Fred Fuentes says: Chris has once again sought to attack a Venezuelan left activist on the spurious ground that they do not take the sanctions serious enough. (His previous target was Edgardo Lander https://links.org.au/venezuela-us-blockade-and-election-response-edgardo-lander)
His sole proof for this regarding Atenea Jimenez is a butchered quote from an extensive interview. Here is what Atenea actually said: "We defend the free self-determination of our peoples. We are, of course, against foreign military intervention and any type of foreign intervention in our domestic affairs. There is no justifiable reason for the sanctions [imposed on Venezuela]. But it also has to be said that the Manichaen view that says the country was destroyed by the sanctions is not entirely correct. When you analyse the situation, there was evidently a process of economic decline prior to the sanctions. There is more than enough evidence to prove this. Only after this did the sanctions impact society." Despite Atenea's clear opposition to the sanctions and acknowledgement that they contributed to destroying the economy (though are not the only factor), Chris feels he is in a position to cast judgment on here saying "a critic who fails to take the blockade seriously can not provide a real left-wing alternative." ***** I agree that I should have given a more complete quote from Atenea Jimenez. But I still think that, in this interview with Fred, Jimenez downplays the importance of the US blockade on Venezuela. She only mentions sanctions very briefly. In discussing international solidarity, she does not call for a campaign against the blockade (I refer only to this interview - I accept that she has done so elsewhere). She does not discuss what policy a left-wing government should adopt in responding to the blockade. Maduro's policies (including the use of intermediaries to import and export goods, and major concessions to the capitalists) are not the only option. In the 1960s Cuba, facing a US blockade, expropriated capitalist property. But at that time Cuba had the support of the Soviet Union. Such a policy would be more difficult (I don't say impossible) today. But in this interview Jimenez does not put forward any alternative economic policy. Instead, she talks about restoring democracy, claiming that this requires installing right-wing candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as president. If this were to happen (which seems unlikely) the problem of the blockade would presumably disappear. The blockade would no longer be seen as necessary by the US government after it had accomplished the goal of ousting Maduro. The Maduro government can be criticised for many things, including excessive concessions to the capitalists, and acts of repression. But I don't think it is "neoliberal" or "extreme right", as Jimenez says. The situation is complex. The government is promoting the formation of communes. However, there are conflicts between commune activists and the government. One activist talked about a "love-hate relationship" with the Maduro government: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/venezuelas-crisis-view-communes This activist (interviewed in 2019) explained some of the contradictions as follows: "Even with all its weaknesses and failures, it's our state, it's our government. At the same time, we have a relationship in which we have to struggle. We're not going to deny that. “There are things that don’t get to us that we need to produce food, at a time when we are importing almost all the food we need. But instead of helping, the state puts up all these bureaucratic hurdles, when all we're trying to do is to guarantee that people have food and deal with the situation of children with malnutrition. “We are clear, however, that only with this government can we do what we are doing with the communes. In another government, we would not have this possibility, much less with the type of right-wing government Guaido wants to install with his coup.” Today Venezuelan leftists differ in their attitudes towards the Maduro government. Some, such as Atenea Jimenez, denounce it. Others have a more positive view. As an example of the latter, I will give some extracts from an interview with Cira Pascual Marquina (see below). Chris Slee ***** https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/in-venezuela-the-commune-is-not-just-a-utopia-a-conversation-with-cira-pascual-marquina/ One of the key elements of Hugo Chávez’s vision was the concept of communes and communal power, encapsulated in the motto “¡Comuna o Nada!”, what significance does the communal space hold for the Bolivarian Revolution, and how do you perceive it today? Chávez began discussing socialism around 2005-2006, but it was not until 2009 that he proposed the idea of the Commune. From that moment forward, the Commune became the strategic horizon and the path toward collective emancipation. While Chávez’s thought and the Bolivarian Revolution encompass many powerful ideas, such as Bolivarianism and a vision of emancipation from the Global South, I would argue that the Commune represents the synthesis of all these ideas, making its “discovery” a watershed event in the Revolution..... In your opinion, did the communal space experience neglect at any point during Nicolás Maduro’s presidency? When Barack Obama declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat” in 2015, a series of unilateral coercive measures were unleashed against the country and its people, plunging Venezuela into a dramatic crisis. The blockade is a war without bombs. The Cuban people understand this well: the blockade’s impact on health, the psychological toll, the loss of lives, and the families forced to leave their homeland… As the blockade intensified, the government implemented some liberal measures, such as eliminating price controls. It’s crucial to note that Venezuela, as Chávez would often remind us, is not socialist, but certain containment mechanisms had been established. Many of these barriers fell under the pressure of the imperialist blockade. In the face of the devastation caused by the coercive measures, the government initially paid little attention to the communal aspect, focusing instead on promoting economic recovery within the existing system. Interestingly, during those challenging years – which sentenced so much of the elderly population to death and individuals with chronic illnesses lacked essential medications – in the time when there was almost nothing, the pueblo began to place their bets with the commune. Chávez proposed the Commune in 2009 during a peak commodities period when the government was able to address pressing needs through its control over oil revenues. As a result, while the proposal for the Commune was positively received and many communes were established, the urgency for communal organization was not so felt. By 2017, however, at a time of profound crisis, the communes began to resurge. The blockade’s violence forced the government to make concessions to capital, but it also catalyzed the pueblo’s return to the communal project. More recently, since 2022 and especially in the past year, the government has shifted its focus back towards the Commune. I believe President Maduro recognized the exhaustion of the previous model, listened to the people, and initiated a pivot toward communalization – a shift that strengthens the connection between the government and the pueblo and recharges Chavista morale. Chávez’s vision for the Commune was never about autonomy; he always emphasized that communes should grow in a collaborative relationship with the government, which should not only support them but also generate the material conditions for the creation of communal social property enterprises. In summary, during the hiatus imposed by the blockade, there were some tensions between the government and the communal movement. However, in recent years, we have witnessed a beautiful shift toward rebuilding relationships and affinities. It’s important to note, however, that there was never a rupture between the communal movement and the Bolivarian government. No popular organization engaged in meaningful work ever proposed a break; instead, there were moments of critical dialogue, and the government listened. The communal movement wholeheartedly supports and celebrates this reorientation, which ultimately represents a victory for the pueblo. ...... Importantly, in Venezuela, the Commune is not just a utopia; there are numerous thriving communes today. Within these communes, we see new ways of understanding politics and the emergence of new social relations. Communes are a window to a future that is already unfolding. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#35514): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/35514 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/111334332/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
