******************** 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. *****************************************************************
On Mon, 25 Mar 2019 at 03:23, jgreen--- via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** 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. > ***************************************************************** > > On 24 Mar 2019 at 10:21, Chris Slee via Marxism wrote: > > > > When the apologists of Maduro say that they have a criticism or two, or > admit > something about the economic and political crisis, it's not to take these > criticisms > seriously. It's to say, don't worry, we're taking care of everything. > Only Fred doesn't say anything like this. > > Hunger stalks Venezuela, and three million people have fled. That's about > a tenth > of the country. The apologists for Maduro generally won't say this > directly. So they > write the most absurd contradictions, such as that the shortages are over > (which > Fuentes says) and at the same time there's a deep economic crisis, and > workers > -- even skilled ones -- can't afford to buy these things (which Fuentes > also admits, > albeit in toned-down language). Then, after admitting a few things, > Fuentes goes > on to paint a glowing picture of how things are really quite good.These > are > Fuentes's contradictions; don't blame Reimann for them. > Fred has just been there to find out about all this. You may think he went with preconceptions, I can't change your preconceptions on that, but I spoke to Fred before and after and I know that isn't the case. He went to find out how bad things were on the ground and found things very bad in many ways, but not as bad as he feared in others. People are upset on here he didn't speak to a few people without much base that they like, but he spoke to people to the community organisers and people on the ground (not PSUV hacks) because he wanted to get a real feel for things. For instance, forget Gonzalo Gomez et al, he spoke to people in the poor barrios, places were there have been significant protests, but which ended once the coup started because people are sick of the problems and government inaction and inability to solve things, but do not want Washington and the oligarch's people in through a coup. And fair enough because the repression they face will dwarf that from the existing government and their lives are on the line. Over the next period, Fred will write up interviews with a range of voices excluded from both the corporate media and generally the pro-government side too. You can complain that he didn't speak to which ever little group you prefer, but these are voices not getting heard anywhere else. You cold try listening to them and, at the very least, using their voices to add to the picture, or you can just sit there complaining about how some comment Fred made can be misunderstood or is not accurate enough on the scale of shortages or the impact of inflation. > > _________________________________________________________ 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
