[News] Colored Revolutions: A New Form of Regime Change, Made in USA

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Sunday, February 7, 2010

http://www.chavezcode.com/2010/02/colored-revolutions-new-form-of-regime.html



<http://www.chavezcode.com/2010/02/colored-revolutions-new-form-of-regime.html>Colored 
Revolutions: A New Form of Regime Change, Made in USA

by Eva Golinger

In 1983, the strategy of overthrowing inconvenient governments and 
calling it "democracy promotion" was born.

Through the creation of a series of quasi-private "foundations", such 
as Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), National Endowment for Democracy 
(NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic 
Institute (NDI), Freedom House and later the International Center for 
Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC), Washington began to filter funding and 
strategic aid to political parties and groups abroad that promoted US 
agenda in nations with insubordinate governments.

Behind all these "foundations" and "institutes" is the US Agency for 
Inter- national Development (USAID), the financial branch of the 
Department of State. Today, USAID has become a critical part of the 
security, intelligence and defense axis in Washington. In 2009, the 
Interagency Counterinsurgency Initiative became official doctrine in 
the US. Now, USAID is the principal entity that promotes the economic 
and strategic interests of the US across the globe as part of 
counterinsurgency operations. Its departments dedicated to transition 
initiatives, reconstruction, conflict management, economic 
development, governance and democracy are the main venues through 
which millions of dollars are filtered from Washington to political 
parties, NGOs, student organizations and movements that promote US 
agenda worldwide. Wherever a coup d'etat, a colored revolution or a 
regime change favorable to US interests occurs, USAID and its flow of 
dollars is there.

How Does a Colored Revolution Work?

The recipe is always the same. Student and youth movements lead the 
way with a fresh face, attracting others to join in as though it were 
the fashion, the cool thing to do. There's always a logo, a color, a 
marketing strategy. In Serbia, the group OTPOR, which led the 
overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic, hit the streets with t-shirts, 
posters and flags boasting a fist in black and white, their symbol of 
resistance. In Ukraine, the logo remained the same, but the color 
changed to orange. In Georgia, it was a rose-colored fist, and in 
Venezuela, instead of the closed fist, the hands are open, in black 
and white, to add a little variety.

Colored revolutions always occur in a nation with strategic, natural 
resources: gas, oil, military bases and geopolitical interests. And 
they also always take place in countries with socialist-leaning, 
anti-imperialist governments. The movements promoted by US agencies 
in those countries are generally anti-communist, anti-socialist, 
pro-capitalist and pro-imperialist.

Protests and destabilization actions are always planned around an 
electoral campaign and process, to raise tensions and questions of 
potential fraud, and to discredit the elections in the case of a loss 
for the opposition, which is generally the case. The same agencies 
are always present, funding, training and advising: USAID, NED, IRI, 
NDI, Freedom House, AEI and ICNC. The latter two pride themselves on 
the expert training and capacitation of youth movements to encourage 
"non violent" change.

The strategy seeks to debilitate and disorganize the pillars of State 
power, neutralizing security forces and creating a sensation of chaos 
and instability. Colonel Robert Helvey, one of the founders of this 
strategy and a director at AEI, explained that the objective is not 
to destroy the armed forces and police, but rather "convert them" -- 
convince them to leave the present government and "make them 
understand that there is a place for them in the government of 
tomorrow". Youth are used to try and debilitate security forces and 
make it more difficult for them to engage in repression during public 
protests. Srdja Popovic, founder of OTPOR, revealed that Helvey 
taught them ". . . how to select people in the system, such as police 
officers, and send them the message that we are all victims, them and 
us, because it's not the job of a police officer to arrest a 13-year 
old protestor, for example. . . ."

It's a well-planned strategy directed towards the security forces, 
public officials and the public in general, with a psychological 
warfare component and a street presence that give the impression of a 
nation on the verge of popular insurrection.

Venezuela

In 2003, AEI touched ground in Venezuela. Colonel Helvey himself gave 
a 9-day intensive course to the Venezuelan opposition on how to 
"restore democracy" in the country. According to AEI's annual report, 
opposition political parties, NGOs, activists and labor unions 
participated in the workshop, learning the techniques of how to 
"overthrow a dictator". This was a year after the failed coup d'etat 
-- led by those same groups -- against President Chavez. What came 
right after the AEI intervention was a year of street violence, 
constant destabilization attempts and a recall referendum against 
Chavez. The opposition lost 60-40, but cried fraud. Their claims were 
pointless. Hundreds of international observers, including the Carter 
Center and the OAS, certified the process as transparent, legitimate 
and fraud-free.

In March 2005, the Venezuelan opposition and AEI joined forces again, 
but this time the old political parties and leaders were replaced by 
a select group of students and young Venezuelans. Two former leaders 
of OTPOR came from Belgrade, Slobodan Dinovic and Ivan Marovic, to 
train the Venezuelan students on how to build a movement to overthrow 
their president. Simultaneously, USAID and NED funding to groups in 
Venezuela skyrocketed to around $9 million USD. Freedom House set up 
shop in Venezuela for the first time ever, working hand in hand with 
USAID and NED to help consolidate the opposition and prepare it for 
the 2006 presidential elections. ICNC, led by former Freedom House 
president Peter Ackerman, also began to train the youth opposition 
movement, providing intensive courses and seminars in regime change techniques.

That year, the newly-trained students launched their movement. The 
goal was to impede the electoral process and create a scenario of 
fraud, but they failed. Chavez won the elections with 64% of the 
vote, a landslide victory. In 2007, the movement was relaunched in 
reaction to the government's decision to not renew the broadcasting 
license of a private television station, RCTV, a voice of the 
opposition. The students took to the streets with their logo in hand 
and along with the aid of mainstream media, garnered international attention.

Several were selected by US agencies and sent to train again in 
Belgrade in October 2007. Student leader Yon Goicochea was awarded 
$500,000 USD from the right-wing Washington think tank, Cato 
Institute, to set up a training center for opposition youth inside Venezuela.

Today, those same students are the faces of the opposition political 
parties, evidencing not only their clear connection with the politics 
of the past, but also the deceit of their own movement. The colored 
revolutions in Georgia and the Ukraine are fading. Citizens of those 
nations have become disenchanted with those that took power through 
an apparent "autonomous" movement and have begun to see they were fooled.

The colored revolutions are nothing more than the red, white and blue 
of US agencies, finding new and innovative ways to try and impose 
Empire's agenda.




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