[lbo-talk] paranoia

Eric Beck ersatzdog at gmail.com
Thu Jun 18 10:34:41 PDT 2009



> Sorry, I think Carrol is basically right (shorn of the macho language).
> "Chavez's persecution mania knows no bounds" is not just a comment about a
> specific incident (response to Iranian election results). If Chavez has an
> opinion, about exactly one situation, that turns out to be wrong, it
> wouldn't be a "persecution mania". And when you tack on "knows no bounds"
> its pretty clear that the author believes that this particular case is an
> extreme example of an existing ailment.
>
> It is saddening to see us use right-wing terms like these, which are
> intended to shortcut substantial thinking.

Please. The U.S. stance toward Venezuela, except for the 2002 coup and especially since then--and even that, as Arbenz and Allende could tell you, was a pretty halfassed effort--has been marked more by tolerance than anything else. That is, when it hasn't been indifferent to the developments there. There are probably many reasons for this--other priorities, inability to pull off a counterrevolution because of diplomatic constraints, etc.--but at least part of the reason is that the U.S. realizes its "interests" are not threatened by Venezuela. The occasional mildly belligerent statement by U.S. officials only acts as a reminder that the U.S. has been relatively unconcerned with Chavez.

But this has done nothing to relieve Chavez--and when I say "Chavez," I don't of course just mean the person--of the feeling that the U.S. is out to get him. It's as if every moment of silence from the U.S. is a provocation, more evidence of subterfuge. You can see this most obviously in his louder and more frequent statements, especially since 2004, about U.S. imperialism and the like. But the fear that he will be overthrown is evidenced in his actions: the increasing importance of the military to the revolution, his desire to become president for life, his dissolving of independent unions in the name of "cooperatives," the unification of parties, etc. All while the U.S. ignores him.



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