New Turn (Repost)

It is clear that what was once known as the “Bolivarian Revolution” has run its course. The government of Nicolas Maduro has systematically destroyed everything that was built by Hugo Chavez in the period of 2003-2013. The end result of the Maduro government is a failed state. Venezuela is now gripped by mass poverty, famine, hyperinflation and endemic crime. There is no electricity and no running water. The social programs established by Chavez have been defunded, the Misiones have all been shut down. The public health care system is in a state oif collapse. Five million Venezuelas have fled the country. In context of this grim picture, the parties of the left have now joined together in the Alternativa Popular Revolucionaria coalition. They have broken with the failed policies of the Maduro government and are running their own candidates in the December 2020 parliamentary elections. Aside from denouncing the “social democratic” cum neo-liberal degeneration of the ruling PSUV they also denounce the nagative impact of the enbargo and sanctions imposed by American imperialism. The embargo and sanctions aggravate the economic and social crisis created by the failure of Maduros policies. 

  Nace la Alternativa Popular Revolucionaria: ¡reconstruyamos la esperanza!

“Tras años de arduas y acaloradas discusiones, reordenamientos tácticos y ajustes en el accionar político de las organizaciones, finalmente ha nacido la Alternativa Popular Revolucionaria, una alianza de partidos y movimientos de izquierda que se muestran decididos a marcar un decisivo deslinde de las políticas anti-populares del gobierno nacional y ofrecer un nuevo referente obrero, campesino y popular al país, por una salida revolucionaria a la crisis del capitalismo.”

Re: ...''Hugo Chavez (and) real Anti-capitalism'' ...

***A Bolivarian Reply to some unfair criticisms of Chavez: ***

*

Re: ''The incurable flaw of the Left seems to be its weakness forleadership cults. Apparently the global left has forgotten thehorrors of Stalinism and Maoism.''

*

Reply: The basic assumptions of this comment are innacurate. Hugo Chavez isnot ''like Stalin'' or ''Mao''. The Bolivarian Revolution has not established a dictatorship. There is absolute freedom of speech, movement and the press in Bolivarian Venezuela.

**

Re: ''It is no longer capable of differentiating between grassrootscontrol and bonapartism (i.e. rule by a strongman).''

*

Reply: The propaganda that Chavez is a ''stongman'' comes from the neo-liberal, pro-Bush opposition: The Escualidos. Chavez is a democratically elected president who presides over a socialist democracy in construction. The aim of the Bolivarian revolution is to achieve a situation where the people of Venezuela will be the rulers of their own destiny: personally and collectively.

*

Re: ''The global left fools itself, furthermore it contradicts itself by thinking that following nationalist strongmen is the way to bring about a global ecologically sustainable socialistdemocracy.''

*

Reply: Chavez is not a ''stongman''. He is the democratically elected leader of the people of Venezuela. The Nationalism of the Bolivarian revolution is a positive type of nationalism because it aims to empower Venezuela against United States imperialism.

*

Re: ''The leadership cults around Mao or Stalin in the past; Castroand Chavez today all have a common denominator: The suppression of critical thinking in favor of the BIG LIE – whatever it might be, nomatter how absurd.''

*

Reply: There is no ''supression of critical thinking'' in Venezuela. There is absolute freedom of the press and absolute freedom of speech, more so than in the United States or the European Union. In Bolivarian Venezuela the right to free expression is extended to the poor and those socially excluded under neo-liberal capitalism.

*

Re: ''Honest socialists and other progressive people are focusing so much on the apparently ''anti-capitalist'', ''anti-Yankee'' rhetoric emanating from Telesur and Chavez's various media performances...that they are not looking at Chavez critically.''

*

Reply: Denunciations of U.S. Imperialism and global neoliberalism are not just ''rethoric''. The Chavez government ACTS politically, economically and diplomatically on its words to serve as a counterpoint to U.S. domination over Latin America. The media performances come from the opposition media, whose style of journalism is yellow.

