These leaders say they stand for us, ordinary working people whose rights have long been denied. Hopefully they'll remain true to their public declarations and won't be pressured enough to weaken in resolve by the forces of capital, especially out of Washington always looming and threatening. The only heads of state working people should fear are the oligarch types like the Bush neocons who serve the rich and powerful and have contempt for the public welfare. In the halls of power around the world, most leaders support the privileged, do far too little or nothing for the majority, and that's the burden that must be overcome."
How much chance do you give the Bolivarian Revolution of succeeding? [For the purpose of this question, success would mean that virtually all nations of South and Central America had converted to a form of social democracy along the lines of Venezuela, rejected "free trade", renegotiated their debt with the World Bank or IMF (or simply defaulted on it), severely limited or abolished transnational corporate exploitation of their people and resources, provided education and health care to their poor, and created more egalitarian societies].
"The Bolivarian Revolution or Project achieved wonders in eight years following on generations of corrupted oligarch rule by the small slice of the Venezuelan rich and another 10 - 20% of the population (called sifrinos) at the top getting enough crumbs or healthy enough servings to want to preserve the old order while not giving a damn about the poor that at one time was as much as 80% of the population, many in a desperate state. The US entered the picture around the early 1920s after oil was discovered there that even then was too attractive a lure for US interests to ignore.
Chavez changed everything for the great majority after he took office. He lowered the poverty rate from about 62% after the crippling 2002 - 03 oil strike and aborted April, 2002 two-day coup to around one-third of the population plus all the great social benefits including first class health and dental care and free education to the highest level - written into the Constitution to mandate them by law. This is something unimaginable in the US. If the public here knew what Venezuelans get and they're denied, it has to be wondered how great a level of outrage they'd be demanding the same things. Most people here don't know it because the dominant media make sure they're kept dumbed-down, distracted and uninformed about the most essential things they need to know to improve their lives.
Still in Venezuela, despite all the great advances benefiting those most in need of them, the problems facing the Chavez government are daunting. Massive corruption is endemic and the bureaucracy is stifling and entrenched - because it was that way for generations before Chavez was elected, and it will take a great many more years of determined effort and committed leadership to overcome most of it. Add to that the long shadow from Washington where the Bush administration has already tried and failed three times to oust Chavez with another attempt sure to come sometime ahead by whatever new devious scheme they'll cook up. Chavez at times must feel like a man almost alone in hostile territory, surrounded by a legion of high-level opponents, many unidentified, including some in key positions in his government. He understands the problems and must think he's infiltrated by a host of Brutuses ready to pounce on him if given a chance.
As for the Revolution spreading across Latin America, there have been baby steps only. Chavez and Castro are unique in their attention to addressing the social needs of their people, but while Castro rejects capitalism, Chavez, so far, coexists with it wanting it on the basis of fairness including the rules for foreign investors requiring them to pay an equitable amount of taxes and to be minority partners when in joint ventures with the government. Only Evo Morales is close to Chavez in commitment in South America, but James Petras points out he's disappointed his people by relenting to the entrenched interests on some things going back on his word.
Rafael Correa is still an unknown entity as he only takes office in mid-January, and it will be a while to see if his policy backs his rhetoric. The pressure on him will be intense to prevent it as is now being applied to Daniel Ortega ahead of his tenure also beginning in January. It's the same thing that happened to Lula in Brazil, Nestor Kirtchner in Argentina, and Michelle Bachelet in Chile to keep them a part of the Washington Consensus in large measure in spite all the past horrific fallout from it on their people still without redress.
Even knowing that, those leaders haven't embraced anything like Venezuela has under Chavez, but they have advanced beyond the bad old days when governments in the region only served the wealthy and powerful, ignoring the needs of their people. There have also been more enlightened policies on trade in the region with FTAA effectively dead thanks to efforts from people like Chavez promoting his "fair trade" policy of ALBA, or the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, as well as ALBA initiatives among the Mercosur Southern Common Market countries of Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. But Washington policy makers are never idle and have been able to sign countries on to mini-FTAA agreements through bilateral deals showing the struggle to be free from Global North dominance has a long way to go even in areas where advances have been made.
Chavez is gaining allies by using his nation's oil wealth to offer favorable loans to some of his neighbors freeing or reducing their burden from effective enslavement by the Washington-controlled IMF, World Bank and other international lending agencies. In sum, there are miles to go for the Latin American nations to emerge out of the dark ages of Global North dominance and exploitation led by the US and no guarantee they'll get there even in Venezuela that will always be threatened with the possibility of losing what they've already gained - as long as the US remains the imperial power in the region and corporate interests prevail."
Do you consider yourself to be a socialist, or perhaps a social democrat?
"I consider myself a social democrat bordering on believing in a modified socialist philosophy. I was a "capitalist" for 33 years with a very small "c." I believe in that kind of capitalism because it's not predatory, and it's the kind Adam Smith espoused. He hated the savage kind of his day like the monopolistic practices of the British East India Company and believed in many small, local businesses competing fairly with each other. If he were alive today he'd be railing against the neoliberal Washington Consensus model including the destructive policies under "globalization" that exploit the vulnerable multitudes as just another commodity for the interests of "big" capital."
Briefly, what are some of your thoughts on Fidel Castro and what do you think of the years of US sponsored state terrorism against Castro?
"I covered Castro briefly above. Overall, I support him for what he's done. If there were no oppressive US embargo, Cuba would be a wonderful country to live in even under one-party rule as long as you support that kind of governance, which I do. I hope Fidel recovers fully and lives 100 years or longer. The great majority of Cubans do too.
US policy against Cuba for nearly a half century has been brutal, unrelenting and, of course, illegal. It's a wonder Castro was able to survive the hundreds of US attempts to kill him including a nearly successful one when the assassin had a hidden gun in a camera, got to within a few feet of him in a clear line of unobstructed sight, and then chickened out at the last moment. That was in the 1970s if I recall. There have also been hundreds of US state terror attacks against Cuba of all sorts causing destruction, great hardship and disruption. Castro overcame all of them and achieved nothing short of a miracle. He'll be a hero to millions of Cubans for generations to come, and he should be."
What are your thoughts on the disturbing trend in the United States socioeconomic structure toward extreme economic polarization? And what do you think of the Paul Krugman article, The Great Wealth Transfer(2), which recently appeared in Rolling Stone?
"I'm appalled about the socio-economic disparities in the US that have become so extreme economist Paul Krugman calls them "unprecedented." I've written before about them in much detail and am doing it again in a year end article called A Look Back and Ahead in an Age of Neocon Rule. The state of the country is appalling and disturbing. Abroad we're fighting two wars already lost with the possibility of a third one or more. We're bankrupting the country paying for them along with the tax revenue lost from the outlandish tax cuts for the rich and corporate giants. We've also lost our civil liberties in the oppressive age of George Bush and a servile Congress and judiciary rubber-stamping his hellish agenda and now live under Sparta-like militarism including brutish "Homeland Security" enforcers empowered above the law to "keep the rabble in line", including employing illegal surveillance on everyone.
