I find what has been going on in Venezuela really interesting but I have no idea what's it all about?? Is the Bolibourgeoisie, Maduro's sclerotic authoritarianism part a product of US sanctions, part the statist core of Chavez's state socialism?? Anyone see any optimistic potential in an overthrow of Maduro, even with Bolsonaro next door? I have no idea what Guaidó is about - is he right wing? Any information would be appreciated.
Guaidó is supposedly 'centre
Guaidó is supposedly 'centre left' but has openly been courting support from both Bolsonaro and Trump. So probably 'centre left' in the way that Blair or Macron are (i.e. quite right wing).
To understand what's going on with Maduro, these might help:
https://libcom.org/library/madurization-chavismo-anarchist-statement-venezuela
https://libcom.org/library/roland-denis-chavez-didnt-dare-do-what-he-had-between-2002-2003
For more up-to-date things, it's worth looking at https://venezuelanalysis.com/ - it has a very wide range of politics represented, but more depth than you get from most other English language stuff and quite a lot of translations from Spanish, including from https://www.aporrea.org/ which I think is associated with Roland Denis (of the interview above) somehow.
The very short version would be Chavez was petro-redistributionism, with some top down 'popular participation' that did not challenge either property relations or state institutions at all. Maduro has taken over as petrol prices dropped, so now you have an empty shell of what 'popular participation' there ever was in the first place, and not the cash to redistribute either. Then internationally both right and left are calling all of this 'socialism' and uncritically attacking or defending it.
If you want to understand things from the pro-Maduro/pro-Chavismo point of view there's this op-ed from a deputy to the constituent assembly, which is still essentially saying that all the Chavismo institutions have been hollowed out and this has created a vacuum (somewhat similar superficially to Roland Denis' viewpoint except he places the rot in about 2002 instead of 2015 or whatever). https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14118
Ok. Thank you amigo. I cannot
Ok. Thank you amigo. I cannot read the literature because too much. But thank you. What do you think is the reason Venezuela is such a crux in American imperialism? Is oil a big factor? I see how media on the left has considered this a coup, but it seems more like a soft coup. I don't want to try to explain Venezuela's problems since they have suffered a lot. I don't see how it could be a coup though- except by the intangible forces of virtual capitalism. It's disgusting, but maybe if Venezuela can go with a new government?? Seems capitulary to say that.
Ok. Thank you amigo. I cannot
Ok. Thank you amigo. I cannot read the literature because too much. But thank you. What do you think is the reason Venezuela is such a crux in American imperialism? Is oil a big factor? I see how media on the left has considered this a coup, but it seems more like a soft coup. I don't want to try to explain Venezuela's problems since they have suffered a lot. I don't see how it could be a coup though- except by the intangible forces of virtual capitalism. It's disgusting, but maybe if Venezuela can go with a new government?? Seems capitulary to say that.
i've noticed many leftists
i've noticed many leftists tend to not considered opportunism, so when ever they see the usa govenment says or does something they assume the usa planned everything from the beginning, when really they are reacting to events
The threat of an
The threat of an American-incited coup is strong when the choice of US Special Envoy on Venezuela is looked at:
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-coup-orchestrator.html
Also to be noted is that the Bank of England since last November has been blocking Venezuela's attempts to repatriate some of their gold reserves.
Just saw Alfred-Maurice de
Just saw Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, who according to Wikipedia is "an American lawyer, writer, historian, a leading expert in the field of human rights and international law and retired high-ranking United Nations official", getting interviewed on Al Jazeera.
He said that its wrong to accept Guaido as a president as he hasn't been elected.
On Twitter he mentioned that the UN charter says that
"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."
He comes across a bit as a Maduro-sympathizer as he implies that the presidential election of 2018 was fair, which is contrary to the view of most Western states.
My impression is that Maduro is not supported by most people; in the Venezuelan parliamentary election of 2015 the opposition got the most votes.
explainthingstome wrote:
explainthingstome
https://countervortex.org/node/16232
also a fellow traveller of the far right
Entdinglichung
Entdinglichung
What the fuck
I did not expect that. I just assumed he was a generic whataboutist leftist that supports Cuba, North Korea etc, not actual far right nationalists in Europe...
