Message to the Venezuelan Opposition: Sorry, Suckers

[Joanne98]

Message to the Venezuelan Opposition: Sorry, Suckers

Looks like Chavez has the campaign for constitutional reform in the bag




Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attends a campaign rally in the Andean state of Tachira November 28, 2007. (Ho-Miraflores Palace/Reuters)

By Justin Delacour

November 29, 2007

Anyone who knows anything about Venezuelan polling knows that the pollster Germán Campos does not mess around. Every electoral projection I've seen from him has proven accurate. In fact, of all his electoral projections that I've seen, none has overestimated Chavez's margin of victory.

Unlike the rest of Venezuela's pollsters, Campos understands the basic principle that partisan politics and political polling do not mix. (As you might have recognized by now, I could never get into the business of polling because I wear my politics on my sleeve, just as Venezuela's opposition pollsters do).

If Campos has the "Yes" campaign up by 16 points among likely voters, you can pretty much rest assured that "No" is going down.

The problem right now is that a number of openly opposition pollsters appear to be cooking their numbers in favor of the "No" campaign so as to either increase opposition turnout in the Sunday referendum or to lay the groundwork for claims of "fraud" in the aftermath of another impending defeat. For some time, the concern among the opposition pollsters has been that some in the opposition's ranks would abstain from the vote. Thus, the strategy of the opposition pollsters is to fluff their numbers at the last minute so as to either boost morale among their ranks (and thereby boost their side's turnout) or to lay the groundwork for claims of "fraud." We can get a glimpse of what's happening by contrasting Datanalisis' cooked numbers with what the firm's director actually says about the probable outcome of the vote.

Of course, not all the opposition pollsters would be employing such an unethical strategy if Chavez's advantage were as great as it was in, say, the 2006 presidential race. Some opposition pollsters are doing this because they think they can make it a close race and thereby boost the opposition's long-term political prospects in the process. Indeed, Chavez's side will not win by as large of a margin as he did in the 2006 presidential election. (Chavez won 63 percent of the vote in that election).

Nevertheless, in all likelihood, Chavez's side will win. For the most part, Chavistas will not cross over to the other side in a vote on the constitutional reforms because the base of the "No" campaign is much more repellent to most Chavistas than whatever problems some might see in the reforms.

Moreover, the opposition needs to learn some basic math. As Bloomberg recently reported, Venezuela has now undergone fifteen straight quarters of robust economic expansion. I doubt very seriously that any Latin American population would vote against a sitting government that has overseen fifteen straight quarters of robust economic expansion. Amidst such propitious socio-economic conditions, governments don't lose political fights.
http://lanr.blogspot.com/2007/11/message-to-venezuelan-opposition-sorry.html

[mike098762001]

1. [Marxism] The Battle for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela

http://www.marxmail.org/msg34181.html

[Joanne98]

2. Risk of Deceptions in Venezuelan Referendum, CEPR Warns

Recent History Shows Use of Fake Polls, Other Efforts to Undermine Credibility of Electoral Process

For Immediate Release: November 28, 2007
Contact: Dan Beeton, 202-293-5380 x104

WASHINGTON, D.C. - There is a significant risk that fraudulent polls and other deceptions will be used to challenge the results of Venezuela's referendum, if proposed constitutional reforms are approved this Sunday, according to Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) economist and Co-Director Mark Weisbrot.

"The international media has not always exercised due diligence in its reporting on polling data and elections in Venezuela," said Weisbrot, who has authored papers on previous elections there.

"This opens up the possibility for the use of fake polling, as was done in the last (2004) referendum, to cast doubt on the results if the proposed constitutional reforms are approved," he said.

In 2004, the influential U.S. polling firm Penn, Schoen, and Berland published fake exit polls on the day of the Presidential recall referendum, showing President Hugo Chávez losing by a 59-41 margin.(1) The actual results, which were certified by observer missions from the Organization of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, showed the opposite, with Chávez winning by a margin of 58 to 41 percent.(2)

The fake exit polls were not the only dubious polls that plagued the last referendum. Most of the pre-election polls in 2004 showed the race "too close to call." Although these were conducted by opposition pollsters, most of the international media accepted them in their reporting. As CEPR demonstrated at the time, it is extremely unlikely that a properly conducted poll could have shown a result that was "too close to call."

