Friday December 11, 2009, 12:17 pm

venezuelanalysis.com

I found it EXTREMELY INTERESTING to go around from article to article on this site, reading randomly as a title interested me!
Thank you, Simon, for this!

There is SO MUCH hopeful going on in Venezuela, it is a BRIGHT SPOT and a pleasure to read!
And I mean, a LOT! How fortunate to be a Venezuelan Citizen these days!

{Unless you're from the wealthy Oligarchy -- I hope they come to realize the MORALITY and ETHICS of what is happening, and GIVE UP their archaic medieval attitudes of "entitlement" to all the country's wealth, and to hell with everyone else!}

Friday December 11, 2009, 4:44 pm
South America has been a boiling kettle for a long time. With big northern neighbor overengaged in Asia, some steam may vent.
Lots of good news from Latinos. :-)

Friday December 11, 2009, 8:01 pm
Jelica, the people of Latin America were able to make the Cuban Revolution, and continue socialism in Cuba since 1959 until now, even though the USA has continually tried to oppress the people of Cuba with capitalism again.

In previous decades, the USA has often focussed on Latin America. But Cuba has continued as socialist. Where the USA has focussed its attention does not determine whether socialism will succeed or not. The determining factor is what the people of Latin America have done!!!

Most of the people of Latin America simply won't accept U.S. dictatorships or U.S. troops anymore!

Friday December 11, 2009, 8:16 pm
I have to slightly disagree on "Where the USA has focussed its attention does not determine whether socialism will succeed or not."

Salvador Allende?

Friday December 11, 2009, 8:52 pm
Jelica, one example does not prove what you claim.

Yes, the USA supported a coup in Chile on September 11th, 1973 against the democratically-elected socialist government of Salvador Allende,and that coup succeeded.

However, when the USA tried to overthrow Fidel Castro with the Bay of Pigs invasion in the early 1960s, and by the decades of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, and the U.S.-supported anti-socialist terrorit actions against the people of Cuba, and the economic blockade (that continues today), the USA FAILED!

And the USA supported a coup in Venezuela on April 11th, 2002, against the democratically-elected socialist government of Hugo Chavez, and that coup FAILED!!!

Thus, I have proven my claim: that the determining factor is not what the USA focuses on.The determining factor is what the peopleof Latin America do. In the case of Cuba and Venezuela, they were politically conscious enough, and committed enough, to maintain their revolutions.

The most empowering lesson we can take from history is to learn what WE can do to succeed - not to treat outside circumstances as the controllers of our destinies.

My old school motto summarised it well:

faber est suae quisquae fortunae

It means: we are the makers of our own destinies!

Friday December 11, 2009, 9:31 pm
I still slightly disagree :-)
USA scores here and losses there. In the long run, people will get what they want. When their will is stronger than outside circumstances.
Now, before mentioned outside circumstances are weakened with a lack of "instructors", so inside forces have easier job to do.

Saturday December 12, 2009, 12:28 am
You might disagree with what I wrote, Jelica, but the evidence shows that I am correct:

first of all the USA has always opposed socialism in Latin America. And the USA has always been involved in wars.

When the people of Latin America have not been committed, they have been kept under capitalist oppression, but when they stayed committed, they have made successful revolutions. And this has happened whatever else the USA was doing.

Perhaps you did not understand my explanation above.

The coup success in Chile was easy to predict. The people were not so supportive of the revolution (less people were socialist, less people were politically active, and there had been less political organisation over previous decades, compared with Venezuela), and perhaps most importantly, the guns were in the hands of fascists - the military was mostly fascist and the government did not arm the people.

In Venezuela, on the other hand, many soldiers were leftwing, because they were from poor families and were class-conscious, and there had been socialists and other leftwingers doing plenty of organising in Venezuela for decades, including in the military.

So, when there was a U.S.-supported coup (by Venezuelan soldiers who had been trained by the USA), hundreds of thousands of people came down out of the barrios (poor areas), and they joined with the committed leftwing soldiers, and they ended the coup in less than 48 hours!!!

And then, when there was a boss's lockout in Venezuela in 2002-2003, the people took over the businesses - especially the oil business, and made the businesses run again.

And Venezuela's revolution had learnt from the Chilean coup. Chavez had encouraged leftwing politics in the military from the start of his campaigning (when he was a soldier) in the 1980s, and he knew of the importance of support from the military when he became president. And Chavez had also encouraged the development of grass roots activism - Imean he allied with the grass roots activists during his electoral campaign, and then he continued that alliance after his election, working in cooperation with the grass roots activist movement to achieve socialist reforms, and giving them help to become stronger.

Political consciousness can be shown to be the determining factor in every progressive victory.

Saturday December 12, 2009, 12:40 am
Political consciousness can be shown to be the determining factor in every progressive victory.

E.g. When President Zelaya of Honduras was in power, the people of Honduras were not politically conscious enough to keep him in power (e.g. when we knew that a coup was imminent, they did not surround his house to stop the soldiers who came to kidnap him). In particular, there was no armed force with socialist political consciousness - neither the Honduran military,. nor a rebel group, had socialist political consciousness.

However, now that there is a struggle in Honduras, with the majority of teh people resisting the coup regime, the people are developing a political consciousness.

However, I do not have enough information about it to predict whether they will succeed or not. I would need to read more, especially about the number of committed activists, their political beliefs and goals (e.g. do they have a socialist party or communist party there?). With more information, I could make a quite accurate prediction.

At this time, it looks like the people of Honduras might have gained political consciousness, and might be developing their movement into a successful one. However, as I said, I can;t be sure. What I do know, is that the resistance is NOT doomed to fail. They have the potential to succeed, DESPITE intense U.S. support for the coup regime.