Progressive Calendar 11.15.07
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:36:35 -0800 (PST)
             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    11.15.07

1. Blacks/college   11.15 9am
2. Iraq/KFAI        11.15 11am
3. Eagan vigil      11.15 4:30pm
4. Northtown vigil  11.15 5pm
5. KFAI/wine/power  11.15 6pm
6. Hmong origins    11.15 6:30pm
7. Womens dreams    11.15 6:30pm
8. Eat the rich     11.15 7pm
9. Jew/Muslim/peace 11.15 7pm
10. eCycling/MoA    11.15

11. Anti-warWalkout 11.16 12noon
12. Hmong origins   11.16 3pm

13. James Petras - Venezuela between ballots and bullets

--------1 of 13--------

From: Anne R. Carroll <carrfran [at] qwest.net>
Subject: Blacks/college 11.15 9am

Dr. Julianne Malveaux to keynote College Access Conference on November
15 AM.    Tickets available separately

Renowned economist, author and college president Dr. Julianne Malveaux
will keynote the Minnesota College Access Network Conference on Thursday,
November 15, in a 9 to 10 AM breakfast speech.  Dr. Malveaux will be
introduced by Art Rolnick, and will speak on the role of college access
strategies in building our economy and the development of our leadership
and civic capacity Cost for Dr. Malveaux' speech alone is $ 50.

The College Access Conference, which runs Thursday AM through Friday noon,
November 15-16, is for college access practitioners, education
policy-makers, business stakeholders and others with interest in the
college access field.  The cost of the full conference is $ 150 (less for
MCAN members).  The full line-up of offerings and a sign up for either the
entire conference or Dr. Malveaux's speech can be found at
www.mncollegeaccess.org <http://www.mncollegeaccess.org/> .

-
Dr. Rosa Smith to keynote MMEP's 20th Anniversary Dinner on November
15, evening.

Dr. Rosa Smith, former president of the Schott Foundation for Public
Education, will keynote the Minnesota Minority Education Partnerships 20th
Anniversary celebration on Thursday, November 15.  Her talk is entitled "
Black boys: the litmus test for public education".  The evening program
(5:30 to 9 PM) will run at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown
Minneapolis and includes dinner.  Tickets are $ 85 and reservations can be
made online at www.mmep.net <http://www.mmep.net/> .

The Minnesota College Access Network is an initiative of MMEP whose goal
is to increase the number and quality of college access programs as well
as the number of college-bound students of color who benefit from them.
For more information, go to www.mncollegeaccess.org
<http://www.mncollegeaccess.org/>

The Minnesota Minority Education Partnership (MMEP), founded in 1987, is a
nonprofit collaborative that formally brings together major educational
institutions in Minnesota with people of color to increase the success of
Minnesota students of color in Minnesota schools, colleges and
universities. For more information, go to www.mmep.net
<http://www.mmep.net/>


--------2 of 13--------

From: Write On Radio <writeonradio [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Iraq/KFAI 11.15 11am

Write on radio airs every THURSDAY 11 am - noon central time on 90.3 FM
Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul and live on the web at www.kfai.org.
Shows are archived for two weeks on line.

Thursday, November 15th, Lynette talks with poet Ann Iverson. She's a
member of the Laurel Poetry Collective, and her newest book is Definite
Space. Many of the poems in this collection describe the conflicted
feelings of a mom watching her son called to the Iraq war.

In the second half of the show, we talk with Haifa Zangana, author of City
of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance. Haifa Zangana
is a weekly columnist for al-Quds newspaper and a commentator for The
Guardian, Red Pepper, and al-Ahram Weekly. She lives in London.


--------3 of 13--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Eagan vigil 11.15 4:30pm

CANDLELIGHT PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest
corner of Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs
and candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends
south of the river speaking out against war.


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From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 11.15 5pm

NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil every Thursday 5-6pm, at the intersection of Co. Hwy
10 and University Ave NE (SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine.

Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View,
New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park,
Fridley, and Coon Rapids.  We'll have extra signs.

For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or
email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com.


--------5 of 13--------

From: Andy Driscoll <andy [at] driscollgroup.com>
Subject: KFAI/wine/power 11.15 6pm

KFAI Wine Tasting = Power Increase
Celebration (Thursday, November 15th)

As you may have learned through the grapevine, the FCC has approved KFAI¹s
application to build a 900-watt directional antenna (up from 30 watts) for
our 90.3 signal. The new antenna, scheduled for construction during the
first half of 2008, will increase the broadcast area and strength of our
main signal. This is exciting news for listeners and volunteers alike. To
celebrate, you (and your friends and colleagues) are invited to attend
KFAI¹s WINE TASTING EVENT at the Black Dog Café on Thursday, November 15th
(6-9pm). Proceeds from tickets help benefit KFAI and all our current and
future projects.

For tickets and information:
<https://www.kfai.org/node/add/wine-tasting-tickets>

Details:
KFAI Wine Tasting at the Black Dog
Thursday, November 15, 2007, 6pm until 9pm

The Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar in Lowertown 4th and Broadway, downtown
St. Paul: 651.228-9274 (Ample parking available in surface lots 1 block
east, off Kellogg, or 1 block south, off Prince Street.)

TICKETS: $30 per person, tickets available at the Black Dog, online here
<https://www.kfai.org/node/add/wine-tasting-tickets> or call KFAI:


--------6 of 13--------

From: jovita.bjoraker [mailto:Jovita.Bjoraker [at] state.mn.us]
Subject: Hmong origins 11.15 6:30pm

The Center for Hmong Studies will host a lecture by Dr. Gary Yia Lee,
Scholar-in-Residence at Concordia University, on November 15, 2007 from
6:30 pm. - 7:30 pm.  The lecture is entitled, The Origin of the Hmong.
During this lecture Dr. Lee will share with the audience what he
discovered through his research relating to this topic. The lecture will
take place in the Buenger Education Center at Concordia University.  The
lecture is free and open to the public.


--------7 of 13--------

From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Womens dreams 11.15 6:30pm

Minnesota Women's Consortium Conference: "Women's Dreams, 1977-1007 and
Beyond"

Thursday, November 15, 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. and Friday, November 16, 8:00
a.m. to 3:20 p.m. University of Minnesota, Continuing Education Center,
1890 Buford Avenue, St. Paul. Conference celebrating the 30th anniversary
of the Houston Plan of Action. Advance registration in required. Sponsored
by: Minnesota Women's Consortium. FFI and to Register: Call 651-228-0338,
visit <www.mnwomen.org> or email <info [at] mnwomen.org>.


