Interesting post. We could have a long debate here because, although I share your diagnostic, I think your logic is fundamentally flawed. You try to impose a discoursive model on Venezuela that has nothing to do with the logics of power that underlie either politics, or language in my country.
I used to think like you a couple of years back. All I have to say now about the subject was published in our effort, "La revista". That's how I think language and politics work in Venezuela.
...You could've called it a "necessary illusion" and go down the Chomsky media theory lines...
...I think Capa's point is that in order to understand the present, we need a synchronic analysis of history that includes our past. I think his train of thought is the correct one: it distances itself from the autistic radical oppo stance where everything is "culpa de Chávez". He has a point: harassing the press? I remember Lusinchi beating journos with cabillas. Marches? My family was constantly gassed and chased in the 80s in the center of Caracas. So with that in mind and the logic of the petrostate, we can better understand where we are and maybe, just maybe, figure it out and move forward. It's very frustrating that everytime someone tries to advance a positive analysis like Capa, some people (not U Revbob, just in general) accuse you of being a traitor or a Chávez lover.
Kudos to Guido for an excellent piece. I really enjoyed the long read. Great work on the links too.
Guilty as charged! Of course, I read the headline before you posted the link so it was a really innocent gafaw. When I read it out loud to my girlfriend, she asked me if I was sure I wasn't on the Chigüire Bipolar page. She was dead serious. So I'm on Q's side on this one...
...If you use the budget to read into the Gov's priorities, following the previous commenters, you can get a pretty good picture of where the Gov stands regarding Public Universities and Research. Their budget was slashed in half. At the USB, my teacher friends tell me their departments already stopped subscriptions to international magazines and have significantly cut back on research.
From any point of view, developed country or not, cutting 50% of the education budget is pedagogical genocide. It's ridiculous and frustrating seeing people debate how expensive cleaning suits in Miraflores is, and just shrug off an organized political eutanasia of our Universities.
The real "jewel" is in the comments section of the Spanish version: Chavistas calling for a boicott... Of Michael Moore Films!
I never thought I see that in my lifetime...
I was talking about privatizations in the classic form and the weariness of southamerican societies towards them. Again: your proposal seems well-thought but I don't have the knowledge or technical training to be the judge of that. What I do know is the state of politics and discourse-representation, which leads us to believe that citizen's trust in governments and their policies are directly proportional with how legitimate they percieve their politicians to be. "People's patience" will be longer or shorter depending on this and social unrest comes about when said patience is worn down. Therefore, I really fear one of the biggest damages chavismo is creating in Venezuela is eroding people's belief in democracy. If homeboy does not deliver and come through on his message with concrete actions, a major crisis of democratic legitimacy will ensue, with disastrous consequences. In that framework, you could have the most brilliant idea ever and still be unable to apply it. That's why policies have to be grounded in a contingent context.
Looks scrumpcious. Glad you didn't marry a mexican chick or you'd be piling on the pounds right now...
Looking forward to the poisonous fish recipe that almost killed Homer Simpson ;-)
No, you're way of point. Klein paraphrases what is pretty much vox populi: that all the positive trends you mention came about *despite* and *against* the Chicago Boys' recommendations. For example, it is well known that Pinochet never privatized the copper industry (and that pretty much saved them). Well, this was completely going against Freidman and Sachs policies. All the social safety net you mention -and I agree, it really helps-, was established against the free market liberals who were screaming those were bad ideas. This is a well documented fact. *That's why* I'm weary to a one-sided approach, or an abstract, "privatizing is good/bad" principle.
Cheers.
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Ruckus