A Simple Fact About Chavez

[Orwellian_Ghost]

He's helping the poor.

_____________________

Walk through the poor neighborhoods in Venezuela and you'll hear the same stories over and over. The very poor now can go to a designated home in the neighborhood to pick up a hot meal every day. The elderly now 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-doctors who even make house calls. This heath care, including medicines, are all free.

The programs are being paid for with the income from Venezuela's oil, which is at an all-time high. Previously, the nation's oil wealth benefited only a small, well-connected elite who kept themselves in power for 40 years through a two-party duopoly. The elite, who controlled the media as well, kept the vast majority poor, disenfranchised, and disempowered. With the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998 on a platform of sharing the nation's oil wealth with the poorest, all that has changed. The poor are now not only recipients of these programs, they are engaged in running them. They're turning abandoned buildings into neighborhood centers, running community kitchens; volunteering to teach in the literacy programs, organizing neighborhood health brigades and registering millions of new voters.

Infuriated by their loss of power, the elite use their control over the media to blast Chavez for destroying the economy, cozying up to Fidel Castro, antagonizing the US government, expropriating private property, and using dictatorial rule. They also accuse him of using the social programs that have so improved the lives of the poor as a way to buy votes.



http://counterpunch.org/benjamin08142004.html

[rAVES]

1. This isnt going to change anybodys mind. For one thing its possibly the main reason he's hated...

[redqueen]

35. Isn't that a sobering thought.

*sigh*

[LittleClarkie]

39. As for me...

I don't hate him. I was uneasy that the referendum was over-reaching, and I'm not really into his loud personality, but the only thing that I really have a big problem with re: Chavez is the way his supporters react to any criticism of the man, even if stated civilly and evenly, with the man's good and bad points both stated. I dislike that even such people are called haters, or vulures, or anti, rather like critics of Bush are asked if they hate America.

Every leader needs a watchdog.

[stillcool]

2. NY Daily News sounds like...

they think he won...

Hugo Chavez on path to become Venezuela's 'elected dictator'

BY ALYSSA GIACHINO
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Sunday, December 2nd 2007, 11:16 PM
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez casts his ballot at a polling station Sunday in Caracas. Llano/AP

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez casts his ballot at a polling station Sunday in Caracas.
Voters line up in front of pro-Chavez graffiti in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas. Tama/Getty

Voters line up in front of pro-Chavez graffiti in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas.

President Hugo Chavez may have eked out a narrow win Sunday in his reform bid that would solidify his power and allow him to rule for life, government officials said.

Exit polls showed the constitutional referendum winning by fewer than 4 points, government sources said. Such a small margin is new for Chavez, who was reelected last year with 63% of the vote.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2007/12/02/2007-12-02_hugo_chavez_on_path_to_become_venezuelas.html?ref=rss

[provis99]

8. elected dictator? Isn't that an oxymoron?

Sort of like, "respectable Republican"

[stillcool]

10. I know...got to love those headlines...

unfortunately I don't read Spanish, so I only get the Americanized version.

[PhD]

13. Hitler was elected

So was Mussolini. And Mugabe. And Karimov. And Lukashenko.

[ooglymoogly]

40. And yet Roosevelt was elected to 4 terms

and look at the damage he did bringing us out of the depression and putting food on the tables of starving people almost overnight, then enacting social security...something akin to what Chavez is doing. The question is damage to whom and here you can decipher where the Chavez haters are coming from.

[Pavulon]

41. Yet FDR refrained from a constitutional amendment

and "reform" package that would have allowed him to stay forever and control the FED and the Congress. Please do not string this red shirted castro wannabe into the same sentence with a truly great american president.