--------8 of 13--------

From: Michael Wood <mwood42092 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Eat the rich 11.15 7pm [ed head]

Gus Hall Action Club warmly invites you to study and discuss an article,
"The Class Struggle and Ideology," with us November 15th at 7:00 Mayday
Bookstore, 301 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis.

Gus Hall, one of the founders of the Steelworkers' Union (USWA), was born
in Minnesota and was the leader and presidential candidate of the
Communist Party for many years. Hall's essay, "Class Struggle and
Ideology," addresses the ideology and worldviews of the capitalist class
vs. the working class. He writes: "There are two main world views -
capitalist and working class. This is based on the law that in a class
divided capitalist society, the interests of the capitalist class and the
working class will remain irreconcilable, antagonistic, in opposition
until the end of capitalism." Hall's essay addresses ways of interpreting
and struggling to change the world. Hall calls Marxism-Leninism "a science
for social change."

The full essay may be read at:
http://www.pww.org/past-weeks-1999/The%20class%20struggle%20part%201

See the Gus Hall Action Club blog at:
http://gushallactionclub.blogspot.com/


--------9 of 13--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Jew/Muslim/peace 11.15 7pm

Thursday November 15th - 7-9 pm:
"Jerusalem in our Day: Possibilities for Peace,"
A talk with Eliyahu McLean and Ghassan Manasra ?
Temple Israel, Hennepin and Emerson Ave, Mpls. MN
Free and open to the public
Sponsored in part by the Minneapolis Interfaith Forum.

Sunday November 18th- 5:30 pm (potluck) & 6:30 program Healing
Abraham's Family.? A talk with Eliyahu McLean and Ghassan Manasra - Two
peacemakers from Jerusalem Woodbury United Methodist Church - 7465
Steepleview Rd, Woodbury, 55125 Free and open to the public; For further
information call Stina, (651) 738-0305, at the church.

Eliyahu McLean, who is Jewish, directs the Jerusalem Peacemakers a network
of religious leaders and grassroots peace builders in Jerusalem and the
Holy Land. Eliyahu is a leader in such bridge building projects as the
Abrahamic Reunion, a group of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Druze
religious leaders working together to re-claim religion as a source for
peace; the annual 'On the Way to Sulha' event and monthly inter-religious
Israeli-Palestinian peace gatherings in East and West Jerusalem.

Ghassan Manasra, who is Muslim, directs Anwar il-Salaam, a Muslim peace
center in Nazareth promoting tolerance and interfaith dialogue. Ghassan
is ordained as a sheikh and he is the son of Sheikh Abdel Salaam
Manasra, the head of the Qadiri Sufi order in the Holy Land.


--------10 of 13--------

From: "Krista Menzel (Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace)" <web [at] mppeace.org>
Subject: eCycling/MoA 11.15

The Great Minnesota eCycling Event at Mall of America

Help save a river, or a forest or a city tree - by bringing your old
electronics to the country's biggest eCycling event

You probably didn't realize your old TV's and computers are a major
problem for the environment. You can't leave them in the street; you can't
put them in the trash anymore - so bring them here to the country's
largest ever eCycling (electronics recycling) event organized by MPC in
partnership with Mall of America.

It's three days to save the planet, or at least make a start.
Bring old stuff, get FREE stuff

Join us Thursday November 15 on America Recycles Day for the start of a
three-day eCycling event. Bring your old computers, TV sets, and small
electronics (sorry, no appliances).

There's no charge for drop off and in return you'll get a Mall of America
Mystery Park Pass, a Special Guest Star Program pass with 200 discounts
throughout the Mall and other free coupons and goodies.

Come to the Mall of America Met Lot just north of the Mall and near Ikea
and simply pull into one of the many drop off lanes. Special staff will
unload your electronics and get you quickly on your way.

Event Schedule

Thursday November 15   6.00am - 7.00pm
Friday November 16   6.00am - 7.00pm
Saturday November 17   9.00am - 5.00pm


--------11 of 13--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Anti-war walkout 11.16 12noon

Twin Cities Student Anti-War Walkout Fri.NOV.16,NOON
End the War in Iraq! Bring the Troops Home Now!
Military Recruiters Out of Our Schools!
Money for Education Not War!
Friday, November 16
Walkout of school at 12 noon

Rally at 1:00pm at Government Plaza (downtown Minneapolis on 5th St. and
4th Ave. by Light Rail station), followed by a march to a mass indoor
anti-war extravaganza with music, film, spoken word, and speeches at
Augsburg College

TOP 5 WAYS TO BUILD THE WALKOUT IN YOUR SCHOOL:

1. Download leaflets to pass out in your school at
http://www.yawr.org/nov16/index.htm
(If you need us to get you copies or make a leaflet with specific info
for your school, please get in touch right away! - e-mail
against.war [at] gmail.com)

2. Publicize the walkout over Facebook and MySpace
- Create your own Facebook event and invite people from your school!
- Visit the Youth Against War and Racism MySpace page at
http://www.myspace.com/yawrMN
- Send a MySpace bulletin to all your friends with info on the walkout
- Join the Twin Cities Student Walkout Against the War Facebook Group at:
http://harvard.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13124520620

3. Download the walkout sign-up sheet and collect names from your school
- then make a plan to make phone calls a day or two before the walkout
- Walkout sign-up sheet available at
http://www.yawr.org/nov16/Files/Walkoutsignup.rtf

4. Forward this e-mail to all your friends!

5. Bring leaflets to concerts, football games, or any events where there
might be a lot of students!

WHY WALKOUT NOVEMBER 16?

Military Recruiters Out of Our Schools
Our high schools have been turned into recruiting stations. To find
soldiers, schools are required to give military recruiters students'
names, phone numbers, and addresses. Recruiters target working class youth
and students of color. In St. Paul, Minneapolis, and beyond, YAWR is
pressuring school boards to restrict military access to our schools. Turn
up the heat with a mass student walkout!

Money for Education - Not War
In Minnesota alone, the war has cost us $11 billion, which could have
provided over 536,000 students four year scholarships at public
universities ( www.costofwar.com). Furthermore, the Minneapolis School
District recently closed five schools, claiming they had a budget
deficit. Out of our classes and into the streets to demand money for
jobs and education - not war!

