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On 23 Mar 2019 at 16:35, michael a. lebowitz wrote:
"Re Fred Fuentes' Green Left Weekly article, ... As it happens, Fred lived in
Venezuela for a number of years [eg., worked with me at Centro Internacional
Miranda], had many links with working class organisations, worked with Marea
Socialista and with trade union leaders like Stalin Perez. .... He has had
continuing contacts with militants ..., has organised periodic tours from
Australia
and had a list of trade union and commune militants he was planning to contact
this time. I haven't heard who he succeeded in seeing and interviewing when
there ... but I'm guessing it wasn't the 'party for socialism and freedom'
(which
was so opposed to Chavez that it joined in a fron with the CTV. the CIA labour
fed) or the 'Critical Chavistas' who (including gonzalo Gomez, Aporrea editor)
met with Guaido, the CIA handpuppet, in early february."
So Lebowitz thinks it likely that the author of an article about Venezuela, who
has
"many links with working class organizations" and trade union leaders, wouldn't
bother talking to Venezuelans who oppose Maduro, not even "critical Chavistas".
He thinks this is entirely justified, because all critics are supposedly
imperialist
agents or have met with them; why, the critical Chavistas actually "met with
Guaido, the CIA handpuppet".
Other people might think that someone claiming to tell the truth about what's
going on in Venezuela would talk to critics and opponents of the regime, as
well
as supporters. See what all the different trends say. But not Lebowitz, who
defends the article by supposing that Fuentes wouldn't get his hands dirty by
talking to the opposition, not even one-time comrades, not even long-time
socialists, not even critics from within the Chavista ranks.
Lebowitz justifies this attitude by smearing them all as imperialist agents.
This is
the same Lebowitz who talks about about how Venezuela is a model of socialism
for the 21st century and lauds its democracy as an alternative to the "real
socialism" of the Soviet model. ("What Is Socialism for the Twenty-First
Century?",
https://monthlyreview.org/2016/10/01/what-is-socialism-for-the-twenty-first-century
/). But for Lebowitz, democracy doesn't extend to those who oppose Maduro. Not
even to past comrades.
Lebowitz's viewpoint is an accurate reflection of the stand of the Maduro
government, which is seeking to hold on to power at all costs, whether it has a
majority or not. Democracy? The only criterion of the democracy, for the
apologists of Maduro, is whether Maduro and the Chavistas cling to power. And
if
Fuentes wants to keep his good name with the GLW and the regime, it's probably
best for him that Lebowitz continues to assure the world that he wouldn't think
of
talking to the critical Chavistas or the opposition.
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