Venezuelan Government Announces $5 billion for Communal Councils

[BayCityProgressive]

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2188

Hurray for People's Power!

Caracas , January 10, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— The Venezuelan government announced Monday that $5 billion dollars will be available for the new participatory democratic institutions the Communal Councils in 2007. The Intergovernmental Fund for Decentralisation (Fides) will be responsible for distributing the money.

The additional money means the funds available to the Communal Councils will more than triple the $1.5 billion of 2006. Part of the increase can be accounted for due to the expected increase in the number of Communal Councils in Venezuela.

At the end of last year there were a reported 13,000 across the country. This is expected to increase to 21,000 by the end of this year.

[Lord Byron]

1. Socialism

And they said Marxist socialism was a dead ideology after the breakup of the USSR and the liberalization of the Chinese market...

[BayCityProgressive]

2. China has

opened up but they are definately still a socialist command economy and the new President Hu Jintao is a much stricter Marxist than the last few presidents.

[BayCityProgressive]

4. other socialist

or at least non-capitalist states would be Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, Belarus and increasingly Bolivia and Moldova. There is a lot of unrest with the system in France as of late as well..

[Lord Byron]

7. But the difference is that those countries have been socialist for years

When was the last time a major nation went Marxist?

[BayCityProgressive]

9. It's been quite some time

and now I think it is happening in Latin America. We have the people in Mexico rising up, we have leftists in power in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador..and center-left governments in Paraguay, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

[Lord Byron]

6. I'm aware

But now that American corporations are doing business over there, they're kind of overlooking that part. Still, China today is a far cry from Mao Zedong thought.

It's "socialism with Chinese characteristics."

[BayCityProgressive]

8. I totally agree

very different.

[happydreams]

16. In Venezuela it's Democratic Socialism to be specific. nt

[Poll_Blind]

3. That evil dicta- WHAT?!! $5Bln for the people and democracy?

Holy shit, that man's got a price on his head like the next messiah.

GO CHAVEZ! My country will probably invade your country and stuff your mouth with kiddie porn just before we save the world from you and your kind with a hail of bullets but until that time, keep running with the torch!

Liberty ain't a parade, it's Iwo Jima.

PB

[BayCityProgressive]

5. LOL

yes he supports communal councils yet people call him a dictator. Workers Councils are about as democratic as you can get. Economic democracy is much more important than the skin deep "democracy of the US" where the only candidates with a shot of winning are corporate slaves and even if you dont get the peoples vote (aka Bush) you can still be installed.

[Lord Byron]

10. To be fair, there are people's councils in Libya

It's a common aspect of socialism. Even dictatorships.

[Missy M]

11. Here we go again.....

Chavez is not a dictator. Chavez was elected and reelected by the people of Venezuela.

[Lord Byron]

12. Ok I never called him a "dictator"

I pointed out that a dictatorship can still have people's councils. Is Col. Gaddafi a dictator?

[Missy M]

15. Gaddafi was never elected.....

used strong armed tactics and is now changing his ways, to suit the US I might add. Should he be called a dictator now that he is changing his ways, I don't know but he was at one time.

[Lord Byron]

21. My point was that ...

My point was that having communal councils does not necessarily mean that the country is not a dictatorship. If one wants to prove that Chavez is NOT a dictator, then one should cite the election results or something else. That's all I was trying to say. Peace?

[zeemike]

13. Welcome to DU

But I will wait to see just what direction Chavez's 21st century socialism takes to declare it a bad thing.
And so far it has been democratic with overwhelming support form the people.
If they want it who are we to say they are wrong for having it? We are no model for democracy when you look critically at our failed system.

[Lord Byron]

14. I never made any judgment on the new Venezuela

It's uncharted territory.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Yep. Everyone can see your objectivity a mile away.

Never let it be said that you're one of the heavy handed clowns hurling around "Marxist" at others, exactly like the sweaty, hate-spewing sociopaths in the 1950's.

'I don't believe in the dogmatic postulates of Marxist revolution. I don't
accept that we are living in a period of proletarian revolutions. All that
must be revised. Reality is telling us that every day. Are we aiming in
Venezuela today for the abolition of private property or a classless
society? I don't think so. But if I'm told that because of that reality
you can't do anything to help the poor, the people who have made this
country rich through their labour and never forget that some of it was
slave labour, then I say 'We part company'. I will never accept that there
can be no redistribution of wealth in society. Our upper classes don't
even like paying taxes. That's one reason they hate me. We said 'You must
pay your taxes'. I believe it's better to die in battle, rather than hold
aloft a very revolutionary and very pure banner, and do nothing ... That
position often strikes me as very convenient, a good excuse ... Try and
make your revolution, go into combat, advance a little, even if it's only
a millimetre, in the right direction, instead of dreaming about utopias.'

Hugo Chavez

[BayCityProgressive]

18. well

on other occasions he has praised Marx. There is nothing wrong with that. he probably takes advise form marxism and many other philosophies as well.

[Missy M]

19. Thank you Judi Lynn...

my daughter lived in Venezuela many, many years and she told me of the poor and she also told me the upper classes didn't like to pay taxes and many times didn't, she was amazed by that. I could go on and on but Chavez is trying to change all that and in this country he is vilified, I just don't get it.

[Lord Byron]

20. Marxist isn't an insult

It's a political and economic philosophy. You have me wrong. Also, when is your quote dated? Chavez in 1998 was not as bold in his touting of socialism as he is today.

[Missy M]

22. You are still trying to imply that Chavez is a dictator....

in a round about way.

[BayCityProgressive]

23. How?

Marxism isn't by default dictatorship. In fact Marx advocates the eventual destruction of all states.

[Lord Byron]

24. Thank you for refuting his point for me

I never called him a dictator. Yet I didn't say I liked him to begin with.

[Missy M]

25. If you read my post it said you are implying it without coming...

right out and saying it.

[Lord Byron]

26. I never implied that Chavez is a dictator

I was refuting the idea that communal councils = no dictatorship. I brought up Colonel Gaddafi to prove my point. You want to keep this up? Maybe you should indicate where I implied he was a dictator. By calling him a Marxist? Allende was a Marxist and not a dictator. Mitterand was technically a Marxist, and not a dictator. Please.

[PeaceProgProsp]

27. Devolving $5B worth of political power to the bottom -- Democracy will be entrenched

Once you give people power and expectations, it's almost impossible to take it away.

That's what he's doing. He's making sure that if the next president is a Pinochet and not a Hugo Chavez, that guy will have a hell of a time taking away the benefits he is conferring on the average Venezuelan.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. That monster!

All that precious oil revenue... utterly wasted on people who don't deserve it! This is the worst thing he's done since he donated heating oil to freezing New Englanders!

[shance]

30. ROFL!! The NERVE of those people taking what is rightfully theres!!

;)

[shance]

29. How about that? Giving power back to the communities? What a concept.

Viva Chavez!!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

31. Kick. n/t