06 March, 2013
@ Countercurrents.org
The death of Hugo Chávez is a great loss to the people of Venezuela who
have been lifted out of poverty and have created a deep participatory
democracy. Chavez was a leader who, in unity with the people, was able to free
Venezuela from the grips of US Empire, brought dignity to the poor and working
class, and was central to a Latin American revolt against US domination.
Chávez grew up a campesino, a peasant, raised in poverty. His parents
were teachers, his grandmother an Indian whom he credits with teaching him
solidarity with the people. During his military service, he learned about Simon
Bolivar, who freed Latin America from Spanish Empire. This gradually led to the
modern Bolivarian Revolution he led with the people. The Chávez transformation
was built on many years of a mass political movement that continued after his
election, indeed saved him when a 2002 coup briefly removed him from office.
The reality is Venezuela’s 21st Century democracy is bigger than Chávez, this
will become more evident now that he is gone.
The Lies They Tell Us
If Americans knew the truth about the growth of real democracy in
Venezuela and other Latin American countries, they would demand economic
democracy and participatory government, which together would threaten the power
of concentrated wealth. Real democracy creates a huge challenge to the
oligarchs and their neoliberal agenda because it is driven by human needs, not
corporate greed. That is why major media in the US, which are owned by six
corporations, aggressively misinform the public about Chávez and the Bolivarian
Revolution.
Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research writes,
"The Western media reporting has been effective. It has convinced most
people outside of Venezuela that the country is run by some kind of
dictatorship that has ruined it." In fact, just the opposite is true.
Venezuela, since the election of Chávez, has become one of the most democratic
nations on Earth. Its wealth is increasing and being widely shared. But
Venezuela has been made so toxic that even the more liberal media outlets
propagate distortions to avoid being criticized as too leftist.
We spoke with Mike Fox, who went to Venezuela in 2006 to see for himself
what was happening. Fox spent years documenting the rise of participatory
democracy in Venezuela and Brazil. He found a grassroots movement creating the
economy and government they wanted, often pushing Chávez further than he wanted
to go.
They call it the “revolution within the revolution.” Venezuelan democracy
and economic transformation are bigger than Chávez. Chávez opened a door to
achieve the people's goals: literacy programs in the barrios, more people
attending college, universal access to health care, as well as worker-owned
businesses and community councils where people make decisions for themselves.
Change came through decades of struggle leading to the election of Chávez in
1998, a new constitution and ongoing work to make that constitution a reality.
Challenging American Empire
The subject of Venezuela is taboo because it has been the most successful
country to repel the neoliberal assault waged by the US on Latin America. This
assault included Operation Condor, launched in 1976, in which the US provided
resources and assistance to bring friendly dictators who supported neoliberal
policies to power throughout Latin America. These policies involved privatizing
national resources and selling them to foreign corporations, de-funding and
privatizing public programs such as education and health care, deregulating and
reducing trade barriers.
In addition to intense political repression under these dictators between
the 1960s and 1980s, which resulted in imprisonment, murder and disappearances
of tens of thousands throughout Latin America, neoliberal policies led to
increased wealth inequality, greater hardship for the poor and working class,
as well as a decline in economic growth.
Neoliberalism in Venezuela arrived through a different path, not through
a dictator. Although most of its 20th century was spent under authoritarian
rule, Venezuela has had a long history of pro-democracy activism. The last
dictator, Marcos Jimenez Perez, was ousted from power in 1958. After that,
Venezuelans gained the right to elect their government, but they existed in a
state of pseudo-democracy, much like the US currently, in which the wealthy
ruled through a managed democracy that ensured the wealthy benefited most from
the economy.
As it did in other parts of the world, the US pushed its neoliberal
agenda on Venezuela through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
These institutions required Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) as terms for
development loans. As John Perkins wrote in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,
great pressure was placed on governments to take out loans for development
projects. The money was loaned by the US, but went directly to US corporations
who were responsible for the projects, many of which failed, leaving nations in
debt and not better off. Then the debt was used as leverage to control the
government's policies so they further favored US interests. Anun Shah explains
the role of the IMF and World Bank in more detail in Structural Adjustment - a
Major Cause of Poverty.
Neoliberalism Leads to the Rise of Chávez
A turning point in the Venezuelan struggle for real democracy occurred in
1989. President Carlos Andres Perez ran on a platform opposing neoliberalism
and promised to reform the market during his second term. But following his
re-election in 1988, he reversed himself and continued to implement the
"Washington Consensus" of neoliberal policies - privatization and
cuts to social services. The last straw came when he ended subsidies for oil.
