George Orwell, Snitch by Alexander Cockburn

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

George Orwell, Snitch by Alexander Cockburn GeorGe orwell, Snitch by AlexAnder cockburn VenezuelA And the weAponizAtion of uS Aid by tJ coleS how the uAw AbAndoned workerS by thomas AdAmS the collApSe of hondurAS by LaurA cArlSen the lonG War AGAinSt el Paso And JuArez by kent PaterSon the War on foiA And trAnSpArency by Andrew SmolSki TELLS THE FACTS AND NAMES THE NAMES · VOLUME 26 NUMBER 4 · 2019 AND NAMES THE · VOLUME THE FACTS TELLS Contact Information Subscriptions CounterPunch Business Office A one year subscription consists of www.counterpunch.org PO Box 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 6 bi-monthly issues. CounterPunch Magazine, Volume 26, 1 (707) 629-3683 1-year print/digital edition $45 (ISSN 1086-2323) is a journal of progres- editorial: 1-year digital edition (PDF) $25 sive politics, investigative reporting, civil [email protected] 1-year institutions/supporters $100 liberties, art, and culture published by The business: [email protected] 1-year print/digital for student/low Institute for the Advancment of Journalis- subscriptions and merchandise: income $40 tic Clarity, Petrolia, California, 95558.Visit [email protected] 1-year digital for student/low income $20 counterpunch.org to read dozens of new articles daily, purchase subscriptions, or- All subscription orders must be prepaid— der books and access 18 years of archives. Submissions we do not invoice for orders. Renew by CounterPunch accepts a small number of telephone, mail, or on our website. For Periodicals postage pending mailed orders please include name, ad- at Eureka, California. submissions from accomplished authors and newer writers. Please send your pitch dress and email address with payment, or POSTMASTER send address changes to: to [email protected]. Due call 1 (800) 840-3683 or 1 (707) 629-3683. CounterPunch to the large volume of submissions we re- Add $25.00 per year for subscriptions P.O. Box 228 ceive we are able to respond to only those mailed to Canada and $45 per year for all Petrolia, CA 95558 that interest us. other countries outside the US. ISSN 1086-2323 (print) Advertising Please do not send checks or money ISSN 2328-4331 (digital) orders in currency other than US dollars. www.counterpunch.org Advertising space is available in Counter- We DO accept debit cards and credit cards All rights reserved. Punch Magazine. Media kit available upon from banks outside the US that have the editor-in-chief request. All advertisements are subject Visa, Mastercard or other major card Jeffrey St. Clair to the publisher’s approval of copy, text, insignias. display, and illustration. CounterPunch MANAGING EDITOR Make checks or Joshua Frank reserves the right to reject or cancel any money orders payable to: advertisement at any time. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS CounterPunch Lee Ballinger, Melissa Beattie, Darwin email [email protected] Business Office PO Box 228 Bond-Graham, Chloe Cockburn, Windy Address Change Cooler, Chris Floyd, Kevin Alexander Petrolia, CA 95558 Please notify us immediately of email and/ Gray, Steve Horn, Lee Hall, Conn Hallinan, Letters to the Editor Barbara Rose Johnson, Binoy Kampmark, or mailing address changes for uninter- JoAnn Wypijewski, David Macaray, Chase rupted delivery of your magazine. Send letters to the editors by mail to: Madar, Kim Nicolini, Brenda Norrell, By Mail: CounterPunch Vijay Prashad, Louis Proyect, Martha CounterPunch Business Office PO Box 228 Rosenberg, Christine Sheeler, Jan Tucker, PO Box 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 Petrolia, CA 95558 Mike Whitney by Phone: or preferably by email to: SOCIaL MEDIA EDITOR 1 (707) 629-3683 [email protected] Nathaniel St. Clair By Email (preferred): administrative director & [email protected] Cover Image DESIGN PRODUCTION “Burnt Lungs” by Nick Roney Becky Grant Donations Illustrations by Nathaniel St. Clair ecommerce specialist & CounterPunch’s survival is dependent upon income from subscriptions, dona- administrative assistant Subscriber Password: burntlungs tions and book and merchandise sales. We Deva Wheeler Use this password to access the subscriber are a non-profit, tax exempt organization only archive at https://store.counterpunch. Subscription & order fulfillment under The Institute for the Advancement org/back-issues-subscriber-access/ Nichole Stephens of Journalistic Clarity, DBA Counter- DESIGN CONSULTATION Punch. Donations are welcome year round. Tiffany Wardle Donate by mail, telephone or online: www.counterpunch.org. If you would like to include IAJC in your will or make a bequest, please contact Becky Grant in the In Memory of business office. Alexander Cockburn 1941–2012 table of contents V olume 26 number 4 · 2019 letters to the editor . 5 columns Roaming Charges .......... 6 borderzone notes Eat an Impeachment The Collapse of Honduras By Jeffrey St. Clair Every president should By Laura Carlsen . 