From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Thu Sep 21 2006 - 08:28:26 EDT
Standing in front of a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, President Hugo Chavez told a forum yesterday at Cooper Union, in the East Village of Manhattan, that "capitalism is the road to hell". The forum occurred the evening of his historic speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations. That speech was widely reported on in New York City: WCBS News compared it to Khrushchev's shoe-tapping speech before the United Nations. That was the speech in which he said that "the Devil" (George W. Bush) was in the same room the day before and in which delegates from around the world gave him an enthusiastic standing ovation. He also referred in the Forum to Bush in a similar vein -- noting that where Bush went there were also what Chavez called "whiffs of sulfur" near him (he must have liked that metaphor because it was repeated a few times -- much to the pleasure of the audience). In the packed-to-capacity forum in the Auditorium at Cooper Union (a liberal arts college), he explained that because capitalism was "privatizing everything" and waging and reproducing global poverty, it represented the "kingdom of inequality" and the "kingdom of injustice." Chavez went on to claim that capitalism represented a threat to the survival of the species. In this regard, he cited Noam Chomsky's "great book", _Hegemony or Survival?_. "Capitalism destroys everything", Chavez said. In opposition to that "destructive model", the Bolivarians in Venezuela have "raised our flags for socialism". He spoke briefly of "21st Century Socialism" and claimed that in Latin America it would be based on Christian spirituality but would also in Venezuela embrace "African socialism" and "Caribbean socialism". His speech had an unambiguous anti-imperialist and internationalist content. He spoke with passion against the US-led occupation of Iraq and the recent Israeli war against Lebanon. He talked about the assault on Fallujah by the US military -- an assault in which he claimed chemical and biological weapons were used. When he then said with emotion in his voice that "the President of the United States must be charged with genocide" he practically brought the house down with a thunderous standing ovation. He spent a lot of the talk discussing two topics. The first was education. He spoke with pride about the recent successes with spreading education throughout Venezuela. While the UN recommended that nations spend about 7% of GDP on education, about 10% of GDP was being spent on education in Venezuela. But, he went on to explain how GDP under-values education. He emphasized the spread of educational initiatives for groups ranging in age from toddlers to the elderly. Venezuela, he said, "has turned into a Cooper Union" (i.e. a site of higher educational learning): "More than 60% of the [Venezuelan] population is studying", he proudly said. The other message delivered at length was an address to the people of the United States. It was an explanation of how his remarks were not "anti-American" but were in opposition to the current _government_ of the United States. He spoke about the US with some knowledge of its traditions and folklores and explained that you can respect and love the people of a nation even while condemning its government. Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain were held up as models to the US people. "Continue with Abraham Lincoln's thoughts", he said. He also urged everyone to read Mark Twain's books and quoted from an impassioned anti-imperialist message which Twain had penned. Harry Bellefonte, who introduced Chavez and is almost 80-years-old, was held up as a model for US citizens as was "superwoman", Angela Davis. I was not happy, though, with his model for a future US president -- Jimmy Carter (neither, apparently, was most of the audience who simply reacted politely to that part of the talk). He should have stuck to lauding Lincoln. Fidel Castro was 'in the house' at least in spirit. Chavez spoke about his health and his recent meeting with him. When his name was mentioned, the crowd of New Yorkers chanted "Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!". Chavez said that one reason he was making more international appearances was to fill in for the breach for Castro. He had told Castro to rest and get better and that the world needed him to live. "Who said I was going to die?", Castro retorted. One did get the sense of listening to a person who realized that he had an important historical role to play now in the world and that he thought he was following in the footsteps of Fidel and other revolutionaries before him. One of those revolutionaries who Chavez identified with, Francisco de Miranda, was especially singled out for honor last night. Miranda had a long and colorful revolutionary career, including being a fighter in the War of Independence by the 13 colonies against the British empire. Although everyone had to go through a metal detector and bags were inspected by officers of the NYPD (a small pair of scissors were confiscated and I was asked to drink from a container of water from my backpack: obviously, the officer suspected poison or acid or ....) my only criticism of the event was the security. While there were security guards surrounding Chavez and spaced throughout the auditorium, it was just too easy in my opinion to get a ticket: many (including myself) were able to simply show up before the event started and get a ticket to attend simply by showing a picture identification card (which was then recorded) and by looking the woman giving out tickets directly in the eyes and saying "Long live Hugo Chavez! [she stared into my eyes, though, before handing me the ticket]. While I was a beneficiary of this, I believe that Chavez just has too many enemies for such a lax security policy. The speech -- which like his speech before the UN was not prepared in advance -- was not one of Chavez's greatest pieces of oratory. At times it was rambling and repetitive. The reason for this, though, became apparent from his description of his schedule that day. The speech ended well after 11 PM. I wonder how he has the energy to do this day after day. He clearly has a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and endurance. Most of all, you could sense the commitment that he has to a social cause and the awareness of the important and historic role that he must play in a global anti-capitalist movement. It was obvious, from his interaction with the crowd, that he was buoyed by his audience. But, really, he needs to follow his own advice to Fidel and slow down. I doubt if he will, though. He is on a mission and he has a message which he wants the world to hear. Viva Hugo Chavez! In solidarity, Jerry
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