The price of gasoline doubled and public transportation prices rose steeply.
Protests erupted in the towns surrounding the capitol, Caracas, and
quickly spread into the city itself. President Perez responded by revoking
multiple constitutional rights to protest and sending in security forces who
killed an estimated 3,000 people, most of them in the barrios. This became
known as the "Caracazo" ("the Caracas smash") and
demonstrated that the president stood with the oligarchs, not with the people.
Under President Perez, conditions continued to deteriorate for all but
the wealthy in Venezuela. So people organized in their communities and with
Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chávez attempted a civilian-led coup in 1992. Chávez
was jailed, and so the people organized for his release. Perez was impeached
for embezzlement of 250 million bolivars and the next president, Rafael
Caldera, promised to release Chávez when he was elected. Chávez was freed in
1994. He then traveled throughout the country to meet with people in their
communities and organizers turned their attention to building a political
movement.
Chávez ran for president in 1998 on a platform that promised to hold a
constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution saying, "I swear before
my people that upon this moribund constitution I will drive forth the necessary
democratic transformations so that the new republic will have a Magna Carta befitting
these new times." Against the odds, Chávez won the election and became
president in 1999.
While his first term was cautious and center-left, including a visit by
Chávez to the NY Stock Exchange to show support for capitalism and encourage
foreign investment, he kept his promise. Many groups participated in the
formation of the new constitution, which was gender-neutral and included new
rights for women and for the indigenous, and created a government with five
branches adding a people's and electoral branches. The new constitution was
voted into place by a 70 percent majority within the year. Chávez also began to
increase funding for the poor and expanded and transformed education.
Since then, Chávez has been re-elected twice. He was removed from power
briefly in 2002, jailed and replaced by Pedro Carmona, the head of what is
equivalent to the Chamber of Commerce. Fox commented that the media was
complicit in the coup by blacking it out and putting out false information.
Carmona quickly moved to revoke the constitution and disband the legislature.
When the people became aware of what was happening, they rapidly mobilized and
surrounded the capitol in Caracas. Chávez was reinstated in less than 48 hours.
One reason the Chávez election is called a Bolivarian Revolution is
because Simon Bolivar was a military political leader who freed much of Latin
America from the Spanish Empire in the early 1800s. The election of Chávez, the
new constitution and the people overcoming the coup set Venezuela on the path
to free itself from the US empire. These changes emboldened the transformation
to sovereignty, economic democracy and participatory government.
In fact, Venezuela paid its debts to the IMF in full five years ahead of
schedule and in 2007 separated from the IMF and World Bank, thus severing the
tethers of the Washington Consensus. Instead, Venezuela led the way to create
the Bank of the South to provide funds for projects throughout Latin America
and allow other countries to free themselves from the chains of the IMF and
World Bank too.
The Rise of Real Democracy
The struggle for democracy brought an understanding by the people that
change only comes if they create it. The pre- Chávez era is seen as a pseudo
Democracy, managed for the benefit of the oligarchs. The people viewed Chávez
as a door that was opened for them to create transformational change. He was
able to pass laws that aided them in their work for real democracy and better
conditions. And Chávez knew that if the people did not stand with him, the
oligarchs could remove him from power as they did for two days in 2002.
With this new understanding and the constitution as a tool, Chávez and
the people have continued to progress in the work to rebuild Venezuela based on
participatory democracy and freedom from US interference. Chávez refers to the
new system as "21st century socialism." It is very much an incomplete
work in progress, but already there is a measurable difference.
Mark Weisbrot of CEPR points out that real GDP per capita in Venezuela
expanded by 24 percent since 2004. In the 20 years prior to Chávez, real GDP
per person actually fell. Venezuela has low foreign public debt, about 28
percent of GDP, and the interest on it is only 2 percent of GDP. Weisbrot
writes: "From 2004-2011, extreme poverty was reduced by about two-thirds.
Poverty was reduced by about one-half, and this measures only cash income. It
does not count the access to health care that millions now have, or the
doubling of college enrollment - with free tuition for many. Access to public
pensions tripled. Unemployment is half of what it was when Chávez took
office." Venezuela has reduced unemployment from 20 percent to 7 percent.