The election's credibility was also attacked by a widely-cited statistical paper(3) purporting to show evidence of fraud. CEPR showed that this analysis was deeply flawed and provided no such evidence; the Carter Center later commissioned an independent panel of statisticians from U.S. universities, which confirmed CEPR's finding and concluded that there was no statistical evidence of fraud.(4)

Nonetheless, the Wall Street Journal and some Latin American media outlets used this paper and the fake exit polls to claim that the referendum was actually stolen through a clever electronic fraud.(5)

On this basis of such analysis and fake exit polls, most of the opposition rejected the results of the 2004 referendum, and went on to boycott the 2005 national elections.

In the 2006 Presidential election, Penn, Schoen and Berland once again produced questionable polling data showing the race to be in a " very close" just before the election. Other pollsters, including Zogby International, showed an 18-29 point spread favoring Chávez.(6) According to the Miami Herald, this led to the sudden departure of Doug Schoen – who was responsible for the Venezuela polling – on the eve of the election.(7) Chávez won the presidency by a margin of 63 to 37 percent.

"The international media's reporting on the current referendum so far is not encouraging," Weisbrot said. He noted that on November 7th, "almost all of the U.S. and international press reported that pro-Chávez gunmen had fired on a crowd of peaceful protesters returning from a demonstration against the reforms.(8) We now know that this is not at all what happened."(9)

Weisbrot also noted that the media has given wide coverage to a poll by Datanalisis this week showing a defeat for the proposed reforms.(10) The firm's longstanding ties to the opposition, and its serious polling errors in the last referendum, were not mentioned in the press.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Center for Economic and Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. CEPR's Advisory Board of Economists includes Nobel Laureate economists Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz; Richard Freeman, Professor of Economics at Harvard University; and Eileen Appelbaum, Professor and Director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University.
http://www.cepr.net/content/view/1372/77/

[Joanne98]

3. CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2914

Last night CNN en Español aired the above image, which captions at the bottom "Who Killed him?" by "accident". The image of President Chavez with the caption about killing him below, which some could say subliminally incites to assassination, was a "production error" mistakenly made in the CNN en Español newsroom. The news anchor had been narrarating a story about the situation between Colombia and Venezuela and then switched to a story about an unsolved homicide but - oops - someone forgot to change the screen image and President Chavez was left with the killing statement below. Today they apologized and admitted it was a rather "unfortunate" and "regrettable" mistake. Yes, it was.

On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has been obtained by Venezuelan counterintelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas that reveals a very sinister - almost fantastical, were it not true - plan to destabilize Venezuela during the coming days. The plan, titled "OPERATION PLIERS" was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington. Steere is stationed at the US Embassy in Caracas under the guise of a Regional Affairs Officer. The internal memorandum, dated November 20, 2007, references the "Advances of the Final Stage of Operation Pliers", and confirms that the operation is coordinated by the team of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in Venezuela. The memo summarizes the different scenarios that the CIA has been working on in Venezuela for the upcoming referendum vote on December 2nd. The Electoral Scenario, as it's phrased, confirms that the voting tendencies will not change substantially before Sunday, December 2nd, and that the SI (YES) vote in favor of the constitutional reform has an advantage of about 10-13 points over the NO vote. The CIA estimates abstention around 60% and states in the memo that this voting tendency is irreversible before the elections.

Officer Steere emphasizes the importance and success of the public relations and propaganda campaign that the CIA has been funding with more than $8 million during the past month - funds that the CIA confirms are transfered through the USAID contracted company, Development Alternatives, Inc., which set up operations in June 2002 to run the USAID Office for Transition Initiatives that funds and advises opposition NGOs and political parties in Venezuela. The CIA memo specifically refers to these propaganda initiatives as "psychological operations" (PSYOPS), that include contracting polling companies to create fraudulent polls that show the NO vote with an advantage over the SI vote, which is false. The CIA also confirms in the memo that it is working with international press agencies to distort the data and information about the referendum, and that it coordinates in Venezuela with a team of journalists and media organized and directed by the President of Globovision, Alberto Federico Ravell.

CIA Officer Michael Steere recommends to General Michael Hayden two different strategies to work simultaneously: Impede the referendum and refuse to recognize the results once the SI vote wins. Though these strategies appear contradictory, Steere claims that they must be implemented together precisely to encourage activities that aim toward impeding the referendum and at the same time prepare the conditions for a rejection of the results.

How is this to be done?

