******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Here is a photo essay from Venezuela in the Guardian newspaper. I suppose it's all lies. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/22/venezuelas-revolution-of-hunger-a-photo-essay?fbclid=IwAR0ASJ_F9Xzur9GTgbqkKcutUT0qIuujvWnGy1Oxacran3j4CZGkh2j5vs4 John Reimann On Sat, Mar 23, 2019 at 11:36 AM John Reimann <[email protected]> wrote: > First of all, as far as the relative "cheapness" of goods in Caracas: The > way it's put tends to deceive since people will remember better that the > goods are "cheap" than the qualifying comment. Completely aside from that, > the practical meaning is this: These goods are cheap in dollars but sky > high in bolivares. Fuentes writes: "It is common to find street hawkers > with debit and credit card machines, and many happy to accept US dollars to > overcome this problem." The clear implication is that goods are easily > affordable, and that is true... for those who have access to US dollars! > But this "little detail" isn't mentioned by the author, so he leaves a > false impression. Who has access to dollars is the bolibourgeoisie, another > "little detail" not mentioned by Fuentes. In other words, the > bolibourgeoisie isn't seriously hurt by the collapse in the value of the > bolivar but the masses of Venezuelans are. > > I find it hard to believe that the author was not aware of the effect on > the reader of leaving out of these key facts. Likewise, I find it peculiar > that he completely fails to mention the several million Venezuelan refugees > who have fled Venezuela. > > I am guessing that the reporter didn't just go to Venezuela on their own > but that they were shown around, so the question is: "Who is it that showed > them around?" That little detail is left out, but I would bet it wasn't the > socialist opposition, for instance the Party for Socialism and Freedom > there. In fact, I would bet it was people associated with the PSUV, that is > to say, Maduro supporters. Were they told about the FAES (government > militia types) having murdered people? Were they told about how the food > supplements are given to the government supporters, not to the working > class as a whole? > > A few days ago, I posted to this list an article from the Wall St. Journal > describing the desperate situation for Venezuela's poor, as well as the > repression the Maduro regime is carrying out against them. Chris Slee did > not deny the possibility that the article was accurate. So he is now left > in a difficult position, because that WSJ article and the Green Left Weekly > article cannot both be accurate. They present radically different pictures > of life in Venezuela. Given the subtle misrepresentations and the failure > to mention key facts (e.g. the millions of Venezuelan economic refugees) as > well as the descriptions from such left sources inside Venezuela as Simon > Rodriguez (laclase.info -- at the moment not working, for whatever > reason), I don't find the Green Left Weekly article credible. > > One simple question > > -- > *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black > Jacobins" by C. L. R. James > Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook > -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