As George Galloway wrote upon Chávez’s death, “Under Chávez’ revolution
the oil wealth was distributed in ever rising wages and above all in ambitious
social engineering. He built the fifth largest student body in the world,
creating scores of new universities. More than 90% of Venezuelans ate three
meals a day for the first time in the country’s history. Quality social housing
for the masses became the norm with the pledge that by the end of the
presidential term, now cut short, all Venezuelans would live in a dignified
house.”
Venezuela is making rapid progress on other measures too. It has a high
human development index and a low and shrinking index of inequality. Wealth
inequality in Venezuela is half of what it is in the United States. It is rated
"the fifth-happiest nation in the world" by Gallup. And Pepe Escobar
writes that,"No less than 22 public universities were built in the past 10
years. The number of teachers went from 65,000 to 350,000. Illiteracy has been
eradicated. There is an ongoing agrarian reform." Venezuela has undertaken
significant steps to build food security through land reform and government
assistance. New homes are being built, health clinics are opening in
underserved areas and cooperatives for agriculture and business are growing.
Venezuelans are very happy with their democracy. On average, they gave
their own democracy a score of seven out of ten while the Latin American
average was 5.8. Meanwhile, 57 percent of Venezuelans reported being happy with
their democracy compared to an average for Latin American countries of 38
percent, according to a poll conducted by Latinobarometro. While 81 percent
voted in the last Venezuelan election, only 57.5 percent voted in the recent US
election.
Chávez won that election handily as he has all of the elections he has
run in since 1999. As Galloway describes him, Chávez was “the most elected
leader in the modern era.” He won his last election with 55 percent of the vote
but was never inaugurated due to his illness.
Beyond Voting: The Deepening of Democracy in Venezuela
This is not to say that the process has been easy or smooth. The new
constitution and laws passed by Chávez have provided tools, but the government
and media still contain those who are allied with the oligarchy and who resist
change. People have had to struggle to see that what is written on paper is
made into a reality. For example, Venezuelans now have the right to reclaim
urban land that is fallow and use it for food and living. Many attempts have
been made to occupy unused land and some have been met by hostility from the
community or actual repression from the police. In other cases, attempts to
build new universities have been held back by the bureaucratic process.
It takes time to build a new democratic structure from the bottom up. And
it takes time to transition from a capitalist culture to one based on
solidarity and participation. In "Venezuela Speaks," one activist,
Iraida Morocoima, says "Capitalism left us with so many vices that I think
our greatest struggle is against these bad habits that have oppressed us."
She goes on to describe a necessary culture shift as, "We must understand
that we are equal, while at the same time we are different, but with the same
rights."
Chávez passed a law in 2006 that united various committees in poor
barrios into community councils that qualify for state funds for local
projects. In the city, community councils are composed of 200 to 400 families.
The councils elect spokespeople and other positions such as executive,
financial and "social control" committees. The councilmembers vote on
proposals in a general assembly and work with facilitators in the government to
carry through on decisions. In this way, priorities are set by the community
and funds go directly to those who can carry out the project such as building a
road or school. There are currently more than 20,000 community councils in
Venezuela creating a grassroots base for participatory government.
A long-term goal is to form regional councils from the community councils
and ultimately create a national council. Some community councils already have
joined as communes, a group of several councils, which then have the capacity
for greater research and to receive greater funds for large projects.
The movement to place greater decision-making capacity and control of
local funds in the hands of communities is happening throughout Latin America
and the world. It is called participatory budgeting and it began in Porto
Alegre, Brazil in 1989 and has grown so that as many as 50,000 people now
participate each year to decide as much as 20 percent of the city budget. There
are more than 1,500 participatory budgets around the world in Latin America,
North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Fox produced a documentary, Beyond
Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas, which explains participatory
budgeting in greater detail.
The Unfinished Work of Huge Chávez Continues
The movements that brought him to power and kept him in power have been
strengthened by Hugo Chávez. Now the “revolution within the revolution” will be
tested. In 30 days there will be an election and former vice president, now
interim president, Nicolas Maduro will likely challenge the conservative
candidate Chávez defeated.
If the United States and the oligarchs think the death of Chávez means
the end of the Bolivarian Revolution he led, they are in for a disappointment.
This revolution, which is not limited to Venezuela, is likely to show to itself
and the world that it is deep and strong. The people-powered transformation
with which Chávez was in solidarity will continue.
This article is a modified version of “The Secret Rise of 21st Century
Democracy,”which originally appeared in Truthout.
Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD
co-host Clearing the FOG on We Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic
Democracy Media, co-direct It's Our Economy and are organizers of the
Occupation of Washington, DC. Their twitters are @KBZeese and @MFlowers8.
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