*

Re: ''The Multinationals still control the economy, the rich continue to become richer at the expense of the poor, the projects related to the so-called `'empowerment'' of the urban and rural poor are no more than localized experiments, there is corruption, there is rampant crime, street children. The `'Cogestion'' (i.e. workersco-management) projects are a scam. The workers never really manage anything. The `'workers management'' meetings are staged for the benefit of visitors and TV cameras.''

*

Reply: These are lies. Yes, there is a private sector but it is taxed and regulated. The State and NGO sectors have a proportional influence over the Venezuelan political-economy. There is no private sector dictatorship as in the United States. Poverty and unemployment have been reduced consistently since 2004 while economic growth per annum has been 5 to 8 %; these facts are recognised by the World Bank. There is a crime and corruption problem, but the Bolivarian government is in the process of implementing policies to counter these phenomena. No one has said that the Bolivarian Revolution is ''perfect''. There is plenty of crime in the United States and in the European Union. There are 'Misiones' (i.e Social Programs), in place to provide services to street children and the homeless. The Cogestion program is not ''stage managed'', the workers have direct imput into production in Alcasa and PDVSA. This situation did not exist under the previous neoliberal capitalist regime.

***

For Bolivarian perspectives on Venezuela visit: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/

PATRIA GRANDE !

Evo, Rafa and Hugo - The Leadership of The Second Independence.

Grounding the fifth international on the existing process of Latin American Second Independence as a model would give the Fifth International an objective and concrete basis in an existing process of class struggles that project themselves geo-politically and geo-economically. From this basis, the development of a new anti-imperialist, anti-colonial internationalism could be premised upon intercontinental and interegional multipolar networks that incorporate autochthonous anti-capitalist struggles in north america, western europe, asia and africa. The convergence of the PSUV with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) is a perfect foundation for the V International, a first step already taken. The Sandinista Revolution of 1979-1990 is the direct precursor to the Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution, the Ecuadoran Revolucion Ciudadana and the Indigenista Revolution in Bolivia. The Nicaraguan Sandinistas where the first to base their operational model on the premise of a "civic-military alliance" that seeks to construct an ''armed democratic socialism'' in defiance to USA/Atlantist imperialism. The proliferation, in context of multipolarism, of national spaces of “armed democratic socialism” that seek simulatenously to (1) transition from neo-colonial dependence to revolutionary democracy as the precursor for the emergence of existing socialism, and that (2) foster regional integration on the model of ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) and UNASUR; would progressively undermine the hegemony of North Atlantism over the globalisation process.

Multipolarism as the new Internationalist Anti-Imperialism:

According to El Economista de Cuba (The Cuban Economic Review):

“América Latina padece todos los males de la globalización y la postmodernidad y ninguna de las ventajas prometidas: el crecimiento económico sin empleo; la concentración del saber en el Norte, deja fuera a nuestros pueblos de las tecnologías de punta, de la creación y desarrollo de centros de investigación científica; la destrucción del medio ambiente —envenenamiento de las fuentes de agua potable, tala de los bosques—, etc.; el desarrollo del modelo de crecimiento basado en las exportaciones a todo trance, la privatización de las empresas estatales y servicios de correos, salud, educación, seguridad social, originando un crecimiento sustancial de la pobreza; la apertura de las fronteras para el flujo libre de capitales, de flujos financieros y de mercancías provenientes del Norte, arruinando de este modo las economías nacionales, y no así el flujo libre de personas del Sur para el Norte; reducción del salario real; dependencia alimentaria del exterior; incremento de la Deuda Externa; etc.”