10 be impeached. eurozone notes Empire Burlesque ......... .7 Blond Beasts Ride the What Brexit Shows Whirlwind By Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark . 12 By Chris Floyd Rotten leaders in a rotten system. articles Bottomlines ............... 8 How the UAW Abandoned the Working Class Political Independence Does Not Equal Economic By Thomas Adams . 14 Independence Venezuela and the Weaponization of U .S . Aid By Pete Dolack Brexit, the EU and Scottish By T.J. Coles . 16 independence. The Long War Against El Paso Hook, Line and Sinker ..... 9 and Ciudad Juarez The Cult of Neo-Liberalism By Kent Paterson . 19 By Jennifer Matsui Killer capitalism goes on Marianne Williamson’s All American Grace a global rampage. By Ron Jacobs . 22 The Future of Sustainable Development culture By Christopher Ketcham . 25 & reviews George Orwell As Snitch FOIA and Waiting on Transparency By Alexander Cockburn ... 33 By Andrew Smolski . 26 A Body in Fukushima By Lucy Schiller ........... 35 Your InformatIon check applIcable Name renewal gift Address new subscriber City State Zip 1 Year, Print/Digital $50 Country Outside US? See additional postage fee below. 1 Year, Digital $25 Phone 1 Year, Gift Email address Print/Digital $45 1 Year, Either Bill my credit card Supporter Sub $100 Signature Extra Donation Expiration date Total Enclosed In addition to gift subscriptions, this form can be used for your own renewals and donations. Mail check, money order, or credit card info to: CounterPunch P.O. Box 228 Petrolia, CA 95558. All re- students, senIors, & low newals outside the U.S. please add shipping: add $25.00 per year for postage for Canada and Mexico; Income: Take off $5 for any type of subscription. This designation all other countries outside the US add $45.00 per year. No checks from banks outside the US. The is self determined. information you submit is confidential and is never shared or sold. fIrst unsuspectIng frIend second unsuspectIng frIend Name Name Address Address City City State Zip State Zip Country Country Phone Phone Email Email Outside US? See additional postage fee above. Outside US? See additional postage fee above. Subscribe by phone, mail or online: P.O. Box 228 Petrolia, CA 95558 1(707) 629-3683 store.counterpunch.org/product/gift-subscription/ letters to the editor Democratic Ideals encountered the latter the next Velvet Underground, Sally do not realize that Don is a don Obama had two monumental morning he shared that after I Kirkland and Dennis Hopper, (and act accordingly) will be opportunities to make the left the table one of the former among many others. Perhaps ousted. world better: 1) prosecute the had whispered “I think that because he could identify with Vladimir Stupar Bush / Cheney War Gang, and fellow is a communist.” them, Andy embraced the Blood Sport 2) hold legally accountable I’ll miss the real food but I artistic rebels and outcasts of the ruling bankster class that had already decided that on my the time as few others did. I remember asking a Spanish nearly destroyed the world’s next trip I’d just have the food Harvey Pleshaw Civil War historian if the economy leading up to 2007- brought to my roomette. Life’s Nationalist elite really did hunt Why Vote 2008. too short and the midwest is peasants for sport—surely that He not only refused to too wide. As a child growing up in the had to be Republican propa- uphold the oath of his office by Jim Flanagan midwest we had zero blacks ganda? But no the evil bastards allowing both criminal factions and mucho seasonal migrant really did do that, just as Train Neglect to escape the law, but he also Mexicans with their own Trump absolutely would feed a set an incredibly dangerous Amtrak has been neglected for movie theatre in a town of 5 child to a large reptile. precedent that would further decades. Running on the worst thousand people so it seems to Corey Pein rail system in the developed me this shit is never-ending so the ambitions of those who Common Nonsense for so long have proclaimed world because we have been why does anyone still bother Nancy Pelosi quoting Thomas the sanctity of the supreme brainwashed into worship- to vote in Hoopeston. With a Paine, as she did in her press executive ping car/drive-thru/big-box- population of 5,000 back in retailing culture/exurb living the fifties and after all these conference about Trump’s Jerry Steele resulting into the genetically years I’m an old man and the crimes, should itself be Child Preachers modified humans we are now. population has not changed grounds for impeachment… Child preachers, like Greta Tony Wilson in that little hell hole 80 miles hers! Thuneberg, are nothing new. south of Chicago. My kids and Russ Smith Shifting Powers I live in Richmond Va. with You see them among hillbilly Anti-Trump Celebrities churches fervently rebuking Patrick Cockburn really nailed no real future in sight but still Trump and his enablers have people and promising fire and it about the relationship be- the thought of being stuck caused devastating harm.
