Chavez spoke for three maybe hours today at the camden centre, every word was magic. He could have talked for eight, spoke about the need for a socialist society and name checked both Marx and Christ but talked about the need to reject dogma. Marx, Engels, Lenin and Che still make sense according to Hugo but in a wide ranging speech also he praised the congestion charge talking of the need to respect ecological limits and end our love affair with the car.
There is much talk about crude populism but his intellectual grounding comes through talking about discussing maths problems with a minister once for three hours on the phone.
A historic event to be at, he told us at the end that he wanted to work closely with the Green Party and wore a Green Party flag given to him by our London MEP Jean Lambert.
So while we have to have an edge of criticism, its really important to make sure that the bolivarian revolution isn't replaced by the usual scenario of a US playground full of school of the Americas trained death squads.
-
Canvassing in Brighton back in 2017 to support Green Party MP Caroline Lucas’s re-election efforts, I knocked on a door and came acros... -
Derek Wall ’s article entitled Imperialism Is the Arsonist: Marxism’s Contribution to Ecological Literatures and Struggles , argues that Ma...
-
Sat at a computer in the library, I am aware that the woman looking at the screen next to me is becoming increasingly agitated. ...
1 comment:
Chavez sounds pretty honest. I'm currently torn between thinking he's pretty naïve - he seems unworried by the possibility that he'll inadvertently go down the path of the USSR et al. - and thinking he's too canny: this 'green Chavez' seems to be something I've only heard of since a few days before coming to Europe. Is this a façade?
He's faced a lot of opposition: a coup attempt, and US threats to name but two. That tends to make parties and governments a lot more authoritatian.
Of course, my fears may be wrong, and he may be just what the world needs.
Post a Comment