In the memo, the CIA proposes the following tactics and actions:

Take the streets and protest with violent, disruptive actions across the nation
Generate a climate of ungovernability
Provoke a general uprising in a substantial part of the population
Engage in a "plan to implode" the voting centers on election day by encouraging opposition voters to "VOTE and REMAIN" in their centers to agitate others
Start to release data during the early hours of the afternoon on Sunday that favor the NO vote (in clear violation of election regulations)
Coordinate these activities with Ravell & Globovision and international press agencies
Coordinate with ex-militar officers and coupsters Pena Esclusa and Guyon Cellis - this will be done by the Military Attache for Defense and Army at the US Embassy in Caracas, Office of Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO)

To encourage rejection of the results, the CIA proposes:

Creating an acceptance in the public opinion that the NO vote will win for sure
Using polling companies contracted by the CIA
Criticize and discredit the National Elections Council
Generate a sensation of fraud
Use a team of experts from the universities that will talk about how the data from the Electoral Registry has been manipulated and will build distrust in the voting system

The CIA memo also talks about:

Isolating Chavez in the international community
Trying to achieve unity amongst the opposition
Seek an aliance between those abstentionists and those who will vote "NO"
Sustain firmly the propaganda against Chavez
Execute military actions to support the opposition mobilizations and propagandistic occupations
Finalize the operative preparations on the US military bases in Curacao and Colombia to provide support to actions in Venezuela
Control a part of the country during the next 72-120 hours
Encourage a military rebellion inside the National Guard forces and other components

Those involved in these actions as detailed in the CIA memo are:

The CIA Office in Venezuela - Office of Regional Affairs, and Officer Michael Steere
US Embassy in Venezuela, Ambassador Patrick Duddy
Office of Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO) at the US Embassy in Caracas and Military Attache Richard Nazario
Venezuelan Political Parties:

Comando Nacional de la Resistencia
Accion Democratica
Primero Justicia
Bandera Roja

Media:

Alberto Federico Ravell & Globovision
Interamerican Press Society (IAPA) or SIP in Spanish
International Press Agencies

Venezuelans:

Pena Esclusa
Guyon Cellis
Dean of the Simon Bolivar University, Rudolph Benjamin Podolski
Dean of the Andres Bello Catholic University, Ugalde
Students: Yon Goicochea, Juan Mejias, Ronel Gaglio, Gabriel Gallo, Ricardo Sanchez

Operation Tenaza has the objective of encouraging an armed insurrection in Venezuela against the government of President Chavez that will justify an intervention of US forces, stationed on the military bases nearby in Curacao and Colombia. The Operation mentions two countries in code: as Blue and Green. These refer to Curacao and Colombia, where the US has operative, active and equipped bases that have been reinforced over the past year and a half in anticipation of a conflict with Venezuela.

The document confirms that psychological operations are the CIA's best and most effective weapon to date against Venezuela, and it will continue its efforts to influence international public opinion regarding President Chavez and the situation in the country.

Operation Tenaza is a very alarming plan that aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow (again) its legitimate and democratic (and very popularly support) president. The plan will fail, primarily because it has been discovered, but it must be denounced around the world as an unacceptable violation of Venezuela's sovereignty.

The original document in English will be available in the public sphere soon for viewing and authenticating purposes. And it also contains more information than has been revealed here.

For the full text in Spanish, see: Operación Tenaza: Informe confidencial de la CIA devela plan de saboteo al referéndum del 2 de diciembre

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2914

[mike098762001]

5. Is “Operacion Tenazas” disinformation from the Venezuelan government? « Mercury Rising

http://phoenixwoman.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/is-operacion-tenazas-disinformation-from-the-venezuelan-government/
Charley points us toward a post by Larry Johnson discounting the report. Larry says:

State Department officers do not write memos to Hayden. Particularly mid-level Foreign Service Officers. A CIA officer under diplomatic cover sends his communications to headquarters via an encoded message. We call these messages cables, harkening back to the days of telegraphs and telegrams.

This, in my judgment, is the work–very clumsy work at that–of the Venezuelan intelligence service eager to build on the truth that the United States has sought to oust Chavez.

This is probably correct. There are a number of things about the memo that raise questions, such as:

1. How would it have been intercepted?
2. Why would it have been routed from a field officer directly to the head of the CIA?
3. Why is there only one name on the distribution list?
4. Why did the Venezuelan government not supply a photocopy of the original in English?
5. There’s phrasing that seems odd, such as “a group called Red Flag, long a sworn enemy of our interests in the country.” or “We have reaped the greatest successes in the spheres of propaganda and psychological operations, to the point that in the last weeks, we have imposed our agenda and dominated the publicity scene.” Cables tend to be dry and operationally oriented (See, for example this from Operation Condor).
6. There is extraordinary discussion of individual personalities and a numbered bank account, details that would be unusual for communication to one of the top figures in government.

