First Hand Info on Venezuela Referendum tomorrow

Thanks to Walter Lippmann for this...

Macdonald


Tomorrow is the Venezuelan Referendum in which the people
will decide whether President Chavez se va or se queda.
More than a referendum on a single leader, it is a choice
between:

-- continuing the social progress which has been made by
using the revenues of Venezuela{s rich natural resources,
including oil, for advancing a program of health,
education, land reform, housing recuperation, job creation
and training OR --using those resources to make a few
people richer and return to the days of a US neocolony.

I have been filming in 23 de enero, the heart of the
pro-Chavez movement in Caracas, as well as in Altamira, the
stronghold of the opposition. The differences you see are
stark. In the cerros, or poor neighborhoods which blanket
the mountains surrounding downtown Caracas, every corner,
every bloque, every house has a big red NO! (No to the
recall of Chavez) sign in the window. I filmed various
organizing meetings preparing for the referendum as well as
dozens of interviews with community organizers and people
who have not just benefited from these social programs but
are they ones MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN. They are all adamant,
passionate and absolutely convinced that they will win.

In contrast, the opposition office was sparsely attended by
rich old white guys who look all the world like Jesse Helms
and their wives who look like Laura Bush. Then there are
their offspring who complain that they cannot party as much
since Chavez was elected in 1998(pobrecitos! they need to
hang out with the Bush twins). We interviewed the leaders
of the opposition who laid out their plans to open up the
national oil company for US investment, for the "good of
the country" You see an occassional SI! (Yes, to recall
Chavez) that dot the neatly manicured avenues of Altamira
and Chacao, perhaps a bumper sticker or two. It seems the
rich are unwilling to deface their own property, not even
for the sake of a ousting Chavez.

Every honest indication points to a victory for Chavez and
the mass movement that has been sparked in Venezuela. The
role of international election observers from the Carter
Center and OAS may prove a spoil, given their history of
favoring the wealthy elite opposition however. To
counteract that, Venezuela has invited scores of observers
from El Salvador, the Madres de Mayo from Argentina and
others to tell the truth about what is happening here.

Tonight we are going up to 23 de enero to stay in the
bloques and film as people prepare to come out at 3 am in
the morning to vote. If you all could have been at some of
the organizing meetings, you can taste, feel, touch the
power of people when they come together, when the are
organized. We have all felt this electricity, it is a
tangible physical presence, in our own work in community
organizing, but imagine the feeling of casi an entire
nation organized! What kind of power can stop that?

Even as we prepare in the US for an election in which we
have no real choice, no inspiration, no hope, no confidence
in elected leaders, it gives me heart to see a process
where there is a choice: Si o No.

This is a unique moment in history. Already, the
overwhelming majority of poor Venezuelans fought back
against an oligarchical US backed coup in April 2002 to
restore a democratically elected president. How many
leaders have been overthrown and assassinated by the US
government when they challenged US and European hegemony
and attempted to use their natural resources for the good
of their people? Allende, Lumumba, Bishop, just to name a
few. Not to mention our own leaders who have been killed.
This is possibly the first time in the history of the
Americas since the installation of the Monroe Doctrine in
1803 when the US placed a suffocating iron grip on its
neighbors that this has happened. Now, Venezuela may also
be about to overthrow the model of election manipulation a
la the US intervention in Nicaraguan elections, etc etc.

What does this mean for US hegemony in the Americas, in the
world? How is a revolutionary society built in the midst of
globalized capitalism run amuck?

Whatever they are showing on Univision (owned by Gustavo
Cisneros, a reactionary Cuban-Venezuelan who owns
Venevision and was one of the main conspirators of the
coup) or in the New York Times about this election is a
lie. Whatever they say, they cannot deny this process. The
only way the opposition will win against Chavez is if they
steal the election through the observers or incite
violence, which they have threatened to do repeatedly,
from the ex-president (who lives in Miami) to reactionaly
paramilitary groups trained by the CIA and the Cuban
terrorist groups which operate with imputinity in South
Florida.

But the Venezuelan people have other sources of
information: hundreds of community newspapers, radio
stations and even TV stations which have flourished since
their legitamization in the Bolivarian Constitution, passed
in 1999.

Whatever the ebb and flow of mass movements, we have to
recognize that it is the process of organizing, luchando,
that is the most precious. And what has most impressed me
has been that through this process, people have awakened to
the fact that we are the ones who make history, somos las
protagonistas de la historia, and that there is infinite
joy in la lucha.

I will share more on Monday once the election result are
known.

Un abrazo bien fuerte y revolucionario,

Jennifer
-- 
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope
		--Brecht.

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