin America's so-called Left Turn, Cuba and Venezuela are often paired together as being of the more radical, militant faction of countries located on the Left within the region. There are indeed some legitimate grounds for such generalizations, but lost in this interpretation are many of the profound differences between each country's respective efforts and methods toward building a socialist society.]
Cuba, Venezuela, and the Quest for Socialism: One and the Same?
March 29th 2009, by John Kane - Znet
When discussing Latin America's so-called Left Turn, Cuba and Venezuela are often paired together as being of the more radical, militant faction of countries located on the Left within the region. There are indeed some legitimate grounds for such generalizations, but lost in this interpretation are many of the profound differences between each country's respective efforts and methods toward building a socialist society.
Cuba, Venezuela, and the Role of Democracy
In much analysis of both Cuba and Venezuela, social gains are often counterbalanced with criticism of each country's practice of democracy -- or lack thereof.[1] While I can't offer a thorough examination of each country's democratic structures here, the role of democracy does in fact play an interesting role in each country's prospects for building socialism.
(click here to view entire article)
Cuba, Venezuela, and the Quest for Socialism: One and the Same?
March 29th 2009, by John Kane - Znet
When discussing Latin America's so-called Left Turn, Cuba and Venezuela are often paired together as being of the more radical, militant faction of countries located on the Left within the region. There are indeed some legitimate grounds for such generalizations, but lost in this interpretation are many of the profound differences between each country's respective efforts and methods toward building a socialist society.
Cuba, Venezuela, and the Role of Democracy
In much analysis of both Cuba and Venezuela, social gains are often counterbalanced with criticism of each country's practice of democracy -- or lack thereof.[1] While I can't offer a thorough examination of each country's democratic structures here, the role of democracy does in fact play an interesting role in each country's prospects for building socialism.
(click here to view entire article)
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Obama's Real Plan in Latin America
[While Obama humbly discussed hemispheric issues on an “equal footing” with his Latin American counterparts at the recent Summit of Americas, he has subtly signaled that U.S. foreign policy will be business as usual.]
Obama's Real Plan in Latin America
April 22nd 2009, by Shamus Cooke
At first glance Obama seems to have softened U.S. policy toward Latin America, especially when compared to his predecessor. There has been no shortage of editorials praising Obama’s conciliatory approach while comparing it to FDR’s ”Good Neighbor” Latin American policy.It’s important to remember, however, that FDR’s vision of being neighborly meant that the U.S. would merely stop direct military interventions in Latin America, while reserving the right to create and prop up dictators, arm and train unpopular regional militaries, promote economic dominance through free trade and bank loans, conspire with right-wing groups, etc…
(click here to view entire article)
Obama's Real Plan in Latin America
April 22nd 2009, by Shamus Cooke
At first glance Obama seems to have softened U.S. policy toward Latin America, especially when compared to his predecessor. There has been no shortage of editorials praising Obama’s conciliatory approach while comparing it to FDR’s ”Good Neighbor” Latin American policy.It’s important to remember, however, that FDR’s vision of being neighborly meant that the U.S. would merely stop direct military interventions in Latin America, while reserving the right to create and prop up dictators, arm and train unpopular regional militaries, promote economic dominance through free trade and bank loans, conspire with right-wing groups, etc…
(click here to view entire article)
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Chávez's Perfect Gift to Obama
[Presenting Eduardo Galeano's book, Open Veins of Latin America, to Barack Obama was a brilliant idea.]
Chávez's Perfect Gift to Obama
April 20th 2009, by Richard Gott - Comment is Free (The Guardian)
Some surprise has been expressed in the Anglo-Saxon world that Hugo Chávez should have presented a book to Barack Obama by Eduardo Galeano. Ignorance can be the only defence, the very fault that the Venezuelan president had earlier accused his US counterpart of suffering from. For Galeano is one of the most well-known and celebrated writers in Latin America, up there with Gabriel García Márquez, and his huge output of fact and fiction, as well as his journalism, has been published all over the continent. His books have been continuously in print since the 1960s, read voraciously by successive generations.
