I am now blogging every week for The Guardian's new Global Development website which you can find here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development
Come and join the debate...
Jonathan
Come and join the debate...
Jonathan
posted by Anonymous @ 12:42
4 Comments:
Hi, Jonathan. Thanks for writing that article.
I know discourse on Venezuela is highly subjective, extremely emotional and very divisive. I am a Venezuelan and I know how Chavismo has divided families in a similar way as Franquismo did and that without any civil war.
I really do not think one is "clueless" for being a foreigner. What I do think is that it is not enough to have delved into a pile of academic papers selectively and then visit the country for some months. If the country has gone through huge changes for one reason or the other, one needs to investigate the big picture of why the country was in that state before. To do that one must understand its economy through and through as well as its history as told by different factors.
One also needs to understand how the country has evolved compared to other countries in the region - back then and now. Was that so special? Was there a different trend?
That's a lot to study but it is necessary. I think loads of foreigners fail to do so.
Lastly:
I know Spanish and Portuguese America have common patterns. I know one can get a book about "social and economic change in Latin America" and go around and identify how many of the issues get repeated time after time. We have a lot of similarities: from the language and religion(s) to social injustice topics like land possession to attitudes from the bourgeoisie, an elitism that leaves Marie Antoinette as a social revolutionary and so on. Still: there are important factors one needs to
tackle differently if one wants to understand one or the other country.
One of my main concerns is that Chávez, who has won democratically a lot of elections, is not going to relinquish power voluntarily.
He does it as long as needed because that is the way to go now.
I don't want a lower standard for Venezuela just because it is a country where bananas grow magnificently. I want the government to use state resources as it does in your country or in Norway. I don't expect less and we are getting far less.
A lot of the latest laws being approved are anything but democratic, including that one about the ley antitalanquera at the National Assembly.
Regarding the media: as I said, there is a lot of misunderstanding there. A lot has happened since 2006. A particular problem is that lots of people - both Venezuelans and foreigners - do not understand what really the term "rural" means in Venezuela. Chávez does.
Venezuela is highly urbanized, that we all know. Still, "urban" does not mean the three main cities only. As I said and I can prove it through official data, 70% of the population lives in cities that have between 100 thousand and 1 million inhabitants. Try to find in a normal home without cable or Internet some critical media about Chávez there. And I know: Globovision, just as VTV, sucks big time. I can't watch Globo more than 1 minute without wanting to puke. It is a good Potemkin village for the government, though.
There are lots of issues about Venezuela and I have talked very broadly - too much- about a lot. If you ever have a question about one very specific topic, let me know.
Congrats Jonny - Glad to see you're doing so well. Looks like you've been doing some interesting stuff too! Nice Guardian piece btw. J
Jonathan,
Your "comments" on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela reveal your ignorance AND you stupidity as to what actually happens in Venezuela regarding freedom of the press. You seem to spread a blanket of sorts over what YOU deem is acceptable as free speech, but if one isn't a socialist/communist/piece of shit (yes, just like you!), then one can just tell Alvaro Uribe, one of the best champions of human freedoms (oh, wait - are you a FARC sympathizer? Oh, yes, you are...asshole)that he's a human rights abuser. I'm sorry, but have you actually looked into/researched your thugocomandante's human rights violations? No, I didn't think you had. Idiot...
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