I've found what I've seen so far in the way of anarchist criticism quite underwhelming in that it just parrots the corporate media's narrative, i.e. he's a dictator that surpresses critical tv stations, human rights, locks up dissidents, etc. Is there something on the internet that I've not seen?
Thanks
Yo wojtek, you could always try the Venezuela tag here on libcom.. we have some of El Libertario's stuff and some others. Also, check out Caiman del Barrio's blog for his perspective on things.. in fact, speaking personally, I'd highly recommend Caiman's blog..
also see various links on the real shite practice of 21st century (eco)-socialism ( sic ) here
If you're interested, left communists have written many critiques and analyses of Chavez, 'Bolivarism' and Venezuela, such as:
"Chavez Defends Capitalism, Not Socialism"
"Re-Election Of Chavez: Worsening Poverty In The Name Of Socialism"
The group that published the articles linked above also has a section of its organization in Venezuela.
I would say that the term "state-socialism" is an incorrect as the two are incompatible. What's going on in Venezuela is a form of social democratic state-capitalism.
@devoration1 (or anyone else) - regarding the article 'Chavez defends Capitalism, not Socialism'. I don't understand the passage about Chavez's faux anti-imperialism. I remember Rob Newman sayingh once that the US aren't anymore 'evil' than anyone else they've just got the capability. Are all nation states inherently imperialist then, in that they compete with and therefore dominate one another?
The ‘anti-imperialist’ ideology of Chávez is as imperialist as Mr Bush’s ‘war on terrorism’. Both of them carry out the same function: to act as recruiting sergeant for the workers and exploited to give their lives to the capitalist cause.
Can anyone expand on this?
Thanks... I've yet to read all the other links.
"Are all nation states inherently imperialist then, in that they compete with and therefore dominate one another"
Yes, (some) left communists would argue, taking their cue from Rosa Luxemburg in The Junius Pamphlet, that all nation states are imperialist, that we are living in an epoch when every nation state is obliged to engage in the brutal economic and military competition for survival on the world market. Certainly Venezuela under Chavez maintains its own imperialist interests in Latin America, particularly in its conflicts with rival states in the area, such as Colombia
http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2008/apr/tensions-ecuador-colombia
Are all nation states inherently imperialist then, in that they compete with and therefore dominate one another?
If states are instruments of minority class control and if a national bourgeoisie forms at least part of that minority class, then of course states vie between themselves to promote, in part, the interests of their respective national bourgeoisies. This is, more or less, imperialism. The mechanism is at work in all states (I would content) but it only gets called imperialism when powerful state-national bourgeoisie alliances act. Imperialism, then, is the aggressive form of a pervasive social relation which stands in a relation of dialectical interdependence to state capitalism ('state capitalism' in the weak sense of capitalism occurring alongside the structure of nation states).
In less than two weeks time hundreds of neo-Nazis and racists will descend on the coastal town of Dover calling for Britain to “close the border”. It is vital that anti-fascists and anti-racists...
A short history of the riots against new education laws that turned into a mass collective rejection of apartheid South Africa by thousands of working class black youths.
Class conflicts and colonial expansion in the context of the Little Ice Age lead to the emergence of capitalist agriculture and the transformation of social relations on a world scale.
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El Libertario?