[“Latin America is a showcase for all the evils of globalisation and postmodernity without any of its promised advantages: economic growth without employment growth, the concentrtation of knowledge in the north, it leaves our peoples outside the circuit of advanced technologies, it prevents the development of scientific research centres, it destroys the natural environment – poisoning aquifiers, clearcutting the forests – etc. ; the model of development and growth based on exports at all costs, the privatisation of state enterprises and of postal, healthcare, educational, social security have resulted in the substantial growth of poverty; the opening of borders for the unrestricted flow of capital and of financial transactions, and for branded products from the north has bankrupted national economies , but not the migration of people from the south to the north; the reduction of real wages, food dependence of foreign dources, the increase of external debt obligations…”]

The emergence of ALBA, MERCOSUR and UNASUR as forums independent from the OAS has created a “multipolarisation effect” in Latin America. The United States has lost control of South America. The emergence of the Argentino-Brasilian geo-economic entente and of UNASUR have broken the power and influence of the State Department controlled OAS. The SUCRE monetary system is making inroads into commercial spaces formerly dominated by transactions in USA Dollars. BOLIVARIANISM emerges as the most radicalised expression of the overall political and social movement for the Second Independence of Latin America from the status of neo-colonial domination imposed by USA/North Atlantist imperialism in the mid 19th century (when the Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed). The Second Independence calls both for the development of a self referential and autonomous post-capitalist models of political-economy for sovereign Latin American nations, for PLURINATIONALISM and for the subsequent voluntary and democratic integration of sovereign peoples into the Latin American "patria grande" (greater fatherland). The Bolivarian Revolutionary government states that its goal in Venezuela is the construction of an "armed democratic socialism" (the Bolivarian concept of Revolutionary Democracy) based on participatory democracy, civic-military alliance, nationalisation of natural resources and planned infrastructural development; where poverty is to be eliminated by empowering the poor politically and economically - i.e organising the poor politically around communal councils and allocating economic resources and targeted social services to the politically organised poor in a decentral manner so that they can solve their own problems in situ.

Bolivarianism is one of the several new global south politics that have emerged in reaction to and against North Atlantist/Imperialist hegemony, the imposition of western political values and economic ideologies (such as neo-liberalism) which seek to rationalise the exploitation and looting of global south peoples and their natural resources to sustain an objectively, socially and ecologically, unsustainable hyper-consumeristic economic model in the nations that conform the North Atlantist Core (North America, Western Europe) . Bolivarianism calls for the creation of “a multipolar world where many worlds are possible, inclusive 21st century socialist ones".

The "Bolivarian-Zapatista" Organising Model as an effective form of social and class struggle:

Elsewhere, I have cited as a model for organising against the proto-fascist right, the ORANISING and CAMPAIGN models of the Venezuelan PSUV patrullas/ “Maquinaria Roja” of 2010 and the Zapatista "Otra Campaña" of 2006, specifically as they pertain basing campaign activity on existing social movements and existing social organisations ('las bases'); because these are successful examples of grassroots organising that do not operate on the premises of neo-liberal individuation and marketisation of political activity and discourse. a political program is not a brand, and marketing does not define culture. "one man one vote" is not democracy, only the first step towards democracy. the organising model of the PSUV has delivered victory after victory to the Venezuelan transition government, while the Zapatista "otra campaña" (which was global) was a direct influence upon the victory of Lopez Obrador / PRD and the formation of the parallel APPO government in Oaxaca. The reason the United States Embassy in Mexico ordered the PAN government to fix the election in 2006 was precisely because of the success of the organising model of the ''Otra Campaña''. The Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the Bolivian MAS also based their campaigns on this "Bolivarian-Zapatista model" in 2006 and 2009 respectively; the result was two major victories for the Segunda Independencia / Second Independence. In the Nicaraguan case the FSLN returned to power, in the Bolivian sense the Indigenista Plurinational Constitution was ratified in a referendum - the first indigenous peoples' constitution in the Americas -north, centre and south. Bolivia became the first Indigenous People’s Republic in the Americas, a polity where indigenous majority rule was achieved on the basis of the political marginalisation of the hispano-criollo comprador bourgeoisie and its North American transnational patrons.