End the War - Bring the Troops Home Now
In last year's election, the American people sent a clear message to end
this war that has killed over 3,800 U.S. soldiers, 1,000 private
military contractors, and 655,000 Iraqis. Instead of cutting off the
funds, the new Congress continues to hand Bush billions of dollars for
this illegal occupation. Vote with your feet on November 16th.

Twin Cities Youth Against War and Racism
against.war [at] gmail.com / 651-210-5342
http://www.yawr.org
http://www.myspace.com/yawrmn


--------12 of 13--------

From: Jeff Hartman <hartm152 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Hmong origins 11.16 3pm

"Diaspora and the Predicament of Origins: Interrogating Hmong
Postcolonial History and Identity" - a talk by Gary Yia Lee
Friday, November 16, 3:00 pm
Institute for Advanced Study, 125 Nolte Center
315 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis

Professor Gary Yia Lee will focus on the origin of the Hmong and
re-examine the debate between using "Hmong" or "Miao" as an umbrella term
for this ethnic group. He is a Hmong anthropologist who was born in Laos,
but moved to Australia as a teenager, where he later received his PhD from
the University of Sydney in 1981. He works as a bilingual welfare service
coordinator with the Cabramatta Community Centre, Sydney, Australia. He is
the editor of the Lao Studies Review for the Lao Studies Society, he has
been a referee for the Journal of Asian and Pacific Migration (Quezon
City, Philippines) and the International Review of Migration (New York,
USA) and is also the author of novels and scholarly articles. Prof. Lee is
the first Visiting Professor at Concordia University's newly established
Center for Hmong Studies.


--------13 of 13--------

Venezuelan Democracy, the Presidency of Hugo Chavez and the Great Majority
of Popular Classes Face a Mortal Threat
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
By JAMES PETRAS
CounterPunch
November 14, 2007

Venezuela's democratically elected Present Chavez faces the most serious
threat since the April 11, 2002 military coup.

Violent street demonstrations by privileged middle and upper middle class
university students have led to major street battles in and around the
center of Caracas. More seriously, the former Minister of Defense, General
Raul Isaias Baduel, who resigned in July, has made explicit calls for a
military coup in a November 5 press conference which he convoked
exclusively for the right and far-right mass media and political parties,
while striking a posture as an 'individual' dissident.

The entire international and local private mass media has played up
Baduel's speeches, press conferences along with fabricated accounts of the
oppositionist student rampages, presenting them as peaceful protests for
democratic rights against the government referendum scheduled for December
2, 2007.

The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC News and the
Washington Post have all primed their readers for years with stories of
President Chavez' 'authoritarianism'. Faced with constitutional reforms
which strengthen the prospects for far-reaching political-social
democratization, the US, European and Latin American media have cast
pro-coup ex-military officials as 'democratic dissidents', former Chavez
supporters disillusioned with his resort to 'dictatorial' powers in the
run-up to and beyond the December 2, 2007 vote in the referendum on
constitutional reform. Not a single major newspaper has mentioned the
democratic core of the proposed reforms - the devolution of public
spending and decision to local neighborhood and community councils. Once
again as in Chile in 1973, the US mass media is complicit in an attempt to
destroy a Latin American democracy.

Even sectors of the center-left press and parties in Latin America have
reproduced right-wing propaganda. On November the self-styled 'leftist'
Mexican daily La Jornada headline read 'Administrators and Students from
the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) Accuse Chavez of Promoting
Violence'. The article then proceeded to repeat the rightist fabrications
about electoral polls, which supposedly showed the constitutional
amendments facing defeat.

The United States Government, both the Republican White House and the
Democrat-controlled Congress [for which let it be damned to hell -ed] are
once again overtly backing the new attempt to oust the popular-nationalist
President Chavez and to defeat the highly progressive constitutional
amendments.


The Referendum: Defining and Deepening the Social Transformation

The point of confrontation is the forthcoming referendum on constitutional
reforms initiated by President Chavez, debated, amended and democratically
voted on by the Venezuelan Congress over the past 6 months. There was
widespread and open debate and criticism of specific sectors of the
Constitution. The private mass media, overwhelmingly viscerally
anti-Chavez and pro-White House, unanimously condemned any and all the
constitutional amendments. A sector of the leadership of one of the
components of the pro-Chavez coalition (PODEMOS) joined the Catholic
Church hierarchy, the leading business and cattleman's association,
bankers and sectors of the university and student elite to attack the
proposed constitutional reforms. Exploiting to the hilt all of Venezuela's
democratic freedoms (speech, assembly and press) the opposition has
denigrated the referendum as 'authoritarian' even as most sectors of the
opposition coalition attempted to arouse the military to intervene.

The opposition coalition of the rich and privileged fear the
constitutional reforms because they will have to grant a greater share of
their profits to the working class, lose their monopoly over market
transactions to publicly owned firms, and see political power evolve
toward local community councils and the executive branch. While the
rightist and liberal media in Venezuela, Europe and the US have fabricated
lurid charges about the 'authoritarian' reforms, in fact the amendments
propose to deepen and extend social democracy.

A brief survey of the key constitutional amendments openly debated and
approved by a majority of freely elected Venezuelan congress members gives
the lie to charges of 'authoritarianism' by its critics. The amendments
can be grouped according to political, economic and social changes.

The most important political change is the creation of new locally based
democratic forms of political representation in which elected community
and communal institutions will be allocated state revenues rather than the
corrupt, patronage-infested municipal and state governments. This change
toward decentralization will encourage a greater practice of direct
democracy in contrast to the oligarchic tendencies embedded in the current
centralized representative system.

Secondly, contrary to the fabrications of ex-General Baduel, the
amendments do not 'destroy the existing constitution', since the
amendments modify in greater or lesser degree only 20 per cent of the
articles of the constitution (69 out of 350).

The amendments providing for unlimited term elections is in line with the
practices of many parliamentary systems, as witnessed by the five terms in
office of Australian Prime Minister Howard, the half century rule of
Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, the four terms of US President Franklin
Roosevelt, the multi-term election of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair in
the UK among others. No one ever questions their democratic credentials
for multi-term executive office holding, nor should current critics
selectively label Chavez as an 'authoritarian' for doing the same.

Political change increasing the presidential term of office from 6 to 7
years will neither increase or decrease presidential powers, as the
opposition claims, because the separation of legislative, judicial and
executive powers will continue and free elections will subject the
President to periodic citizen review.