[Gabi Hayes]

46. yeah....he just tried to change the composition of the SCOTUS, and pack it?

raise the number of justices from nine to twelve, things like that.

guess you forgot about that one, hey? try to be honest, for once. I know it's hard.

don't get me wrong, given the nature of the highest court for most of its existence, I don't blame him for 'packing,' cause that's exactly what Reagan/Bush/Bush have done, though nobody calls it that anymore...wonder why

[ooglymoogly]

52. and why is that a bad thing and no I did not conveniently forget another salient point in FDR's

incredible resume' unless you are a freeper who is in agreement with the 4-5 partisan shills on the bench who hold sway over democracy or fascism and are clearly favoring fascism.
12 jurors tried and true and not 4-5 pug shills and 3-4 jurors tried and true. Much too short a fuse for a tyrant to manipulate and is in fact manipulating. 12 jurors would make it much harder for 1 president to manipulate heavily to his benefit.

[ooglymoogly]

51. I will pit my 1 strawman (NOT) against phd's 3 straw men any day...

and phd will lose

[ooglymoogly]

53. constitutions are meant to be amended if endorsed by the people

who can vote for it or not. It is called progress and still remains within the realm of democracy.

[Djinn]

3. when talking to Americans the simple fact I'd use is

He was elected fairly and freely, and when up for re-election increased his margin AFTER he'd apparently been a nasty horrible dictator who would ruin Vz.

It's a handy filter however - anyone who spouts the "he's a dictator" line flags themselves as a disengenous supporter of hording wealth in the hands of the rich or they have swallowed the kool-aid. Saves wasting time deciding whether to argue with them.

[LaStrega]

7. couldn't agree with you more n/t

[Dhalgren]

4. K&R!

Viva Chavez!

[L. Coyote]

5. Not to mention Venezuela helps the poor in other countries, like the USA

and elsewhere in Latin America.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. Chavez sent fuel oil to certain Alaska Native villages

last winter -- this at a time when Bush was drastically reducing benefits under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Some of the villagers got all "patriotic" and said they wouldn't accept gifts from Chavez, who had insulted our president, but some saw it as a gesture of good will, worthy of acceptance. It was quite a divisive issue here.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-09-alaska-venezuela_x.htm

[Pavulon]

42. Well he has not done a thing this winter at $3.30

plus a gallon heating oil. And he states oil should be $100 a gallon. He is a self serving political piece of crap. Giving away a bit of product does not endear me to the dopeman.

[Blue_In_AK]

43. I wasn't making a pitch, just stating a fact. n/t

[Cha]

47. You sure whine

a lot.

[lvx35]

6. Yep. I am so sick of the Chavez the dictator narrative.

Its not that he's perfect, its just that there are so many bad dictators, genocide occurring etc. but the only "dictators" we seem to be worried about are the ones sitting on lots of oil. The transparent hypocrisy is unbearable.

[Joe Fields]

9. It is good that he uses oil profits to help the poor.

That is worth a whole lot more than a lot of countries do.

[zeemike]

11. There it is, proof that he is a commy pinko

All that free health care for the poor and free food too...What a disgrace to real freedom.
And just look at him...he is black with dark nappy hair,,,what is that all about? And too boot he looks like one of those Mayan indians. Are they not the ones that sacrificed the young by tearing out their hearts?
Evil is as evil does and we can all agree that it is evil to give to the poor...it only encourages them.

:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

[lostnfound]

21. Blessed are the poor.

How evil to try to take such blessings away.
:sarcasm:

[LaStrega]

12. Star Tribune is reporting Chavez lost n/t

[Peace Patriot]

15. NO got 50.7%. YES got 49.3%. Chavez conceded, and will not contest it.

I heard him on Radio Venezuela En Vivo tonight. He sounded fine--philosophical, optimistic.

9 years of straight wins. 1 loss. Not a bad record. Chavistas will regroup and go on. Four years left to his term.

Greg Wilpert (Venezuela expert) says it's better that it lost by a slim margin, than if it had won by slim margin, cuz those rightwing coupsters in Venezuela would surely not have graciously conceded, and would have torn the country to pieces.

Wilpert's right. I would have been very afraid for Venezuela tonight, if those numbers had been reversed, what with Rumsfeld's talons bared and all.