So, there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical about it.

[Joanne98]

8. Why don't you go over to Free Republic. They're supporting the opposition .

DUer's are pretty much immune to Right-wing propaganda! In other words, you're wasting your time!

[mike098762001]

10. heh

you don't even look at what i've sent...do you have no sense about the pluralist opinions on the US Left about Chavismo?

[Joanne98]

11. You can't fool me, I've read The Shock Doctrine. Now go away please!

[paulk]

26. yes, it's true

everyone who doesn't subscribe to the exact same belief system as you

is a right winger.


-----------------------


:crazy:

[Igel]

21. C'mon.

Surely you're not saying that freepers have a lock on critical thinking and recognizing the dangers of their own confirmation bias?

Or that critical thinking is a right-wing trait?

Why, that would be ludicrous. In the extreme.

[Joanne98]

4. Venezuelan Government Uncovers Video of Opposition Destabilization Plan

Caracas, November 30, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)- Venezuelan Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon presented a video revealing the opposition strategy of destabilization for Sunday's referendum at a press conference on Thursday. In the video, opposition leaders call on their supporters to reject the results of the referendum and to take part in nation-wide protests to overturn the constitutional reform. Two opposition leaders are being investigated for inciting violence and calling on supporters to break the law.

In the video that has been posted on the internet at various web pages, including YouTube, leaders of the Venezuelan opposition can be seen speaking to supporters in a church in Caracas, calling on supporters to create "pockets of protest" all over the country after the national vote this Sunday.

"It is a more efficient mechanism that generates a political crisis and a crisis of instability that forces the regime to withdraw the reform," says opposition leader Alejandro Peña Esclusa in the video. Esclusa insists that the plan for massive protests must be a group effort all across the nation, making the government unable to control it.

Alongside Esclusa is opposition mayor Leopoldo Lopez, who also speaks in the video, making the case that the electoral results cannot be trusted, but he does not give explicit support for the destabilization plan.

"The worst part," said Minister Chacón, "is that the mayor of Chacao and leader of Un Nuevo Tiempo appears in the video. We'd like to know if Mr. Leopoldo López will tell the nation that he does not believe what Esclusa says, and that if the CNE says that the reforms are approved, if he will respect the results."

Chacón stated that he was not surprised upon seeing Lopez in the video and assured that he and Exclusa are not democrats, but rather "fascists." He also accused the bishops of the Catholic Church of endorsing the destabilization plans of Esclusa and called on the Venezuelan Catholic hierarchy to reflect on their use of the church to hold these kinds of meetings, and incite the Venezuelan people to the use of violence.

"How is it possible that the temple of God be used to incite violence?" asked Chacón. "The pulpit should be used to call for peace, not for violence."

As a result of the finding, the Venezuelan government launched an investigation of two opposition leaders, Alejandro Peña Esclusa and Carlos Guyón Celis, for publishing various videos online that incite violence. Government intelligence will investigate the two leaders for their involvement in calling on sectors of society to not recognize the results of the national vote on Sunday and to break the law.

Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez denied the accusations of the Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon and assured that he does not agree with the plans of Esclusa.

"It is not true that I said to not recognize the electoral results, or to create protests in that meeting," said Lopez. "On the contrary, I had a different position than Peña Esclusa, who didn't want people to go vote. I have always been working in favor of voting."

Minister Chacón called on all Venezuelans to respect the electoral process on Sunday, and to respect the results, no matter what they are.

"I imagine that the Venezuelan people that vote ‘yes' and ‘no' are going to respect the results. Because if not, what they are preparing is a situation of destabilization and violence on the night of December 2nd, which the government is not going to permit."

"We are not going to permit a situation of destabilization and violence on December 2nd," assured Chacón. "We are going to respect the results on Sunday, whatever they are."

Link to destabilization plan video (in Spanish)

Source URL: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2937
Printed: December 1st 2007

[mike098762001]

7. THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED is a propaganda film designed to distort

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3378761249364089950&total=37&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3

[Joanne98]

9. It is not a propaganda film but yours is!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

12. That's really not going to work here.

You might have gotten an E for effort if you had bothered to state a few reasons why you think it's propaganda, but just putting up a link for a film made my Chavez opponents is not going to help you, especially one with mis-spelled subtitles. :eyes:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised_(documentary)
X-Ray of a Lie claims that they were shooting towards the opposition rally. It claims that the first scene of the shooters shown in the documentary happened between 4:30 to 5:00 in the afternoon (Frame 1) when the crowd was nearby. This does not contradict The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. However, X-Ray of a Lie claims that the second scene, when the streets were empty, happened either between 1:00 and 1:30 or around 5:30.