The humble origins of 21st century socialism where the “Caracazo” food riots in Venezuela against neo-liberal adjustment policies in February 1989 and the Zapatista uprising against NAFTA in Chiapas, Mexico in 1994. They chanted QUEREMOS COMER ! ( we want to eat) and YA BASTA ! (enough is enough). Their call was taken up by the anti-globalisation demonstrators who gathered in Seattle in December 1999, the PIQUETEROS in Argentina who deposed a corrupt neo-liberal regime in December 2002, and latter by those who participated in the massive global anti-war movilisations against the imperialist invasion of Iraq in February 2003. They chanted FREE TRADE IS WAR ! and FREEDOM FRIES WHILE BAGDAD BURNS ! The Fifth International must recapture this spirit, and develop it further; as it works to establish spaces of eco-social construction and democratic empowerment for marginalised social actors, in a multi-polar context free of imperialist entities and globalised transnational oligarchies dedicated to the pursuit of unipolarist domination agendas. It must impart new dynamism to the class based struggles of trade unionists in Western Europe fighting against the destructive social effects of the financial bailout; of peace activists in the United States facing repression at the hands of the FBI and Homeland Security Gestapo; and the struggle of migrant populations against systematic police repression, of the foreclosed and the homeless for housing and dignity, of the landless and those displaced by the wars of capitalism in Colombia and Afghanistan. The Fifth International must be an international of hope for those who find themselves in the losing end of global capitalism, not a talk shop for ideologues or a forum for the restatement of failed political theories from the past. /n2

 

 

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(CC) Material on this Weblog is licensed by Miguel Angel Torres, under a Creative Commons (by-nc-nd 3.0) [6] license, except for links to articles that are posted with permission. Readers are welcome to share and use material belonging to this site for non-commercial purposes, as long as they are attributed and credited to their author(s), inclusive Miguel Angel Torres.

GALLO ROJO !

[PCV Campaign Closing Statement:]


http://www.tribuna-popular.org/index.php/pcv/7319-pcv-derrotemos-la-campana-anticomunista-votando-gallo-rojo

Video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xex4v1_pcv-derrotemos-la-campana-anticomun_news?start=4#from=embed


***

PCV: “Derrotemos la campaña anticomunista votando Gallo Rojo!

[Defeat the anti-communist campaign by voting for the Gallo Rojo]

LLAMAMIENTO A LAS Y LOS TRABAJADORES, AL PUEBLO VENEZOLANO

[Call to all workers - male and female, to the Venezuelan people]

Caracas, 22 sep. 2010, Tribuna Popular TP.- El Partido Comunista de Venezuela (PCV), en un llamamiento a las y los trabajadores y al pueblo venezolano, llamó hoy a derrotar la campaña anticomunista de la derecha fascista y el imperialismo, votando por los candidatos de la Alianza Revolucionaria en la Tarjeta del Gallo Rojo.

[The Communist Party of Venezuela, in a statement to all workers - male and female, and to the venezuelan people; called today to defeat the anti-communist campaign of the fascist right and of imperialism; by voting for the candidates of the Revolutionary Alliance in the Gallo Rojo ballot]

Así lo dio a conocer el secretario general del Partido, diputado Oscar Figuera, quien manifestó que la oposición fascista integrada en la MUD “Mesa de la Ultra Derecha”, ha retomado la vieja forma de hacer política imitando al dictador, Juan Vicente Gómez, quien a través del artículo 32, inciso 6º de la Constitución, prohibía las ideas marxistas.

[This is how secretary general of the party, deputy Oscar Figuera, expressed his intervention; and subsequently estated that the fascist opposition integrated around the MUD ('round table of the ultra-right') has revived outdated forms of political activity imitating former dictator Juan Vicente Gomez, who through article 32, section 6 of the constitution prohibited the expression of Marxist ideas.]

“Dentro de esa concepción retrograda, atrasada, cavernaria y cavernícola, con el respeto a los cavernícolas, sectores de la oposición han intentado instalar una matriz de opinión, queriendo contraponer democracia y comunismo”, recordó el dirigente.

[The secretary reminds us that, in context of this reactionary, backward, neanderthal conception - said in full respect to the neanderthals - sections of the opposition have tried to create a matrix of opinion, attempting to counterpose democracy to communism]

EL PCV reivindicó la sociedad comunista, aun no conocida por la humanidad, como proyecto profundamente humanista, “El comunismo es la democracia plena de los ciudadanos y ciudadanas, de los trabajadores y las trabajadoras. Es una sociedad de productores libres, asociados voluntariamente, sin explotados, ni explotadores”, señaló Figuera.

