Their last-ditch support for a dying regime is not only leaving them tragically on the wrong side of history but, worse, exposing them and our great movement to ridicule.
Earlier today Colin Burgon argued that ‘It should be left to the Venezuelan people to decide if socialism has run its course’
Rob Marchant, a political commentator and former Labour Party manager who blogs at The Centre Left, replies…
With hundreds of thousands on the streets demonstrating against the government last weekend, ongoing economic crisis, shortages of practically everything and government thugs beating and killing opposition demonstrators, it seems odd that we even have to ask the question.
But on the British left, we sometimes exhibit a pathological support for figures on the anti-establishment side of the argument, as long as they (a) make some kind of vague claim to be ‘socialist’ and (b) stand vocally against The Great Evil, namely the government of the United States. The Maduro regime in Venezuela ticks both boxes.
Last year we looked at Hugo Chávez’ threadbare legacy. In the year since his death, his chosen successor, Nicolás Maduro, has proved himself to be a rather extraordinary president. Extraordinary in the sense that, if you thought Chávez had managed his country poorly, Maduro’s skill has been consistently to do it worse.
He has first managed to produce shortages of a large number of basic goods. In a state which sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, this in itself is a considerable achievement. State-abetted corruption, which is everywhere, helps to waste those assets, although that is perhaps no unusual statement in South America.
Second, the streets, always dangerous no matter what your politics, are now killing zones. In the fifteen years to 2013, more or less exactly the period of Chavez/Maduro leadership, the murder rate has quadrupled (although the same report notes that the government now suppresses statistics).
In recent weeks there has been unprecedented brutality at the hands of the unpleasant “colectivos”, the regime’s paid-for vigilantes. Emiliana Duarte, a local blogger, notes that they “carry out their savage attacks with steel rods, billy clubs, and using their motorcycle helmets as bludgeons”.
Third, there is Maduro’s own strange and erratic behaviour. A man fundamentally lacking the charisma of his predecessor, he has attempted to live off the legend of Chávez; to turn him into a quasi-religious figure, an Evita or a Che for his generation. He claims he has appeared to him as a “very small bird”, and that he advised God to choose a Latin American Pope (I kid you not). Maduro is not just an incompetent leader, but a public embarrassment to the country.
Fourth, freedom within the country has declined further, where Freedom House already rated it only 5 out of a possible 7 (‘Partly Free’), only half a point higher than Russia (“Not Free”):
“Venezuela received a downward trend arrow due to an increase in the selective enforcement of laws and regulations against the opposition in order to minimize its role as a check on government power.”
More media outlets have closed for being anti-regime. CNN has been thrown out of the country. Venezuela formally withdrew from the American Convention on Human Rights in September 2013 – a telling sign of the country’s direction.
I could go on. But challenge the narrative of the pro-Chavistas, and you are told – as I was on Twitter the other day – that it is all a conspiracy of the ‘MSM’ (mainstream media). We would be better off getting all our reports from ‘independent’ blogs (I was referred to this one, utterly bereft of any kind of criticism of the Maduro regime).
No, the violence is all blamed on ‘extreme right-wing groups’, naturally all funded by the US. Hard evidence for this, however, is eerily scant.
For an example of echo-chamber thinking which continues to support Maduro against all evidence to the contrary, look no further than last year’s Labour Party conference, where supporters and Venezuela and of Cuba held a joint event. That’s right, a supposed democracy alongside a bona-fide dictatorship.
In an Olympic feat of intellectual contortionism, the supporters of both saw no inconsistency in supporting the two regimes side by side.
And that is because (a) Venezuela is no longer, if it ever was, a free democracy in any meaningful sense of the word and (b) its supporters are clearly willing to compromise on democracy “for the greater good”; for them democracy is not a sine qua non.
Well, it is for me. It should be for all of us. As we have seen from the murderous anti-democrats of the last century as well as the current one, any other way lies madness.
It is high time that key figures in the labour movement, such as the current leader of the TUC and those of most of the major trade unions, woke up and smelt the coffee.
Their last-ditch support for a dying regime is not only leaving them tragically on the wrong side of history but, worse, exposing them and our great movement to ridicule.
44 Responses to “The labour movement should drop any illusions it has about Venezuelan socialism”
Paul Taylor
The majority of the Venezuelan electorate.
Paul Taylor
That’s pretty hypocritical Rob Marchant. Paul Jones has a point. Venezuela Analysis is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative and intelligent sources on the country; Caracas Chronicles has just been outed by FAIR for a blatant piece of false reporting.
You ignore the fundamental point that the Maduro government has been democratically elected by the majority of Venezuelans as if this point is not worthy of consideration. You provide no evidence or substantiation to back your opinions which, negative as they are, are left looking slanderous.
This is threadbare, biased reporting at its worst.
Paul Taylor
Vzla certainly has economic problems, but it has had them for ever, largely because, as a third-world country run for the benefit of foreign empires and a local oligarchy that managed their interests, it has an undiversified economy. That is one of the major challenges it needs to address. What is your point?
Paul Taylor
“What Venezuela needs is an honest political class that can rebuild the disaster that was Socialism and Chav.”
I think that makes you the ideologue. You are blaming the Maduro government for economic problems that predated Chavez. For the majority of Venezuelans, life has got better since, which is why they repeatedly vote for them. The claims of life getting worse come from the sectors of Vzlan society that were privileged under neoliberalism while the rest of the population lived in poverty. But it is not clear that they have lost anything as a result of Chavismo. Their resentment and the current polarisation of Vzla comes from their resentment at having lost privilege that they feel entitled to, like much of the South American upper middle class.
That polarisation and antagonism may be the reason for increased levels of violence..
S&A
Taking my point, I guess you’re a resident of Caracas yourself.
And please don’t tell me that the elections in Venezuela have been free and fair. I don’t believe in that, the tooth fairy, Father Christmas or the Easter Bunny.