According to Urgelles and Schalk, calculations of the shadows on the bridge indicate that the second scene took place between 1:00 and 1:30, and that the existence of blood stains on the bridge, and the shadows of both humans and the surrounding buildings as proof that the time of the video showing the empty street was most likely taken about 5:30 in the afternoon. While the two claims are contradictory, they argue that whichever time it was, the two scenes were not shot close together.

The documentary rebutting this, Puente Llaguno: Claves de una Masacre by Angel Palacios's, presents a corroboration of the arguments shown in "The Revolution will not be Televised". Using a similar camera angle from an amateur handycam, the film uses movement synchronization to show that both the Venevisión video and the handycam were shot at the same time: the second pans out showing shooters on the other side of the bridge firing at a Metropolitan police armored vehicle. Puente Llaguno was shown on Venezolana de Televisión.

Puente Llaguno also presents testimony from the shooters in which they claimed they were not firing at the marchers but only at the Metropolitan police. "X-ray of a Lie" argues that the armored vehicle was part of the "police force protecting the marchers retreat" (35m57s, "X-Ray of a Lie"). The documentary Puente Llaguno argues that the last death in the Avenue below happened 43 minutes before the shooting was timestamped.

The two scenes in question were taken by a journalistic team from Venevisión, which was awarded the King of Spain’s Journalism Prize for this report.

[Joanne98]

6. Read about Venezuela's Constitutional Reform!

Venezuelan Constitutional Reform
Key Articles on Venezuela's Constitutional Reform
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/constreform

Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform: An Article-by-Article Summary November 23rd 2007, by Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com
What is Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform Really About? November 23rd 2007, by Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com
Reforming Venezuela's Constitution November 20th 2007, by Bernardo Alvarez Herrera
Of Submarines and Loose Screws: A Chávez Ally Jumps the Divider November 17th 2007, by George Chicariello-Maher
Venezuela: Between Ballots and Bullets November 15th 2007, by James Petras - Axis of Logic
Source URL: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/constreform
Printed: December 1st 2007

[Joanne98]

13. kick

[Joanne98]

14. Here's a chart of the anti-Chavez oposition!

[Judi Lynn]

15. That's so good! I'm saving this thread for posterity! Ha ha ha. n/t

[Joanne98]

17. LOL

:hi:

[Joanne98]

16. Evil maggot oil speculators hoping for a crisis in Venezuela!

As politics in Venezuela get dicey, oil may rise again
Posted Dec 1st 2007 1:40PM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: Forecasts, Venezuela, Politics, Oil

Hugo Chávez, the head of Venezuela, is hardly the most stable leader of a large nation. He may rank with Kim Jong il of North Korea in a race for odd-ball national presidents.

The mental state of the chief of a South American country may not seem terribly important until, that is, he threatens to cut off the supply of oil to the U.S. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "in a fiery speech before tens of thousands, President Hugo Chávez alleged the U.S. was planning to sabotage a vote Sunday on proposed constitutional changes and threatened to cut off oil shipments if Washington did so."

The odds that the CIA or some other organization is actually trying to mess with the elections in Venezuela are fairly small. But, given the history of the American intelligence community, they cannot be ruled out altogether.

Humor aside, if Mr. Chávez does make good on his threat, even if only because he is mad, the effect could be much greater than the explosion last week on one of the oil pipelines between Canada and the U.S. Hugo can take the price of a barrel of crude up to $100 all by himself.

As December rolls in, oil watchers will be turning their attention south. Oil's assault on $100 was turned back last week, but that was not the end of it.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/12/01/as-politics-in-venezuela-get-dicey-oil-may-rise-again/

[Joanne98]

18. Watch "No Volveran - The Venezuelan Revolution Now"

http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/venezuela_dvd_no_volveran.htm