The key point of indefinite elections is that they are free elections,
subject to voter preference, in which, in the case of Venezuela, the vast
majority of the mass media, Catholic hierarchy, US-funded NGO's, big
business associations will still wield enormous financial resources to
finance opposition activity - hardly an 'authoritarian' context.

The amendment allowing the executive to declare a state of emergency and
intervene in the media in the face of violent activity to overthrow the
constitution is essential for safeguarding democratic institutions. In
light of several authoritarian violent attempts to seize power recently by
the current opposition, the amendment allows dissent but also allows
democracy to defend itself against the enemies of freedom. In the lead up
to the US-backed military coup of April 11, 2002, and the petroleum
lockout by its senior executives which devastated the economy (a decline
of 30% of GNP in 2002/2003), if the Government had possessed and utilized
emergency powers, Congress and the Judiciary, the electoral process and
the living standards of the Venezuelan people would have been better
protected. Most notably, the Government could have intervened against the
mass media aiding and abetting the violent overthrow of the democratic
process, like any other democratic government. It should be clear that the
amendment allowing for 'emergency powers' has a specific context and
reflects concrete experiences: the current opposition parties, business
federations and church hierarchies have a violent, anti-democratic
history. The destabilization campaign against the current referendum and
the appeals for military intervention most prominently and explicitly
stated by retired General Baduel (defended by his notorious
adviser-apologist, the academic-adventurer Heinz Dietrich), are a clear
indication that emergency powers are absolutely necessary to send a clear
message that reactionary violence will be met by the full force of the
law.

The reduction of voting age from 18 to 16 will broaden the electorate,
increase the number of participants in the electoral process and give
young people a greater say in national politics through institutional
channels. Since many workers enter the labor market at a young age and in
some cases start families earlier, this amendment allows young workers to
press their specific demands on employment and contingent labor contracts.

The amendment reducing the workday to 6 hours is vehemently opposed by the
opposition led by the big business federation, FEDECAMARAS, but has the
overwhelming support of the trade unions and workers from all sectors. It
will allow for greater family time, sports, education, skill training,
political education and social participation, as well as membership in the
newly formed community councils. Related labor legislation and changes in
property rights including a greater role for collective ownership will
strengthen labor's bargaining power with capital, extending democracy to
the workplace.

Finally the amendment eliminating so-called 'Central Bank autonomy' means
that elected officials responsive to the voters will replace Central
Bankers (frequently responsive to private bankers, overseas investors and
international financial officials) in deciding public spending and
monetary policy. One major consequence will be the reduction of excess
reserves in devalued dollar denominated funds and an increase in financing
for social and productive activity, a diversity of currency holdings and a
reduction in irrational foreign borrowing and indebtedness. The fact of
the matter is that the Central Bank was not 'autonomous', it was dependent
on what the financial markets demanded, independent of the priorities of
elected officials responding to popular needs.


As the Chavez Government Turns to Democratic Socialism: Centrists Defect
and Seek Military Solutions

As Venezuela's moves from political to social transformation, from a
capitalist welfare state toward democratic socialism, predictable
defections and additions occur. As in most other historical experiences of
social transformation, sectors of the original government coalition
committed to formal institutional political changes defect when the
political process moves toward greater egalitarianism and property and a
power shift to the populace. Ideologues of the 'Center' regret the
'breaking' of the status quo 'consensus' between oligarchs and people
(labeling the new social alignments as 'authoritarian') even as the
'Center' embraces the profoundly anti-democratic Right and appeals for
military intervention.

A similar process of elite defections and increased mass support is
occurring in Venezuela as the referendum, with its clear class choices,
comes to the fore. Lacking confidence in their ability to defeat the
constitutional amendments through the ballot, fearful of the democratic
majority, resentful of the immense popular appeal of the democratically
elected President Chavez, the 'Center' has joined the Right in a last
ditch effort to unify extra-parliamentary forces to defeat the will of the
electorate.

Emblematic of the New Right and the 'Centrist' defections is the
ex-Minister of Defense, Raul Baduel, whose virulent attack on the
President, the Congress, the electoral procedures and the referendum mark
him as an aspirant to head up a US-backed right-wing seizure of power.
[For which let the US be damned to hell also -ed]

The liberal and right wing mass media and 'centrist' propagandists have
falsely portrayed Raul Baduel as the 'savior' of Chavez following the
military coup of April 2002. The fact of the matter is that Baduel
intervened only after hundreds of thousands of poor Venezuelans poured
down from the 'ranchos', surrounded the Presidential Palace, leading to
division in the armed forces. Baduel rejected the minority of rightist
military officers favoring a massive bloodbath and aligned with other
military officials who opposed extreme measures against the people and the
destruction of the established political order. The latter group included
officials who supported Chavez' nationalist-populist policies and others,
like Baduel, who opposed the coup-makers because it radicalized and
polarized society - leading to a possible class-based civil war with
uncertain outcome. Baduel was for the restoration of a 'chastised' Chavez
who would maintain the existing socio-economic status quo.

Within the Chavez government, Baduel represented the anti-communist
tendency, which pressed the President to 'reconcile' with the 'moderate
democratic' right and big business. Domestically, Baduel opposed the
extension of public ownership and internationally favored close
collaboration with the far-right Colombian Defense Ministry.

Baduel's term of office as Defense Minister reflected his conservative
propensities and his lack of competence in matters of security, especially
with regard to internal security. He failed to protect Venezuela's
frontiers from military incursions by Colombia's armed forces. Worse he
failed to challenge Colombia's flagrant violation of international norms
with regard to political exiles. While Baduel was Minister of Defense,
Venezuelan landlords' armed paramilitary groups assassinated over 150
peasants active in land reform while the National Guard looked the other
way. Under Baduel's watch over 120 Colombian paramilitary forces
infiltrated the country. The Colombian military frequently crossed the
Venezuelan border to attack Colombian refugees. Under Baduel, Venezuelan
military officials collaborated in the kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda (a
foreign affairs emissary of the FARC) in broad daylight in the center of
Caracas. Baduel made no effort to investigate or protest this gross
violation of Venezuelan sovereignty, until President Chavez was informed
and intervened. Throughout Baduel's term as Minister of Defense he
developed strong ties to Colombia's military intelligence (closely
monitored by US Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA) and extradited
several guerrillas from both the ELN and the FARC to the hands of
Colombian torturers.

