14 May, 2010

Now ‘real’ lefties are probably going to call me a wuss, you know the kind of thing, ‘defend the revolution no matter what’, or label me a counter-revolutionary, but hey, it’s not for me to tell Venezuela how to do things whilst I’m sitting semi-comfortably here in London.

It’s real dilemma, after all we lefties want to see the Bolivarian revolution succeed just as much as the Venezuelan people do. So let’s hear what a Venezuelan comrade has to say on the subject of Chavez, PSUV and the state:

“Comrade Juan Contreras, an activist in the popular movement in the January 23 neighborhood and elected alternate deputy candidate by Circuit 1, was the next speaker. Contreras said that candidates of the apparatus had a tremendous advantage against the candidates of the popular movement and the fact that there were so many candidates had been a source of strength for the bureaucracy.

“He expressed deep concern over the fact that there had been an attempt to make the popular movement fit within the framework of the state. He reminded all those present that it was the actual movement of the masses that had saved the Revolution on April 11, 12 and 13, 2002 and again during the oil lockout. Nobody had called them out, but it was the spontaneous movement from below that overthrew the coup and rescued the government of the Revolution. According to Juan Contreras, this showed the great wisdom of the people.” — ‘Venezuela: The PSUV rank and file criticize the internal elections’, Vheadlines, 13 May, 2010

Continue reading →