From the makers of the Hands Off Venezuela film 'Solidarity', and the Sanitarios Maracay short film series, comes 'No Volverán - The Venezuelan Revolution Now', an exciting feature length documentary about the Venezuelan Revolution. In this in-depth investigation the film makers take us on a journey through the fervor of the Presidential Elections in December 2006, traveling deep into the shanty towns (barrios), and to several factories under workers' control, to find out why there is a movement to over-through Capitalism, what Socialism of the 21st Century is, and how it is changing people's lives. Community activists show us around their neighborhoods in the barrios to see first hand how difficult life is for the urban poor. Residents tell us how they used to struggle daily against poverty, crime and police brutality. They felt abandoned by previous governments, and when they tried to organise they were often oppressed. But life here has clearly changed. We meet Guadalupe, a member of staff at a new community centre, which was formally a police station and a place of repression. She tells us the amazing story of how the surrounding residents joined together, evicted the police force and occupied the building. After a long struggle, with the help of a revolutionary city mayor, they took it over and converted it into their own radio station with education and training facilities. Oscar Negrin along with other activists explain to us how much of this is now possible due to a new revolutionary form of participatory democracy; that of the Communal Councils.

The film makers also meet the international delegation of Hands Off Venezuela members, and travel with them to several factories including Sanitarios Maracay, a ceramics factory under workers' control. It is here where we embark on a touching journey with these brave workers in their campaign for full nationalisation under workers' control. We attend one of their workers' assemblies, where we learn more about how the workers take decisions, and how they organise collectively. We also learn more about how they were exploited by the old boss, a supporter of the 2002 coup, who is trying to sabotage their attempt to run the factory on their own. Their campaign for full nationalisation is the first of its kind in Venezuela, and requires concerted effort. We follow the workers to Caracas for a dramatic demonstration that marches to parliament and the presidential palace. As it rolls through the smoky streets of Caracas, the demonstration is met by applause from surrounding street-side workers excited by the militancy of the march. It culminates at parliament with a huge crowd of cheering workers that forces members of parliament out to meet Sanitarios Maracay to discuss their campaign. An amazing spectacle.

Following these workers and others, the film takes us on a journey through the politics of past and present. Francisco Rivero, National Director of Ideology of the Movement for Direct Democracy, takes us through the different stages of the revolution, and explains that Socialism of the 21st century is a complete break from many of the previous so-called socialist ideologies. These were run from above by bureaucracies. Socialism of the 21st century is democratic socialism, where political power is transferred to the common people. Here ordinary working people must take over the running of society.

Also covering alternative community run media like CatiaTV, and Radio Negro Primero, through to the social projects called Missions, the film helps us to explain why Venezuela has become a symbol of liberation for those in struggle around the world.

With fantastic footage of the elections, demonstrations and the people and streets of Caracas, the revolution is brought to our screens in a rich tapestry of action and interview that gives us real insight into the process taking place, and the challenges that lie ahead. A must see!



Watch the low resolution version here but please support the film makers by getting your own copy!

You can also download a higher resolution here (Quicktime file, approx. 700MB. Right-click on the link and press "Save Link As...").

Widescreen 16 :9
Running time: 90 minutes
Language: Spanish/English, with English subtitles

Buy the DVD now for £10!

*** £5 from the sale of each DVD will be donated to FRETECO (The Revolutionary Front of Workers in Factories Occupied and under Co-management ***
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/venezuela_dvd_no_volveran.htm

Note: this is the PAL version. If you are based in the United States and want the NTSC version, please buy the DVD from our American shop.

[stimbox]

19. Video looks interesting. Ordered! n/t

[rjones2818]

20. Off to the Greatest Page with you!

Go Hugo. Good luck on the voting!

[bvar22]

22. Quick Chavez Review:

Chavez is using a percentage of the profit from the sale of Venezuela's natural resources to:

*Feed the Hungry

*Heal the Sick

*Educate the Ignorant

*Shelter the Homeless

*Empower the Disenfranchized

YES! I can see why the WHITE Imperial Corporate interests HATE him.

Chavez is "Negro y Indio" (Black and Indian), a member of the underclass MAJORITY (80%) of Venezuealans.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0816-03.htm

http://joun.leb.net/katz08242004.html

Venezuela belongs to the Venezuelans!
Some Western Corporate interests try to paint him as "rude" and "dictatorial".
But Chavez plays to his people (Negro y Indio), and is LOVED by them.
Chavez really does NOT care what WE think!
Venezuela does NOT care what we think!
Venezueala belongs to the Venezuelans.
It is NONE of our business!

This whole Bolivarian Reforms thing could get out of hand and spread to El Norte (I hope!)


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[yurbud]

23. kick so it rises above disinformation threads

[Judi Lynn]

24. ...."fifteen straight quarters of robust economic expansion." Interesting! Thanks.

[Joanne98]

25. All we're getting from Bush is TWO recessions. They're so lucky to have a man like Chavez!