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Venezuela
Venezuelan people are prime victims of Ottawa’s sanctions
Introduction by Richard Fidler
January 27, 2018 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Life on the Left — “Since 2014,” writes a reporter in the online journal Venezuelanalysis, “Venezuela has been suffering from a deep economic crisis brought about by the drop in global oil prices, a dysfunctional exchange rate system, and a decrease in oil production levels.
“So far the crisis has been characterised by triple digit inflation, and a shortage of hard cash and everyday staples. Nonetheless, the situation has worsened since December 2017.”
The Maduro government is by no means exempt from responsibility for these deteriorating conditions. It has displayed a remarkable ineptness in its failure to overcome the economic crisis by tackling its underlying causes, notwithstanding some innovative maneuvering that has, for now, staved off the offensive by its right-wing political opponents and their foreign supporters.
Candlelight Revolution Part 2: South Korea’s Constitutional Reform
By Dae-Han Song
The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea shall reside in the people, and all state authority shall emanate from the people.” – Article 1 of the Republic of Korea Constitution
November 29, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from International Strategy Center — A democracy is founded upon the consent and power of the people. Its fundamental compact is the constitution which establishes the rules and government that shape and determine the lives of its people. Yet, rarely is a constitution drawn up by them or with their consultation. Rather, it is done by a political regime mediating the interests of the ruling class. The world’s first completely written constitution was established in 1789. To “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority,” it created the United States Senate [1].
Marxist theories of the state played out in Venezuela
By Steve Ellner
October 15, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Steve Ellner's Blog on Venezuela, Latin America and Beyond — An abridged version of this article was published in Historical Materialism, volume 25, no. 2, 2017, pages 29-62
'People are radicalizing Venezuela's Revolution': An interview with Christina Schiavoni
By Farooque Chowdhury and Fred Magdoff
September 7, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from MR Online — Amidst imperialist interference, the people in Venezuela are carrying on the task of reorganizing their society. Real-life picture in Venezuela is far different from new-reports the mainstream media continuously circulates. The following interview of Christina Schiavoni, a researcher and food sovereignty activist, provides a different view of the life of the Venezuelan people than we normally get from the media. The interview covers food and health situations as well as on-going politics and people’s participation in the politics. The interview was conducted by Farooque Chowdhury and Fred Magdoff, in August 2017.
Correcting Eva Golinger on Venezuela
By Stansfield Smith
August 21, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — As the class struggle heated up in Venezuela this year, fueled by interventionist threats by the pro-US Organization of American States (OAS) bloc, many former supporters of the Bolivarian revolution have remained sitting on the fence. Fed up with these fair-weather friends and their critiques which recycle corporate news propaganda, some defenders of Venezuela such as Shamus Cooke, Greg Wilpert, Maria Paez Victor, have come with articles clarifying the stakes and calling the so-called “left” to account.
Trump versus the Venezuelan Revolution
Rally in Caracas against Trump's military threats
By Shamus Cooke
August 15, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Trump’s threats against Venezuela escalated recently from the economic to the military: after announcing sanctions he threatened that all military options were “on the table.” Trump’s actions were perfectly timed to lend support to the U.S.-backed opposition in Venezuela, whose ongoing violent rebellion aims to topple the government of democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro.
The apex of violence was focused on stopping the recent elections to the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), convened by President Maduro to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution with the goal of resolving the current social-economic crisis.
The ANC was tasked to become the most powerful governmental body while in session. Part of Maduro’s motivation in convening the ANC was to break the political deadlock that started when the U.S.-backed opposition gained control of the Venezuelan parliament, the National Assembly.
Venezuela: Socialist trade unionist on the Constituent Assembly and recent terrorist attack on military base
August 9, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Interview with Stalin Perez Borges, activist with LUCHAS (United League of Chavista Socialists) and member of the Consultative Council of the Bolivarian Socialist Workers’ Central (CBST), conducted by Federico Fuentes for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
Stalin Pérez Borges (LUCHAS): 'El reto de la constituyente es el de dar el Golpe de Timón a la izquierda'
9 de Agosto de 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Entrevista a Stalin Pérez Borges, militante de LUCHAS (Liga Unitaria Chavista Socialista) y del Consejo Consultivo de la Central Bolivariana Socialista de los Trabajadores y Trabajadoras (CBST) hecho por Federico Fuentes para Links Revista International de Renovación Socialista.
Venezuela: Time for left to take a stand
By Greg Wilpert
July 17, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from TeleSUR English — Venezuela is heading towards an increasingly dangerous situation, in which open civil war could become a real possibility. So far over 100 people have been killed as a result of street protests, most of these deaths are the fault of the protesters themselves (to the extent that we know the cause).
The possibility of civil war becomes more likely as long as the international media obscure who is responsible for the violence and the international left remains on the sidelines in this conflict and fails to show solidarity with the Bolivarian socialist movement in Venezuela.
Why can't the left get Venezuela right?
By Shamus Cooke
July 14, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Venezuela Analysis — As Venezuela's fascist-minded oligarchy conspires with U.S. imperialism to overthrow the democratically elected government of Nicolas Maduro, few in the U.S. seem to care.
Reinaldo Iturriza: ‘Es el capital político del chavismo lo que está en juego’
[English version available here.]
4 de julio de 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Reinaldo Iturriza, militante revolucionario y sociólogo, se ha dedicado por muchos años a trabajar con movimientos populares en Venezuela y escribir sobre la emergencia del chavismo como un movimiento político de los pobres. Entre 2013 y 2016 fue Ministro del Poder Popular para las Comunas y los Movimientos Sociales, y luego de Cultura, en el gabinete de Presidente Nicolas Maduro.
