Latin America
Related: About this forumVenezuela: It’s The Opposition That’s Anti-Democratic
By Jérôme Roos
Source: Roarmag.org
February 22, 2014
"Dont be fooled by the sight of protests in Venezuela: this time the anti-democratic villains are not in government but in the US-backed opposition."
"Ive been away for the past week so I wasnt able to write anything on the unfolding turmoil in Venezuela, but Ive been following the situation closely and in recent days have grown increasingly frustrated with (a) the total lack of balanced reporting on Venezuela in the international media, including left-liberal publications like The Guardian; (b) the seeming ease with which comrades on the libertarian left ignore the events in Venezuela as if it were somehow irrelevant to our cause, simply because were not supposed to have any close ideological affinity with chavismo; and (c) the ill-informed basis on which many activists and even several major movement pages have taken the side of the protesters against the government, unquestioningly sharing the propaganda of the right-wing opposition and echoing dangerously superficial and wrongheaded interpretations about the protests. I intend to write more on this later, but here are some initial reflections:"
1. "Just because theres people in the streets doesnt mean theyre on our side". "We live in the era of the protester, and violent protest has become a media spectacle par excellence. In the wake of Tahrir and Occupy, we have somehow been conditioned to automatically feel sympathy for all men and women taking to the streets and facing down lines of riot police. Now theres a YouTube clip floating around the web of a Venezuelan girl with an obnoxious upper-class American accent recounting the story of Venezuelas heroic student uprising against an illegitimate government. At first sight, the video which garnered over 2 million views so far seems to neatly fit the narrative of the global uprisings. But anyone with even the slightest inkling to do some fact-checking or background research will quickly discover that the protests in Venezuela are nothing like Occupy or the Chilean student movement. You wouldnt sympathize with a nationalist insurrection in Kiev or a royalist rebellion in Thailand. So why side with the US-funded right-wing opposition in Venezuela?"
2. "The protests in Venezuela are orchestrated by the right-wing oligarchy." "Lets get the facts straight: plenty of Venezuelans are taking to the streets with legitimate grievances about violent crime, high inflation and food shortages and there is no doubt that the Venezuelan riot police are indeed behaving violently towards many of these protesters. All police brutality should be roundly condemned. The people of Venezuela should be allowed to freely express their indignation in public without fear of repression. But it bears emphasizing in this respect that at least two of the protesters main grievances have been deliberately escalated by the oligarchic elite itself: through extensive hoarding and smuggling of consumer products (giving rise to shortages and fueling price inflation) and massive speculation on the foreign currency market (pushing down the Bolívar and feeding into further inflation). This is precisely the type of economic warfare that the US-backed Chilean opposition drew upon prior to the overthrow of Salvador Allende in 1973."
"Moreover, even though the protests initially began as a student mobilization on Venezuelas national Youth Day (February 12), they have in the past week become effectively subsumed under the leadership of the most right-wing section of the opposition alliance, Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD), led by Maria Corina Machado and Leopoldo López. As the firebrand leaders of the most anti-democratic faction of the oligarchic elite, López and Machado have been actively calling for the overthrow of Nicolas Maduros democratically-elected government and have urged the continuation of violent protest until he resigns. In the last 15 years, these people have shown themselves to be intent on restoring their class privilege at any costs, even if it requires casualties among the general population. They are deliberately fueling violence and social unrest in order to delegitimize and oust the government."
Full article: http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/venezuela-its-the-opposition-thats-anti-democratic/
pscot
(21,024 posts)in the good old U.S of A.
alsame
(7,784 posts)Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)the capitalist-fascists pretending they're the good guys, "protesting" the democratically elected govt., and making all democratically elected governments crash, to be replaced by the oligarchy trash of the protesters. The protesters in THIS case are not the good guys AT ALL.
RAM49
(26 posts)The fight is against fascism... viva la Venezuela!
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Latin America. Chavez led that fight and now they are back, trying once again to end democracy in Venezuela, again with the help of the Western Imperialists.
Bravo to all those who came out this week to show support for DEMOCRACY.
Great article, the truth is slowly reaching the rest through the fog of deception known as the Western Media.
pa28
(6,145 posts)Good points throughout.
Judi Lynn
(160,542 posts)who was later impeached, ordered his military to shoot directly into crowds of protesting POOR people after he raised the price of their heating oil, transportation, and food far beyond their ability to pay, putting them ALL in jeopardy, and he was able to destroy probably around, possibly more than 3,000 as the people believe, although his government claims only a few hundred, yeah, you bet.
There were so many they required a bull dozer to push them into an open grave.
THAT'S what the poor in Venezuela know about the elite, born-lucky crappola in Venezuela finds acceptable in their own favorite presidents. They continued to love him until he died in Miami, in his mistress' condo, prior to the fight between her and his wife over where to bury his slimy, creepy, murderous old cadaver.
That massacre, should you want to read more about it, has been well known all over the world, everywhere but the U.S., as "El Caracazo" massacre.
El Caracazo massacre
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracazo
[center]
~~~~~~~
Carlos Andrés Pérez and friend.
"El Caracazo" February 27, 28, 1989. Photo of the former President
Carlos Andres Perez, impeached for corruption, in 1989 with Ford and Carter.
Matos, center, and CAP, seated, at a party where they first met in the early '60s.
Former Venezuelan President
Carlos Andres Perez during a
party in his honor celebrated
in Miami
Credit: Conexiones
He was discovered to have used his then secretary, Cecilia Matos to help him set up several joint bank accounts in the United States, totally $17,000,000.00, FAR more money than he ever earned as Venezuela's President.
"El Carracazo", as depicted in a series of murals on the street in Caracas.
As soon as the right-wing gets its mutant into the Presidential Palace again, you can be sure these historical images in the murals are going to be destroyed immediately. They don't want the poor of Venzuela publicizing their exploitation and abuse at the hands of the oligarchs, who shun and abhor them.[/center]
Judi Lynn
(160,542 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)WRONG JUST BY "CLAIMING THE PROTESTS" DOESN'T MEAN THEY ARE THE LEADERS OF IT
MADURO COULD CALL OFF HIS THUGS IN A HEART BEAT
HE IS A FOOL TO CONTINUE ESCALATING