Left Foot Forward asks ‘has Venezuelan socialism has run its course?’ The answer coming loud and clear from the Venezuelan people themselves is 'no'.
Left Foot Forward has been following events in Venezuela closely and we’ve encountered widely differing opinions on the left as to the nature of the Venezuelan government. We decided therefore to ask two of our writers the question: ‘Has Venezuelan socialism run its course?’
The answers we got were very different. This is the first; an article by Rob Marchant of Labour Uncut which argues that Venezuelan socialism has run its course will appear shortly.
Arguing that Venezuelan socialism has not run its course is Colin Burgon, former Labour MP for Elmet and current chair of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign
Left Foot Forward asks ‘has Venezuelan socialism has run its course?’ The answer coming loud and clear from the Venezuelan people themselves is ‘no’.
They have given their view at the ballot box numerous times, including four sets of elections in fourteen months. Each time the Venezuelan right-wing opposition coalition has lost. In December president Maduro’s coalition won mayoral elections by 10 per cent.
The opposition had said this was a referendum on the government – the opposition were rejected again. This fits a pattern of Hugo Chavez continually winning election after election, all internationally verified as free and fair.
So it is clear from this electoral support that Venezuelans think the process of change that began with Hugo Chavez’s election in 1998 has something to offer and want it to continue. Only those who disregard the views of the majority of Venezuelan’s can claim this process has run its course.
Indeed, it is this ongoing majority support for Venezuela’s progressive, elected government that has driven this current wave of anti-democratic, right-wing violence in the country.
This has been initiated by an element of Venezuela’s right-wing opposition that has grown frustrated with its own repeated electoral failings – time after time the Venezuelan people keep choosing the ‘wrong’ option.
They certainly know that Chavismo hasn’t lost its appeal – or they would wait until the next set of elections and defeat the government. They have a chance in 2016 to vote out their government as Venezuela’s constitution contains a uniquely democratic measure of a ‘recall referendum’ that means any politician can be recalled mid-term.
Instead, the current violence from elements of the right-wing stems from the announcement in January of a strategy of opposition protest leaders for the La Salida (The Ousting) of the government of President Maduro before his constitutional mandate ends in 2019.
This wave of violence has, at the very least, caused deaths by setting up of burning roadblocks and trip wires at head height , thrown Molotov cocktails and firebombs at government and public service buildings including electricity sub-stations and even trucks carrying government subsidized food; and included a siege of the state TV station VTV.
In contrast, the government has repeatedly condemned all violence and called for peace and talks with the opposition.
Such anti-democratic actions are not new to Venezuela’s opposition. La Salida is led by extremists politicians Leopoldo Lopez and María Corina Machado (an ally of George W.Bush) who were both involved in the 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez. And just as the US was involved in the 2002 coup, it continues to fund anti-democratic elements of the opposition working for regime change.
As Venezuela expert Dr. Julia Buxton has explained, the protest leaders “offer no governance plan, with ‘salida’ serving as a hash tag, not a strategy, according to one opposition blogger.
Just as in 2002, radicals have forgotten that the people they must convince are Venezuelan voters, not international opinion. There can be no short cut to replacing a movement and government that is genuinely popular. Attempting to induce regime overthrow is unnecessary when the option of a recall referendum is available, and it is irresponsible when the outcome of violent change will only be a cycle of violent revenge.
Again it’s interesting what Venezuelans think of the current situation. A poll done by the Venezuelan company ICS had found that 82 per cent believe the opposition protests are violent with 86 per cent of Venezuelans opposing the violent roadblocks. Furthermore, despite the impression given by distorted media coverage, the numbers on peaceful pro-government marches have dwarfed these opposition activities.
Of course, problems exist in Venezuela, but the recent election victories of Maduro’s coalition in this context show that the population trusts the government to provide answers to them. Unsurprising really, in that it’s the very same government which has delivered incredible social achievements, from providing free health care and education to millions for the first time, to bringing millions of people out of poverty.
Indeed, even in times of economic difficulty, last year poverty and unemployment continued to fall.
It should be left to the Venezuelan people to decide if their model has run its course when they cast their votes at the next set of elections.
In the meantime we should respect the recent election results and the will of the people and reject the violence of anti-democratic elements of the neo-liberal opposition who are preparing the ground for a coup that would benefit only the elites.
For more information visit the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign
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36 Responses to “It should be left to the Venezuelan people to decide if socialism has run its course”
Span Ows
The ballot box, that cure all phrase to make everything seem perfect: missing ballot boxes (proven), faulty voting machines (proven), dead and buried voting regularly (proven), physical abuse at voting stations (proven), people voting many times (proven)…dude, you make reasonable comments but get all the facts first.
oonarichard squince
It is important that the facts about Venezuela get out and this article does just that. Whether it is living participative democracy or massive social progress Venezuela is an inspiration to so many on the left world wide , who see their own ‘social democracies’ pursuing an austerity agenda.Of course Venezuela is not perfect , but look at where it started and where it is now (health care,education, housing,minimum wages, food subsidies) and where its popular Government (winning the majority in almost annual elections since 21st century socialism was voted in) is planning to go. We should not be surprised by the claims of the US funded opposition but their return to violence after losing yet another election by 10% shows their desperation. Even one of their leaders Capriles, intimately involved in the attempted coup in 2002, opposes their methods. But whatever their methods, the opposition and its false claims, lies etc are hoping to motivate progressives across the world to become disillusioned with the achievements of the Venezuelan people .I as a socialist for one are not falling for that. If only we had Governments with one tenth of the integrity and political and economic bravery of the Venezuelan government ! The opposition want a return to the past of corrupt oil oligarchs, This Venezuelan Government needs the support of all progressives-whether socialists or just democrats. I welcome the President’s call for peace. I call on socialists to offer solidarity.
Paul Jones
“Left Foot Forward has been following events in Venezuela closely”
Yeah, it’s editor James Bloodworth clearly has a strong grasp of what’s going on there. That’s why he tweets things like
“Venezuelan General Viva has publicly refused to continue taking orders from the Cuban Armed Forces”: http://bit.ly/1elpO26
Please. Let’s have a bit of a reality check.
S&A
‘After the uprising of the 17th of June
The Secretary of the Writers’ Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?’
The GDR in 1953, Venezuela 60 years later. Nothing changes except the names of the regimes, and the useful idiots from the West who accept their hospitality for a couple of weeks a year, and praise them from a convenient distance for the rest of it.
Ben Studd
A number of references to proof there but no evidence to back it up, and in fact strong evidence to the contrary in most cases. Venezuela has one of the most advanced voting systems in the world specifically designed to prevent multiple voting, userpation of identity and voter interference. Voting machines are activated by biometric data, a paper copy is deposited in the ballot box to ensure the voter is happy with their preference, and all campaigns are given a copy of the electoral register to verify and sign off in advance of the election.
The Carter Centre report on the April 2013 election found that “the Venezuelan population, and the political parties and candidates in general, have demonstrated confidence in the performance and integrity of the automated touch-screen voting machines in accurately counting the votes cast on April 14”. In 2012, Jimmy Carter stated “As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.”
To advocate a coup on the basis of Venezuela’s electoral system being invalid is as preposterous as it is chilling. The Idea that the population were so unhappy with the presidential election that they lost faith in the process is further rejected by the results of the December municipal elections, in which pro-government candidates won 256 mayoralties to the opposition’s 76.