Video The Opposition to Chavez

[sasha031]

disturbing...
http://www.truthout.org/worldsocialforum2006.shtml

[Mythsaje]

1. I watched it yesterday...

I did notice that the protestors didn't seem to point out anything concrete...and, if you notice, they were almost universally light-skinned.

Something to ponder, at least.

[iamthebandfanman]

3. you have got to be kidding me

most are light skinned?
lol
alot of Venezuelans are 'light skinned'

sheesh.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. I think more than light-skinned, they look affluent

and that's the impression that one gets from "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," too. It's the wealthy trying to hold onto their power.

[manic expression]

9. Not light skinned enough

Chavez is mocked for being too "indigenous". European descent has been one major indication of one's position in Latin American society for a long time (you know, colonialism and all that), and it is still quite a factor. The opposition is largely composed of those of very high European appearance because of this racial inequality; the lighter skinned are mostly richer, and they do not support Chavez.

Hopefully I explained that well. Seriously though, you see this kind of thing happening all over Latin America, so to reject it and say "sheesh" is just ignorant, to say the least.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Greg Palast had quite a lot to say about these guys during the coup

He couldn't help pointing them out, then and in later articles!

VENEZUELA IN BLACK AND WHITE
Recall vote today a referendum on Latin American apartheid
Greg Palast
Sunday, August 15, 2004


The matronly blonde in the stylish leaopard - patterned blouse doesn't like the President of this Latin state. Correction: Maria Christina Tortosa hates, despises, sees red when she speaks of President Hugo Chavez. "A co-moon-ist!" she avers in English.

Her polite interlocutor -- red t-shirt, brown skin, eyes impatiently averted -- is in a good mood. Jorge Lara collected six thousand signatures of local voters seeking to recall members of Congress who oppose his hero Chavez.

And that's what it's all about. Race and class. Whatever else you hear about Venezuela, this is the story in a single frame. Like apartheid-riven South Africa, the whites, 20% of the population, have the nation's wealth under lock and key. The Rich Fifth have command of the oil wealth, the best jobs, the English-language lessons, the imported clothes, the vacations in Miami, the plantations.

That is, until Hugo Chavez came along.

Now the brown people, like community activist Lara -- and President Chavez himself-- have a piece of the action. "Negro e indio," Chavez calls himself. Black and Indian. And the blondes don't like it.
(snip/...)

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=293&row=1

[iamthebandfanman]

11. maybe i miss your point

cause obviously there is european influence.
but to assert someone of european decent is less venezuelan than someone whos indigenous is kinda silly.

they are still native to that country and it is still their country, regardless of their skin colour.

of all places , i figured DU would be the last id be explaining something like this too...

I suppose you dont call any of us Americans then , since we arent indigenous.

i think its obvious that these people are probably people of some sort of welth, and has nothing to do with their looks. the rich arent going to stand for a communist style regime. thats a given. they have just as much rights tho as anyone else who lives there. so dont act like they have no rights or they are the enemy.

[JohnnyCougar]

17. Wrong.

Venezuela is an extremely segregated society. That's why all the rich there hate Chavez. Because he is "brown skinned." It's overt racism that Chavez is fighting.

[manic expression]

21. You did

The more European one is, the higher one is in society. A person of European descent is most likely far richer than an indigenous person in Venezuela. The society of practically all of Latin America (besides Cuba) has this sort of discrimination inherent in the system, where whites are way more powerful and way more affluent, while the indigenous/mestizo people are "homeless in their own land" (to paraphrase a young Ernesto Guevara). It's like South Africa, where the whites are "South African", but they oppress their countrymen who are black (actual Africans, in other words). This makes it not about nationality, it makes it about race and class and inequality.

[ugarte]

2. It just shows there's freedom of expression and assembly

giving the lie to those who claim that Chavez has turned Venezuela into some sort of mass Guantánamo.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Right

[sasha031]

5. what bothered me was the crazy lady

saying she loved Bush and wanted the US to liberate Venezuela. Guess she enjoyed what has been done to Iraq.

[Mika]

7. Yes, but Chris Hume was spreading propaganda also..

.. he said that a demonstration like the Ven opposition demonstration would never be allowed in Cuba. This is not true. It really bothered me that he would say such a thing. Its uninformed and spreading American imperialist anti Cuba propaganda. I've been to Cuba and I have seen opposition rallies there, with my own eyes.

Like Pavlov's dog, two words set off Americans into robot mode: Fidel Castro.

[sasha031]

8. he should be contacted and informed that he is spreading propaganda

Truth Out is suppose to be a liberal site, they have better learn to get their facts straight or they will lose credibility.

Hearing the same old rhetoric about the evil dictator Castro is really immature and irresponsible from a journalist if there is no investigation and they rely on hearsay.