Recommended publications
  • Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
    individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.Venezuela in the Gray Zone: from Feckless Pluralism to Dominant
    Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Sistema de Información Científica Myers, David J.; McCoy, Jennifer L. Venezuela in the gray zone: From feckless pluralism to dominant power system Politeia, núm. 30, enero-junio, 2003, pp. 41-74 Universidad Central de Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=170033588002 Politeia, ISSN (Printed Version): 0303-9757 [email protected] Universidad Central de Venezuela Venezuela How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage www.redalyc.org Non-Profit Academic Project, developed under the Open Acces Initiative 41 REVISTA POLITEIAVENEZUELA, N° 30. INSTITUTO IN THE DE GRAY ESTUDIOS ZONE: POLÍTICOS FROM, FECKLESSUNIVERSIDAD PLURALISM CENTRAL DE TO VENEZUELA DOMINANT, 2003:41-74 POWER SYSTEM 30 Politeia Venezuela in the gray zone: From feckless pluralism to dominant power system Venezuela en la zona gris: desde el pluralismo ineficaz hacia el sistema de poder dominante David J. Myers / Jennifer L. McCoy Abstract Resumen This paper emphasizes the need to measure the El presente texto resalta la necesidad de medir las varying qualities of democracy. It delineates subtypes diversas cualidades de la democracia. En este senti- of political regimes that occupy a “gray zone” between do, delinea los diferentes tipos de regímenes políti- dictatorship and democracy, and examines the cos que se encuentran en la denominada “zona gris” possibilities for political change in the “gray zone”. entre la dictadura y la democracia. Asimismo exami- The authors address two sets of questions about na las posibilidades de cambio dentro de dicha zona political change: a) What causes a limitedly pluralist gris.
    [Show full text]
  • Why America Needs a Second Party by Harold Meyerson INSIDE DEMOCRATIC LEFT Dsaction
    PUBLISHED BY THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA Why America Needs A Second Party By Harold Meyerson INSIDE DEMOCRATIC LEFT DSAction ... 11 Why We Need a Second Party Jimmy Higgins Reports ... 16 by Harold Meyerson ... 3 Turning Rage Into Action: Daring To Be Ambitious: New York City DSA Commentary on the Clarence Thomas Hearings Organizes to Elect a Progressive City Council by Suzanne Crowell ... 13 by Miriam Bensman ... 6 Book Review: Guy Molyneux reviews E.J. Dionne's Why Americans Hate Politics ... 14 On TheLefJ Canadian Health Care Speakers Tour Report ... 8 Cover photo by Robert Fox/Impact Visuals EDITORIAL West European social democracies. In bachev is correct to want those "inter­ SOVI ET the Soviet Union, he'd like to see similar esting results" in democracy, economic welfare state guarantees, active labor development, and human rights that market policies, and government in- are inspired by the socialist idea. In tervention in the economy for both this respect, he's in tune with the DREAMER growth and equity. In his heart of citizens of his country since polls con­ hearts, Gorby wants his country to sistently show widespread support by Joanne Barkan look like Sweden in good times. among them for welfare state guaran- Dream on -- James Baker would tees. If George Bush would stop ex­ The coup in the Soviet Union fails. certainly respond. And democratic so- porting his models of misery, what's The train of history is back on the cialists everywhere would have to admit worked best for the West Europeans reform track -- for the moment. Re­ that the economic resources and insti- might -- with time and aid -- work for publics of the former empire declare tutional mechanisms just don't exist the East.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Politics and Social Polarisation in Venezuela 1998-2004