It was a brilliant idea of Chávez's to give Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America to Obama, since this book, first published in 1971, encapsulates a radical version of the history of Latin America with which most Latin Americans are familiar.
(click here to view entire article)
Chávez's Perfect Gift to Obama
April 20th 2009, by Richard Gott - Comment is Free (The Guardian)
Some surprise has been expressed in the Anglo-Saxon world that Hugo Chávez should have presented a book to Barack Obama by Eduardo Galeano. Ignorance can be the only defence, the very fault that the Venezuelan president had earlier accused his US counterpart of suffering from. For Galeano is one of the most well-known and celebrated writers in Latin America, up there with Gabriel García Márquez, and his huge output of fact and fiction, as well as his journalism, has been published all over the continent. His books have been continuously in print since the 1960s, read voraciously by successive generations.
It was a brilliant idea of Chávez's to give Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America to Obama, since this book, first published in 1971, encapsulates a radical version of the history of Latin America with which most Latin Americans are familiar.
(click here to view entire article)
Friday, 17 April 2009
Another Left Turn In Venezuela
[The development of the Bolivarian Revolution, including using the institutional gains achieved to date to meet human needs and develop popular potentials via humane policies, as well as establishing further institutional gains, has encountered three major obstacles: residual capitalists, residual oligarchic government, and residual mainstream media.]
Another Left Turn In Venezuela
March 30th 2009, by Michael Albert - ZNet
On the top page of ZNet, in the box in the center column labeled Venezuela, for example, you will see some interviews, including one with Julio Chavez, Carlos Lanz, and Fernando Torrealba respectively, at the time of the interviews, Mayor of Carora in Venezuela, Venezuelan vice minister of Education and former activist within the economy, and Supreme Court Justice, again, in Venezuela. In addition, on the Audio page linked from the ZNet top page under the ZNet tab, you will see a link as well to a talk by myself and one by Noam Chomsky - both recorded at an event at MIT a week ago, where Julio Chavez spoke as well, but in Spanish, so that his talk isn't online as yet.I draw your attention to these pieces because of their special cumulative relevance to the discussion below.
The Bolivarian Revolution
The development of the Bolivarian Revolution, including using the institutional gains achieved to date to meet human needs and develop popular potentials via humane policies, as well as establishing further institutional gains, has encountered three major obstacles: residual capitalists, residual oligarchic government, and residual mainstream media.
Many people look at Venezuela as an established society of the future and ask, okay, what are its features, what are their benefits and costs, are they worthy, do they meet our most exalted desires? This is a mistake.
Revolutions take time to undertake gigantic transformations of attitudes, habits, and structures. Usually a revolution takes many years, or even decades, to increase popular commitment and raise popular consciousness, as well as win positive improvements - finally reaching a turning point where mass consciousness is sufficiently high, aroused desire is sufficiently high, and organized movements are as a result able to direct development thereafter not from a position of opposition, but due to being in possession of organized power.
(click here to view entire article)
Another Left Turn In Venezuela
March 30th 2009, by Michael Albert - ZNet
On the top page of ZNet, in the box in the center column labeled Venezuela, for example, you will see some interviews, including one with Julio Chavez, Carlos Lanz, and Fernando Torrealba respectively, at the time of the interviews, Mayor of Carora in Venezuela, Venezuelan vice minister of Education and former activist within the economy, and Supreme Court Justice, again, in Venezuela. In addition, on the Audio page linked from the ZNet top page under the ZNet tab, you will see a link as well to a talk by myself and one by Noam Chomsky - both recorded at an event at MIT a week ago, where Julio Chavez spoke as well, but in Spanish, so that his talk isn't online as yet.I draw your attention to these pieces because of their special cumulative relevance to the discussion below.
The Bolivarian Revolution
The development of the Bolivarian Revolution, including using the institutional gains achieved to date to meet human needs and develop popular potentials via humane policies, as well as establishing further institutional gains, has encountered three major obstacles: residual capitalists, residual oligarchic government, and residual mainstream media.
