2008 Woodie Awards
Chavez: colorful and cutting
Chavez's U.N. speech: Reflective of the general world view on U.S. foreign policy?
Bob Quellos
Issue date: 10/2/06 Section: Opinions
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The dark world of politics became a bit more colorful at last week's U.N. World Summit when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez referred to George W. Bush as "the devil." Chavez's comments prompted a slew of responses including Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) reference to Chavez as "a thug" and a xenophobic backlash by Rep. Charles Rangel's (D-NY). Rangel stated, "You don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district and criticize my president." The absurdity of Rangel's response was typical of both U.S. politicians and mainstream media outlets-all of whom failed to discuss the whole of Chavez's speech.
Chavez began his speech by referencing Noam Chomsky's book "Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States." He then launched into a complete rebuke of the Bush administration's policies which included a warning of the dangers posed by U.S. imperialism and a condemnation of Israel's recent destruction of Lebanon and Palestine. Chavez also spoke of the hypocrisy in the United States' refusal to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, an admitted terrorist wanted by Venezuela for masterminding the midair bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner 30 years ago.
The U.S. government and right-wing critics in Venezuela both refer to Chavez as a dictator and the country as undemocratic; however, nothing could be further from the truth. As Chavez stated in his speech, "The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up."
Today, there is a political process underway in Venezuela (known as 21st-century socialism) of which Chavez is a product. This process involves the masses of Venezuelans rejecting neo-liberal policies that have been responsible for decades of suffering and poverty (Venezuela's poverty rate was at 61 percent before Chavez took office). In rejecting neo-liberalism the country's working class and poor have won many victories, such as putting an end to a United States backed coup of the democratically elected Chavez and overcoming the sabotage of the oil industry forged by the country's oligarchs and bosses. Both attacks aimed to remove Chavez from office and reverse policies that funnel portions of the country's wealth from the rich to the poor.
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Chavez began his speech by referencing Noam Chomsky's book "Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States." He then launched into a complete rebuke of the Bush administration's policies which included a warning of the dangers posed by U.S. imperialism and a condemnation of Israel's recent destruction of Lebanon and Palestine. Chavez also spoke of the hypocrisy in the United States' refusal to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, an admitted terrorist wanted by Venezuela for masterminding the midair bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner 30 years ago.
The U.S. government and right-wing critics in Venezuela both refer to Chavez as a dictator and the country as undemocratic; however, nothing could be further from the truth. As Chavez stated in his speech, "The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up."
Today, there is a political process underway in Venezuela (known as 21st-century socialism) of which Chavez is a product. This process involves the masses of Venezuelans rejecting neo-liberal policies that have been responsible for decades of suffering and poverty (Venezuela's poverty rate was at 61 percent before Chavez took office). In rejecting neo-liberalism the country's working class and poor have won many victories, such as putting an end to a United States backed coup of the democratically elected Chavez and overcoming the sabotage of the oil industry forged by the country's oligarchs and bosses. Both attacks aimed to remove Chavez from office and reverse policies that funnel portions of the country's wealth from the rich to the poor.
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