Venezuela is in the throes of change. President Hugo Chavez Frias is determined to transform a society of extreme inequalities into an egalitarian nation where justice reigns supreme. He has christened his mission to transform Venezuela ‘The Bolivarian Revolution’, after the nineteenth century South American revolutionary, Simon Bolivar, who sought to liberate the continent from colonial rule. The ideological thrust of Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution is socialism, more precisely, twenty-first century socialism. The Revolution began in 1998, the year Chavez came to power through the ballot-box.
Economic and Social Changes
It is irrefutably true that in the last eleven years Venezuela has witnessed tremendous change. In 1998, 48.1 percent of the population in the world’s fifth biggest exporter of oil lived below the poverty-line. Today, the figure is 33.1 percent. Unemployment has been reduced to 6.3 percent which, according to Venezuela’s National Institute of Statistics, is the lowest in the country’s history. Inflation which in the early nineties averaged 59.4 percent now stands at 19.6 percent. The minimum wage of 286 US dollars a month is one of the highest in the continent. In the last 5 years, Venezuela has also recorded the highest growth rate in South and Central America —a GDP of 11.8 percent. It has also succeeded under Chavez to free itself from debt to both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
At the same time, Venezuela’s infant mortality rate which was 21.4 out of 1,000 children in 1998 has now been reduced to 13.8 out of 1000. In 1997-8, a little more than 6 million children were in school. In 2006-7, the total number of school going children had reached more than 11.8 million. The student enrolment in colleges and universities in 1998 was about 668,000 ; in 2008, it had exceeded 1.7 million.
Democracy
What is impressive about Venezuela’s socio-economic progress in the last eleven years is that it has been achieved within a democratic environment. Chavez’s policies have been under constant scrutiny by large segments of a media that is often hostile to the man. Since 1998, elections and referenda held at least a dozen times have provided the people with the opportunity to evaluate the Administration. A strong political opposition, an independent National Assembly and an autonomous judiciary have further reinforced the democratic sinews of Venezuelan society.
Indeed, there are observers who argue that democracy itself has been abused by Chavez’s adversaries. Some of them own and control influential outlets within the private media which are unrelenting in their attempts to undermine the Chavez leadership. A lot of the NGOs are also aligned to his adversaries. I was surprised to learn that even the universities — a majority of them— display varying degrees of antipathy towards the President. For many of them, the primary reason for their opposition is their fear that Chavez’s pro-poor policies would be antithetical to their interests. Their sole aim is to protect their power, wealth and privilege at all costs. A substantial portion of these anti-Chavez forces are linked in one way or another to the Washington elite and allied groups who also view him as a threat to their hegemonic power.
Popular Support
This explains why both domestic and foreign forces colluded to overthrow Chavez in April 2002. They failed because the people, especially the poor, rallied around their President and restored him to power. Never before in history have ordinary unarmed people played such a decisive role in defeating a coup.
Since 2002, Chavez’s authority and influence have grown significantly. In a 2008 referendum that sought to remove restrictions on the tenure of the presidency, he obtained a clear-cut endorsement from the people. Chavez and his ruling party are now engaged in a massive exercise to mould popular consciousness on behalf of the Bolivarian Revolution and its ideals of justice, equality and human dignity.
The university that I spoke at — the Universidad Nacional Experimental Politecnica de la Fuerza Armada (UNEFA)— in Caracas on 25 March 2009 is one of the few institutions of higher learning that is actively involved in propagating the ideals of the Bolivarian Revolution. The theme of my hour-long lecture was “ A Spiritual-Moral Response to an Empire in Crisis.” The depth and maturity of the questions and comments from the audience — more than 500 post-graduate students and academics— impressed me. UNEFA was gracious enough to confer the title of “ Honorary Professor” on me.
Regional Initiatives
From our reflections so far on Chavez’s Bolivarian mission, it is obvious that he is faced with huge obstacles. And yet he perseveres. His tenacity is also reflected in his regional and international policies. It was Chavez, together with the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, who initiated the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) in 2004. Apart from Cuba and Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and the Commonwealth of Dominica have now joined ALBA. ALBA seeks to develop regional cooperation on a different basis, with the emphasis upon the people’s real needs and aspirations. Thus, Cuba sends thousands of doctors and teachers to Venezuela which is trying so hard to improve its primary health care system and to expand educational opportunities while Cuba receives in exchange from Venezuela oil at a preferential price to enhance its economic development. ALBA has also formulated a treaty on food security which will encourage greater food production among ALBA members. Another important ALBA project is the ALBA Bank which will try to ensure that the huge capital generated by countries in the region is retained within the region, and channeled to finance grassroots programmes that will bring direct, tangible benefits to the poor. Even before ALBA was launched, a regional television network was established. Telesur, based in Venezuela, has become the favourite channel for millions in South and Central America.
