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.

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British Government Foreign Office Minister Praises Venezuela’s Anti-Poverty Measures

[British Government Foreign Office Minister Gillian Merron and over 40 Parliamentarians attended a House of Commons reception on 13 May to mark a decade of social progress in Venezuela under the Hugo Chávez-led government. At the reception, Gillian Merron praised Venezuela’s anti-poverty measures.]

British Government Foreign Office Minister Praises Venezuela’s Anti-Poverty Measures

May 14th 2009, by VICUK

British Government Foreign Office Minister Gillian Merron and over 40 Parliamentarians attended a House of Commons reception on 13 May to mark a decade of social progress in Venezuela under the Hugo Chávez-led government. They were joined by more than 100 personalities from the media, trade unions and the wider Labour Party.

At the reception, Gillian Merron MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office said:

“We all welcome policies that help the most vulnerable and the poorest people in our communities -- wherever those communities might be. That is why we very much welcome the efforts of President Chavez, democratically backed by the people, to help the most needy in Venezuelan society. Those efforts undoubtedly have our support.”

She explained that the British governments engages “with Venezuela on many social justice initiatives” and called for more “communication and co-operation” so that both countries “work closer and better together for the benefit of both of our peoples.”

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Members of U.K. Parliament Praise Venezuelan Government

[During a parliamentary debate about U.K.-Latin American relations last week, several members of parliament supported the Venezuelan government’s anti-poverty programs, including the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.]

Members of U.K. Parliament Praise Venezuelan Government

March 6th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, March 6th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- During a parliamentary debate in the United Kingdom about U.K.-Latin American relations Tuesday, several members of parliament supported the Venezuelan government’s anti-poverty programs and nationalizations of strategic industries, and urged the British government to take a more constructive approach to the South American nation. Also, the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, expressed support for Venezuela’s anti-poverty programs.

Introducing the debate, MP Jeremy Corbyn highlighted that in Latin America today, “there is in the air a sense of optimism and, in many countries, of liberation from past oppressions.”

“The huge changes that have recently taken place in Venezuela… show that there are different paths to development and out of poverty. Those paths do not necessarily rely solely on the traditional development of trade patterns,” Corbyn continued.

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