    1 Working Paper no.76 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ANTI- POLITICS AND SOCIAL POLARISATION IN VENEZUELA, 1998-2004 Jonathan DiJohn Crisis States Research Centre December 2005 Copyright © Jonathan DiJohn, 2005 Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published in this Working Paper, the Crisis States Research Centre and LSE accept no responsibility for the veracity of claims or accuracy of information provided by contributors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher nor be issued to the public or circulated in any form other than that in which it is published. Requests for permission to reproduce this Working Paper, of any part thereof, should be sent to: The Editor, Crisis States Research Centre, DESTIN, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Crisis States Research Centre The Political Economy of Anti-Politics and Social Polarisation in Venezuela 1998-2004 Jonathan DiJohn Crisis States Research Centre In the past twenty years, there has been a sharp decline in party politics and the rise of what can best be described as a new form of populist politics. Nowhere has this trend been more evident than in Latin America in the 1990s, particularly in the Andean region.1 One common theme in this trend is the rise of leaders who denounce politics by attacking political parties as the source of corruption, social exclusion and poor economic management of the
    [Show full text]
  • Cuba and Alba's Grannacional Projects at the Intersection of Business
    GLOBALIZATION AND THE SOCIALIST MULTINATIONAL: CUBA AND ALBA’S GRANNACIONAL PROJECTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Larry Catá Backer The Cuban Embargo has had a tremendous effect on forts. Most of these have used the United States, and the way in which Cuba is understood in the global le- its socio-political, economic, cultural and ideological gal order. The understanding has vitally affected the values as the great foil against which to battle. Over way in which Cuba is situated for study both within the course of the last half century, these efforts have and outside the Island. This “Embargo mentality” had mixed results. But they have had one singular has spawned an ideology of presumptive separation success—they have propelled Cuba to a level of in- that, colored either from the political “left” or fluence on the world stage far beyond what its size, “right,” presumes isolation as the equilibrium point military and economic power might have suggested. for any sort of Cuban engagement. Indeed, this “Em- Like the United States, Cuba has managed to use in- bargo mentality” has suggested that isolation and ternationalism, and especially strategically deployed lack of sustained engagement is the starting point for engagements in inter-governmental ventures, to le- any study of Cuba. Yet it is important to remember verage its influence and the strength of its attempted that the Embargo has affected only the character of interventions in each of these fields. (e.g., Huish & Cuba’s engagement rather than the possibility of that Kirk 2007). For this reason, if for no other, any great engagement as a sustained matter of policy and ac- effort by Cuba to influence behavior is worth careful tion.
    [Show full text]
  • Partisanship During the Collapse Venezuela's Party System
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Political Science Publications and Other Works Political Science February 2007 Partisanship During the Collapse Venezuela's Party System Jana Morgan University of Tennessee, Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_polipubs Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Morgan, Jana, "Partisanship During the Collapse Venezuela's Party System" (2007). Political Science Publications and Other Works. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_polipubs/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Publications and Other Works by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Partisanship during the C ollapse of V enezuela’ S Part y S y stem * Jana Morgan University of Tennessee Received: 9-29-2004; Revise and Resubmit 12-20-2004; Revised Received 12-20-2005; Final Acceptance 4-03-2006 Abstract: Political parties are crucial for democratic politics; thus, the growing incidence of party and party system failure raises questions about the health of representative democracy the world over. This article examines the collapse of the Venezuelan party system, arguably one of the most institutionalized party systems in Latin America, by examining the individual-level basis behind the exodus of partisans from the traditional parties. Multinomial logit analysis of partisan identification in 1998, the pivotal moment of the system’s complete col- lapse, indicates that people left the old system and began to support new parties because the traditional parties failed to incorporate and give voice to important ideas and interests in society while viable alternatives emerged to fill this void in representation.
