I think that the "left" is more skeptical than the weblogger at "Slaves of Academe" seems to maintain. One can have sympathy for some of the political changes in Venezuela and oppose U.S. interference and still remain skeptical about Chavez himself.
I remember during the 1980s, in a series of articles in Dissent magazine, Paul Berman painted all of the anti-contra left as engaging in a form of Che-chic. We were deluded supporters of authoritarianism etc. His portrait of those of us in the Central American Solidarity movement did not fit anyone that I knew.
The title of the entry at Slaves of Academe (SoA) is "We Don't Need Another Hero."
This reminds me of the famous exchange from Bertolt Brecht's Galileo... "Unhappy the land that breeds no hero," says the character after Galileo's recantation. Galileo replies, "No, 'Unhappy the land that needs a hero.'" I think that this almost captures a certain situation of the left that the author at SoA is trying to capture. The "left" is a often a land that seems to need a hero, especially in times of retreat. Like most human beings we will often give into our version of the 'star-system' and the notion that heroes make history. This is simply a tendency for all human beings and the left is not exempt from this tendency. We must hope that our view of the world makes us also wish to work against such tendencies to make "stars", heroes, or to engage in a cults of personality of any kind.
For instance Michael Albert's trip to Venezuela might be considered "tourism" but he does try to find out what is happening and define the good and the bad. One quote will do as an illustration:
"The centrality of a single leader, at least that it is Hugo Chavez, seems to be a highly unexpected benefit. Chavez, so far, has not just been congenial and inspiring, audacious and courageous, willing to step outside every box and implement program after program, experimenting and learning, but has also shown remarkable restraint in utilizing the accoutrements of central power and has even been a key source of anti-authoritarian influence. At the same time, it is also true that the centrality of a single leader, Hugo Chavez, though perhaps unavoidable, is also a debit. The leader could turn bad, or could disappear, and at this point either turn of events would be calamitous. A related problem is the lack of a serious opposition on the left. Revolution benefits from disagreement, debate, and diversity, but those attributes have trouble arising amidst a siege mentality. One wonders who will succeed Chavez, and how the people will succeed the leaders, unless there is massive popular education in leadership and the revolution's aims." (see http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=9067 )
Ultimately, I think that Albert gets some things wrong. I am suspicious of all leaders even the ones I "support". But the fundamental question for a citizen of the United States is preventing (or at least limiting) U.S. intervention in Latin America. Personally, I think, given the massive intervention of the U.S. government and the U.S. economic system in Latin America, it is irrelevant, for us, what kind of leader Chavez is.... We must on the U.S. left try to oppose the systems of political and economic domination that originate in the U.S. and thus space for those in Latin America to develop their own solutions.
The problem of Che-chic is a problem for those of us on the left to deal with in our own way. It is true that Che is the James Dean of the left. This is something to worry about, but it is also something to worry about that we live in a society that needs to have a "James Dean."
Jerry Monaco
-- Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture Weblog is Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy, and Culture http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/
His fiction, poetry, weblog is Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/
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