Has Mr. Hume ever been to a Bush rally and observed how the opposition is treated? If he plans to attend I suggest he wear body armour and a mask to ward off pepper spray pellets and rubber bullets.

It's amazing how people point fingers at everyone else when there is about ten pointing back at them, Hume should point the camera inward and see what has happened to our civil liberties.

[Judi Lynn]

12. I've heard about demonstrations, too, particularly when Russia was

pressed by the Reagan administration to cut all ties to Cuba first, as a condition of the new peace relationship, and Russia bailed, leaving Cuba to have to start improvising in multiple areas to survive, after years of cooperation with its powerful ally.

I've heard that was a very rough time, and a lot of protest spilled out among the people.

They made it, however. Now Russia is making motions of renewing the friendship with Cuba, which is very interesting.

[iamthebandfanman]

13. i have a question about cuba

seeing as you seem to be well informed on cuba i have a short question..

are there any powerful leader types of figures in the opposition in cuba?
my understanding, and tell me if this is false , was that while demonstrations were allowed..anyone who had money or power who put themselves into a leadership role involving the opposition were imprisioned/kill/deported.
is there any truth to that ?

[ugarte]

14. Too bad you can't go there to see Cuba with your own eyes

But your own "freedom-loving" government denies you the freedom to travel there. If Cuba is as wretched as the US Government says it is, don't you think they would want Americans to see all the miserable unhappy Cubans for themselves?

[Judi Lynn]

18. Why don't you cite your sources? If not, you could be inadvertantly

passing on poorly crafted propaganda.

I'd like to hear more about opposition members being killed in Cuba.

Since you're the one who brought it up, it would be logical for you to provide the sources.

By the way, that wasn't a short question, was it? Did you misrepresent yourself?

[manic expression]

23. One quick thing

I do believe that iamthebandfanman is genuinely curious and wants to know more about Cuba. I think s/he is just asking if the commonly held (mis)conceptions on Cuba are correct or not.

[Mika]

19. Answer

Yes there are leaders of legitimate domestic opposition parties in Cuba. They get little press in the US, and that press is usually demonizing them because they oppose US interference and involvement in Cuban politics (plus they represent the fact that there is a legitimate system of electoral government in Cuba, which seems to be a banned idea in the USA). There are many US funded "dissident" parties in Cuba that have connections to the Miamicubanexile community - which is calling for the overthrow of the system of government of Cuba - they get the press in the US.

The legitimate domestic opposition is free to express their platforms and exercise their constitutional right to organize and petition and run for office in the local, provincial, and national assemblies (Cuba's multi level parliamentary system). And they do just that.

The so called "dissident" movements that are in the employ of the US government and/or the anti government Miamicubanexile factions are watched, and when they cross the line to illegal activity then they are harassed or arrested. It is against the law in Cuba to work for/in the name of foreign entities who are the declared enemies of Cuba whose goal is to overthrow the system of government (much like it is against the law in the USA). Aiding and abetting the declared enemies of Cuba is against the law - especially terrorist organization that have a long history of attacks on & in Cuba & Cuban citizens and interests.

No one is killed or deported for either activity.



http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

As DUer ugarte posted, its too bad that Americans can't freely go to Cuba to see the place for themselves - we are banned from doing so by the dictate of the US government - not Cuba.

[manic expression]

22. Fair question

Yes, there are "prominent" members of the dissident movement, but they are not popular in Cuba at all. Oswaldo Paya is an example of a prominent "dissident" in Cuba.

Demonstrations and free speech is allowed. However, Cubans do not want the reactionary "dissidents" in power, so they don't vote for them, so they don't get any power. It's that simple.

Wealth in Cuba was redistributed after the revolution (that happened in the late 50's and early 60's), so there aren't any "rich people".

Also, you should know that a lot of Cuban "dissidents" are funded directly by the US government to destabilize the country. The US has been trying to topple Cuba since the Bay of Pigs invasion (early 60's, after the redistribution took money away from US corporations and gave them to the people), so this is just another attempt. Those "dissidents" are the ones you would hear about being imprisoned and charged, and the charges are legitimate and have nothing to do with freedom of speech. These "dissidents" would be treated as criminals in virtually every country, not just Cuba; and rightfully so, as it is the equivalent of an Indian "dissident" taking money from Pakistan and trying to further Pakistan's goals against India.

So no, there is no truth to the statement you presented. I hope what I said helped.

[PassingFair]

25. Lotta "god" talk spewing outta...

her silly mouth, too.

[Strelnikov_]

15. Exactly What I Was Thinking

Free speech zones, anyone?

[rman]

16. i've been wanting to post about that

it's interesting footage to say the least.

[jeannicot]

20. I thought we were supposed to root for the underdogs.

well, never mind.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

24. Yeah.

Same reason we should root for the underground Nazi movement in America? :eyes:

Well, never mind.