Many people look at Venezuela as an established society of the future and ask, okay, what are its features, what are their benefits and costs, are they worthy, do they meet our most exalted desires? This is a mistake.
Revolutions take time to undertake gigantic transformations of attitudes, habits, and structures. Usually a revolution takes many years, or even decades, to increase popular commitment and raise popular consciousness, as well as win positive improvements - finally reaching a turning point where mass consciousness is sufficiently high, aroused desire is sufficiently high, and organized movements are as a result able to direct development thereafter not from a position of opposition, but due to being in possession of organized power.
(click here to view entire article)
The Revolution Will Not Be Destabilized: Ottawa's Democracy Promoters Target Venezuela
[Part of the 'hidden wiring' of the US-Canada relationship is premised on the belief that there is a role for Canada in places where the US carries a lot of counter-productive baggage. New records obtained by The Dominion show just how actively intertwined Canada's foreign policy is with the US-led 'democracy' promotion project in Venezuela.]
The Revolution Will Not Be Destabilized: Ottawa's Democracy Promoters Target Venezuela
April 3rd 2009, by Anthony Fenton - The Dominion
As the country closer geographically, economically and militarily to the US than any other, Canada has often seen her foreign policy aspirations circumscribed by the whims of the world's lone Superpower.
Part of the 'hidden wiring' of the US-Canada relationship is premised on the belief that there is a role for Canada in places where the US carries a lot of counter-productive baggage. New records obtained by The Dominion show just how actively intertwined Canada's foreign policy is with the US-led 'democracy' promotion project in Venezuela.
(click here to view entire article)
The Revolution Will Not Be Destabilized: Ottawa's Democracy Promoters Target Venezuela
April 3rd 2009, by Anthony Fenton - The Dominion
As the country closer geographically, economically and militarily to the US than any other, Canada has often seen her foreign policy aspirations circumscribed by the whims of the world's lone Superpower.
Part of the 'hidden wiring' of the US-Canada relationship is premised on the belief that there is a role for Canada in places where the US carries a lot of counter-productive baggage. New records obtained by The Dominion show just how actively intertwined Canada's foreign policy is with the US-led 'democracy' promotion project in Venezuela.
(click here to view entire article)
Human Rights and Police Reform in Venezuela: A Venezuelan Perspective
[Seeking an experienced, nuanced, and Venezuelan perspective on human rights and insecurity in Venezuela, Venezuelanalysis.com spoke with the Venezuelan human rights organization Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz (Support Network for Peace and Justice).]
Human Rights and Police Reform in Venezuela: A Venezuelan Perspective
April 3rd 2009, by Pablo Fernández Blanco, Maryluz Guillén, and James Suggett – Venezuelanalysis.com
Recent reports by Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State Department have put the issue of human rights in Venezuela under much international scrutiny. Seeking an experienced, nuanced, and Venezuelan perspective, Venezuelanalysis.com spoke with the Venezuelan human rights organization Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz (Support Network for Peace and Justice). The Red de Apoyo was founded in 1985 to denounce abuses of power by the police and military and to support its victims. Since then, the non-governmental organization has expanded to include work on a variety of economic, social, cultural, and civil rights. General Coordinator Pablo Fernández Blanco and Coordinator Maryluz Guillén speak about the ways in which the Chávez government has progressed, the areas where there is still much work to be done, the government's attitude toward human rights activists, the situation before Chávez was elected, and the potential impact on human rights of the February 15th referendum, in which voters approved an amendment to abolish term limits on elected offices.
(click here to view interview)
Human Rights and Police Reform in Venezuela: A Venezuelan Perspective
April 3rd 2009, by Pablo Fernández Blanco, Maryluz Guillén, and James Suggett – Venezuelanalysis.com
Recent reports by Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State Department have put the issue of human rights in Venezuela under much international scrutiny. Seeking an experienced, nuanced, and Venezuelan perspective, Venezuelanalysis.com spoke with the Venezuelan human rights organization Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz (Support Network for Peace and Justice). The Red de Apoyo was founded in 1985 to denounce abuses of power by the police and military and to support its victims. Since then, the non-governmental organization has expanded to include work on a variety of economic, social, cultural, and civil rights. General Coordinator Pablo Fernández Blanco and Coordinator Maryluz Guillén speak about the ways in which the Chávez government has progressed, the areas where there is still much work to be done, the government's attitude toward human rights activists, the situation before Chávez was elected, and the potential impact on human rights of the February 15th referendum, in which voters approved an amendment to abolish term limits on elected offices.
