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I feel like I have to do a Civics One lesson every time there is a Chavez post, cuz here they come: 'Chavez is a dictator.' 'Chavez is a wannabe dictator.' 'Chavez is a demagogue.' 'Chavez is a terrorist-lover.' 'Chavez is an incompetent.' 'Chavez is a clown, a jerk, a communist, a blowhard....'.
1. Chavez is the legitimately, honestly, transparently elected president of Venezuela, a country that holds elections that are far, FAR more transparent than our own. Venezuelans have elected him twice, by big margins. Are Venezuelan voters fools? Are they stupid, that they can't recognize a dictator when they see one? Is Lula da Silva, the outgoing president of Brazil, a stupid man, who said, of Chavez, "They can invent all sorts of things to criticize Chavez but not on democracy!"? It is fabrication of the corpo-fascist media that Chavez is a "dictator."
2. Name one item of evidence that Chavez is a "dictator." What law has he broken? What law has he even bent? What has he done that was not within his lawful power, his right as the elected president and his mandate from the people who elected him? Nothing! People who say that Chavez is a "dictator" have NOTHING to back it up with. It's based on an impression they get from highly selective and extremely biased corpo-fascist media "framing." It is not based on facts and has no resemblance to reality. And those who say that he is a "wannabe dictator" have even less to back it up with. What does that mean? "Wannabe"? Chavez is a strong leftist leader, like, say, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The rightwing press ALSO called FDR a "dictator"! In both cases, it means STRONG LEFTIST LEADER. And I'd sure like to see that kind of "wannabe" evidenced in this country!
3. One example: The Chavez government de-licensed corporate broadcaster RCTV. RCTV's owners and executives were active participants in the 2002 rightwing coup d'etat attempt--a crime that would have gotten them de-licensed in any other country in the world. They hosted the coupsters--the people who had kidnapped the elected president and suspended the constitution, the courts, the National Assembly and all civil rights. They banned Chavez government members from TV--wouldn't let them speak. They told baldfaced lies on TV on behalf of the coup--for instance, that Chavez had resigned--and they ran doctored video footage--proven to be doctored--that was designed to motivate mobs to go kill Chavez supporters.
Corporations have no right to broadcast on the public airwaves in any country. The TV/radio airwaves belong to the PUBLIC, and you have to get a license to use them in every country. Good governments use the licensing to REGULATE broadcasting IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST. They may require public interest programming. They may ban certain kinds of advertisements. They may forbid media monopolies. They may require POLITICAL BALANCE--which we used to require here in the USA. If you try to overthrow the government, if you commit crimes, or if you violate any of the provisions of your license, the government can legitimately pull your license. That is what government is supposed to do and that is what Chavez did. He waited until their 20-year license was up and did not renew it. The corpo-fascist 'news' monopolies who have tried to portray the de-licensing of RCTV as an attack on free speech are trying to equate free speech with CORPORATE speech. Corporations do NOT have a right of free speech and do NOT have a right to monopolize the public airwaves or to violate the "public interest" or other provisions of their license.
4. There is a REASON why Chavez has been elected twice, by big margins, and it is that he is a GOOD president. Despite the odds, his government produced sizzling economic growth in Venezuela during the 2003 to 2008 period, with the most growth in the private sector (not including oil). He renegotiated Venezuela's oil contracts--earning Exxon Mobil's hatred--from a 10/90 split of the profits, favoring multinational corporations, to a 50/50 split, favoring Venezuela and its social programs, with majority state control of the oil projects. With that money, the Chavez government has reduced poverty by half and extreme poverty by over 70%. Venezuela was just designated as THE MOST EQUAL COUNTRY IN LATIN AMERICA, on rich/poor indexes (distribution of wealth) (--while we are becoming one of the worst in the world). Poverty reduction--and reducing the rich/poor discrepancy-- are not only the right thing to do, and the will of the majority, they are important to democracy itself. Bad rich/poor ratios mean you have an oligarchy running things--the entrenched rich, who rule to make themselves richer at the expense of everybody else. On this index alone, Venezuela is one of the most democratic countries in the world. But the Chavez government has also greatly improved public participation and public access to media, has run honest elections, really believes in grass roots democracy and encourages it, and, bottom line, owe their power to the people--as demonstrated by elections and by the tens of thousands of Venezuelans who poured into the streets, in 2002, and saved their constitution, their democracy and their elected government.
5. STOP BELIEVING THE CORPO-FASCIST MEDIA. They are fucking with your minds. They are LYING to you. They have a vendetta against Chavez because he has turned South America toward independence, and that greatly interferes with the profit margins of the five billionaire media moguls who control the New York Slimes, the Washington Psst, the Wall Street Urinal, the Miami Hairball, the Associated Pukes, Slime magazine, Newsweak, the Economyst and Faux News-CBS-NBC-ABC-CNN, et al! They hate him. Our multinational corporate rulers, banksters and war profiteers, whom they serve with their propaganda, hate him. He has led the revolution for Latin American sovereignty and against U.S., World Bank/IMF and EU ravaging of Latin American countries. You are looking at a PSYOPS campaign that could well be a preliminary to war. Don't let them brainwash you!
Think about it. Please! Read carefully. Don't accept everything you read or see on TV into your subconscious where it forms this false, bogeyman "Chavez." Seek out the facts. Read between the lines. Ask yourself what they are not telling you and why. You will never see a corpo-fascist 'news' story about the Chavez government's successes at reducing poverty, or success at getting oil contracts on Venezuela's terms, or educational or health care successes, or their wiping out of illiteracy, or their positive influence in the region, which other leaders frequently attest to. Never! Not one! Not one positive or even neutral story! Please think about it!
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