Forero in Caracas
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I really hate to sound repetitive, but here
we go again, facing yet another round of internal and external, political
and diplomatic efforts aimed at destabilizing the Venezuelan government. 12.00
midnight tonight marks the "ultimatum" posed by the Venezuelan Supreme Court
10 days ago to the National Assembly (Congress), with regard to the time
span "conceded" to name the members of the National Electoral Council (CNE
in Spanish), public organ which organizes, administers, directs and oversees
all election processes in the country, and which constitutes one of the five
political powers (legislative, executive, judicial, citizen and electoral
power) that give life to the participative and pro-active Venezuelan democracy
as outlined in the Bolivarian Constitution of 1999.
According to the Constitution, the members of the National Electoral Council
are postulated in part by civil society, in part by the faculties of political
and juridical sciences of the national universities, and in part by the citizen
power; but they have to be elected by a majority of two thirds of the National
Assembly, an urgent task that has not been possible to accomplish for months
on end, due to the constant denial of "opposition" forces to come to a reasonable
consensus on the matter, which has been part and parcel of their overall parliamentary
sabotage strategy.
The future National Electoral Council will be in charge of organizing and
supervising a possible recall referendum on president Chávez' mandate
after August 19th, provided the "opposition" would recollect the necessary
signatures to initialize the referendum, and unless the "4 million" signatures
recollected during "el firmazo", a highly controversial and fraudulent one
day street campaign earlier this year, would be admitted as valid by the
electoral organ. Needless to mention that the "opposition" is not really
interested in any recall referendum, for being the outcome very likely that
of a defeat and for being the recall referendum extendable to all public
office holders, threatening to sweep away many an "opposition" major and
governor across the country. In any case, the political impartiality (as
far as this is possible), serenity and sense of responsibility of the future
members of the National Electoral Council is absolutely crucial to the credibility
of any electoral process to come, as well as to the overall political stability
of the country.
From tomorrow, Friday, on, the Venezuelan Supreme Court will proceed to
elect, within the next ten days, the members for a "temporary but legitimate"
National Electoral Council, self-assigning itself a competence which is clearly
and exclusively that of the National Assembly. In addition, given the precedents
of former, nefarious rulings of the Venezuelan Supreme Court in favour of
the fascist "opposition" (especially the one of August last year which denied
a coup d´état had happened in April and thus conceded general
amnesty to all military personnel involved), fears if not convictions have
arisen, that the Supreme Court will try to implement Electoral Council members
strongly inclined towards the "cause" of the "opposition", lacking the necessary
credibility and trust for being in charge with any future electoral process
to come.
Well aware of yet another series of political, judicial and mediatic manoeuvres
of the "opposition", intended to paint a picture of presidential and governmental
unconstitutionality and illegitimacy after August 19th - date marking half
of Chávez office term and from which on a recall referendum can be
solicited-, and in the face of an imminent, "institutional coup d´état"
with the Supreme Court usurping functions alien to its competencies, the
political forces backing the government in the National Assembly have warned
they would call for a special parliamentary session to legally disqualify
such a ruling and declare their non-adherence to it for being an interference
in the competencies of the National Assembly.
For the next week and a half, the political parties backing the government
have announced the celebration of three years in office of the revolutionary
government of Hugo Chávez, with all sorts of political events being
held all over the country and also in the capital, inviting participants
to bring their tents and stay overnight in the streets, which looks very
much like a pre-emptive move of active defence, countering the political
destabilization efforts to come. (Any resemblance of this strategy to the
Bush Doctrine is unintended and purely accidental ...)
"Coincidentally" we have seen a very recent effort by the Colombian and
Venezuelan mass media to discredit the Venezuelan government by linking it
to the Colombian guerilla, immediately and happily picked up and endorsed
by US government officials, namely the Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff
Richard B. Myers, and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Myers´ "jewel"
consisted in drawing a parallel between Venezuela/Colombia and Syria/Iraq,
hinting at a hidden and forbidden collaboration with "terrorist forces",
firing a clear warning shot into Venezuela's direction with regard to the
Colombian Guerilla, nicely and timely framed by the latest media confabulations.