    [Show full text]
  • UNDERSTANDING POWER the INDISPENSABLE CHOMSKY Edited by Peter R
    THE FOOTNOTES FOR: UNDERSTANDING POWER THE INDISPENSABLE CHOMSKY Edited by Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel. Preface 1. For George Bush's statement, see "Bush's Remarks to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks," New York Times, September 12, 2001, p. A4. For the quoted analysis from the New York Times's first "Week in Review" section following the September 11th attacks, see Serge Schmemann, "War Zone: What Would ‘Victory’ Mean?," New York Times, September 16, 2001, section 4, p. 1. Understanding Power: Preface Footnote Chapter One Weekend Teach-In: Opening Session 1. On Kennedy's fraudulent "missile gap" and major escalation of the arms race, see for example, Fred Kaplan, Wizards of Armageddon, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983, chs. 16, 19 and 20; Desmond Ball, Politics and Force Levels: The Strategic Missile Program of the Kennedy Administration, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980, ch. 2. On Reagan's fraudulent "window of vulnerability" and "military spending gap" and the massive military buildup during his first administration, see for example, Jeff McMahan, Reagan and the World: Imperial Policy in the New Cold War, New York: Monthly Review, 1985, chs. 2 and 3; Franklyn Holzman, "Politics and Guesswork: C.I.A. and D.I.A. estimates of Soviet Military Spending," International Security, Fall 1989, pp. 101-131; Franklyn Holzman, "The C.I.A.'s Military Spending Estimates: Deceit and Its Costs," Challenge, May/June 1992, pp. 28-39; Report of the President's Commission on Strategic Forces, Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, April 1983, especially pp. 7-8, 17, and Brent Scowcroft, "Final Report of the President's Commission on Strategic Forces," Atlantic Community Quarterly, Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Mobilizing for Mumia Abu-Jamal in Paris
    Essays Mobilizing for Mumia Abu-Jamal in Paris Kathleen Neal Cleaver* I. RETURNING TO THE CITY OF LIGHT The strike halted all railways, subways, and buses. Bumper-to- bumper traffic flooded the narrow streets of Paris, and walking became the fastest way to travel. The grey beauty of the Seine felt soothing that December morning as I walked by the river looking for number 19 Quai Bourbon, the law office of Roland Dumas. It was only Friday, but so much had happened that week, my head was spinning. It felt like the time I first met Dumas, back in the seventies. Eldridge Cleaver and I, among hundreds of other revolutionaries, lived clandestinely in Paris then, and Dumas was our lawyer. A deputy in the French Assembly at the time, he petitioned the government to legalize Eldridge's presence when he was a fugitive Black Panther leader facing imprisonment in the United States. * Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. This Essay was enhanced by my excellent research assistant, Maud Maron, Cardozo School of Law Class of 1998. Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, Vol. 10, Iss. 2 [1998], Art. 2 Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities [Vol. 10: 327 Cities were still going up in flames after Martin Luther King's assassination that night Eldridge was arrested with eight other Panthers following a gun battle with the Oakland Police in 1968. Once his parole was revoked it looked as though he would spend his next four years in prison regardless of how the shoot-out trial ended.
    [Show full text]
  • Chavismo, Media, and Public Opinion in Argentina's Domestic Politics
    REVISTA DE CIENCIA POLÍTICA / VOLUMEN 37 / N° 1 / 2017 / 147-175 HUGO CHAVEZ’S POLARIZING LEGACY: CHAVISMO, MEDIA, AND PUBLIC OPINION IN ARGENTINA’S DOMESTIC POLITICS*1 El legado polarizador de Hugo Chávez: chavismo, medios y opinión pública en la política interna Argentina IÑAKI SAGARZAZU Texas Tech University FERNANDO MOURON King’s College London - Universidade de São Paulo ABSTRACT Since Hugo Chávez Frias assumed the Venezuelan presidency in 1999, Venezue- la has strengthened ties with most of its Latin American neighbors, particularly those where sympathetic leftist administrations also managed to assume power, including Argentina. With our analysis we show: 1) that Argentine media, divided between pro- and anti-government positions, presents a polarized view of chavismo; and 2) that Argentine public opinion regarding Chávez is not necessarily divided on the basis of ideological affiliations (left-right), but rather by the rejection or sup- port of the former Argentine government. With these findings, we argue that in such a polarized information environment, chavismo is a polarizing issue and a tool that can be exploited in the domestic realm. Key words: chavismo, Venezuela, Argentina, media, public opinion RESUMEN Desde la asunción de Hugo Chávez Frias a la presidencia en 1999, Venezuela estrechó vín- culos con la mayoría de los países latinoamericanos, particularmente con aquellos donde también arribaron al poder administraciones con orientaciones de izquierda, incluyendo Argentina. Con este análisis demostramos que: 1) los medios argentinos, divididos en un clivaje gobierno-oposición, presentan una visión polarizada repecto al chavismo; 2) que la opinión pública argentina respecto a Chávez no está necesariamente dividida en base a afi- liaciones ideológicas (izquierda-derecha), sino por rechazo o apoyo al gobierno Kirchnerista.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effects of Economic Reform on Intra-Party Politics in Venezuela
