Kings Legacy Lives on-- In Venezuela

KING'S LEGACY LIVES ON -- IN VENEZUELA
Op-Ed by Julianne Malveaux
Published in USA Today
January 16, 2004

People too often celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. as a "dreamer" who envisioned 
a day when people would be judged by their character, not the color of their 
skin. That was not all he wanted, or what Monday's holiday is entirely about.

Although King is an icon of the civil rights movement, he hardly belongs only 
to African- Americans. As he underscored in his Nobel Peace Prize speech when 
he asserted his "audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three 
meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and 
dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits," King championed all people 
living in poverty worldwide. 

I was delighted, therefore, when I traveled with others from the TransAfrica 
Forum to celebrate King's birthday in Caracas, Venezuela. We went with Minister 
of Education Aristobulo Isturiz to open a school named after King. It's among 
more than 3,000 "Bolivarian" schools created since Hugo Chavez became 
Venezuela's president in 1999. The schools, open all day, provide two meals and 
a snack to poor children.

There's also a new Bolivarian University, which increases higher education's 
availability, especially to poorer students. Further, more than a million 
adults have taken literacy classes in the past two years.

Chavez has taken his message of economic justice from Venezuela to the whole of 
Latin America. He opposes a free-trade agreement for the Americas and suggests 
that a development fund be established to help poor Latin American countries 
withstand economic oscillations and eliminate poverty.

Not surprisingly, Chavez and George W. Bush have clashed because of their 
different views of Latin American economic development. Chavez, for instance, 
appropriately described national security adviser Condoleezza Rice 
as "illiterate" about Latin American politics and economics.

Many middle- and upper-class Venezuelans chafe at Chavez's leadership and 
support a recall initiative now underway. But with poverty in double digits, it 
is hard to quibble with the way Chavez has embraced poor Venezuelans and 
focused on eliminating poverty through education -- in some ways, more than our 
own government has done here.

King was more visionary than dreamer. Parts of his vision now are being 
implemented -- in Venezuela.

Julianne Malveaux, an economist and author, is on the board of directors of the 
TransAfrica Forum.
________________
NOTE: The Venezuela Information Office is dedicated to informing the American 
public about contemporary Venezuela, and receives its funding from the 
government of Venezuela.  More information is available from the FARA office 
of the Department of Justice in Washington DC.  









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