[OPE] Venezuela is the most democratic country in Latin America

From: Gerald Levy <jerry_levy@verizon.net>
Date: Tue Feb 10 2009 - 21:19:41 EST

> I agreed with the original article that present conditions are likely to lead to serious assaults on democratic
> rights. BTW, the left will hardly be in a position to object if it's going to support such assaults in places like
> Venezuela.

Paula:

What the heck are you talking about? In recent years (under President Chavez), Venezuela has been probably
the MOST democratic country in Latin America. It has CERTAINLY been FAR more democratic than the USA!
The assaults on democratic rights in Venezuela that have occurred have been staged by the "opposition" (i.e. the
OPPONENTS of democracy and the defenders of the elite and the oligarchy in the country, as
well as the puppets of US imperialism).

> Overall, society over the last hundred years has become more democratic, not less (one only has to
> mention the example of women's rights to prove this point), and it will be much harder for the authorities
> to sell some of the more barbaric 'solutions' they have employed in the past. This is to our advantage, and
> one of the many things we can thank imperialism for.

What??? We should "thank imperialism" for the women's movement??? We should "thank imperialism"
for the extension of rights for working people? I suppose the Vietnamese and Cuban people should "thank
imperialism" as well? NO! We should not thank them for ANY of this! We should thank and celebrate the people
who struggled for these rights and gains - often at great risk and suffering and even death - and who were opposed
every step of the way by imperialism!

In solidarity, Jerry

_______________________________________________
ope mailing list
ope@lists.csuchico.edu
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
Received on Tue Feb 10 21:21:44 2009

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Mar 24 2009 - 20:30:37 EDT