[The communist party has proposed the construction of a communist society, stilll not known by humanity, as a humanist project. 'Communism is the most complete form of democracy for all citizens and workers - male and female. It is a society of Free producers, voluntarily associated, without exploited and exploiters.']

Los comunistas venezolanos acusaron a los sectores de la oligarquía agrupados en la ultraderecha y al imperialismo, de tenerle terror a la sociedad comunista porque no les permitirá acumular riqueza sobre la base de la explotación del pueblo, “Porque es una sociedad donde no se necesitará patronos, explotadores. Donde el Estado no será un instrumento de dominación, sino que estará en control de los productores libres y organizados, desaparece la explotación del hombre por hombre”.

[The Venezuelan communists have acussed sectors of the oligarchy grouped around the ultra right and imperialism, of spreading undue fear about a communist society because such a society would negate them the opportunity to accumulate riches on the basis of the exploitation of the people. 'Because it is a society that would need no bosses, exploiters. Where the State will not be an instrument of domination, but will be under the control of free and organised producers, the exploitation of man by man will be eradicated.]

Figuera llamó al pueblo a analizar, que si son los enemigos nuestros los que se expresan así, es porque el comunismo es malo para ello, pero es bueno para el pueblo. “Los que nos han explotado históricamente, cuando nos dicen que algo es malo, es porque es malo para ellos, como explotadores, pero es bueno para el pueblo”, reiteró el dirigente comunista, candidato a la reelección por el Estado Guárico en la Lista de la Alianza Revolucionaria.

[Comrade Figuera called to the people to conclude, that if it is our enemies who express themselves in this manner, it is because communism is bad for them. ' Those who have exploited us historically, when they say that something is bad, is because it is bad for them as exploiters, but good for the people.' That statement was reiterated by the communist leader in his bid for re-election in Guarico State in the list of the Revolutionary Alliance ]

A continuación, trascribimos el Llamamiento a las y los Trabajadores, al Pueblo venezolano, leído a la prensa por el Secretario General del PCV.

[The following is a transcription of the call to all Workers - male and female, to the Venezuelan people, read to the press by the PCV General Secretary]

LLAMAMIENTO A LAS Y LOS TRABAJADORES, AL PUEBLO VENEZOLANO

[Call to the Workers - male and female, and to the People of Venezuela]

¡Derrotemos la campaña anti-comunista votando Gallo Rojo!

[We defeat the anti-communist campaign by voting for the Gallo Rojo]

El próximo domingo culmina proceso electoral en curso para la elección de diputadas y diputados tanto a la Asamblea Nacional como al Parlamento Latinoamericano. En varias oportunidades, el Comité Central y el Buró Político han trazado orientaciones de carácter político-electoral que se han dado a conocer a través de los medios de comunicación.

[Next Sunday concludes the electoral process for the selection of deputies - male and female, for the National Assembly and the Latin American Parliament. In many opportunities, the Central commite and the Politbureau have sketched orientation of a political-electoral character that has been disseminated via the public media.]

El actual proceso político venezolano, querámoslo o no, tiene su propia y contundente dinámica que incide en el ámbito nacional e internacional y contradice los designios imperialistas y de la contrarrevolución interna.

[The current Venezuelan political process, like it or not, has its own and clear dynamic that impacts the national and international context and contradicts the plans of imperialism and the internal counterevolution]

Sabido es que el PCV y la JCV, somos blanco principal de los ataques del enemigo de clase, a través de una intensa campaña anticomunista desplegada por la oligarquía, el imperialismo y sus lacayos políticos, quienes saben que jamás conciliaremos ni nos prestaremos a maniobras políticas que vayan en contra de la clase obrera, de los trabajadores, trabajadoras de la ciudad y del campo, de las clases y capas sociales aliadas con las que aspiramos a continuar profundizando y abriendo caminos a la democracia revolucionaria, la paz y el socialismo.

