Venezuala - Chavez government attacks striking steel workers

[gorski]

Right, I see your point here (I think).

It's not a matter of what Chavez does individually for me. The point is that despite his lefty rhetoric, the Chavez government isn't that different to any other left of centre government.

Not sure what you are saying... No differences between any govs?

 

[In Bloom]

Not sure what you are saying... No differences between any govs?

That's the thrust of what I'm saying. Well, not "no difference", since obviously every government is different, but they're all the same in the ways that really matter.

 

[gorski]

I disagree, if one looks in, for instance, Scandinavian direction, as opposed to, say, Brazil or so...

 

[RhymnRzn]

this article is about Venezuela isolating local concrete resources
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7329838.stm

 

[derzinky]

Chavez re-nationalises SIDOR – historic victory for the workers - article from marxist.com

"At 1.22am Venezuelan time on Wednesday, April 9th, Venezuelan vice-president Ramon Carrizales announced the decision of president Chávez to renationalise the giant steel plant SIDOR located in the southern state of Bolivar. The decision was taken as the Argentinean-Italian multinational group Techint (the majority shareholder of SIDOR) refused to make concessions to the workers in the collective bargaining agreement."

Hurrah!

 

[gorski]

Aha! Now, let's see....

 

[Random]

It's not a matter of what Chavez does individually for me. The point is that despite his lefty rhetoric, the Chavez government isn't that different to any other left of centre government.

Yes, but if this attack was carried out by a non-Bolivarian local governor, or happened in the context of a violent protest by a right wing union or industry leadership trying to hang on to their power then I'd say it invalidates this story as a criticism of Chavez's reforms.

It might all be true, but I'd like to hear an angle that's not from the loonspud ICC.

 

[Fez909]

While Chavez has done some worthwhile things and possibly has good intentions, the leftists in the UK who have been offering him unqualified support (I see he gets a mention in the Left List manifesto) are idiots. His authoritarian tendencies have been obvious for a long time and it's always been just a matter of time before he abused his authority in some indefensible way.

And that's true even if the above story turns out to be bollocks.

Can you explain this last point please? If this story turned out to be bollocks, in what way have Chavez's authoritarian tenancies been obvious?

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Yes, but if this attack was carried out by a non-Bolivarian local governor, or happened in the context of a violent protest by a right wing union or industry leadership trying to hang on to their power then I'd say it invalidates this story as a criticism of Chavez's reforms.

It might all be true, but I'd like to hear an angle that's not from the loonspud ICC.

Derzinky's link would be a good starting point.

 

[Fruitloop]

Whilst I'm not even within whistling distance of uncritical support for Chavez, I do feel that a non-Borg source for that story would be useful.

 

[Random]

Derzinky's link would be a good starting point.

The link says that the attack happened, but not authorised by Chavez, rather one of the scenarios I outlined above seems to have happened.

'The workers denounced the fact that the local commander of the National Guard was in close contact with the company management and basically was acting on their orders.'

 

[gorski]

Not unheard of, in world terms, and in particular Latin American terms.

There is a book re. the direct connections of Argentinian etc. juntas/military backed regimes and monetarism/imperialism, clearly stating this kind of thing on many examples. The generals knew exactly who they were backing, how and why. No doubt about that whatsoever! From their own public statements and speeches. The quantity of lives in the way of their little utopia was never taken into account.

 

[cockneyrebel]

Various reports here:

Solidarity with the workers of SIDOR!

http://www.permanentrevolution.net/?view=entry&entry=2033

Impressions of a socialist batallion meeting of the PSUV

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) claimed six million members when it was launched by President Chavez. But less than one million have ever attended a party meeting and six months later about 100,000 are active. Wladek Flakin attended a local party meeting last weekend in Caracas and reports on what he found.

http://www.permanentrevolution.net/?view=entry&entry=2030

SIDOR's steel workers fight owners and Chavez police

For the last 15 months the steel workers at the SIDOR plant in Venezuela have been in struggle against the firm's owners. Now, after a series of strikes this year, they find themselves increasingly up against the Chavez government. Wladek Flakin reports from Ciudad Guyana in Venezuela on the growing solidarity behind SIDOR workers

http://www.permanentrevolution.net/?view=entry&entry=2024

 

[Terry Tibbs]

More good news, the class traitor Minister for Labor José Ramón Rivero has been given the boot:

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3363

National coordinator of the UNT and leader of the Socialist Tide union current, Stalin Pérez Borges, who had earlier called for Rivero to resign, said, “Like the absolute majority of Venezuelan workers, Socialist Tide cannot hide that we receive the news of the exit of Labor Minister José Ramón Rivero with great happiness.”

“This is a new triumph of the workers; now we are going to campaign for the unity of the UNT and the revolutionary union movement. This demonstrates that President Chavez listens to the demands of the workers and the people,” the union leader added.

Marcos García, a coordinator of public sector union FENTRASEP said “The workers movement, with the triumph of the SIDOR workers and the people of Guayana, who achieved the nationalization of the principal steel producer in Latin America, has produced a change throughout the country.”

“This triumph has helped so that a policy of deepening the process can be developed, so we can attack old problems and resolve the necessities of working people. Now, finally, an emblematic company has returned to the hands of the Venezuelan people.”

 

[gorski]

Serious stuff, that democracy...

- two conceptions of democracy

- American Foreign Policy in Latin America

- What is globalization

- What is WTO, in 3 parts

- Libertarian Socialism: Contradicting terms? (Chomsky's "roots")

This is funny, in 4 parts, start with part 2, it'll be OK:

 

[Alfredo]

Idris 2002 opined:

"However, I notice at the bottom that it appears to be a product of the International Communist Current, who as far as I know are quite, quite mad".

Are we quite, quite mad because we think that the state in Venezuela remains a bourgeois state, despite all its revolutionary rhetoric? And that therefore Chavez, as a bourgeois statesman despite all his revolutionary rhetoric, has no choice but to attack the living standards of the working class and repress its efforts to defend them?

Certainly, in Venezuela, our comrades are called worse than mad for insisting on this essential truth: "CIA agents", in particular, which in a country like Venezuela carries rather more menace than a few trite insults on a bulletin board.

 

[Alfredo]

PS People can judge for themselves whether we are mad, quite mad, or quite quite mad by looking at our website www.internationalism.org