THE EVE OF A MASSIVE VOTE

Sitting here with a cold beer from the store down at the bottom of my apartment block (the “Dry Law” obviously being flouted just as subtly as the state ignores certain campaign laws), the ambience around is pretty normal. Thursday’s gran finale for the Chavistas almost certainly wasn’t as big as 2006, but a handful [...]

THOUGHTS ON THE REVOLUTION

After just over a week getting reacquainted with Caracas, here are some thoughts.
1. Campaigning in the street: the PSUV and other pro-revolution groups are all over the goddam place. The opposition are nowhere. Despite that campaigning can be as cheap as you choose, the oppos either don’t have the manpower, or the willingness to invite [...]

SYNAGOGUE ATTACKED, CHAVEZ CULPABLE?

I’m staying temporarily with some people who are generally inclined to believe that the defacing of at least one Venezuelan synagogue (that I’ve seen) and today’s news that another has been forcibly entered and vandalised, mean that Chavez should not have thrown out the Israeli ambassador. Perhaps he should not even have uttered a negative [...]

TWO WORKERS KILLED DEFENDING FACTORY

You may have already read in the sidebar that 863 workers in the Mitsubishi plant in Anzoategui state voted to occupy the factory premises and reinstate 135 subcontractors that had recently been laid off. It was an overwhelming vote in solidarity with the subcontractors, in which only 25 voted against the occupation, or abstained.
From Marxist.com:
In [...]

REPORTING FROM CARACAS!

Your humble correspondent has arrived in the capital city with just over two weeks to go before the big hullabalooza: a likely ‘SI’ victory, probably with close to 60% of the vote, which would permit Chavez to be postulated by his party (the PSUV) for reelection in 2012.
Today the PSUV and the FMS, the Front [...]

THE CASE FOR ‘SI’, PART TWO

The opposition are right about one thing: if Chavez’s goal was to become a dictator, it would be necessary to remove term limits. But supporters of the revolution are equally right on another point: if Chavez’s goal is indeed to transform Venezuela into a world power, and construct the purest form of democracy ever seen, [...]

THE CASE FOR ‘SI’, PART ONE

It would be ridiculous to oppose eliminating term limits if you were in a minority of one (i.e. if there was 99.9% national consensus). That would be an outright repudiation of democracy itself, in addition to a repudiation of additional democratic rights.
The novel aspect of this upcoming referendum is its dual-democratic aspect: a free & [...]

DEPENDING WHAT YOU WATCH…

Who are the real bad guys in Venezuela? Watch Globovision and it’s the “repressive police state” and the armed vigilantes on motorcycles (of course, closely aligned with powerful government figures).
Watch state media and it’s the opposition in general, who are under orders from above (ultimately the U.S. state department) to “set the country on fire” [...]

CHAVISTAS GETTING VIOLENT? DOUBTFUL

If a trend develops where opposition figures and their interests are regularly attacked in the run-up to Feb. 15th, we’ll know something’s up. Such behaviour doesn’t help a campaign, a movement, or a revolution. Therefore I won’t be surprised to hear Chavez make an open accusation that false flag operations are being conducted by the [...]

OBAMA SETS HIMSELF UP FOR CHAVEZ IRE

Obama has recognised either that he doesn’t want to respect Venezuelan sovereignty, or that he can’t.
Just before taking office, and before even signalling whether he’s open to a meeting with Chavez, Obama has commented that Venezuela has “impeded progress in the region” and “exported terrorist activity”.
He knows Venezuela is one month away from an important [...]

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