[It is well known that the PCV and JCV [Communist Youth] are the numner one target for attacks from the class enemy, through an intensive anti-communist media campaign promoted by the oligarchy, imperialism and its political flaks, who know that we will never surrender and that we will never collaborate with political manouvres that go against the interests of the working class, the urban and rural workers - male and female, the allied social forces with whom we aspire to continue to radicalise and open roads towards a revolutionary democracy, peace and communism.]

Por todo ello, hemos considerado oportuno en el PCV, hacer un llamado al pueblo venezolano a empeñarnos a fondo en estos días y especialmente el domingo venidero, para motivar y comprometer a todas y todos en las tareas prácticas de movilizar los votos, de llevar la mayor cantidad posible de electoras y electores a votar por el Gallo Rojo - PCV y así obtener la más alta votación histórica del PCV, como repuesta de todo el pueblo a la campaña anticomunista.

[Because of this, we consider it important for the PCV, to make a call to the Venezuelan people to intensify our effort these days and specially this comming Sunday to motivate concerted action in the practical task of movilising the vote, to elect the largest majority possible of deputies - male and female, to vote for the Gallo Rojo - PCV in order to obtain the highest historical proportion of votes for the PCV, as an answer of the people to the anti-communist campaign.]

La presencia comunista en el Parlamento continuará sirviendo para exponer, defender e impulsar nuestro programa y línea políticas, muy especialmente en el afán de impulsar nuestras reconocidas propuestas de una nueva Ley Orgánica del Trabajo y la Ley de Consejos socialistas de trabajadoras y trabajadores.

[The prescence of communists in the Parliament will serve to continue to expose, defend and promote our program and political line, specially as it pertains the promotion of our new Organic Labour Law and the Law for the Workers Councils.]

En varias oportunidades hemos denunciado los planes desestabilizadores, de sabotaje y terrorismo, que como parte de la contraofensiva reaccionaria de la oligarquía y el imperialismo estadounidense se viene ejecutando en el país. Por tanto nuevamente, alertamos sobre la necesidad de activar los planes de contingencia del movimiento popular revolucionario frente a cualquier intento de sabotaje del enemigo.

[In many opportunities we have denounced the destabilisation plans, sabotage and terrorism; that as part and subset of the reactionary counteroffensive of the oligarchy and imperialism in this country. So again, we warn about the need to activate contingency plans of the revolutionary popular movement against any attempt of sabotage that might be initiated by the enemy.]

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(CC) Material on this Weblog is licensed by Miguel Angel Torres, under a Creative Commons (by-nc-nd 3.0) [6] license, except for links to articles that are posted with permission. Readers are welcome to share and use material belonging to this site for non-commercial purposes, as long as they are attributed and credited to their author(s), inclusive Miguel Angel Torres.

Pa' The Asamblea !

Is the Venezuelan National Assembly a Bourgeois Parliament ?

[Es la Asamblea Nacional Venezolana un Parlamento Burges ?]

I argue that it is not.

[yo argumento que no]

the congress of the fourth republic was a comprador bourgeois parliament; but not the national assembly that results from the 1999 bolivarian constitution of venezuela. a key point is to understand that the bolivarian process changed the structure of the political state in such a way that a legal foundation was created to allow for progressive structural transformation towards revolutionary democracy. a regular Bourgeois Parliament works to prevent social transformations away from capitalism. by no means do i argue that the AN is a "soviet" or anything like that either. i consider the AN a transitional legislative entity existing in context of a socio-political process of emergent revolutionary democracy.