At the time of his retirement as Minister of Defense, Baduel made a July
2007 speech in which he clearly targeted the leftist and Marxist currents
in the trade union (UNT) and Chavez newly announced PSUV (The Unified
Socialist Party of Venezuela). His speech, in the name of 'Christian
socialist', was in reality a vituperative and ill-tempered anti-communist
diatribe, which pleased Pope Benedict (Ratzinger). [Another to be damned
to hell -ed]

Baduel's November 5 speech however marks his public adherence to the
hard-line opposition, its rhetoric, fabrications and visions of an
authoritarian reversal of Chavez program of democratic socialism. First
and foremost, Badual, following the lead of the White House and the
Venezuelan 'hard right', denounced the entire process of Congressional
debate on the Constitutional amendments, and open electoral campaigning
leading up to the referendum as 'in effect a coup d'etat'. Every expert
and outside observer disagreed - even those opposed to the referendum.
Baduel's purpose however was to question the legitimacy of the entire
political process in order to justify his call for military intervention.
His rhetoric calling the congressional debate and vote a 'fraud' and
'fraudulent procedures' point to Baduel's effort to denigrate existing
representative institutions in order to justify a military coup, which
would dismantle them.

Baduel's denial of political intent is laughable - since he only invited
opposition media and politicians to his 'press conference' and was
accompanied by several military officials. Baduel resembles the dictator
who accuses the victim of the crimes he is about to commit. In calling the
referendum on constitutional reform a 'coup', he incites the military to
launch a coup. In an open appeal for military action he directs the
military to 'reflect of the context of constitutional reform.' He
repeatedly calls on military officials to 'assess carefully' the changes
the elected government has proposed 'in a hasty manner and through
fraudulent procedures'. While denigrating democratically elected
institutions, Baduel resorts to vulgar flattery and false modesty to
induce the military to revolt. While immodestly denying that he could act
as spokesperson for the Armed Forces, he advised the rightist reporters
present and potential military cohort that 'you cannot underrate the
capacity of analysis and reasoning of the military.'

Cant, hypocrisy and disinterested posturing run through Baduel's
pronouncements. His claim of being an 'apolitical' critic is belied by his
intention to go on a nationwide speaking tour attacking the constitutional
reforms, in meetings organized by the rightwing opposition. There is
absolutely no doubt that he will not only be addressing civilian audiences
but will make every effort to meet with active military officers who he
might convince to 'reflect'and plot the overthrow of the government and
reverse the results of the referendum. President Chavez has every right to
condemn Baduel as a traitor, though given his long-term hostility to
egalitarian social transformation it may be more to the point to say that
Baduel is now revealing his true colors.

The danger to Venezuelan democracy is not in Baduel as an individual--he
is out of the government and retired from active military command. The
real danger is his effort to arouse the active military officers with
command of troops, to answer his call to action or as he cleverly puts it
'for the military to reflect on the context of the constitutional
reforms.' Baduel's analysis and action program places the military as the
centerpiece of politics, supreme over the 16 million voters.

His vehement defense of 'private property' in line with his call for
military action is a clever tactic to unite the Generals, Bankers and the
middle class in the infamous footsteps of Augusto Pinochet, the bloody
Chilean tyrant.

The class polarization in the run-up to the referendum has reached its
most acute expression: the remains of the multi-class coalition embracing
a minority of the middle class and the great majority of the working power
is disintegrating. Millions of previously apathetic or apolitical young
workers, unemployed poor and low-income women (domestic workers,
laundresses, single parents) are joining the huge popular demonstrations
overflowing the main avenues and plazas in favor of the constitutional
amendments. At the same time political defections have increased among the
centrist-liberal minority in the Chavez coalition. Fourteen deputies in
the National Assembly, less than 10 per cent, mostly from PODEMOS, have
joined the opposition. Reliable sources in Venezuela (Axis of Logic/Les
Blough Nov. 11, 2007) report that Attorney General Beneral Isaias
Rodriguez, a particularly incompetent crime fighter, and the Comptroller
General Cloudosbaldo Russian are purportedly resigning and joining the
opposition. More seriously, these same reports claim that the 4th Armed
Division in Marcay is loyal to 'Golpista' Raul Baduel. Some suspect Baduel
is using his long-term personal ties with the current Minister of Defense,
Gustavo Briceno Rangel to convince him to defect and join in the pre-coup
preparations. Large sums of US funding is flowing in to pay off state and
local officials in cash and in promises to share in the oil booty if
Chavez is ousted. The latest US political buy-out includes Governor Luis
Felipe Acosta Carliz from the state of Carabobo. The mass media have
repeatedly featured these new defectors to the right in their hourly 'news
reports' highlighting their break with Chavez 'coup d'etat'.

The referendum is turning into an unusually virulent case of a 'class
against class' war, in which the entire future of the Latin American left
is at stake as well as Washington's hold on its biggest oil supplier.

Venezuelan democracy, the Presidency of Hugo Chavez and the great majority
of the popular classes face a mortal threat. The US is facing repeated
electoral defeats and is incapable of large-scale external intervention
because of over-extension of its military forces in the Middle East; it is
committed once more to a violent overthrow of Chavez. Venezuela through
the constitutional reforms, will broaden and deepen popular democratic
control over socio-economic policy. New economic sectors will be
nationalized. Greater public investments and social programs will take
off. Venezuela is moving inexorably toward diversifying its petrol
markets, currency reserves and its political alliances. Time is running
out for the White House: Washington's political levers of influence are
weakening. Baduel is seen as the one best hope of igniting a military
seizure, restoring the oligarchs to power and decimating the mass popular
movements.

President Chavez is correctly 'evaluating the high command' and states
that he 'has full confidence in the national armed forces and their
components.' Yet the best guarantee is to strike hard and fast, precisely
against Baduel's followers and cohorts. Rounding up a few dozen or hundred
military plotters is a cheap price to pay for saving the lives of
thousands of workers and activists who would be massacred in any bloody
seizure of power.

History has repeatedly taught that when you put social democracy,
egalitarianism and popular power at the top of the political agenda, as
Chavez has done, and as the vast majority of the populace enthusiastically
responds, the Right, the reactionary military, the 'Centrist' political
defectors and ideologues, the White House, the hysterical middle classes
and the Church cardinals will sacrifice any and all democratic freedoms to
defend their property, privileges and power by whatever means and at
whatever cost necessary. In the current all-pervasive confrontation
between the popular classes of Venezuela and their oligarchic and military
enemies, only by morally, politically and organizationally arming the
people can the continuity of the democratic process of social
transformation be guaranteed.

