Solidarity with a Bolivarian Comrade!

The gods have brought to my attention the blog of a comrade whose recent writings on the events in Venezuela warrant a detailed read.

Larry Gambone writes on his Porcupine Blog:

Left wing parties, whether out of opportunism or a sincere desire to reform society and better the working population, ultimately depend upon what happens in the streets. Chavez did not create the movement which put him in power, but rather was created by it. He would like to control it, but that is what social democrats seek to do, nothing unusual or unique there. The task of anarchists and revolutionary socialists is to radicalize this movement, not undermine it, or show sympathy for pro-imperialists and reactionaries. The goal is to make the movement escape from Hugo's hands and sweep away the corporate state in its entirety.

Thugs? Dissidents? Critics? Words have meaning. No one would doubt that Saddam or Pinochet were thugs, with their mass murders, tortures and the millions they skimmed off and hid in numbered bank accounts.

Uncle Sam's bank accounts, to be sure. And just as Uncle Sam bankrolled Pinochet and Saddam (not to mention the Shah) as they massacred their way to power, he's now aiming to do the same in Venezuela with a new generation. With the old generation of lackys embarrassing itself so fully, Uncle Sam has turned his attention to Venezuela's remaining Vanilla campuses. Gambone continues:

The world does not work according to wishes, ideology or theories. It is messy. It would be nice if all the left-wing parties in Venezuela disappeared and were replaced by millions-strong anarcho-syndicalist unions and an anarchist federation with tens of thousands of members. But that does not seem to be in the offing. Class struggle is being reflected through the Chavista Movement (for now) – though not the origin of such.

Amen!

In the face of such a reality, there is no room for equivocation.

Gambone's got a great blog - I'm glad to have discovered it! It's always encouraging to encounter a comrade. It's even more enjoyable when this newfound Solidarity results explicitly from the enemy's hard work!