(MintPress) – “Revolution is a rare moment in history when millions of ordinary individuals become active, taking back control of their destinies,” said Welsh academic Alan Woods, when speaking about the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela in a recent lecture.
Despite capturing 55 percent of the vote in a democratic, transparent presidential election last month, Western media continues to lambast Hugo Chavez as a “dictator,” a “bafoon” and worse: an agent of Iran threatening to attack the U.S. However, few have considered the enormous successes of the Bolivarian movement over the past 10 years. The unique economic model has slashed poverty, virtually eliminated illiteracy, extended universal health care and given workers the ability to shape the direction of industry.
Trodding the well-worn path of economic imperialism, Washington, still gripped by a Cold War “red scare,” continues to undermine popular leftist movements with threat of sanctions, blockades and military intervention. However, a growing opposition to U.S. hemispheric hegemony is emerging, namely through the establishment of international solidarity movements championed most importantly by the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign. The movement promotes a foreign policy of non-interference as the best way to stabilize the region, improve U.S.-Venezuelan relations and empower wholly democratic movements for common workers.
A well worn path: US support for dictators
Founded in 2002 shortly after a Washington-backed coup failed to overthrow the democratically elected Chavez, the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign remains more relevant now, as the U.S. continues to threaten the South American state with bipartisan hawkish rhetoric.
It comes as no surprise that the Venezuela of today is a direct response to a long history of destructive U.S. interference. During the late 1980s, American supported President Carlos Andres Perez as he plunged the country into turmoil after accepting a conditional bailout loan.
When faced with crushing foreign debt, Perez accepted a disastrous $4.5 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan in 1989 to curb the debt crisis.
The IMF, a lending institution representing U.S. economic interests, promotes a one size fits all set of market oriented reforms aimed at opening developing countries to foreign investment and corporate expansion.
The “Washington Consensus” model of neoliberalism has proven to be a devastating experiment in free market fundamentalism to the detriment of millions in the global south.
After implementing IMF reforms, namely the elimination of subsidies for common foods, millions of Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas and other major cities to protest the increased cost of food, oil and other basic commodities.
Perez, the agent of Washington, sent the Venezuelan army to stop citizens from protesting. For most, the demonstration was a cry for help as most families could no longer afford to feed their families.
Thousands were killed in what came to be know as “Caracazo,” a brutal massacre that happened as a direct result of IMF policies and forceful integration into free market capitalism.
The workers provide the alternative
“If you are going to lie, you might as well make it a great big lie,” said Alan Woods, the Hands Off Venezuela Founder and unofficial advisor to Hugo Chavez, when speaking about the propaganda war against the South American nation. The thought that the U.S. has played a positive influence in Venezuelan affairs he claims, is unfounded.
Additionally, as Woods notes, many Venezuelan institutions, like universal health care, promote greater freedoms than those found in the U.S.
Chavez, Woods adds, did not rise to power as an avowedly “Socialist candidate,” but rather as an alternative to the coercive, ineffectual leadership that had gripped Caracas for decades.
Since assuming power in 1999, Chavez has helped Venezuela develop one of the most democratic constitutions in the world, affording citizens unparallelled control over the economy, natural resources and political decision making.
Citizens even possess the power to recall any elected official at any time by popular referendum, a freedom rarely seen in developed Western democracies.
The former army general has survived 14 elections and referendum during his political career, all of which have been free, transparent exercises in democratic decision making. This point is confirmed time and again by elections observers and most notably by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has praised Venezuelan elections as “the best in the world.”
Industry productivity has actually increased under worker control, notes Woods, a Latin American political specialist. “Nobody knows how to run an industry better than the workers themselves.”
Hands Off Venezuela
Taking its name from the anti-colonial revolutionary, Simon Bolivar, the Bolivarian system has proven effective in improving the overall living standard in the South American nation.
According to the United Nations, from 1999-2010 poverty decreased 21 percent in Venezuela. Larger gains in literacy have been recorded by UNESCO, the education arm of the U.N. Illiteracy has been virtually eliminated in the country of 29 million citizens.
With the help of its close regional ally Cuba, Venezuela has made marked improvements in health care, extending coverage to all citizens.
Although there are concerns about media censorship, increased street crime and lower-income housing shortages, the case for Bolivarianism is clear. However, these hard fought gains could be threatened should Chavez pass away in the near future.
After battling cancer earlier this year, the former general appears to have conquered the disease, vowing to continue his tenure as president. As Woods notes, “There is a fifth column within the revolution.” Adding, “The U.S. could work covertly to empower the disenfranchised bureaucrats to revolt against the system should the charismatic Chavez fall ill again.”
US imperial threats to revolution
Washington’s incessant criticism, then, is not actually about “freedoms,” but rather the control of an abundant source of oil.
Venezuela is among the largest oil producers in the world, maintaining membership in the OPEC petroleum cartel. While other Arab Gulf states have higher production at present, Venezuela has more abundant reserves that will last at least 100 years by conservative geological estimates. The 3 million barrels per day that Venezuela produces could be a pittance of future production.
As oil becomes more scarce in the near future, this precious commodity will most assuredly increase in price, setting off regional energy battles. In Venezuela, workers at one time had control of the production and sale of oil. Although much of the industry has now be re-privatized, people’s control over these resources does not bode well for multinational exploitation of oil.
While Barack Obama may offer a marginally more pragmatic foreign policy than the defeated Mitt Romney, his stance toward Venezuela is still out of touch with the reality on the ground.
Earlier this summer, while in the midst of campaigning, President Obama commented on the situation in Venezuela saying, “My main concern when it comes to Venezuela is having the Venezuelan people have a voice in their affairs, and that you end up ultimately having fair and free elections which you don’t always see.”
Venezuela is reportedly in the process of amassing a million man army to deter a future invasion by the U.S. Former Venezuelan presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado leaked the information to El Universal newspaper. The details of the documents show that Venezuela anticipates a 2013 invasion by the U.S.
While the plan may appear to be the paranoid machinations of the current political leadership, previous, extensive intervention in Latin American affairs justifies the buildup of armed workers’ militias.
“The U.S. used militias to fight off Britain, a foreign occupier, why should Venezuela be any different?” adds Woods.
The more immediate threat, however, is a covert operation aimed at empowering the oligarchic opposition in Venezuela and fomenting a coup from within.
Despite the enormous challenges facing Cuba, Venezuela and other isolated Latin American states, Alan Woods remains hopeful that workers can assume control of industry and nationalize resource wealth. “Once the working class organizes, there is no power that can stop them,” Woods said emphatically.