Change will come, the question is whether it will be through the ballot or
the bullet.

James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University,
New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser
to the landless and jobless in brazil and argentina and is co-author of
Globalization Unmasked (Zed). His new book with Henry Veltmeyer, Social
Movements and the State: Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina, will be
published in October 2005. He can be reached at: jpetras [at] binghamton.edu





From shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu Thu Nov 15 06:08:58 2007
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:48:11 -0600 (CST)
From: David Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>
To: David Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Venezuelan Democracy,
     the Presidency of Hugo Chavez and the Great Majority of Popular Classes
    Face a Mortal ThreatVenezuela Between Ballots and BulletsBy JAMES PETRAS
    (fwd)


Venezuelan Democracy, the Presidency of Hugo Chavez and the Great Majority
of Popular Classes Face a Mortal Threat
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
By JAMES PETRAS
CounterPunch
November 14, 2007

Venezuela's democratically elected Present Chavez faces the most serious
threat since the April 11, 2002 military coup.

Violent street demonstrations by privileged middle and upper middle class
university students have led to major street battles in and around the
center of Caracas. More seriously, the former Minister of Defense, General
Raul Isaias Baduel, who resigned in July, has made explicit calls for a
military coup in a November 5 press conference which he convoked
exclusively for the right and far-right mass media and political parties,
while striking a posture as an 'individual' dissident.

The entire international and local private mass media has played up
Baduel's speeches, press conferences along with fabricated accounts of the
oppositionist student rampages, presenting them as peaceful protests for
democratic rights against the government referendum scheduled for December
2, 2007.

The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC News and the
Washington Post have all primed their readers for years with stories of
President Chavez' 'authoritarianism'. Faced with constitutional reforms
which strengthen the prospects for far-reaching political-social
democratization, the US, European and Latin American media have cast
pro-coup ex-military officials as 'democratic dissidents', former Chavez
supporters disillusioned with his resort to 'dictatorial' powers in the
run-up to and beyond the December 2, 2007 vote in the referendum on
constitutional reform. Not a single major newspaper has mentioned the
democratic core of the proposed reforms - the devolution of public
spending and decision to local neighborhood and community councils. Once
again as in Chile in 1973, the US mass media is complicit in an attempt to
destroy a Latin American democracy.

Even sectors of the center-left press and parties in Latin America have
reproduced right-wing propaganda. On November the self-styled 'leftist'
Mexican daily La Jornada headline read 'Administrators and Students from
the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) Accuse Chavez of Promoting
Violence'. The article then proceeded to repeat the rightist fabrications
about electoral polls, which supposedly showed the constitutional
amendments facing defeat.

The United States Government, both the Republican White House and the
Democrat-controlled Congress [for which let it be damned to hell -ed] are
once again overtly backing the new attempt to oust the popular-nationalist
President Chavez and to defeat the highly progressive constitutional
amendments.


The Referendum: Defining and Deepening the Social Transformation

The point of confrontation is the forthcoming referendum on constitutional
reforms initiated by President Chavez, debated, amended and democratically
voted on by the Venezuelan Congress over the past 6 months. There was
widespread and open debate and criticism of specific sectors of the
Constitution. The private mass media, overwhelmingly viscerally
anti-Chavez and pro-White House, unanimously condemned any and all the
constitutional amendments. A sector of the leadership of one of the
components of the pro-Chavez coalition (PODEMOS) joined the Catholic
Church hierarchy, the leading business and cattleman's association,
bankers and sectors of the university and student elite to attack the
proposed constitutional reforms. Exploiting to the hilt all of Venezuela's
democratic freedoms (speech, assembly and press) the opposition has
denigrated the referendum as 'authoritarian' even as most sectors of the
opposition coalition attempted to arouse the military to intervene.

The opposition coalition of the rich and privileged fear the
constitutional reforms because they will have to grant a greater share of
their profits to the working class, lose their monopoly over market
transactions to publicly owned firms, and see political power evolve
toward local community councils and the executive branch. While the
rightist and liberal media in Venezuela, Europe and the US have fabricated
lurid charges about the 'authoritarian' reforms, in fact the amendments
propose to deepen and extend social democracy.

A brief survey of the key constitutional amendments openly debated and
approved by a majority of freely elected Venezuelan congress members gives
the lie to charges of 'authoritarianism' by its critics. The amendments
can be grouped according to political, economic and social changes.

The most important political change is the creation of new locally based
democratic forms of political representation in which elected community
and communal institutions will be allocated state revenues rather than the
corrupt, patronage-infested municipal and state governments. This change
toward decentralization will encourage a greater practice of direct
democracy in contrast to the oligarchic tendencies embedded in the current
centralized representative system.

Secondly, contrary to the fabrications of ex-General Baduel, the
amendments do not 'destroy the existing constitution', since the
amendments modify in greater or lesser degree only 20 per cent of the
articles of the constitution (69 out of 350).

The amendments providing for unlimited term elections is in line with the
practices of many parliamentary systems, as witnessed by the five terms in
office of Australian Prime Minister Howard, the half century rule of
Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, the four terms of US President Franklin
Roosevelt, the multi-term election of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair in
the UK among others. No one ever questions their democratic credentials
for multi-term executive office holding, nor should current critics
selectively label Chavez as an 'authoritarian' for doing the same.

Political change increasing the presidential term of office from 6 to 7
years will neither increase or decrease presidential powers, as the
opposition claims, because the separation of legislative, judicial and
executive powers will continue and free elections will subject the
President to periodic citizen review.

The key point of indefinite elections is that they are free elections,
subject to voter preference, in which, in the case of Venezuela, the vast
majority of the mass media, Catholic hierarchy, US-funded NGO's, big
business associations will still wield enormous financial resources to
finance opposition activity - hardly an 'authoritarian' context.