But Colin Powell actually came quite close to the truth (without knowing
why, of course), when recently stating, that president Chávez "sometimes
has some ideas with respect to democratic systems that don't quite comport
with ours ..."
Summing up recent developments, on the internal front we have the "institutional
coup d´état" in the making, whereas on the external front we
have the corresponding, mediatic acrobatics that will back up and even try
to superate their Venezuelan counterparts in painting Venezuela's government
as one that is obstructing the recall referendum and thus undemocratic,
despotic, illegitimate, tyrannical, you name it.
The heat is on. But once burnt twice cautious, the majority of Venezuelans
will have their fire-extinguishers ready before the first flame lights up.
¡Venceremos!
¡A Paso de vencedores!
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A spectre is haunting the Fourth Reich --
the Spectre of Chavéz!
All the oligarchic powers in Venezuela and abroad have entered into a fascist,
neo-liberal alliance to exorcise this spectre: Otto Reich and CAP, Aznar and
Estanga, Ortega and Gaviria, "Friends of Venezuela" and Enemies of "Castro-Communism".
Where is the "party" in the "opposition" that did not decry Chavéz
as a "dictator", as a "tyrant"? Where is the anti-governmental "stormtrooper
of the apocalypsis" that did not try to assassinate his character?
After the brutal massacre of dozens of bolivarians, especially between April
11 and 13, 2002, after various serious attempts of political and economic
coups, that normally no oppressive government ever would have survived,
now Chavéz is No. 1 on the hit list of the mercenary "Death Squads",
is targeted for "regime change". With the most democratic constitution that
the world ever has seen in the hand, for the majority of Venezuelans, for
85% of 24 million people, who have been languishing in critical misery and
poverty over the last half-a-century, two things remain very clearly: No puede
ser!! Uh, Ah, Chavéz no se va!! Their President must remain in power,
if necessary, till 2021.
Never mind the Damocles Sword of global fascist "shock and awe", of a possible
foreign intervensionist "awestruck" over Caracas, the Bolivarian Republic
is fulfilling its historic, social order, is keeping the youthful daydreams
of Simon Bolívar alive, demonstrating praxically to the world a viable,
possible alternative to neo-liberal savagery in Venezuela, in Latin America,
and elsewhere. Definitely, the belligerent, corporate oil mongrels of Washington,
London and Madrid, in their global fascist megalomania, first would have to
eradicate every single worker, peasant, buhonero, child or bolivarian, in
barbaric invasion, would have to raze the whole of Venezuela to the ground,
in their forward march of trying to establish a Global Fourth Empire. They
would have to take up arms against "miracles", against a people in arms, to
eliminate all the people's armed forces, would have to commit war crimes against
a revolution in arms, in the arms and hearts of millions across Latin America,
across the whole globe. They would have towipe out the eternal radiating memory
of the Liberator, of the fiery Bolivarian revolutionary spirit from the very
face of the Milky Way.
Looking through my window here in Mérida, outside there, at the foot
of Pico Bolivar, this splendid morning, everything is still near, dear and
clear, simple and easy, yet, only a limited panorama enters my vision. Higher
up, things already move to a distance, they are seen in another context,
are more related, complex and they can only be reflected as such. To explain
this complex, complicated matter to someone who forever has been living,
acting and thinking in a flat limited world, is well-nigh impossible. For
her/him to understand concepts like Labour, Ideology or Revolution, s(he)
must make some intellectual effort, must ascend Pico Bolivar, at least to
the second station of the "teleférico", of the cable car, now passing
the middle part of this gorgeous tourist attraction.
Who reaches the top, has an all around view, sees things in the far distance,
everything appears vague, cloudy and intangible, but s(he) can see all sorts
of relations, has a multi-global vision, at last, can see the real, true
concatenations of práxis and theory, of Science and Philosophy, of
Revolution and Emancipation. And because s(he) has seen the other levels
and degrees already, this mension can be used for precise, incisive and decisive
investigation and research work, enabling her/him, to mount other "inaccessible"
heights and depths, to reach other microscopic and macroscopic spheres of
productive world revolution and creative, galactic emancipation.
