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TechnoratiShut Up (About) Chavez
It gets tiresome to hear the one-sided media coverage of Hugo Chavez. Yes, he's authoritarian. He's also abrasive, arrogant, stubborn, and all too human. But he knows what happened to leaders in Iran and Guatemala and Chile and Haiti over the past half-century when they tried to defy the western world by nationalizing oil and other industries. He's influenced by the memory of the US-backed attempt to depose him in 2002. And he can see the effects of unregulated multinational companies in Nigeria, where in 2004 80% of the revenue from the oil industry went to only 1% of the population, and only 2% of Shell Oil's employees were from the local population.
Chavez has alienated the wealthy, the business establishment, thousands of upper-class student protestors, and, perhaps worst of all for him, the media. But the mainstream media rarely speaks for the poor majority. Chavez has instituted a literacy program, land-acquisition policies that benefit the poor, job training for unskilled workers, free health care, and manufacturing cooperatives which give the poor an active role in business development. He was democratically elected, and recent polls still place him about 20 percentage points ahead of his nearest challenger.
The Venezuelan leader's popularity is summarized by human rights activist Medea Benjamin:
"Walk through poor barrios in Venezuela and you'll hear the same stories over and over. The very poor can now go to a designated home in the neighborhood to pick up a hot meal every day. The elderly have monthly pensions that allow them to live with dignity. Young people can take advantage of greatly expanded free college programs. And with 13,000 Cuban doctors spread throughout the country and reaching over half the population, the poor now have their own family doctors on call 24-hours a day."
Opposition to Chavez comes from those with connections to the old political elite: the Venezuelan business community, the Chamber of Commerce (Fedecámaras), and the major union federation CTV, who used their control over the media to disparage Chavez for economic problems and communist ties. Many officials and journalists in the U.S. dismiss him as a troublesome dictator. An editor of the leading El Nacional newspaper said Chavez and his cabinet "just want to steal and get rich." Even some of the Venezuelan poor resent his attempts to spread his influence with anti-poverty programs outside the country.
Ironically, Chavez was criticized for two initiatives that most Americans would like to see implemented in the U.S. -- health care and increased oil company taxes. He is maligned for his friendship with Fidel Castro, even though some 10,000 Cuban doctors and health care workers came to Venezuela in return for oil. His industry reforms included a doubling of oil company taxes. He also opposes U.S. efforts to implement free trade agreements that would surrender the country's raw materials in return for expensive products from abroad. Perhaps most significantly, Chavez is feared because of his growing independence in a country whose vast oil reserves are coveted by the north.
One doesn't have to be a socialist to cheer for equal opportunity for hard-working citizens of any country. According to the U.S. Department of State, the income gap in Venezuela decreased between 2003 and 2005, with the Gini coefficient (a measure of income disparity from 0 (equal) to 1 (unequal)) dropping from .618 in 2003 to .514 in 2005. Chavez speaks, however noisily, for the poor. Most of the media speaks for the people with money.
Paul Buchheit is a professor with the Chicago City Colleges, co-founder of Global Initiative Chicago (GIChicago.org), and the founder of . He is the editor and main contributor to theu003cbr />forthcoming book "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarityu003cbr />Press). He has contributed to commondreams, counterpunch, alternet, andu003cbr />countercurrents.u003cbr />Professor, Harold Washington Collegeu003cbr />Founder of Global Initiative u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"mailto:pbuchheit@ccc.edu\">pbuchheit@ccc.eduu003c/a> (OK to publish)u003cbr />u003cbr />u003cbr />References:u003cbr />u003cbr />"Venezuela: Political Conditions and U.S. Policy," CRS Report foru003cbr />Congress, Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Mayu003cbr />18, 2005u003cbr />u003cbr />"Go To Venezuela, You Idiot!" by Jeff Cohen, July 10, 2006u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45&ItemIDu003d10552\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.zmag.org/contentu003cwbr />/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45u003cwbr />&ItemIDu003d10552u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Ten Days in Venezuela: A Visit to the Land of Hope," by Kim Scipes,u003cbr />July 06, 2006u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45&ItemIDu003d10525\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.zmag.org/contentu003cwbr />/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45u003cwbr />&ItemIDu003d10525u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Poverty Rates in Venezuela: Getting the Numbers Right," By Marku003cbr />Weisbrot, Luis Sandoval, and David Rosnick, Center for Economic andu003cbr />Policy Research, May, 2006u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/downloads/ceprpov.htm\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.rethinkvenezuelau003cwbr />.com/downloads/ceprpov.htmu003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />Stephen Kinzer, "Overthrow: America\'s Century of Regime Change fromu003cbr />Hawaii to Iraq" (Times Books, Henry Holt & Co., 2006)u003cbr />u003cbr />Nigeria, The World Bank, 2006u003cbr />u003cbr />"Agriculture lags, despite potential," Africa Recovery, United Nations,u003cbr />2004u003cbr />",1] ); //-->fightingpoverty.org. He is the editor and main contributor to the forthcoming book "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He has contributed to commondreams, counterpunch, alternet, and
countercurrents. Professor, Harold Washington College Founder of Global Initiative pbuchheit@ccc.edu
References:
"Venezuela: Political Conditions and U.S. Policy," CRS Report for
Congress, Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, May
18, 2005
"Go To Venezuela, You Idiot!" by Jeff Cohen, July 10, 2006
(http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=10552)
"Ten Days in Venezuela: A Visit to the Land of Hope," by Kim Scipes,
July 06, 2006
(http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=10525)
"Poverty Rates in Venezuela: Getting the Numbers Right," By Mark
Weisbrot, Luis Sandoval, and David Rosnick, Center for Economic and
Policy Research, May, 2006
(http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/downloads/ceprpov.htm)
Stephen Kinzer, "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from
Hawaii to Iraq" (Times Books, Henry Holt & Co., 2006)
Nigeria, The World Bank, 2006
"Agriculture lags, despite potential," Africa Recovery, United Nations,
2004
"Nigeria\'s Oil Industry: A Cursed Blessing?" PBS, July, 2003u003cbr />u003cbr />"Venezuela: Political Conditions and U.S. Policy," CRS Report foru003cbr />Congress, Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Mayu003cbr />18, 2005u003cbr />u003cbr />"US-Venezuela (1948-2005)" Center for Cooperative Researchu003cbr />u003cbr />"The failure of Hugo-bashing," By Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic andu003cbr />Policy Research, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2006u003cbr />u003cbr />"Hugo Chavez Is Crazy!" By Greg Palast, July 1, 2003u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artidu003d230&rowu003d2\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.gregpalast.comu003cwbr />/detail.cfm?artidu003d230&rowu003d2u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"The failure of Hugo-bashing," By Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic andu003cbr />Policy Research, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2006u003cbr />u003cbr />"Why Hugo Chavez Won a Landslide Victory," By Medea Benjamin, AlterNet.u003cbr />August 18, 2004 (u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.alternet.org/story/19585\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.alternet.org/storyu003cwbr />/19585u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"The Hugo Factor," U.S. News & World Report, February 6, 2006u003cbr />u003cbr />"Go To Venezuela, You Idiot!" by Jeff Cohen, July 10, 2006u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45&ItemIDu003d10552\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.zmag.org/contentu003cwbr />/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45u003cwbr />&ItemIDu003d10552u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Ten Days in Venezuela: A Visit to the Land of Hope," by Kim Scipes,u003cbr />July 06, 2006u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45&ItemIDu003d10525\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.zmag.org/contentu003cwbr />/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDu003d45u003cwbr />&ItemIDu003d10525u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Background Note: Venezuela," U.S. Department of Stateu003cbr />",1] ); //-->
"Nigeria's Oil Industry: A Cursed Blessing?" PBS, July, 2003
"Venezuela: Political Conditions and U.S. Policy," CRS Report for
Congress, Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, May
18, 2005
"US-Venezuela (1948-2005)" Center for Cooperative Research
"The failure of Hugo-bashing," By Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and
Policy Research, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2006
"Hugo Chavez Is Crazy!" By Greg Palast, July 1, 2003
(http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=230&row=2)
"The failure of Hugo-bashing," By Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and
Policy Research, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2006
"Why Hugo Chavez Won a Landslide Victory," By Medea Benjamin, AlterNet.
