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I think it was Greg Palast who first pointed out the COLOR of Hugo Chavez: BROWN! Venezuela, Bolivia and now Eduador (for Delgado will probably win) elected on a revolutionary platform of national and regional self-determination, and fairness and equity for the poor, led by people who are BROWN, representing the vast poor and brown population--the majority--who have for so long been brutalized and oppressed, and excluded from government.
These politicians are grounded in the experience of the poor, the underclass, and the disempowered, the poor middle class, the intellectuals, the academics, the teachers, the thinkers and artists--the left--whom our government has sought to destroy. In Chile, they elected their first women president, Michele Batchelet, who was tortured by the U.S. backed dictator Pinochet. In Bolivia, a 100% indigenous Andes Indian elected president--Evo Morales. In Brazil, a former steelworker elected president. In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, part indigenous, part Spanish, part black African. I was just reading an interview posted at DU today, in which Chavez talks about his motivations. He was talking about using Venezuela's oil revenues to renovate and build baseball diamonds and provide sports equipment all over Venezuela in poor areas, and mentioned that, when he was a kid, he couldn't afford baseballs. He proudly stated that, now, Venezuela has the best sports facilities in all of Latin America. The context was education (from 50% to 99% literacy in five years--due to oil funded adult literacy classes and other schools; and other initiatives such as a free university education, and successful programs to attract truants back into high school) but the filament to his own past was baseballs, and being so poor you couldn't afford even such a basic item.
The life experience of these politicians--being brown and poor and feeling bigotry, being an ordinary steelworker, being tortured for being a leftist, being an indigenous Indian (the most disregarded of all)--has turned out leaders who not only have profound connections to the people whom they serve, and therefore have a groundedness that is rare among our corporate-pampered political leaders, but who are truthtellers, with a strong sense of right and wrong. And from this seering platform--the truth--the word "diablo" issues to describe the Bush Junta. They know a junta when they see one. I think it was Hannah Arrendt who described the "banality" of evil. It is not glorious or heroic. Nor is it clever. The portrayals of the "devil" as clever have merely been the projections of clever men, clever writers. Evil is dull and stupid and boring. Its motives are the basest human instincts--greed (wanting it all, at the expense of others), and power (wanting to kick others around). There is nothing attractive about it. And that is Bush and his regime. Dull, stupid, boring greed and powermongering. Imagine wanting to torture and degrade other human beings. It is ultimately the product of a bored and stupid mind. Human beings are infinitely more interesting and subtle than the degradations of torture can ever demonstrate. It is easy to reduce a human being to a pile of quivering, tortured flesh. Try truly communicating with that person, and truly reaching that person, and truly caring for that person, and all your faculties come alive. This is something that dull and stupid "diablo" can never know. Torture is cheap. Bombing people is the behavior of little bullies kicking over an ant hill. But persuading, and reaching for the best in others, and seeking enlightenment--trying to be the best human being you can be--these require real courage, moral courage, intellect and love.
The question that we have to ask is how we, as a society, ended up with the "banality of evil"--the dullness and stupidity of "el diablo"--at the pinnacle of our government. It is not us. I don't believe that for a minute. Given free elections, we would elect something else--something far better--as they are doing in Latin America. We have our faults, but we also have our beauties as a people. No people on earth has ever existed side by side in peace amidst such a variety of cultures, religions and beliefs. We are a marvel, in that respect. And our belief in a government of laws not men is very strong. Bush is an insult to us--a violation of our most cherished beliefs. We are also an immensely clever and industrious people, and a country with a big heart--very generous--with love of the underdog in any race or game. How did we end up with this bullying little "devil" as emperor? It doesn't suit us at all. It is a misrepresentation of us. It is unfair. (One thing that has been pointed out is that, in Latin culture, mothers often call misbehaving children "diablo." It means mean and uncivilized. It does not mean "clever Lucifer.") I know that Bush didn't come out of nowhere--he is the result of a long trend of corporate bullying and other wretched behaviors of our government and our corporate rulers. But I also think that the current Junta is driven to control us because we have such great potential as a progressive people and as a positive force in the world. And when we restore transparent elections in this country, we will show who we really are.
And a round of applause and thanks is due these Latin American leaders who put the right word on what we are not.
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