Don't know if that great radio live from Venezuela will continue. Found it at www.venezuelanalysis.com. What a resource! Mostly in English.

[ikojo]

23. When Bush "won" the 2004 election with similar numbers

he and the media painted it as a "mandate" for him to continue his policies.

[burrowowl]

44. Thanks for linkI had lost track of Wilpert!

[Azathoth]

16. Simple fact: Mussolini got the trains to run on time

Every aspiring dictator uses populist causes to rally the people and convince them to overlook the systematic takeover and dismantling of democratic processes. Such tactics often include appealing to the poor/oppressed, railing against an external evil (real or imagined, but almost always distorted) to stir up nationalist fervor, demonizing some unfortunate internal group or faction as enemies and traitors, etc.

[Pastiche423]

17. It bring joys to me that Hugo Chavez

has not used such tactics as others have, which often include appealing to the poor/oppressed, railing against an external evil (real or imagined, but almost always distorted) to stir up nationalist fervor, demonizing some unfortunate internal group or faction as enemies and traitors, etc.

His concession speech (as it were) was full of humbleness, a plea for no violence and the love of his people.

Kudos, Chavez de Presidente!

[Azathoth]

18. Now it remains to be seen if Chavez truly stands by his concession

Or whether he will simply try another tactic to grab more power. Let's hope his dictatorial tendencies have been permanently discouraged.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Wrong.

http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp

And your comparison is ridiculous.

[Azathoth]

45. LOL, the comparison is perfectly apt

In fact, the opening sentences of the Snopes article reinforce what I wrote. Whether or not the Fascists were actually responsible for repairing Italy's railroads is essentially irrelevant, since they took credit for it and everyone believed they were responsible for it.

[BornagainDUer]

29. Yea, but Mussolini had the backing of Wall Street both financially and militarily

and he got into power by knocking off the opposition with terror. Just two minor diffs between Il Duce and Chavez.

[TahitiNut]

30. Triumph of Propaganda: Bushoilini got the planes to run on time, too.

:eyes:

[malaise]

19. Helping the poor is no longer

a requirement of democracies - free market, free market, free market - rinse and repeat :sarcasm:

[ellisonz]

24. Was it ever?

[LeftCoast]

20. There weren't any poor people in E. Germany (post WWII) either

I still wouldn't have wanted to have been a citizen living there.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

25. Building the Social Economy

Building the Social Economy

Reforms First: For eight years the Chavez government went out of its way not to threaten the private sector. Despite relentless hostility and numerous provocations from the Venezuelan business association and the privately owned media, there were few nationalizations and the state sector did not grow appreciably. While the government did launch a serious land reform, the program proceeded more cautiously than government rhetoric and landowner complaints would lead one to expect. Instead, Chavez concentrated on redirecting profits from the state owned oil company to social programs to benefit the poor, and financing development of what the government called the "social economy." In addition to increasing spending dramatically on healthcare and food subsidies, the government launched a massive program of adult education. Millions of poor Venezuelans have now overcome illiteracy, and hundreds of thousands have received primary diplomas and secondary degrees studying in store-front schools named Mision Robinson I (literacy), Mision Robinson II (primary), and Mision Rivas (secondary).

But none of this addressed the high rate of unemployment and the most pressing economic needs of those who had voted Chavez into office. The business sector was hostile to the Chavez government from the outset and oscillated between economic sabotage and capital flight. So the private sector could not be relied on to increase investment, production, and employment. Nor was extensive nationalization an attractive option because Chavez wanted to avoid provoking the business community unnecessarily, and there was a shortage of competent officials who were also politically trustworthy to run more state enterprises. Moreover, neither Chavez nor his closest associates were enamored of the "state socialist" model. So increasing employment by expanding the state sector was also not seen as a desirable option. Determined not to renege on electoral promises to better economic conditions for his supporters as many populists in Latin America have in the past, Chavez launched a massive program to create worker-owned cooperatives in both rural and urban areas.