August 18, 2004 (http://www.alternet.org/story/19585)
"The Hugo Factor," U.S. News & World Report, February 6, 2006
"Go To Venezuela, You Idiot!" by Jeff Cohen, July 10, 2006
(http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=10552)
"Ten Days in Venezuela: A Visit to the Land of Hope," by Kim Scipes,
July 06, 2006
(http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=10525)
"Background Note: Venezuela," U.S. Department of State
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/eiu003cwbr />/bgn/35766.htmu003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Venezuela," U.S. Department of Stateu003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/v/59887.htm\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.state.gov/outofdateu003cwbr />/bgn/v/59887.htmu003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Some US officials say Venezuela has become Washington\'s biggest Latinu003cbr />American headache after the old standby, Cuba." Wall Street Journal,u003cbr />June 12, 2003.u003cbr />u003cbr />"Chavez\'s Censorship: Where \'Disrespect\' Can Land You in Jail," Byu003cbr />Jackson Diehl, March 28, 2005u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5755-2005Mar27.html\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.washingtonpost.comu003cwbr />/wp-dyn/articles/A5755-2005Maru003cwbr />27.htmlu003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Coming to terms with Hugo Chávez," By Brett Bunda, McGill Daily, Marchu003cbr />13, 2006 (u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aidu003d4977\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.mcgilldaily.comu003cwbr />/view.php?aidu003d4977u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Chavez touts `21st Century Socialism\': Venezuelan leader plantsu003cbr />projects for workers to manage," By Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune, July 15,u003cbr />2005u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0507150124jul15,1,7753900.story?collu003dchi-newsnationworld-hed\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.chicagotribune.comu003cwbr />/news/nationworld/chi-05071501u003cwbr />24jul15,1,7753900.story?collu003cwbr />u003dchi-newsnationworld-hedu003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />"Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world; move over theu003cbr />Middle East," 06/27/05u003cbr />(u003ca onclicku003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" hrefu003d\"http://www.vheadline.com/printer_news.asp?idu003d39310\" targetu003d_blank>http://www.vheadline.comu003cwbr />/printer_news.asp?idu003d39310u003c/a>)u003cbr />u003cbr />u003cbr />u003c/div>",0] ); //-->(http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35766.htm)
"Venezuela," U.S. Department of State
(http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/v/59887.htm)
"Some US officials say Venezuela has become Washington's biggest Latin
American headache after the old standby, Cuba." Wall Street Journal,
June 12, 2003.
"Chavez's Censorship: Where 'Disrespect' Can Land You in Jail," By
Jackson Diehl, March 28, 2005
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5755-2005Mar27.html)
"Coming to terms with Hugo Chávez," By Brett Bunda, McGill Daily, March
13, 2006 (http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=4977)
"Chavez touts `21st Century Socialism': Venezuelan leader plants
projects for workers to manage," By Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune, July 15,
2005
(http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0507150124jul15,1,7753900.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed)
"Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world; move over the
Middle East," 06/27/05
(http://www.vheadline.com/printer_news.asp?id=39310)
19 Comments so far
Show AllI can't believe you people! When was the last time you actually spent some time in Venezuela? Oops, I forgot, you all live inside your "progressive" bubbles in la-la land. Get real!!
Wow! In this day and age, someone helping the working poor. and that is so NOT south american leader-like. no wonder the US hates him. he's taking money from the uber-rich and distributing it among those that create the GDP. how unfair is that? gawd, don't these people know their place? (my apologies for being so sarcastic)
Painting all the university students as being pulled from the "elite" is just dishonest. The students are representatives of all classes, from very rich to very poor. They do, however, overwhelmingly oppose Chavez's referendum to extend his powers to the tune of 9 to 1. Chavez says that those that disagree with his referendum are "traitors". He may have more "traitors" on his hands than he knows.
We need more courageous leaders like Chavez and less demagogues like Olbermann. He's all talk and no substance. With Democrats, the rhetoric is always beautiful but when real action is needed, they side with the elite (see Pelosi, Reid, Conyers, etc.)
Olbermann sells the corporate lie that we have a real, though 'spineless' at the moment, opposition party in the US, and for that alone he's nothing but another lying media whore.
Chavez on the other hand is about ACTION. Poverty has decreased in Venezuela and he exposes the US for what it is: a declining bully of which currency is in the toilet and which owes billions to the real world superpower: China. The US is on its way down.
Unlike Bush, Chavez didn't need mobsters on the Venezuelan Supreme Court to put him in power, he was legally elected twice in landslides. He's ahead in the polls by double digits right and I'm glad to see leftists like Chavez being elected in larger numbers in South America right now.
"Latest polling numbers in Venezuela (Datanylis, which has usually picked winners in Venezuelan elections and referendums) have Chavez losing next Sunday, amid a high turnout. He says that anyone who votes no is a ¨traitor¨."
From http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20071124-1011-venezuela-constitutionpoll.html:
The election-related question – "If a constitutional referendum were held next Sunday, how would you vote?" – was included in a survey with a total of 100 questions carried out as part of a monthly poll by Datanalisis for its group of 340 clients, most of them businesses, Leon told the AP.
Datanalisis' October poll showed Chavez ahead among those who said they planned to vote, Leon said.
He predicted that much will depend on efforts to get voters to the polls.
"In no way does that mean those numbers indicate Chavez is going to lose," he said. "It's still very, very volatile."
Their more than a little corporate web site is at http://www.datanalisis.com/default.asp.
How the average person can continually be taken by the flim-flam merchants of today is a mystery. Hugo Chavez, one of a growing number of left leaning leaders in South America, is giving the people of Venezuela a fresh start. After years of getting the short end of the stick they have had enough. He should be supported, especially by Olberman. I am very disappointed in Keith.
Is it so shocking that a king would tell a peasant to shut up?
We forget how much blood these royal murderers shed in order to keep their power, how willing they were to plunge the world into ruin rather than give up their own divinely-granted grandeur & power.
