Reply #5: Marc Cooper (Allende's translator) on Hugo

[mike098762001]

http://marccooper.com/arendt-v-chavez/
Arendt V. Chavez

As a two-story high inflatable statue of himself was rolled out for the occasion, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez unveiled plans that would allow his perpetual re-election. This seems to be the one glaring flaw in the Castro-Chavez model: you build a society full of the New Socialist Man but then you find among the millions of new revolutionaries only one of them is deemed fit to govern in perpetuity. Back to the drawing board, comrade.

You'd think that with the abject failure of the Cuban model to build anything resembling democracy, sincere leftists would be smart enough to not go down the same road in boosting Chavez. But then again, you'd think after a simple viewing of Lawrence of Arabia, the Neocons would have abandoned any notion of nation-building in Iraq. Oh well, ideology is a powerful intoxicant no matter the brand.

Meanwhile, I came across one of the most thoughtful pieces to date on Chavez. Especially in relation to that species of thinking university students who the President-Forever simply brands as imperialist tools. The piece is penned by Hannah Arendt's biographer who just returned from Caracas. Let the ad hominem commence!

Update: I love this posting on Chavez. (Hat tip to Michael Pugliese). Wonderful!