Capital-Socialism

There is an on-going debate about Venezuela being a socialist country ever since Hugo Chavez made the oil companies state owned and operated. Granted, Chavez has said publicly that Venezuela is a socialist state, however he uses the term 21st Century Socialism. First of all, we should define socialism and capitalism. Capitalism according to Marx is, "The directing motive, the end and aim of capitalist production is to extract the greatest possible amount of surplus value, and consequently to exploit labor power to the greatest possible extent." Karl Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, ch. 12.

          “Lenin's simple definition of socialism is set out in his The Impending Catastrophe and How to Combat It (September 1917): ‘Socialism is merely state-capitalist monopoly which is made to serve the whole people.’ Lenin knew that he was introducing a new definition of socialism here which was not to be found in Marx but claimed that there were two stages after capitalism: socialism (his new definition) and communism (what Marxists had always understood by socialism: a stateless, classless, moneyless, wageless society).” http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2000s/2001/no-1169-december-2001/marx-and-lenins-views-contrasted

Is it possible to have a country that is both?

If we look at Venezuela and the United States, we can clearly see both exist in some form. Capitalists want a free market, but if we did have a truly free market then the U.S. government wouldn’t have given the banks and car manufacturers government bail outs. They would have let the market play out the situation, let Smith’s free hand work out the bugs. Right? Well, believe it or not there are corporations in Venezuela. The most expensive McDonalds I have ever been to, is located in Altamira, Caracas. Here it is a popular hangout for rich folks since a meal costs 80 Bolivars or roughly $20 USD. There is also one or two state owned Banks to the many foreign owned private banks towering over the barrios in Caracas.

 http://abcblogs.abc.es/archivodeindias/2008/10/10/ronald-mcdonald-es-bolivariano/

http://flickrhivemind.net/User/Tortxu1976/Interesting

Why does everything have to be black or white? Right or left? Is it possible for people to see the grey shades of life and embrace them as if it were okay to have more than one ‘right’ answer to life’s tough questions? Or are we too narrow minded to see beyond what the philosophers of the 1800s were theorizing when it came to government regulation? Can we as an evolving human race re-think these theories and apply

them to our time the way we have evolved with technology?

Americans in a Crossfire

Americans in a Crossfire

On August 12, 2012 a group of Americans and Canadians walk out of the Caracas Metro station to a downtown area prepared for a political rally in support of the opposition Presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles. 

As we walk off the escalator we somehow enter a crossfire between Chavez supporters and Capriles supporters yelling inaudible “boo’s” and “chants” at each other, obviously trying to out shout the other. There is a sense of tension between the two groups and I start to feel nervous about being in the middle. Our translator, Leo Lameda, initiates conversation with a Chavez supporter whom was also his high school history teacher, Lobeila Escobar. She talks about media manipulation especially U.S. media in which they demonize Chavez and hype up the violence in Venezuela. She has been an active Chavez supporter for years and believes he will be elected President again for a third six year term this October. We migrate around her as onlookers join our circle in order to hear her voice.

A local student camera crew join us and want to ask us, the Americans, about our experience here and opinions on the current political situation in Venezuela. A man with a Capriles flag steps in front of a female Chavez supporter chanting louder and louder by the second. There’s a moment of hostility as he makes his way to the ‘right’ side of the rally and political spectrum. She stands proudly on the left and as the next metro full of passengers disembarks into our space, shouts from both sides guide the passengers to the proper position. 

We interview a couple Capriles supporters on the outer skirts of the rally. The older man’s reference to anti-semitism could be related to the fact that Capriles has a Jewish ancestry. The younger woman references the New Organic Law of Civil Penalties which states: “In Venezuela, in January 2012, a new Organic Law against Terrorism and Organized Delinquency was adopted by Congress, but has not yet been signed into law by the President. The law establishes a broad definition of “terrorist acts” that may apply to legitimate acts of social protest or dissidence. It also places NGOs under the permanent surveillance of a State organ and imposes restrictions on foreign funding.” -United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 4/25/2012 http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?page=article_s&id_article=3853 

It’s interesting to note that this law imposes restrictions on foreign funding, which suggests an anti-U.S. electoral endorsement of any kind for any candidates in Venezuela.  Is this a bad thing? How much endorsements from corporations does our U.S. candidates receive? The young woman’s insinuation of Chavez promoting violence could be linked to the division among Venezuelans. And how Venezuela has been undergoing a class struggle due to government reforms against privatization and a transition to a socialist economy. Through these measures redistribution of wealth and high influence jobs have caused the wealthy and middle class to lose previous privileges such as land and corporate investment.