Cooperatives: New worker-owned cooperatives not only provided much needed jobs producing much needed basic goods and services, they also featured what was soon to become a hallmark of Bolivarian socialism -- popular participation at the grassroots level. When Chavez was first elected President in 1998, there were fewer than 800 legally registered cooperatives in Venezuela with roughly 20,000 members. In mid-2006 the National Superintendence of Cooperatives (SUNACOOP) reported that it had registered over 100,000 co-ops with over 1.5 million members.3 Generous amounts of oil revenues continue to provide start-up loans for thousands of new cooperatives every month, and the Ministry for the Communal Economy continues to spearhead a massive educational program for new cooperative members. However, the ministry provides more than technical assistance regarding technology, accounting, finance, business management, and marketing. It also teaches participants about cooperative principles, economic justice, and social responsibility.

......

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18816.htm

[leftist_not_liberal]

49. Cordones Industriales, Comandos Comunales

Recommended Koolaid Antidote:



Popular revolution, culture of impunity

Venezuela’s promising future

Local councils – Units of Popular Power – are being set up in the hope that their members, and the small groups they represent, will take responsibility for changing their lives.

http://mondediplo.com/2006/09/13venezuela

[ikojo]

22. Which is one of the reasons he is so villified by both

political parties in the US. He is flipping off the IMF and rule of by and for corporations and investors.

[slackmaster]

26. Helping the poor is a great strategy when the majority of voters are poor

As long as you keep them poor, you have a guaranteed majority.

[BornagainDUer]

28. What the fuck are you talking about? You flunked Psy-ops 101 person.

Lesson one: "You can't contradict obvious facts on the post where they are presented".

[John Q. Citizen]

33. That's odd. I would think if you failed to deliver on your programs that then you

we be voted out, assuming you hold free and fair elections.

FDR was popular because his policies actually gave jobs and hope to people who had none. It led the ruling class to amend our constitution so that a popular leader couldn't hold power longer than one consecutive term (eight years total)

Lots of countries have no such prohibition on consecutive electoral power, Britain comes to mind, as do many Western friendly democracies.

However, the question of whether keeping your population poor is good electoral policy seems different than an issue of consolidating power in the hands of a popular president.

I would say, given the long string of victories for economic populists in Latin America, that delivering on your programs is probably a plus in the election arena. In fact, I would assume that that the US has already identified all the programs promised and attempted to derail as many as seems feasible. That seems to be what we do, on a general basis.

Also, the question of Latin American unity also comes into play, as does the questions of the relevance of institutions the US has invested greatly in, such as the World Bank, and the WTO.

So I'm sure the US is doing all it can to insure that the democratic economic populists in Latin America aren't having an easy time.

[Clanfear]

38. In reading responses from Chavistas in the media about the election

Many of them echo what you just said. He wasn't keeping his promises. One of the common themes seemed to be "if he can't keep the previous promises, how can he fulfill news ones?"

[Clanfear]

36. That is very true

And since he is such good buddies with Castro it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that he would follow his lead and keep the vast majority equally poor.

[leftist_not_liberal]

50. There are only two classes.

Some folks have no idea what class they are in, friend.

[pberq]

31. Thanks Orwellian_Ghost

Important information.

See also this post by Demeter, where today's article by Greg Palast is discussed:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x324351

FEAR OF CHAVEZ IS FEAR OF DEMOCRACY by Greg Palast

[killbotfactory]

32. "helping the poor" = "buying votes" in our media

There is an undercurrent of contempt for the poor in our media. Not just for the Venezuelan poor, but the American poor as well.

[EFerrari]

37. And by extention, for anyone who isn't them. No kidding. n/t

[cooolandrew]

34. America owes a lot to Chavez. He's doingthe right thing which can only be a good example.

[UTUSN]

48. Yeah-yeah, so did Eva PERON. n/t