    Patronage Games: The Effects of Economic Reform on Intra-Party Politics in Venezuela Allyson Lucinda Benton University of California, Los Angeles Department of Political Science University of California, Los Angeles Box 951472 Los Angeles, California 90095-1472 [email protected] Prepared for delivery at the 1997 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Continental Plaza Hotel, Guadalajara, Mexico, April 17-19, 1997. Introduction In December 1988 Acción Democrática's (AD) Carlos Andrés Pérez easily won the Venezuelan presidency, leading his closest rival by 12 percent. Pérez’s easy victory was largely due to memories of his first term in office (1974-79) when unprecedented oil income and easily accessible foreign loans enabled state-financed industrial growth, financial stability, and large-scale industrial and social development projects. Rather than returning the country to state-led economic growth akin to the 1970s, Pérez launched a series of reforms meant to correct macro-economic and structural distortions caused by years of state intervention in the economy. These reforms, however, were drastically different from those anticipated by a population and its politicians accustomed as much to years of state-led development as to the interventionist legacies of both Pérez and his AD party. The difficulty of initiating economic reform in such a context became apparent when, just three weeks after his inauguration, Pérez faced the most violent riots in decades, triggered by an increase in bus fares. During Pérez’s term, opposition continued in the form of strikes, demonstrations and criticism from ordinary citizens, factions in the military, the opposition party Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente (COPEI), and his own AD party.
    [Show full text]
  • Útmutató a Diplomadolgozat Készítéséhez
    Betti Kata Csiba Venezuela then and now: How did the Chavezian era change the Latin-American country’s economy? Thesis Fall 2015 School of Business and Culture Double Degree in International Business SEINÄJOKI UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES Thesis Abstract Faculty: School of Business and Culture Degree programme: Double Degree in International Business Author/s: Betti Kata Csiba Title of thesis: Venezuela then and now: How did the Chavezian era change the Latin- American country’s economy? Supervisor/s: Miia Koski, Dr. Balázs István Tóth Year: 2015 Pages: 78 Number of appendices: 0 Venezuela has gained considerable attention in the past few years, especially since the demonstrations of early 2014. The study holds relevance for European countries that are experiencing a political shift away from traditional central forces as it points out the issues Venezuela experienced that could be sidestepped. The aim of this work is to determine the extent to which Hugo Chávez’ economic, social and political legacy is responsible for the current struggle of the country. The main ques- tion still remains whether the poverty reduction policies were successful and the thesis aims to find an answer to the above mentioned assumption. Most previous works focus on only a restricted topic such as the social policies of the Chávez-government – this work, however, attempts to provide readers with a chronologi- cal description of Venezuela’s past and present and outline the possibilities in the future. The author is convinced that only by knowing previous events is it possible to understand the ex-colonel’s popularity which explains his long-lasting controversial governance.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.HUGO CHAVEZ's POLARIZING LEGACY: CHAVISMO
    Revista de Ciencia Política ISSN: 0716-1417 [email protected] Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Chile SAGARZAZU, IÑAKI; MOURON, FERNANDO HUGO CHAVEZ’S POLARIZING LEGACY: CHAVISMO, MEDIA, AND PUBLIC OPINION IN ARGENTINA’S DOMESTIC POLITICS Revista de Ciencia Política, vol. 37, núm. 1, 2017, pp. 147-175 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=32451051007 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative REVISTA DE CIENCIA POLÍTICA / VOLUMEN 37 / N° 1 / 2017 / 147-175 HUGO C HAVEZ ’S POLARIZING LEGA CY: CHAVISMO , MEDIA , AND PUBLI C OPINION IN ARGENTINA ’S DOMESTI C POLITI CS*1 El legado polarizador de Hugo Ch ávez: chavismo, medios y opinión pública en la política interna Argentina IÑAKI SAGARZAZU Texas Tech University FERNANDO MOURON King’s College London - Universidade de São Paulo ABSTRACT Since Hugo Chávez Frias assumed the Venezuelan presidency in 1999, Venezue - la has strengthened ties with most of its Latin American neighbors, particularly those where sympathetic leftist administrations also managed to assume power, including Argentina. With our analysis we show: 1) that Argentine media, divided between pro- and anti-government positions, presents a polarized view of chavismo ; and 2) that Argentine public opinion regarding Chávez is not necessarily divided on the basis of ideological afliations (left-right), but rather by the rejection or sup - port of the former Argentine government.
    [Show full text]