The amendment allowing the executive to declare a state of emergency and
intervene in the media in the face of violent activity to overthrow the
constitution is essential for safeguarding democratic institutions. In
light of several authoritarian violent attempts to seize power recently by
the current opposition, the amendment allows dissent but also allows
democracy to defend itself against the enemies of freedom. In the lead up
to the US-backed military coup of April 11, 2002, and the petroleum
lockout by its senior executives which devastated the economy (a decline
of 30% of GNP in 2002/2003), if the Government had possessed and utilized
emergency powers, Congress and the Judiciary, the electoral process and
the living standards of the Venezuelan people would have been better
protected. Most notably, the Government could have intervened against the
mass media aiding and abetting the violent overthrow of the democratic
process, like any other democratic government. It should be clear that the
amendment allowing for 'emergency powers' has a specific context and
reflects concrete experiences: the current opposition parties, business
federations and church hierarchies have a violent, anti-democratic
history. The destabilization campaign against the current referendum and
the appeals for military intervention most prominently and explicitly
stated by retired General Baduel (defended by his notorious
adviser-apologist, the academic-adventurer Heinz Dietrich), are a clear
indication that emergency powers are absolutely necessary to send a clear
message that reactionary violence will be met by the full force of the
law.

The reduction of voting age from 18 to 16 will broaden the electorate,
increase the number of participants in the electoral process and give
young people a greater say in national politics through institutional
channels. Since many workers enter the labor market at a young age and in
some cases start families earlier, this amendment allows young workers to
press their specific demands on employment and contingent labor contracts.

The amendment reducing the workday to 6 hours is vehemently opposed by the
opposition led by the big business federation, FEDECAMARAS, but has the
overwhelming support of the trade unions and workers from all sectors. It
will allow for greater family time, sports, education, skill training,
political education and social participation, as well as membership in the
newly formed community councils. Related labor legislation and changes in
property rights including a greater role for collective ownership will
strengthen labor's bargaining power with capital, extending democracy to
the workplace.

Finally the amendment eliminating so-called 'Central Bank autonomy' means
that elected officials responsive to the voters will replace Central
Bankers (frequently responsive to private bankers, overseas investors and
international financial officials) in deciding public spending and
monetary policy. One major consequence will be the reduction of excess
reserves in devalued dollar denominated funds and an increase in financing
for social and productive activity, a diversity of currency holdings and a
reduction in irrational foreign borrowing and indebtedness. The fact of
the matter is that the Central Bank was not 'autonomous', it was dependent
on what the financial markets demanded, independent of the priorities of
elected officials responding to popular needs.


As the Chavez Government Turns to Democratic Socialism: Centrists Defect
and Seek Military Solutions

As Venezuela's moves from political to social transformation, from a
capitalist welfare state toward democratic socialism, predictable
defections and additions occur. As in most other historical experiences of
social transformation, sectors of the original government coalition
committed to formal institutional political changes defect when the
political process moves toward greater egalitarianism and property and a
power shift to the populace. Ideologues of the 'Center' regret the
'breaking' of the status quo 'consensus' between oligarchs and people
(labeling the new social alignments as 'authoritarian') even as the
'Center' embraces the profoundly anti-democratic Right and appeals for
military intervention.

A similar process of elite defections and increased mass support is
occurring in Venezuela as the referendum, with its clear class choices,
comes to the fore. Lacking confidence in their ability to defeat the
constitutional amendments through the ballot, fearful of the democratic
majority, resentful of the immense popular appeal of the democratically
elected President Chavez, the 'Center' has joined the Right in a last
ditch effort to unify extra-parliamentary forces to defeat the will of the
electorate.

Emblematic of the New Right and the 'Centrist' defections is the
ex-Minister of Defense, Raul Baduel, whose virulent attack on the
President, the Congress, the electoral procedures and the referendum mark
him as an aspirant to head up a US-backed right-wing seizure of power.
[For which let the US be damned to hell also -ed]

The liberal and right wing mass media and 'centrist' propagandists have
falsely portrayed Raul Baduel as the 'savior' of Chavez following the
military coup of April 2002. The fact of the matter is that Baduel
intervened only after hundreds of thousands of poor Venezuelans poured
down from the 'ranchos', surrounded the Presidential Palace, leading to
division in the armed forces. Baduel rejected the minority of rightist
military officers favoring a massive bloodbath and aligned with other
military officials who opposed extreme measures against the people and the
destruction of the established political order. The latter group included
officials who supported Chavez' nationalist-populist policies and others,
like Baduel, who opposed the coup-makers because it radicalized and
polarized society - leading to a possible class-based civil war with
uncertain outcome. Baduel was for the restoration of a 'chastised' Chavez
who would maintain the existing socio-economic status quo.

Within the Chavez government, Baduel represented the anti-communist
tendency, which pressed the President to 'reconcile' with the 'moderate
democratic' right and big business. Domestically, Baduel opposed the
extension of public ownership and internationally favored close
collaboration with the far-right Colombian Defense Ministry.

Baduel's term of office as Defense Minister reflected his conservative
propensities and his lack of competence in matters of security, especially
with regard to internal security. He failed to protect Venezuela's
frontiers from military incursions by Colombia's armed forces. Worse he
failed to challenge Colombia's flagrant violation of international norms
with regard to political exiles. While Baduel was Minister of Defense,
Venezuelan landlords' armed paramilitary groups assassinated over 150
peasants active in land reform while the National Guard looked the other
way. Under Baduel's watch over 120 Colombian paramilitary forces
infiltrated the country. The Colombian military frequently crossed the
Venezuelan border to attack Colombian refugees. Under Baduel, Venezuelan
military officials collaborated in the kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda (a
foreign affairs emissary of the FARC) in broad daylight in the center of
Caracas. Baduel made no effort to investigate or protest this gross
violation of Venezuelan sovereignty, until President Chavez was informed
and intervened. Throughout Baduel's term as Minister of Defense he
developed strong ties to Colombia's military intelligence (closely
monitored by US Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA) and extradited
several guerrillas from both the ELN and the FARC to the hands of
Colombian torturers.

At the time of his retirement as Minister of Defense, Baduel made a July
2007 speech in which he clearly targeted the leftist and Marxist currents
in the trade union (UNT) and Chavez newly announced PSUV (The Unified
Socialist Party of Venezuela). His speech, in the name of 'Christian
socialist', was in reality a vituperative and ill-tempered anti-communist
diatribe, which pleased Pope Benedict (Ratzinger). [Another to be damned
to hell -ed]

Baduel's November 5 speech however marks his public adherence to the
hard-line opposition, its rhetoric, fabrications and visions of an
authoritarian reversal of Chavez program of democratic socialism. First
and foremost, Badual, following the lead of the White House and the
Venezuelan 'hard right', denounced the entire process of Congressional
debate on the Constitutional amendments, and open electoral campaigning
leading up to the referendum as 'in effect a coup d'etat'. Every expert
and outside observer disagreed - even those opposed to the referendum.
Baduel's purpose however was to question the legitimacy of the entire
political process in order to justify his call for military intervention.
His rhetoric calling the congressional debate and vote a 'fraud' and
'fraudulent procedures' point to Baduel's effort to denigrate existing
representative institutions in order to justify a military coup, which
would dismantle them.