Only as such, the contemporary Bolivarian revolutionary could understand
the following transhistoric ideas, that beckon for immediate study, for urgent
realization:
*¿No cree Vd. que la Inglaterra sentiría celos por la elección
que se hiciera en un Borbón? ¿Cuánto no se opondrían
todos los nuevos estados americanos, y los Estados Unidos que parecen destinados
por la Providencia para plagar la América de miserias a nombre de la
Libertad? Me parece que ya veo una conjuración general contra esta
pobre Colombia, ya demasiado envidiada de cuantas repúblicas tiene
la América. Todas las prensas se pondrían en movimiento llamando
a una nueva cruzada contra los cómplices de traición a la libertad,
de adictos a los Borbones y de violadores del sistema americano. Por el
Sur encenderían los peruanos la llama de la discordia; por el Istmo
los de Guatemala y Méjico, y por las Antillas los americanos y los
liberales de todas partes. No se
quedaría Santo Domingo en inacción y llamaría a sus
hermanos
para hacer causa común contra un príncipe de Francia. Todos
se convertirían en enemigos sin que la Europa hiciera nada por sostenernos,
porque no merece el Nuevo Mundo los gastos de una Santa Alianza... "
(Simón Bolívar, Obras Completas, Madrid, Maveco
de Ediciones S.A., 1992, volumen V, página 279).
This has to be kept in mind, in the Bolivarian schools and people's universities,
in the "Plan Robinson", where revolutionary práxis and theory have
to be developed, studied, applied. To mix up the levels, degrees and mensions
of things, of reality, can only lead to confusion, to reactionary "escualidism",
to political bankruptcy of the so-called "opposition".
In short, simple things, like conserving potable water, not to sing more
than one song under the shower, realities that are able to be captured by
an opressed, uniformal mind, can and must be expressed straightforwardly
as levels, and as such, they could be understood precisely. Complex things,
like Práxis and Theory, like Ideology and Practice, cannot be expressed
as simplicity, it is not their natural habitat. They presuppose intellectual
work, social reflection and intellectual reproduction. Vague things like
revolution and emancipation, include simple and complex issues, but scientifically
and philosophically, they can only be seen rationally, with real, true Reason,
with Wisdom, and should be understood and explained in an opaque fashion;
to explain them in a simple and complex way, as catechism or manual for beginners,
is simply a useless task, will just call turmoil and devastating typhoons
on the scene, and this will transform itself into an ill wind which blows
nobody "good".
In real socialization, true education, there are three legitimate ways to
express any "event": simply, complex and vague, thus, reflecting its even,
uneven and combined development. The most precise scientific and philosophic
method is precisely the latter, no matter how "concrete" we generally want
to be, to be down to earth. Creatively, the Bolivarian Revolution has to
be acted, be thought, be formulated transhistorically, it needs a Práxis-Theory,
that considers political economy, social class differences, the labour struggle,
its internal, intensive "class struggle", a philosophy that surpasses all
forms of global lies, ideology and mind control.
Everybody, every Venezuelan worker, every Bolivarian, every Latin American,
all workers should know what is Work, what isLabour, what is a Labourer,
what is Capital, what is Capitalism; should learn the transhistoric lessons,
resulting from such gruesome phenomena like September 11 or April 11, "shock
and awe" over Baghdad, the hard way, by her- or himself, by means of simple
Práxis, complex Theory and vague Emancipation.
When absolutist feudalism was toppled by the French Revolution, when the
Industrial Revolution was driving the serfs and peasants off the lands because
their agricultural labour was obsolete, Vagrant Laws -- especially under Henry
VIII already, by hundred thousands -- just massacred the unwanted en masse.
Of course, then, the modern working class, the proletariat, the future physical
labourers were also born, came of age.
