On Mon, 31 Oct 2005, Chuck0 wrote:
> Ah yes, Chavez is starting to look like just another tin horn dictator who
> thinks he has the right to tell his people how to live their lives. Now
> he's adopted a position roughly similar to the American religious right
> which also wants to kill Halloween.
Well that's not quite fair. He's very pro Day of the Dead. He just thinks that's authentic and Halloween is soulless and commodified. It's by no means a deep position nor one I could possibly endorse, but it's nothing like the American religious right's view.
I think this is jsut him playing to the politics of Venezuela, where the newer foreign customs are more cool among the richer whiter people who don't vote for him, and the traditional customs are more lively among the poorer darker people who do.
Michael