Jun 6, 2007

Silence on Chavez is not an option

I find it almost impossible NOT to be engaged in this issue as it is such a clear line in the sand in regard to the Bolivarian process in Venezuela.

There has been a major attempt to advance the ideological barrage against the Venezuelan revolutionary process over the RCTV license. It is so clear cut that the RCTV supporters don't have much of a case...well, I'd say that anyway.

So why the silence elsewhere on the left --and I'm thinking of the Socialist Worker newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic(UK and USA).

I could be wrong , that's true, as I don't have access to the hard copy versions...and I'm willing to be corrected.(See footnote for such a correction --DR ]

A good proportion of the left in these two countries are jumping up and down about Chavez and these two journals don't say a word about this issue(that I know of).

But here in the instance of the RCTV dispute is a very clear opportunity for competing views to come to grips with the challenge of Venezuela...And we are offered silence by one of them as both journals seem to share the same or similar views on the subject.

To sign on of course against Chavez over RCTV will put you in the same camp as the imperialists so I guess you gotta tread softly softly.

I can see that -- and I respect that, I guess.

But consider this: even if you are against this RCTV assertion by the Chavez government, silence is not going to save you in the long run because if today it is a question about RCTV -- what about in the future when these Bolivarians get more aggressive in the face of starker destabilisation moves by the imperial side of the divide, and more rigorously tackle the obstacles that stand in the way of the process. Are they going to at least cheer sometimes?

Sooner or later the chickens are going to come home to roost and silence won't be an option.

Footnote:I have been corrected on this point and the UK SW has indeed commented on the RCTV issue (see comments below post) much in the Bolivarians' favour. This is the second time I have been duped by my feed aggregator.