Venezuelan opposition
leader Leopoldo Lopez turns himself into police
last week: Columnist Saul Leblon writes that the long battle over
how
to build a better
society in Latin America is now playing out on the
streets of Venezuela,
and that it can all be traced
back toright-wing
Chile General
Augusto
Pinochet's toppling of Salvador Allende.
Toppling of Salvador Allende Sizzles on Streets of Venezuela (Carta Maior,
Brazil)
"After so many presidential defeats, the lesson that looms
large is that an element of conservatism - personified there by Leopoldo López - has concluded that the electoral process is too
constraining. ... This isn't only a problem of Chavismo,
but an entire region traumatized by the skirmishes accumulated during the many
attempts to transition to a more just society. ... Included on this list is the
emblematic failure of guerrilla Che Guevara, killed
in Bolivia in October 1967. Above all, though, the massacre of Salvador Allende's democratic road to Chilean socialism in 1973."
The other 9-11: On September 11, 1973, the democratically-elected president of Chile, Salvadore Allende, was toppled in a CIA-backed coup led by right-wing General Augusto Pinochet. Brazilian columnist Saul Leblon writes that the unrest on the streets of Venezuela is a direct consequence.
Venezuela
is today's Latin American geopolitical skillet. It’s useless to come at it from
a distance, with tweezers and surgical gloves - and what's frying there is more
than Chavismo.
The
bigger fish had better watch out, because if the far right wins, the sizzling
oil will pour out south of the equator.
What's
at stake is not just petroleum - although some find it unsettling that the largest
oil reserves on the planet are in the custody of a diffuse socialism, and not the
tender mercies of the Carmonas, Capriles
and Lopez' of the
world [leading politicians of the Venezuelan right].
What's
most disturbing, however, are outdated limitations and broken injunctions. The major
issues of class power have been put back on the table in this political struggle.
Some
are disturbed that Chavismo has “soiled” the new
regional economic agenda by again throwing open the political struggle over controlling
development.
Chávez
and Chavismo has stretched the parameters of history
to the point that pertinence and timeliness have been restored to references
and banners that were thought silenced and calcified forever.
The
burst limitations even bother segments of the moderate left.
Suddenly,
the summons went out to tie up this ship which had drifted to a future no one dared
say existed. Indeed, it may need to be reinvented, since it is a contagious adventure
inevitably used as an example of irretrievable disaster - which the global
media covers every day, year after year - and now with renewed vigor.
If
anyone doubts the ferocity of the siege, visit the Portuguese site of the newspaper El País. One of the world's leading newspapers,
the local version of the Spanish daily has five headlines about Venezuela. Naturally,
the raft of articles comprises a narrative that extreme right leader Leopoldo López distributes throughout the streets of Caracas.
As
much as it would have been better if the first socialist revolution had
occurred in Germany or the United States rather than czarist, feudal Russia, or
Cuba, which is devoid of everything and so close to hell - that’s not how the
story goes.
Historical
time has blurred the confusing boundaries between populism, nationalism,
socialism, extreme poverty and oligarchic opulence, emergencies, voluntarism
and revolution. All are intertwined in the Venezuela of recent decades, culminating
up to the present.
Many
would like to contain this bittersweet cocktail, giving it a subtitle of something
out of the norm on the menu of regional moderation. Yet what's happening in
Caracas is anything but unique. Disruptions in the historical cycle generally strike
at the most fragile and extreme links in the chain.
The
fate of the progressive experience across the continent is interlinked with the
Venezuelan storyline, so this would be an opportune moment to learn from its continuing
journey.
After
so many presidential defeats, the lesson that looms large is that an element
of conservatism - personified there by Leopoldo López
- has concluded that the electoral process is too constraining.
Those
watching the ongoing interactions there don't hesitate to conclude that progressive
forces must strengthen the foundations of the anti-coup wall across Latin
America - because more Leopoldo López' will come.
Latin
American integration also looms large as a lookout and guarantor of an
effective transition to social democracy.
The
beachhead bubbling up in the streets of Caracas must not be underestimated, for
to hesitate in the face of it means endorsing a historic injunction. The banner
of building a social state would become merely ornamental in the region. If the
choice it to eschew resignation, it is necessary to add impetus to the cause.
The
belt of legality around Maduro must be strengthened
with gestures, resources, and the physical presence of UNASUR
and Mercosur
heads of state in Caracas. The materialization of a clear counterpoint to the
forces driving the coup are urgently needed. [Former Brazil President] Lula has the regional leadership
and prestige to lead this force - but there is more to do.
With
belligerence overflowing onto the streets, the struggle for power in Venezuela
illuminates the need for a popular apparatus - something non-existent in most
countries - to defend the gains and achievements beset by conservative
radicalization.
Furthermore,
one must insist that this isn't only a problem of Chavismo,
but an entire region traumatized by the skirmishes accumulated during the many
attempts to transition to a more just society.
Included
on this list is the emblematic failure of guerrilla Che
Guevara, killed in Bolivia in October 1967. Above all, though, the massacre
of Salvador Allende's democratic road to Chilean socialism in 1973.
On
September 11 of that year, the-then head of the armed forces, General Augusto
Pinochet, eviscerated the hope of a socialist transition, the main anchor of
which was the illusion of a professional military obedient to the voter.
Since
then, socialism has figured in progressive discourse like the banks of a river devoid
of bridges or marine access. The bloody setbacks of the '60s and '70s were
followed by a cycle of neoliberal regressively. The tension in Venezuela, which
came and shook up this historic collapse, is about to turn 40. Since Allende, no other experience of popular government has
taken up the challenge of expanding the borders of social democracy as seriously
as the Bolivarian revolution.
Not
that the issue is settled. Far from it. There are huge gaps in Chavismo - some that are startling.
The
fragility of its economic footprint, incapable of reinvesting oil revenue into
endogenous dynamics of growth, jobs and income, is one of them. Another is the lack
of an entrenched party capable of leading the revolution in the absence of
Chávez, who died in March, 2013.
The
asphyxiating siege of the media, however, also hides remarkable advances that one
understand how this political beetle continues to fly, 15 years after the hard
evidence of power.
Ignacio Ramonet
measured the wings of the versatile Chavista beetle:
42 percent of the government budget goes toward social investment; five million
people have been lifted out of poverty; infant mortality has fallen dramatically;
illiteracy has been eradicated; the number of public school teachers has
quintupled (from 65,000 to 350,000); Chávez created 11 new universities; he
granted retirement benefits to every worker, etc.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
That
an extreme right movement has connected with the middle class and been able to
bring Caracas into the streets in the face of all this says a lot about its
conception of a society that today considers itself “democratic.”
What's
going in Venezuela is a warning to progressive governments about the narrow
limits of conservative tolerance in the region. To cope with them, it is critical
to know where you plan to end up - and to provide the conditions to get there.
Many
feel this is a “non-issue” - that everything will be resolved through the
autopilot of economics, with incremental progress that mechanically propagates in
step with the forces of society.
Given
this, economist MárcioPochaman,
in a recent interview with CUT, addressed one of today's key issues,
as the barricades in Kiev harbor followers of Yulia
Timoshenko, and those in Caracas are occupied by the masked men of Leopoldo
López:
“We
[Brazilians] created 17 million jobs since 2003; thanks to Pro
Uni grants, one million young people have entered
universities; and 1.5 million families have qualified for the My
House, My Life program. What was the organizational benefit of all this?,” Pochman asks rhetorically.
It's
as if you said: the griddle is sizzling in Venezuela. What's our capacity to
resist being fried and to make progress from this point forward?
