[News] Venezuela — After the Elections: What Is to Be Done?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13913


  Venezuela — After the Elections: What Is to Be Done?

By Marta Harnecker - July 30, 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Recalling the context in which it emerged*

1. By the time Hugo Chávez won the 1998 presidential elections, the 
neoliberal capitalist model was already in deep trouble. The dilemma he 
faced was basically whether to refound the neoliberal capitalist model — 
obviously with some changes, among them a greater concern for social 
issues, but motived by the same profit-seeking logic — or to seek to 
build another model.

2. Chávez chose the latter option. In naming it, he decided to 
resuscitate the word socialism, despite the negative connotations it had 
due to the past. But he specified that this was a 21st century socialism 
to differentiate it from the Soviet socialism of the 20th century. He 
warned that we must not “fall into the errors of the past”; into 
“Stalinist deviations” that bureaucratized the party and ended up 
eliminating popular protagonism; into state capitalism that focused on 
state ownership and not on the participation of workers in the running 
of companies.

3. Chávez viewed socialism as an economic system that had human beings, 
not profits, at its heart; one based on a pluralist and anti-consumerist 
culture in which being took primacy over owning. This was a socialism 
based on genuine and deep democracy, where the people assumed a 
protagonistic role. This is one element that differentiates it from 
other democratic socialist proposals. For him, people’s participation in 
all spheres was what could allow people to win confidence in themselves 
and develop as humans.


    Post-election challenges

4. Following this brief introduction, I want to analyze the challenges 
on the horizon. The recent election results make it clear that although 
Nicolás Maduro won by a wide margin on May 20, there exists a 
significant majority made up of those who voted for the opposition and 
those who did not vote in these elections. The snapshot of the 
correlation of forces that the elections present us cannot be ignored. 
Interpreting this data in the most objective manner possible is 
fundamental. There is no doubt that there are conflicting interests 
between different sections of the Venezuelan capitalist class. The 
opposition is not a homogenous bloc. It contains within it enormous 
internal contradictions. There is a section of the opposition that, 
rather than worrying about resolving the problems of the country, is 
focused on overthrowing the government through any means at its 
disposal, in particular economic strangulation. They are aided by 
corrupt sectors in the importing state bureaucracy that pass themselves 
off as Chavista. It is impossible to reach any agreement with these 
sectors. But there are other sectors —those that are willing to put the 
interests of the country first — with which it is possible to reach 
agreements, if a correct tactic is applied. Maduro has understood this.

Abandon verbal attacks and maintain constructive dialogue

5. We should be skillful enough to exploit these contradictions and 
carry out a process of coherent dialogue, calling on those who oppose 
Maduro to seek solutions for the country. We should avoid verbal attacks 
that do not help in creating a minimum level of trust, one of the 
fundamental conditions for maintaining constructive dialogue.

6. In relation to this issue, I want to extensively quote Pope Francis. 
Let us look at some of the things he said in his visit to Paraguay in 2015:
[Dialogue cannot be a] theatrical dialogue in which we pretend to 
dialogue [and only listen to ourselves].
… Dialogue presupposes and demands that we seek a culture of coming 
together … that recognizes that diversity is not only good, but 
necessary… Which means that the starting point cannot be: I am going to 
dialogue but they are wrong. No, no, we cannot presume that the other is 
wrong. I will bring my ideas and listen to what the other has to say, 
allow the other to enrich me, allow the other to make me realize I am 
wrong, and also look at things that I can give to the other. It is a 
back and forth, back and forth, but with an open heart. If we just 
presume that the other is wrong, it is better to go home and not attempt 
dialogue.
… Dialogue is not a negotiation. One negotiates to carve out one’s own 
share … If this is your intention, then don’t waste your time. The aim 
is to seek the best outcome for everyone. Discuss together, and come up 
with a better solution for everyone.
… By trying to understand the reasoning of others, by trying to listen 
to their experience, their dreams, we can see that in large part we 
share the same aspirations.


    Coming up with a broad platform of struggle to confront the crisis

7. Another challenge that must be tackled is coming up with a broad 
platform of struggle to confront the current crisis. I do not think that 
this can be a radical platform, because the Bolivarian process today is 
not strong enough to propose very profound changes. In these conditions, 
we cannot pretend to launch a successful offensive, which is not to say 
that we cannot advance in terms of state companies and communes along 
the lines Chávez proposed.


    Explaining difficulties to the people

8. Another challenge we confront is being capable of explaining to the 
people the difficulties that the country faces. There are those who 
think we do not have to tell the people the problems that exist because 
this can be disheartening. I believe the complete opposite: I am 
convinced that our peoples are sufficiently intelligent to understand 
and tighten their belts when necessary, if we are capable of clearly 
explaining to them the origins of the existing crisis, and honestly 
recognizing that the right is making use of the weaknesses and errors of 
Chavismo. Of course, this must be accompanied by the example of top 
leaders in the government and party: if they are asking the people to be 
austere, they should lead by example.


    What we did wrong and what we learned along the way

9. Lastly, just as no one can blame a recipe when a cake is burnt 
because the oven was too hot, no one can argue that the current 
difficulties Venezuela is passing through prove that the 21st century 
socialist project proposed by Chávez is unviable. What we need to 
seriously analyze is what we did wrong and what we have learnt along the 
way that we should not repeat. Many of these errors are understandable 
given that there are no pre-existing models that can indicate the path 
to follow. That is why we can say that many of the errors have been 
necessary. As Simón Bolívar’s teacher, Simón Rodríguez, said: we have to 
“invent in order to not err”.


    Form a cordon in defense of the Bolivarian revolutionary process

10. Venezuela kicked off the cycle of changes in Latin America. It was 
the rebirth of hope and of a form of governing focused on resolving the 
problems of the most underprivileged, understanding that the problem of 
poverty could only be resolved by giving power to the poor. It was the 
incarnation of solidarity with the fraternal peoples of the region who 
faced economic difficulties. Today, this country, which is suffering 
more than others from the impacts of the world crisis of capitalism and 
the economic war waged against it, and which is the focal point of 
aggression for reactionary forces around the world, deserves all our 
solidarity. Let us repay its noble and incredibly broad generosity with 
the poorest nations and peoples of the region and world by forming, 
together with all those who support the process, a cordon in defense of 
the Bolivarian revolutionary process.

11. To finish, I believe that we can be optimistic. Without doubt, 
Chávez’s legacy has marked his people and allowed them to mature, 
something I saw with my own eyes during the years that I lived in the 
country, and something that can be seen in the high vote obtained by 
Maduro in the recent elections. I believe that all these people, those 
who were given the opportunity to study, to think, to participate, to 
build, to decide — and that grew enormously in terms of self-confidence 
and human development — will defend the process. I have always said that 
the Venezuelan revolution should be measured less in terms of the 
transformational measures adopted — which are many — and more in terms 
of the growth of a revolutionary subject. This was Chávez’s achievement.

12. The process has committed errors and has many weaknesses — ones that 
I pointed out with a lot of pain at the time — but what he achieved with 
his people is something that no one will be able to ever erase!

Translated by Federico Fuentes for /Links International Journal of 
Socialist Renewal/.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20180703/d8730b76/attachment.htm>