Opposing Neo-Liberal Capitalism and Hegemony
If Telesur and other regional initiatives have struck root, it is partly because the political mood in much of the region has changed dramatically in the last five to seven years. A number of governments—- Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Paraguay, and to a lesser degree, Chile and Argentina are all opposed to ‘The Washington Consensus’ also known as Neo-liberal Capitalism which had wrought so much havoc upon their economies from the eighties onwards. The chasm separating an opulent elite and the disenfranchised masses in most countries in South and Central America —which had all paid obeisance to neo-liberal capitalism— had become so obscene that the ruling classes had very little credibility left. The people wanted alternatives that would ensure justice for the majority and at the same time safeguard national sovereignty and independence.
For a lot of them, the only example of a nation in their region that had succeeded in defending its sovereignty against attacks from the greatest hegemonic power on earth was Cuba. Hugo Chavez in particular sought inspiration from the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro. In a number of speeches, he has acknowledged the intellectual and moral debt that he owes Fidel.
It is because of Chavez’s determination to stand up to Washington helmed hegemony that he has also forged warm ties with countries like Iran. Their cooperation and collaboration began in OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and has deepened in recent years. Washington’s targeting of both countries has in fact brought them closer together. Trade and investment between Venezuela and Iran has blossomed. They even operate a joint bank to facilitate bilateral activities.
More than bilateral relations, what really impacted upon the people of Iran and indeed, Muslims everywhere, was the courage that Chavez exhibited when he cut off diplomatic ties with Israel at the height of Israel’s brutal assault upon the defenceless people of Gaza at the end of December 2008 and the beginning of January 2009. Instantaneously he became a hero in Muslim eyes. They did not hesitate to compare him to their own gutless leaders who were ever ready to toady to Israeli and Western governments in the midst of the Gaza assault.
With this as the backdrop, I alluded to the importance of courage in the struggle against global hegemony in my second talk in Venezuela to the Institute de Altos Estudies Diplomaticos ( Institute of Diplomacy) on 26 March. The talk entitled “ The Role of the Global South in Overcoming Global Hegemony” was attended by officials of the Ministry of External Relations and a handful of academics. The last two days of my 5 day trip to Venezuela were spent acquainting myself with some of the country’s cultural and developmental projects. The trip (my wife had accompanied me) was at the invitation of Venezuela’s Ministry of External Relations. We were in Bogota, Colombia before that to participate in an international meeting on resistance to empire (see ‘The Bogota Declaration’, JUST Commentary Vol. 9, No. 4, April 2009).
Conclusion
There is no doubt at all that Venezuela under Hugo Chavez has taken huge strides in redressing the injustices of the past. No other President has done as much in mobilizing and directing the nation’s massive oil wealth for the benefit of the poor and powerless masses. By the same token, Chavez is the first Venezuelan president to fight US hegemony over his country and the region with such courage, energy and dedication. Through concrete, tangible measures, he has forged a formidable alliance against US hegemony which has the potential of changing not just regional politics but also the present pattern of international relations.
But Chavez knows more than anyone else that both in the domestic arena and at the regional and international level, the forces that are arraigned against him are as determined as ever to weaken his base and to topple him. After 11 years in power, he is still not out of the woods. The evil plotters are waiting in the wings.
Chavez is faced with other less serious challenges as well. On the domestic front, he is very conscious of the fact that corruption, the lack of social discipline and bureaucratic incompetence may derail some of his lofty plans for the people. Attempts to check these ills have yet to yield results.
These ills are related in a sense to a larger question. Since Chavez’s socialism accepts private enterprise, how will it balance the relationship between the public and private sectors? Will it strike a happy equilibrium which harnesses the strengths of each sector while minimizing the weaknesses of both? It is still not clear how the Venezuelan government will achieve this much needed equilibrium.
Will it be easier to achieve this equilibrium if one’s commitment is to certain universal spiritual and moral values rather than to an ideology or dogma such as socialism? In other words, values such as honesty and trustworthiness or a sense of responsibility should be held in esteem for what they are, regardless of whether they emanate from a public official or a private entrepreneur. Can we expect such an approach from a leadership which worships a particular ideology? Isn’t a critical, evaluative attitude towards socialism itself — given its successes and failures over so many decades— a pre-requisite for the triumph of Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution?
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and Professor of Global Studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang, Malaysia.
Malaysia.
1 June 2009.