The successors to kings have done the same -- they prefer to fund terrorist armies to promote civil war & genocide to accepting true equality.
Muchas gracias a Hugo Chávez and the Venezuelan people for demonstrating to the world an alternative to gringo capitalism.
Chavez has alienated the wealthy, the business establishment, thousands of upper-class student protestors
Elites alienate themselves by declining the solidarity pie. Chavez only shouted "let them eat pie" and smeared it in their faces. They should be grateful. Long live the Bolivarian Revolution and may people power, enlightenment, and responsibility expand to all corners of the earth.
PJD: Shhhhhhh! Everybody knows that you're not allowed to say anything good about anything Chavez does unless you first trash him as a human being. Otherwise the Democrats won't take you seriously.
The link to Venezuelanalysis.com is http://www.venezuelanalysis.com in case anyone might like to visit it and read about their wonderful progress. In the previous post, I mispelled it.
Excellent article! When I feel discouraged about the direction our US is going, I visit VenezuelaAnalysis.com which unfortunately is most every evening. It really picks me up to read about the progress of Venezuela. Hats off to Hugo Chavez!
Just as puzzling as Olberman's swipe at Chavez are the attacks by Jon Stewart (albeit infrequent) on his show.
Perhaps the performance that Chavez put on at the UN where he mocked Bush and compared him to Satan are so unsettling to even moderate or progressive Americans that they refuse to acknowledge the benefits that he has brought to Venezuela's poor and make them hyper-critical when he commits a faux pas.
Thanks for standing up for Hugo Chavez. He has managed to stay alive in the face of great hostility from the US ruling class.
It isn't ironic that Chavez was criticized for implementing reforms that Americans would like- it's the class war, as an earlier poster pointed out.
Americans need to stop identifying with their oppressors just because they are the same nationality. Maybe as our super rich flee to Dubai we will stop thinking of them so fondly as "us".
We live in a class society.
It is clear by his actions, Hugo represents the working class.
"The very poor can now go to a designated home in the neighborhood to pick up a hot meal every day. The elderly have monthly pensions that allow them to live with dignity. Young people can take advantage of greatly expanded free college programs. And with 13,000 Cuban doctors spread throughout the country and reaching over half the population, the poor now have their own family doctors on call 24-hours a day."
Hugo can't represent both classes. This is a contradiction that can't be reconciled. It does not matter what you "think" it can't be done. The two classes represent antagonistic poles of the capitalist economic system.
In our country, it should be clear that the Republicans represent the ruling class. They make no bones about that fact, and are unapologetic to anyone.
The democrats say they would like to represent the working class, but they take most of their money from the ruling class, and so they have a huge conflict of interest. The democrats are much more dangerous then the republicans because they pretend to speak for the working class.
It does not matter what you call yourself. Republican, democrat, socialist, fascist, independent, etc. It is not about what you say you may do someday. It is about what you are actually doing.
Hugo makes no bones about who he represents, and is unapologetic to anyone. For this he is feared by the international ruling class.
If you sell you labor in the market place then Hugo represents your interests. You should support him for this reason and this reason only. If he stops representing your interests then you should stop supporting him.
"Ironically, Chavez was criticized for two initiatives that most Americans would like to see implemented in the U.S. — health care and increased oil company taxes."
Hugo for prez !!!
Anyone who understands that georgedubbyabush is satan - and has the keen olfactory sense to sniff him out - is okay in my books. You go Hugo.
See also Clifton Ross, 'Keith Olberman's Jaundiced Rant:
Trashing Chavez':
http://www.counterpunch.org/ross11232007.html
Good piece, except:
"Yes, he's authoritarian..."
Actually he is not. Venezuelans enjoy a level of near-direct democracy we can only wish for here in the US. The shrill propagandists tell us that the constitutional amendments will purportedly make Chavez a "dictator" because, among many clearly beneficial changes, will include the removal of term limits.
Many perfectly democratic republics don't have presidential term limits. One could argue that presidential term limits themselves could actually be undemocratic, by limiting the peoples consent for truly popular and effective leader like FDR. Remember that the 22nd amendment that limited US presidential terms was largely a Republican backlash against a possible repeat of three-term FDR's economic populism.
But, what a strange dictatorship Venezuela is! All their amendments require majority approval by referendum by all Venezuelans! We have nothing approaching this level of democracy here in the US. Were we in the USA ever able to directly vote on the 22nd or any other constitutional amendment? Or, critical legislation like the USA Patriot Act? Or, decisions to invade another nation? If we were Venezuelans, we would have.
The anti-Chavez BS and outright lies from the propaganda machine is so deep one literally need wings to stay above it. An article by one very good soaring bird of political analysis is here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18755.htm
VIVA CHAVEZ !!!!