In the Minds of the Rich, the Venezuela Poor Aren't Even Members

[Larkspur]

of Society...Guess Who's Laughing Now
http://www.counterpunch.org/barahona08192004.html

<SNIP>
there is the wonder of the red brick shantytowns clinging precariously to the hillsides in and around Caracas. They say that Chavez gave the people the bricks to solidify these improvised homes, which sprang up as people from around the country gave up on the impoverishment of rural life and migrated to the big city looking for work. Chavez granted land titles to these people, who make up a large part of the 6 million inhabitants of Caracas -- nearly 25% of the population of the country. He also gave them paved roads, free running water, telephone lines, and electricity at about $1.00 a month. I know because I went to one of these neighborhoods and asked them.

The elites are terrified of these folks, and extremely put out that the shanty dwellers would not only be taken into account by the government, but that they represent a permanent army encamped around the city, ready to march down from the hills at any time and defend their revolution. I truly believe that this is the primal source of the violent, irrational hatred that the opposition has for Chavez -- his widespread support among the poor who, in the minds of the rich, are not even members of society and should not be playing any role except that of the silent worker or servant. You can't avoid hearing the phrase "participatory protagonistic democracy" which is replacing "representative democracy." Something the ruling class really fears, because it loosens the grip on power held by the economic elites.
<SNIP>
It's not just the elites of Venezuela that hate the common people, but American elites hate and fear the common people of all lands. Aristocrats of every culture always despise and fear the common people.

[On the Road]

1. I Would Agree with This Analysis

Unfortunately, it's not only the rich. But just like the US, a lot of working-class and middle-class Venezuelans are outraged that Chavez would take state revenues and just give them to need families.

Chavez's dilemma is that to rally his base, he has to use revolutionary rhetoric that scares off a lot of less political people. Fortunatley, he still has a majority.

And those shanty towns really don't look too bad compared to other countries. There are at least real roads, concrete-blocks buildings, etc.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. My overwhelming impression from seeing

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was that the coup plotters and their supporters were the Venzuelan equivalent of country club Republicans, concerned about their servants getting uppity.

[eridani]

3. From a Venezuelan--

--on the Alternet forum.

http://forums.alternet.org/bin/motet?show+-uiK3Ox+-chjz+Currents+223+606

It's UNBELIAVABLE that in a country so mix as Venezuela could exist classism and racism, no one can explain that, but it is.

Let me tell you something anecdotic: I heard like three months ago, while I was in my car going to work, I was listening a radio interview. The hoster was a Chavez' hater, of course white, and the guest was the Manager of the "Teatro Teresa Carreño" the main theater complex in Caracas, he's white too, the hoster was claiming that before Chavez you could go to the theaters to listen Mozart or Vivaldi, and there always were "clean" and "beautiful" people, now you cannot go because there's many "Weird" people listening to that music.

The guest explained, that culture is for everyone and that that was the Chavez administration interest, for all the people who knows who is Brahms, Rossini or Wagner, the culture should not be an excluding stuff.

And the hoster said, she doesn't like it that way, she wanted "her" theater back, that when Chavez happens to leave, she and her friends will have to go to the "Teresa Carreño" with some lye and kerosene to clean the sits and the floor so they could use it again.
That's a sad reality in my country.