Too many replies to make... so little time.
To Comrade Joe.
First of all I think you feel I am trying to scoff at what you say... on the contrary! I welcome the fact that I can talk with a pro-Chavez individual intelligently and who has argumentative replies. I think you are a breath of fresh air from many loudmouth countrymen who don't know how to talk about politics in a mature intelligent way.
But before I make the following comments I will tell you this: Though I have my own opinions, am not into politics nor have an agenda. I have never lied in my life and I never will as my father taught me, and what I am about to tell you may cause me some problems, although I find it very difficult the government can track me down.
I'm a 26-year-old father. I studied political science at UCV ( Central University of Venezuela ), one of the most prestigious Universities of the Hemisphere and yes, it's public. I practiced politics for one year and hated it. I hated everything about it. I couldn't deal with the dishonesty and crookedness of the system. So I started to work as an teacher at middleschool, and after that I taught at the UBV (Bolivarian University of Venezuela) which is a new University created by Chavez for students loyal to his revolution. A friend of a friend got me the job, you know how it works... Anyway I worked there for 2 years and I said enough, now I work in a private company. It pays better and I need the money since I have a newborn, it's not that I favor international capitalist companies.
In which case i apologise for being on the defensive. I am also sorry if you got the impression that i would suggest you lied. My point is more that our own individual experiences sometimes are an exception rather than the norm and that is what the statistics tend to suggest with regards to your situation.
www.venezuelanalysis.com IS government funded. The husband of my cousin works there. I'm almost positive that
www.rethinkvenezuela.com is a subsidiary of PDVSA though I can't be 100% sure on that but I will ask someone who can tell me for sure.
Was it not venezuelanalysis.org that was government funded ? That was the impression i got. Maybe i am wrong. I am surprised to hear differently as VA.com often prints less than favourable angles to the government. It appears to be far from a propaganda outlet when reading it.
Every Sunday the government gives data to the public through national TV and Radio Broadcast. This data is NEVER negative but... how come things are always worse and worse?... people all around me are loosing their jobs, things are more expensive everyday, crime is rampant. Me and my family were in better conditions before Chavez. I'm a middle class person I'm not a rich guy and I can't benefit from half of the government "missions" because I'm on the Tascon list (the list of people who signed petitions to revoke Chavez from his office). Also I'm not a member of the PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela United socialist party of Venezuela ) nor did I want a membership, which was the reason I got fired from the UBV. I was in good terms with the director of the language department of the UBV but when I refused to become a member of the PSUV I got a week notice the next day. That's Venezuelan Democracy for you. .
I am sorry if i keep going round in circles here. It's just i dont know how everyone losing their jobs matches up with the reported economic growth. It puzzles me.
I have heard of the tascon list and i think it may be a mistake if those people are ruled out of the benefits of government. I believe the best thig to do is reach out to your opponents not punish. Although i sincerely believe the strongest opponents, the conspirators to end democracy should be punished. As far as i am aware they got off lightly. For instance, had RCTV been in the US, their leaders would have recieved the death penalty for treason. In Britain they would have been imprisoned for life. Though in Venezuela the government lets them keep broadcasting. That seems extremely leniant to say the least.
This government is FULL of crooks, and Chavez is one of them. If you look at the Venezuelan news you will see a recent article where the Chavez family bought $350.000.000 worth of land on Apure State. On a president's salary that's just impossible to buy!
As well as stealing money, he does manipulate the truth my friend, I have lived it. I have seen UBV teachers teaching lies to the students for crying out loud.
Is it not his brother who is being investigated for corruption ? I heard the assembly had voted to investigate his situation.
Televen by the way IS pro-Chavez although subtlety like Venevision, but they used to be SUPER ANTI CHAVEZ... I don't think they just "rectified" my friend.
Being subtely pro government, may well be the same as being balanced. What i mean is, if you take Britain for example, all media outlets support the Bush/Blair/Brown agenda, to an extent at least. They just follow the line of authority and make the odd criticism, but this is accepted of being balanced.
Now I understand you are British and you don't elect your prime minister directly, but let's say you did. Now Brown wins by more than 50% of the votes and after about a year (presidential elections are every 6 years in Venezuela) you start to see his face everywhere!... I guess you Comrade Joe would say "wow, that's a brilliant strategy the bastard came up with" but he's no fascist for doing that. Am I right?
That is pretty much the gist of it. If it was someone who i supported then i wouldn't mind. If it was someone whom had policies i was in oppostion of, i would be annoyed, but that is politics. If i am honest wth you i would rather be annoyed at having pictures of politicians on the street, than be annoyed because your government was involved in two wars, killing other working class and poor people. I dont want to digress on to Britain, but i think you would be even more annoyed with the politicians if you lived here, on the basis of warmongering. It is also the case that our PM was not even leader of his party at the election, people voted not knowing they were voting for Brown, he got in throughj the back door, by a political coup of Tony Blair. The Brown supporters moved behind the scenes and refused to support Blair anymore, forcing his resignation. It is also true that the Labour party recieved less than 40% of the vote yet they form a majority in Parliament. Now that is a flawed democracy to me.
And yes, no one can resist believing statistics, but I'm a skeptic. I only believe my eyes that look around on the streets. I don't even believe what I see on TV or hear on the radio anymore.
I understand being a skeptic, i would be a liar if i said i always take statistics on face value. However, if all statistics seem to suggest the same thing then i become bound to believe them. With regards to Venezuela, from government media, to British media, to US economists all seem to say the same thing, onm that basis i become a believer in their certain truth.
Like I said. I don't deny that the US government is a real and present danger, but you can't just blame them for everything that goes wrong with this country! We don't need a common enemy, we need a common leader!
I appreciate what you are saying and i think ideally that is how it ought to be. It is a shhame that our world is far from ideal. The only other thing though i have practically already said it, i feel Chavez looks to unite against what is a true common enemy, the US empire and George Bush, i may be wrong but i dont believe he creates false enemies like the British government and media do. I sincerely hope if Barack Obama is elected we can see real change with regards to relations. Chavez has said he had good relations with Bill Clinton but this became impossible with Bush. I only hope the US media do not make it impossible for Obama to have good relations with Venezuela.
I feel embarrassed for having to argue everything you say Comrade Joe but I feel I must. In any case I'm enjoying this post!
Nop need to be embarrased, if people cant discuss differences in opinion then the world would truly be doomed. It is always a pleasure to hear from a Venezuelan
