Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Vattene in Venezuela, idiota!

From what I could see, capitalism is thriving. Foreign oil interests
continue to profit handsomely from Venezuelan petrol, but they now pay
a fairer share of taxes and royalties. So do the 80 McDonald's
restaurants in Venezuela, which were briefly shut down last year over
alleged tax cheating.
Multinational companies and the old elite are doing fine in today's
Venezuela. So well that some Venezuelan leftists denounce Chavez --
despite his talk of building "21st century socialism" -- as a tool of
corporate imperialism.
Like other oil-exporting countries, Venezuela in the past allowed its
domestic productive economy to atrophy. Besides oil, it produced little
-- with food largely imported. Today, people in poor areas are
organizing themselves into productive and agricultural co-ops,
supported by low-interest government loans. We visited a federal bank
that underwrites women-run businesses nationwide.
My guess is that if Chavez succeeds in Venezuela -- a big "if" in a
country of endemic corruption, poverty and crime, in the backyard of
the U.S. superpower -- its economic system will end up looking more
like Sweden than Cuba.
What's not debatable is that the poor have found hope in the Chavez
administration -- which is why he's perhaps the most popular president
in our hemisphere. So popular that Chavez critics in the U.S.
government and Venezuelan opposition concede that they won't be able to
defeat him in December when he seeks reelection.
"The trouble with all you liberals is that you're anti-American and
hate democracy."
Participation in democracy is booming in Venezuela under Chavez. That's
partly due to polarization, but also because so many poor people feel
empowered enough for the first time to get active in politics. A
massive 2005 Latinobarometro poll conducted in 18 Latin American
countries showed that Venezuelans are among the top in preference for
democracy over all other forms of government, in satisfaction with how
their democracy is functioning, and in belief that their country is
"totally democratic."
"The oil money never gets to the poor. . . . You must have been paid by
Chavez to write what you wrote."
Across Venezuela, it's hard to miss the new investment in public
education. Schools are being upgraded in urban and rural areas and are
required to offer free breakfasts and lunches, arts, music and
after-school activities. Unlike the U.S., these are well-funded
mandates. Illiteracy has been virtually wiped out, according to UNESCO,
thanks to adult education that has penetrated the poorest
neighborhoods.
In poor communities, federally-subsidized stores called "mercals" sell
food at half the market price. In the capital of Caracas, thousands of
government-funded soup kitchens offer free lunches every weekday to the
indigent; our delegation was headquartered in a church that served 150
free lunches per day. Across the country, new housing is being built to
replace shantytown "ranchos" that so many Venezuelans live in.
Thousands of free ("Barrio Adentro") medical clinics have been built
inside neighborhoods that never had doctors before -- so many clinics
that you can spot them from the highway. These are staffed largely by
doctors from Cuba; in return, Cuba receives Venezuelan oil. When we
asked a community leader how local residents reacted to the Cuban
doctors, he explained that most Venezuelan doctors won't serve in poor
barrios: "People in our community don't care whether the doctors are
French, German, Canadian, Mexican or Cuban -- as long as they're here
to help."
"Go to Venezuela and kiss up to the anti-American dictator."
If Venezuela is a dictatorship, it must be the first in world history
in which the opposition controls most of the media. And the first in
which demonstrations occur regularly outside the presidential palace
(organized by various groups, especially low-income activists
complaining about broken promises and government inefficiency).
Dissent is alive and well in Venezuela. Any casual viewer can see
anti-Chavez criticism all over TV, the country's dominant medium and
largely in the hands of conservative business interests. The opposition
used its power on TV to support a short-lived military coup in 2002
(strike 1), an employers' oil lockout in 2002-3 (strike 2) and a failed
recall election in 2004 (strike 3). Chavez won nearly 60% in the recall
vote -- which was monitored closely by international observers.
Efforts to bring down Chavez -- through democratic and undemocratic
means -- have been supported by the Bush administration. Which makes it
ironic that the American Family Association, a U.S. religious
ultra-right group, has organized a Citgo boycott on the basis of its
Internet hoax: "Venezuela Dictator Vows to Bring Down U.S. Government."
The headline tends to reverse reality; Chavez has made no such vow. But
AFA true believers have targeted my email inbox for months with the
hoax.
"Try Jesus. If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you
back.. . . .What terrorist group are you affiliated with?"
If you think the U.S. is politically polarized, you haven't been to
Venezuela. Clinton's impeachment by the religious right over sex is
child's play compared to what's gone on in Venezuela, where Chavez has
survived near-death experiences at the hands of a conservative
opposition that has never accepted his presidency.
Columnist Paul Krugman talks of a "New Class War" in our country. In
Venezuela, it's old-fashioned class war. Political and media
confrontation between Chavez and the opposition is vicious, personal
and bare-knuckled. While independent human rights monitors in Venezuela
complain about isolated cases of government intimidation of opposition
figures and journalists, they scoff at claims that democracy is in
jeopardy or that dictatorship is coming.
Today, Chavez is popular (his approval ratings dwarf Bush's),
rambunctious in whipping up his base against both domestic opponents
and Bush, and prone to hyperbole in his hours of extemporaneous
speaking each day. He has waged a war of words against U.S. Empire and
Bush, whom he calls "Mr. Danger." But that's polite in light of
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld having compared Chavez to Adolph Hitler.
Or Rev. Pat Robertson having called for Chavez to be assassinated.
"You can write your articles about how great he [Chavez] is, but I
know, as well as other true Americans, that he is not a good man and he
does need to be taken out of power as soon as possible."
To me, the issue is less about Chavez than about the social initiatives
his government has unleashed. When I first wrote about Venezuela 14
months ago, I urged a simple economic action: filling up at Citgo so
that our money at the pump helps Venezuela's poor instead of Middle
East oiligarchs. That remains a good idea.
Nowadays, I also urge political action: that we contact Congress to
demand that the U.S. stay out of Venezuela's political contest. That's
up to Venezuelans to decide. Not us. The U.S. should stop its efforts
to back the conservative opposition and cease all ("National Endowment
for Democracy") funding of Venezuelan groups.
And finally, I want to join my rightwing critics in one recommendation:
Go to Venezuela. If you can arrange it, examine the social
transformations for yourself. Study Spanish there. See the decades of
poverty, neglect and corruption that led to the election of Hugo Chavez
-- and whether his government is improving things.
There's an added bonus for anyone who can get down there: gasoline at
18 cents per gallon. Expect to hear Venezuelans complaining that the
price is too high.
Jeff Cohen is a media critic and former TV pundit. His newest book,
"Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media," can be
pre-ordered at 
http://jeffcohen.org/
.

As soon as I returned home,
Peccato. Poteva restarci.
-Stefano


Scrisse Stefano De Cesari.  In fretta, perche' si stava aggiustando
l'elmetto e il giubbotto antiproiettile prima di essere paracadutato in
Iraq come nuovo membro della coalition of the willing.
GT

membro della coalition of the willing.
E perche' mai dovrei far questo, povero *FESSO* di un Torrieri?
-Stefano