Also an Assangeist:
Also an Assangeist: https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/julian-assange/
explainthingstome
There are a lot of 'anti-globalist' third-positionists working very hard to pull in Stalinists and having a fair amount of success: https://libcom.org/library/investigation-red-brown-alliances-third-positionism-russia-ukraine-syria-western-left
So basically venezuelans (who
So basically venezuelans (who are just the nation carved from Spanish imperialism) are proxies in the movement of global capital, another nation with elites and proletarians and a whole lot of human flaws in between.
I don't want to support Maduro or Guaido, but I certainly don't like the authoritarianism that Maduro tries to hold on to. Do dedicated leftist venezuelans need to let go of their 'program'?
Existentia crisis is a political crisis which is an existential crisis. Humankind needs to downgrade, to become more simple knowing how far it's come.
Nonetheless, I fucking hate the western states and the asian axis using venezuelans as a game in their profits. What else is there to say??
I think we've already
I think we've already established this de Zayas guy is a bit of a prick, but just found this, which is pretty awful: https://www.humanistperspectives.org/issue204/zayas.html
"The Antifa movement in Germany is a modern-day SA (Sturmabteilung), manifesting violent intolerance and complete disregard of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. What is most worrisome is that the German authorities – politicians, police, and civil service – essentially tolerate their open criminality and do not protect the public from their verbal abuse, intimidation, defamation, ripping up of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) political posters, burning of cars of university professors suspected of sympathizing with the “right,” Kristallnacht-style destruction of private property, physical violence against persons and other anti-democratic activities."
The Venezuela crisis is
The Venezuela crisis is another example of the disintegration process that plagues the autocratic left since the fall of berlim wall. Maduro is a kind of a Stalin in a ''latin america' way, but with much smaller historic weight and without the industrial achievements obtained by the five-year-plans. But the rhetoric and the whole structure of repression and control are much the same. The persecution against any form of opposition, paranoid nationalism, the power centered in the party and the militarization of politics and every day life are a revival of stalinism era.
The roots of the economic crisis are found on the weak underdeveloped position in that Venezuela situates itself on global market as oil exporter. The country has no productive industrial capital that can absorb the mass of labor and depends exclusively upon the oil production in order to maintain a minimum rate of accumulation that can sustain a normal reproduction of the economy. Under the Chave's government there was a boom in the oil prices and them a real possibility of expand the mass market and the welfare state. But the real foundation of this process was fragile, since that the oil sector was highly intensive in capital and not capable of absorb productively the industrial reserve army which was integrated in others unproductive sectos. As redistribution of the oils revenues was being used to integrate more and more superfluous labor in a unproductive way, relatively weaker was the oil production to sustain that integration, even with the high oil prices and abundant external liquidity. This is notable in the external indebtedness resulted by the incapacity of the domestic economy to handle with buoyant consuming only using the export revenues.
The chavist response was technocratic at best. Keynesian tools were taken to bring more power to the accumulation and thus support the integration process that was gradually falling under the oil sector. The government fixed the exchange rate, overvalued it, so that the state's expansionist policy to stimulate capital accumulation did not created spiraling inflation. But this only worsened the fast increase in external debt. So the oil prices plumed in 2014 and the latent and underlying crisis exploded impressively. The government in the best Stalinist style claimed that the hyperinflation and shortage of goods were mainly caused by 'wreckers and imperialists agents'', launching a ''witch hunt'' that has degenerate the 'bolivarian revolution' in to an old fashioned dictatorship.
What dickhead stalinists doesn't understand is that the capital accumulation is fundamentally a process out of control that encompass the global totality, which rule over the nation-states. The capital crisis as such is comprehend by the stalinist as a merely political one, which can be overcome by a voluntarism founded upo n the power of nation-state. This type of 'solution' necessarily envolves a isolationist turn that maximizes the repression. Maduro's attempt to 'control' the capital crisis only makes problem worse.