[el congreso dela cuarta republica fue un parlamento de la burgesia compradora; pero no la Asamblea Nacional que resulta como producto de la constitucion venezolana de 1999. un punto clave es el entendimiento que el proceso bolivariano cambio la estructura del estado de derecho politico de manera que se creo una base legal que permite la transformacion progresiva estructural hacia la democracia revolucionaria. un parlamento burges comun y corriente trabaja para oponer transformaciones sociales contra el capitalismo. de ninguna manera tampoco argumento que la AN sea un "soviet". considero a la AN como una entidad legislativa transitoria que existe en un contexto socio-politico de democracia revolucionaria emergente.]

in order to arrive at the conclusion that the AN is not a bourgeois parliament; i begin by utilising categories of analysis developed by the Peoples Commissariat of Foreign affairs of the USSR during the 1964-1983 period (The Brezhnev Era):

[para llegar a esta conclusion empleo el "Esquema de Analisis geopolitico del Comisariado Popular para las Relaciones Exteriores de la CCCP entre 1964-1983" dentro del marco del Pacto de Varsovia y el COMECON]

Socialismo Existente/Existing Socialism (RDA/DDR)
Democracia Revolucionaria/Revolutionary Democracy (Cuba)

Democracia Nacional/National Democracy (Suecia en la decada de los 70/Sweden during the 1970's)

Estado Neocolonia/Neocolonial State (IV Republica en Venezuela/Fourth Republic in Venezuela)

Estado Imperialista/Imperialist State (EEUU/USA and its NATO cohorts)

Flag of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with eight Stars

[Bandera de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela con ocho estrellas.]

from this schema i conclude the following definitions of the nature of the state as prelude to defining the nature of the AN as a legislative entity:

[desde este punto de partida esquematico concluyo las siguentes definiciones de las condiciones del estado como premisa a definir a la AN como entidad legislativa:]

The Fourth Republic: The form of neocolonialism applied to specific Venezuelan conditions between 1953 and 1999; an oil neocolony postrate to the north american imperialist state; governed by a decadent, parasitical and racist comprador bourgeoisie and administered by a gerontocratic political class; and which utilised systematic police repression as means of social control .

[La Cuarta Republica: La forma del neocolonialismo aplicado a las condiciones especificas de Venezuela entre 1953 y 1999; una neocolonia petrolera postrada ante el estado imperialista norteamericano gobernada por una burgesia compradora decadente, parasitica y racista; administrada por una clase politica gerontocratica, que opero un aparato de control policial sistematicamente represivo para mantener control social.]

The Fifth Republic: A State of transition between neocolonialism and revolutionary democracy that implies the construction of the elements of national democracy and the achievement of national emancipation. this achievement then serves as ante-chamber or foundation for the emergence of an existing socialism adapted to Venezulean conditions in the context of ALBA and economic integration with Cuba. The direct precursor of the 5th Venezuelan Republic: Sandinista Nicaragua between 1979-1990.

The progressive administration of this "state of transition between neocolonialism towards revolutionary democracy" is denominated "Bolivarian Revolution"; a proposal to consolidate revolutionary democracy and the development of an ecological and social mode of production that is DIVERSIFIED as necessary basis for the possible construction of an "existing socialism" for the 21st century.

[Quinta Republica Venezolana: Un estado de transicion del neocolonialismo a la democracia revolucionaria que implica la construccion de los elementos de una democracia nacional y el logro de la emancipacion nacional. Este logro sirve como antesala o fundacion para la emergencia de una version del socialismo existente adaptado a las condiciones Venezolanas; en el contexto Latinoamericano del ALBA y de un proceso de integracion economica con la democracia revolucionaria Cubana. El precursor directo a la V Republica Venezolana: Nicaragua Sandinista entre 1979-1990.]

[La administracion progresista de este "estado de transicion del neocolonialismo a la democracia revolucionaria" se denomina "Revolucion Bolivariana"; como propuesta para consolidar la democracia revolucionaria y el desarrollo de un modelo productivo eco-social y DIVERSIFICADO como base necesaria para la posible construccion de un 'socialismo existente'del siglo XXI.]

after defining the nature of the Fifth Republic and placing the AN in context of it as LEGISLATIVE instrument of popular will, the AN (National Assembly) can be defined as:

[luego de haber definido la naturaleza de la quinta república, y colocándo a la AN en el contexto de la misma como un instrumnto LEGISLATIVO de la voluntad popular, la AN (Asamblea Nacional) se puede definir como:]

NOT a Bourgeois Parliament because it does not exist to legislate upon the collective interest of the comprador bourgeoise at the service of Atlantist imperialism; but a transitional legislative entity existing in context of a specific socio-political process that legislates in the interest of constructing a basis for socialism in law. the AN could NOT be called a "soviet" because it is not an assembly of elected and re callable workplace representatives, and although it includes indigenous representation it does not incorporate social corporative representation per se of socially organised sectors such as youth, soldiers or women.

