>From an interview I did with Green Left (the full interview can be read here >https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/venezuela-calls-grow-transparency-presidential-vote > ):
We should continue to reject foreign interference in Venezuela. No country can abrogate for itself the right to decide who governs another country. Moreover, as long as there are sanctions on Venezuela, no election can be truly fair. But sanctions are no excuse for a lack of democracy and transparency. Moreover, campaigning to lift the sanctions is vital not just in terms of their crushing humanitarian toll but their political impacts — which are evident if we are honest about the Maduro government today. While the combination of an insurrectional opposition, a hostile National Assembly, crippling sanctions, falling oil prices and a dire economic crisis failed to shift Maduro from the presidency, it did shift the government away from Chávez’s “21st century socialism” project. Increasingly, Maduro’s goal has been to simply hold onto power. In retreat, his government has sought to do this by combining concessions to (sections of) the right with co-option and repression of the grassroots left. The result has been economic policies not too dissimilar to those of neoliberal governments in the region, which have largely benefited economic and political elites (old and new) while leaving Venezuelan workers with the lowest wages in Latin America. More importantly, the government has drastically reduced the scope for people’s participation in everyday politics. This is precisely the opposite of what Chávez did — and what was at the heart of his radical project of change. When the CNE questioned whether the opposition had collected enough signatures for a recall referendum in 2004, Chávez said the referendum should go ahead anyway so that the people could decide. This example is well worth keeping in mind today. Together with opposing foreign interference in Venezuela’s sovereign affairs, a democratic and emancipatory left should support calls for transparency and for the CNE to present its tally sheets to the Venezuelan people. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#31655): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/31655 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/107927329/21656 -=-=- 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. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