Junto con militantes de diversas organizaciones revolucionarios de base y movimientos sociales, Iturriza se ha postulado con el apoyo de la Plataforma Constituyente Popular como candidato para las elecciones a la Asamblea Constituyente, a realizarse el 30 de julio.
The Left and Venezuela
By Claudio Katz[1]
SUMMARY
Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Life on the Left — The media keep silent about the violence of the Venezuelan opposition and the prevailing repression by the right-wing governments of Latin America. The Right’s strategy of an institutional coup faces serious limits, but the Left must address this new threat, supporting anti-imperialist decisions and making a distinction between the capitalist boycott and the government’s ineffectiveness.
Adhering to social-democratic standards, the post-progressive “critical left” objects to Chavismo, dismissing the danger of a coup, and mistakenly identifying authoritarianism as the main danger. The dogmatists overlook the main enemy and converge with the conservatives or slip toward passive neutrality.
The Right only wants elections it is sure it will win. In these very adverse conditions, the Constituent Assembly re-opens opportunities and points to a re-encounter with radical intellectual thought.
Full Text (pdf) here
Stalin Pérez Borges, LUCHAS: La salida a la crisis del proceso venezolano tiene que ser democrática, revolucionaria y socialista
11 de junio de 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Entrevista con Stalin Perez Borges, militante de LUCHAS (Liga Unitaria Chavista Socialista) y del Consejo Consultivo de la Central Bolivariana Socialista de los Trabajadores y Trabajadoras (CBST)
For a democratic, revolutionary and socialist solution to the Venezuelan crisis
This joint statement by revolutionary and socialist organizations in Latin America and elsewhere is motivated by the loss of referential principles that certain intellectuals and left parties have suffered with regards to the current crisis in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. An example of this type of one-sided analysis that ultimately ends up aiding the Venezuelan right-wing opposition and US imperialism is the statement by self-proclaimed “left” academics and intellectuals, “An urgent international appeal to halt the escalation of violence in Venezuela” (Aporrea 28/5/17).
We, the organizations and activists who have signed onto this statement maintain that:
Statement in defense of Venezuela by the Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity
[To sign on email: endefensadelpuebloenlucha@
In response to the request of intellectuals against the Bolivarian process in Venezuela .
Under the implicit "I accuse" formula and a few hours before the Organization of American States, OAS, meeting in which the intervention Venezuela would be once again discussed, more than a hundred Latin American, European and American intellectuals and academics recently signed a petition entitled "Urgent international effort to stop the escalation of violence in Venezuela.”
This request constitutes a declaration of principles of its position regarding the Bolivarian situation, developing diagnoses, attributing responsibilities and prescribing an exit to the crisis that takes place in the South American country.
We will not offend the intelligence or morale of the subscribers (some true "sacred cows" of the critical academic world) by questioning their political commitment or their interpretive powers. We will assume each statement of the requested as what it is, as an erroneous thesis on the the Bolivarian process of Venezuela. And as such, we will submit it to analysis, realizing that also the prosecutors can and should be accused.
Socialist Alliance (Australia) statement on Venezuela: Solidarity needed to defeat counter-revolution
The Socialist Alliance released the following statement on June 3.
***
In the face of ongoing attempts to violently depose the elected government of President Nicolas Maduro, the Socialist Alliance reaffirms its support and solidarity with the Venezuelan people, their government and the Bolivarian revolution.
Venezuela: LUCHAS activists on the call for a Constituent Assembly
June 2, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from International Viewpoint — Activists from the Liga Unitaria Chavista Socialista (LUCHAS, Unitary Socialist Chavista League) gave their opinion on the call for a National Constituent Assembly made by President Nicolás Maduro on May 1, 2017 in his speech at the celebration of International Workers’ Day.
The aim of the statement is that hopefully comrades from other revolutionary organizations and political personalities, with whom they have been sharing some orientations and positions about what has been happening in Venezuela and in our continent for some months now, decide to adhere to the present declaration. They consider this a document that they make available for discussion, to the various revolutionary political organizations that exist and to the vanguard that has made it possible to move through this Bolivarian and Chavista process.
Punto muerto en Venezuela
[Original version in English published on Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal here.]
Federico Fuentes entrevista Steve Ellner. Traducido para Rebelión por Paco Muñoz de Bustillo
Desde hace algunas semanas, Venezuela vive estremecida por manifestaciones casi diarias de protesta (y contraprotesta) con las que los oponentes de derechas del presidente Nicolás Maduro intentan derribar su gobierno.
Stallo in Venezuela
[Original version in English published on Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal here.]
di Steve Ellner e Federico Fuentes, traduzione di Giuseppe Volpe, Da ZNetitaly
13 maggio 2017 — Il Venezuela è stato scosso nelle settimane recenti da manifestazioni e contromanifestazioni quasi quotidiane, con gli oppositori di destra del presidente socialista Nicolas Maduro che cercano di far cadere il suo governo.
Venezuela: speaking up to say the truth
By Atilio Boron
May 24, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Alainet — In various recent works, different analysts and observers of Latin American political life have reproached intellectuals and militants on the left for their silence on what is happening in Venezuela. That silence, they say, only reinforces the worst features of the government of Nicolas Maduro. This strategy was used a few weeks ago by a noted Venezuelan intellectual, Edgardo Lander, and more recently, in a special production of Pagina/12, it was reiterated by two colleagues from Argentina: Roberto Gargarella and Maristella Svampa. [1]