Re: [OPE] Venezuela etc

Jerry: "I am struck by an irony: many of the "anti-authoritarian" leftists are willing to accept the HRW claims without any evidence whatsoever."

Jerry is misrepresenting the views of most of the anti-authoritarian left, my own included. Without sufficient evidence and reasoning, we don't accept the claims made by either HRW or by the Chavez government; neither do we automatically dismiss them. We deal with these claims as we deal with any others, ie, by carefully looking into them.

If Chavez and his supporters were so confident that all of the HRW claims are false, they would have no problem with this.

"Just as corporations and the wealthy can hire "expert" witnesses to say whatever they want, so too can states like the US. The "impartiality of witnesses would certainly be taken into consideration by any jury".

The jury would also take into consideration the partiality of the Venezuelan state.

Paul B: "NOT that you should abstain from a discussion, but that the discussion should NOT be based on very abstract and unclear notions of 'freedoms' and 'rights'... OK?"

This is why I am considering specific claims. On that basis, I hope we can now have a truce on this.

"All of them broke their employment contracts."

And this is supposed to prove exactly what? We all know that employment contracts are not neutral documents, and we don't automatically support the employer when protesting workers break their contracts. Clearly this whole episode needs to be investigated more closely. I intend to do so as soon as I have the chance, and will pass on any findings.

Paula

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Received on Mon Sep 29 17:53:20 2008