(click here to view interview)
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Obama's Reality Check
[Barack Obama needs to face up to the fact that existing US policies have caused havoc throughout South America.]
Obama's Reality Check
April 15th 2009, by Mark Weisbrot - Comment is Free (The Guardian)
Many people, including most of the presidents and leaders of South America, were hoping that President Obama would initiate a serious change in US-Latin American relations, after the low point reached during the Bush years. Change will certainly come – it is happening every week - but there are few if any signs that the initiative will come from the north.
The Obama administration announced yesterday that it would allow Cuban-Americans with relatives in Cuba to visit and send money, and that some communications links would be opened. This was widely expected, and as the Financial Times noted, it was "the minimum necessary to make sure that Obama gets a good response" at the Summit of the Americas, where 34 heads of state will meet this weekend in Trinidad and Tobago.
(click here to view entire article)
Obama's Reality Check
April 15th 2009, by Mark Weisbrot - Comment is Free (The Guardian)
Many people, including most of the presidents and leaders of South America, were hoping that President Obama would initiate a serious change in US-Latin American relations, after the low point reached during the Bush years. Change will certainly come – it is happening every week - but there are few if any signs that the initiative will come from the north.
The Obama administration announced yesterday that it would allow Cuban-Americans with relatives in Cuba to visit and send money, and that some communications links would be opened. This was widely expected, and as the Financial Times noted, it was "the minimum necessary to make sure that Obama gets a good response" at the Summit of the Americas, where 34 heads of state will meet this weekend in Trinidad and Tobago.
(click here to view entire article)
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
What's Next for Venezuela's Opposition?
[A few distinct tendencies have become visible in Venezuela's opposition since February's referendum: from re-engagement with the political process and an attempt to broaden appeal, to a more thorough self-analysis and a recognition of the need to address poverty and inequality.]
What's Next for Venezuela's Opposition?
March 30th 2009, by Max Ajl - NACLA
When Venezuelan voters approved a referendum allowing for indefinite re-election on all elected posts, commentary immediately turned to what the reform meant for chavistas-particularly, the prospect of having Hugo Chávez as president until 2019 or later. Far less attention was paid to what the defeat meant for the opposition, or to its reaction.
A functioning opposition could have good effects on Venezuelan society. If it were to advocate, say, a corruption-free, developmental state-capitalism, it would force the Chávez government to put its program and its sometimes-hazy ideology into sharper relief. It also could compel the government to scrape out corruption and, perhaps, accelerate structural change.
A great many opposition groups, linked to the 2002 imperial coup d'état and U.S. financial support, ideologically bankrupt, are hardly speaking in such terms. But for others, the referendum's passage has occasioned deep self-evaluation.
(click here to view entire article)
What's Next for Venezuela's Opposition?
March 30th 2009, by Max Ajl - NACLA
When Venezuelan voters approved a referendum allowing for indefinite re-election on all elected posts, commentary immediately turned to what the reform meant for chavistas-particularly, the prospect of having Hugo Chávez as president until 2019 or later. Far less attention was paid to what the defeat meant for the opposition, or to its reaction.
A functioning opposition could have good effects on Venezuelan society. If it were to advocate, say, a corruption-free, developmental state-capitalism, it would force the Chávez government to put its program and its sometimes-hazy ideology into sharper relief. It also could compel the government to scrape out corruption and, perhaps, accelerate structural change.
A great many opposition groups, linked to the 2002 imperial coup d'état and U.S. financial support, ideologically bankrupt, are hardly speaking in such terms. But for others, the referendum's passage has occasioned deep self-evaluation.
(click here to view entire article)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