Baduel's denial of political intent is laughable - since he only invited
opposition media and politicians to his 'press conference' and was
accompanied by several military officials. Baduel resembles the dictator
who accuses the victim of the crimes he is about to commit. In calling the
referendum on constitutional reform a 'coup', he incites the military to
launch a coup. In an open appeal for military action he directs the
military to 'reflect of the context of constitutional reform.' He
repeatedly calls on military officials to 'assess carefully' the changes
the elected government has proposed 'in a hasty manner and through
fraudulent procedures'. While denigrating democratically elected
institutions, Baduel resorts to vulgar flattery and false modesty to
induce the military to revolt. While immodestly denying that he could act
as spokesperson for the Armed Forces, he advised the rightist reporters
present and potential military cohort that 'you cannot underrate the
capacity of analysis and reasoning of the military.'

Cant, hypocrisy and disinterested posturing run through Baduel's
pronouncements. His claim of being an 'apolitical' critic is belied by his
intention to go on a nationwide speaking tour attacking the constitutional
reforms, in meetings organized by the rightwing opposition. There is
absolutely no doubt that he will not only be addressing civilian audiences
but will make every effort to meet with active military officers who he
might convince to 'reflect'and plot the overthrow of the government and
reverse the results of the referendum. President Chavez has every right to
condemn Baduel as a traitor, though given his long-term hostility to
egalitarian social transformation it may be more to the point to say that
Baduel is now revealing his true colors.

The danger to Venezuelan democracy is not in Baduel as an individual--he
is out of the government and retired from active military command. The
real danger is his effort to arouse the active military officers with
command of troops, to answer his call to action or as he cleverly puts it
'for the military to reflect on the context of the constitutional
reforms.' Baduel's analysis and action program places the military as the
centerpiece of politics, supreme over the 16 million voters.

His vehement defense of 'private property' in line with his call for
military action is a clever tactic to unite the Generals, Bankers and the
middle class in the infamous footsteps of Augusto Pinochet, the bloody
Chilean tyrant.

The class polarization in the run-up to the referendum has reached its
most acute expression: the remains of the multi-class coalition embracing
a minority of the middle class and the great majority of the working power
is disintegrating. Millions of previously apathetic or apolitical young
workers, unemployed poor and low-income women (domestic workers,
laundresses, single parents) are joining the huge popular demonstrations
overflowing the main avenues and plazas in favor of the constitutional
amendments. At the same time political defections have increased among the
centrist-liberal minority in the Chavez coalition. Fourteen deputies in
the National Assembly, less than 10 per cent, mostly from PODEMOS, have
joined the opposition. Reliable sources in Venezuela (Axis of Logic/Les
Blough Nov. 11, 2007) report that Attorney General Beneral Isaias
Rodriguez, a particularly incompetent crime fighter, and the Comptroller
General Cloudosbaldo Russian are purportedly resigning and joining the
opposition. More seriously, these same reports claim that the 4th Armed
Division in Marcay is loyal to 'Golpista' Raul Baduel. Some suspect Baduel
is using his long-term personal ties with the current Minister of Defense,
Gustavo Briceno Rangel to convince him to defect and join in the pre-coup
preparations. Large sums of US funding is flowing in to pay off state and
local officials in cash and in promises to share in the oil booty if
Chavez is ousted. The latest US political buy-out includes Governor Luis
Felipe Acosta Carliz from the state of Carabobo. The mass media have
repeatedly featured these new defectors to the right in their hourly 'news
reports' highlighting their break with Chavez 'coup d'etat'.

The referendum is turning into an unusually virulent case of a 'class
against class' war, in which the entire future of the Latin American left
is at stake as well as Washington's hold on its biggest oil supplier.

Venezuelan democracy, the Presidency of Hugo Chavez and the great majority
of the popular classes face a mortal threat. The US is facing repeated
electoral defeats and is incapable of large-scale external intervention
because of over-extension of its military forces in the Middle East; it is
committed once more to a violent overthrow of Chavez. Venezuela through
the constitutional reforms, will broaden and deepen popular democratic
control over socio-economic policy. New economic sectors will be
nationalized. Greater public investments and social programs will take
off. Venezuela is moving inexorably toward diversifying its petrol
markets, currency reserves and its political alliances. Time is running
out for the White House: Washington's political levers of influence are
weakening. Baduel is seen as the one best hope of igniting a military
seizure, restoring the oligarchs to power and decimating the mass popular
movements.

President Chavez is correctly 'evaluating the high command' and states
that he 'has full confidence in the national armed forces and their
components.' Yet the best guarantee is to strike hard and fast, precisely
against Baduel's followers and cohorts. Rounding up a few dozen or hundred
military plotters is a cheap price to pay for saving the lives of
thousands of workers and activists who would be massacred in any bloody
seizure of power.

History has repeatedly taught that when you put social democracy,
egalitarianism and popular power at the top of the political agenda, as
Chavez has done, and as the vast majority of the populace enthusiastically
responds, the Right, the reactionary military, the 'Centrist' political
defectors and ideologues, the White House, the hysterical middle classes
and the Church cardinals will sacrifice any and all democratic freedoms to
defend their property, privileges and power by whatever means and at
whatever cost necessary. In the current all-pervasive confrontation
between the popular classes of Venezuela and their oligarchic and military
enemies, only by morally, politically and organizationally arming the
people can the continuity of the democratic process of social
transformation be guaranteed.

Change will come, the question is whether it will be through the ballot or
the bullet.

James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University,
New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser
to the landless and jobless in brazil and argentina and is co-author of
Globalization Unmasked (Zed). His new book with Henry Veltmeyer, Social
Movements and the State: Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina, will be
published in October 2005. He can be reached at: jpetras [at] binghamton.edu


--------14 of x--------

 Honey I shrunk Bush
 and the neo-cons to bug
 size. Send in the birds.


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