Now, we are experiencing another Global Technological and Nanotechnological
Transvolution, a Revolution, that is ushering in a post-productive mode
of existence, mainly utilizing "intellectual labour forces", thus condemning
physical labour forces to extinction; globally, over the last decades, machines,
computers, the intelligentsia drove hundreds of thousands of physical labourers
into dire poverty, into obsolescence.
After Iraq, more massive global Euro-American butcheries are on the global
order of the day; in the 20th century, it was called fascism or nazism.
Today it is called "Anti-Terrorism", "Civilization", the New World Order
or Globalization. And, the international working class, the obsolete sector,
is now the "terrorist class". Long live the "terrorist class"! You have
nothing to lose, except your "terror"! It's Civilization or Barbarism! It's
Hobson's Choice!
Until now, in all modes of production, War supposedly had cured all Labour
Problems -- will it succeed this time? Will the pipe-dreams of the giga-corporations
in the oil-rich Persian and Caspian regions, to capture PDVSA, sweep away
the physical labour class by the billions? Can less than 5% of the current
working class, the intellectual labourers, still save humanity? Can the
Venezuelan práxico-theoretical "Miracle of Caracas", the emancipatory
result of decades of revolutionary dedication, blaze the transhistoric trail
towards historic beauty, truth and love? Bolivar was convinced of this global
victory; Chávez confirms his eviternal revolutionary aspirations,
and the Bolivarian peoples are storming the very heavens.
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"The New Voice of the Venezuelan People",
Aporrea, definitely is the real, true expression of the current Bolivarian
Revolution here in Venezuela. Comrades, Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Concerning what is "New", based on our revolutionary experiences in Africa,
and elsewhere, let me fraternally offer a helping emancipatory hand.
At the advent of yet another diabolical genre of an attempted institutional
coup in Venezuela against the Chavéz Government, against the Bolivarian
Revolution, and due to the imminent threats of yet more possible attacks to
come, within the next weeks, within the context of a volatile global environment
of international big lies, infowar and destabilization, for the sake of political
clarity, here is some so much needed healthy food for serious thought, for
revolutionary theory, and some socially accessible cliffs to reach for clear
emancipatory orientation.
It is understandable that the game has rules, and that sometimes we have
to play the democratic Russian Roulette. Also, it is logical that we have
our own beliefs, interests and world outlook. Nothing "wrong" with all these
-- they are our inalienable human rights to be respected. Our History should
be respected.
However, they do not always correspond to the transhistoric, global realities,
with the bitter lessons that we have learned, from Conquest, Colonization,
Christianization, Pacification, Militarization and Annihilation. Furthermore,
as Marx explained in his 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, -- where, at
that time, a similar reactionary political coup like here in Venezuela took
place against a then legitimate, democratic, capitalist French Government,
-- it is not only that "all facts and personages of great importance in
world history occur, as it were, twice, ... the first time as tragedy, the
second time as farce", but even more so he emphasized that "the tradition
of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living."
That is why, "when they seem engaged in revolutionizing themselves and things,
in creating something that has never yet existed, precisely in such periods
of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past
to their service and borrow from them names, battle cries and costumes in
order
to present the new scene of world history in this time-honoured disguise
and this borrowed language."
Hence, it is pertinent to remember that we are living in the "Information
Age", in "Globalization", and not in 19th Century Spain, France or Britain,
not in the epoch of liberal capitalism, colonization and imperialism, but
in the Third Millennium.
Our current Emancipatory Struggle against the former, this is the New that
we are creating. We are facing not an emerging capitalism, but a dying mode
of production, that is more brutal than ever. Hence, never mind tactics,
strategies, playing the game, the corporate "bourgeoisie" does not debate
or negotiate with the workers, it exploits them; capitalist politics dominate,
they don't obey any "governmental" rules, neither of, nor by, nor for the
working people; they only function of, by and for themselves, eternalizing
their self-created own master-slave relations. Thus, we should not try to
poison the corporate mamba with its own self-produced democratic venom. It
is only mortal, fatal and lethal for those who resist "regime change", but
for the "generation of vipers" themselves, it is the carte blanche for big
lies, "shock and awe" , monopolization, centralization and concentration
camps.
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