[NO un parlamento burgués, ya que no existe para legislar sobre el interés colectivo de la burguesía compradora al servicio del imperialismo atlantista, pero mas bien una entidad legislativa transitoria; vigente en el contexto de un proceso específico socio-político que legisla en el interés de construir una base por el socialismo en el derecho. la AN no puede llamarse un ''soviet" porque no es una asamblea de delegaciones obreras; y aunque incluye la representación indígena, no incorpora la representación social-corporativa sui generis de los sectores socialmente organizados, como los jóvenes, los militares o las mujeres.]

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"21st Century Socialism"

The following commentary on the ongoing drama of the so-called "Venezuelan Road" was posted at >>>

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/redsquare2/message/4454

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Re: Draft program of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela
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thank you for this posting. i guess you could say this is as close aswe come to a manifesto for "21st century socialism" ?

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>>"[Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez made his first public call for the creation a political instrument to unify the country'srevolutionary forces in December 15, 2006. Convened on January 12,2008, some 1676 congress delegates elected from almost 15,000socialist battalions -- local units of the PSUV -- will discuss and debate this draft program, as well as the proposed priniciples and statutes of the new party, over the next two months. In between congress sessions, delegates will return to their local regions and battalions to ensure the widest possible discussion of these documents among the ranks of the new party."

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in principle this is a good move. the MVR and the coalition associated with it is much to disparate to be able to effectively handle a reinvigorated neoliberal opposition. the recent defeat of the constitutional rerform referendum was a warning that the war is not won yet for chavismo. i only hope that this political realignment leaves room for the independent movilisation of forces to the left of chavez. the neoliberal opposition has eclipsed the left opposition in venezuela.

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>>"Taking as its starting point the championing and unconditional defence of the government of the Bolivarian revolution, led by President Hugo Chavez, and the will of the Venezuelan people to construct the socialism of the 21st century, the program of the PSUV is the instrument with which to set out the objectives, forms and methods of this revolutionary project, and express them at each moment through slogans that can facilitate the transition from the immediate reality to the end goal; slogans that, by definition, adapt themselves permanently to the immediate circumstances........."

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this sounds like a step forward, but i am not comfortable with the equation of the personality of hugo chavez with the revolutionary process underway. the transformation of society - for it to genuinely evolve in a socialist direction - must be directly associated with independent efforts by the working class, farmers and the urban poor in venezuela. a flaw of the venezuelan road is the association of process with personality cults. this was a mistake in the ussr and remains a weakness in context of 21st century socialism.

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>>"The program of the PSUV has as its objective making reality the slogan "in order to end poverty you have to give power to the poor", or better said: the people. That is to say, build a government based on Councils of Popular Power, where workers, campesinos, students and popular masses are direct protagonists in the exercising of political power."

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the ostentible aim of socialism is to end the social condittion of poverty created by capitalism. my question would be: at one point do the councils replace chavez as focus of political power ? is the process thereby which chavez transfers power to these councils specified ? at what point does the process let go of political forms associated with capitalism - such as parliament ?

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>>"The program of the PSUV proposes the socialising of political power, establishing the direct exercising of decision-making power by the masses in their organisations; their unrestricted right to scientific research and the free artistic creation, and the democratisation of access to all cultural policies."

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a while back i was arguing in favour of the perspective that chavez should have delegated economic desicion making powers to the left sectors of the UNETE. i insist that the most advanced sectors of the liberated working class movement should be empowered as a first step towards socialising political power in venezuela.

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more comments on this document will follow soon...

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- neo.