STOP INTERFERING: Trade unionist blasts US aggression

[Judi Lynn]

Mon Jul 17

STOP INTERFERING

Trade unionist blasts US aggression
The Government of Venezuela is fiercely forging international ties in a bid to shore up support against what it describes as ‘US aggression’.

Miguel Gonzales, councillor for the Sucre region in Caracas, and leader of the SUTHC Arts and Graphics trade union, told The Voice that the South American country needed to expose the ‘interference’ of the US.

“We decided recently that we were all going to go out to the rest of the world and talk about what is going on – particularly the hostility and aggression by the United States against us.”

He said: “The United States has tried absolutely everything against us. They are determined to discredit as much as they can the electoral process.
(snip/...)

http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=9578

[Stargazer99]

1. Preemptive strikes

Create this problem....seems like many Americans are too brain washed to understand the simplicity of it.

[IndyOp]

2. "Go to Venezuala, You Idiot!" - Great article by Jeff Cohen

We all need to learn a lot more about what our neighbors are experiencing...

Go to Venezuela, You Idiot!
by Jeff Cohen


I don't usually take the advice of rightwingers. But I did this time. After receiving inflamed email messages from dozens of angry rightists that I should get the hell out of the USA and go to Venezuela, I accepted their challenge and flew to Caracas.

"Would you like me to start a fund to ship your ass down there, Comrade Cohen?"

What had provoked the often-abusive emailers was my 2005 Internet column urging U.S. residents to buy their gasoline at Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil company. I called for a Citgo BUY-cott, to protest Bush's interventionist foreign policy while supporting innovative anti-poverty programs in Venezuela. (Last winter, Citgo started a program that provided discounted home-heating oil to low-income families in the U.S.)

"Hey moron, if you hate America so much and love Venezuela, why don't you go there?"

I'm glad I listened to the conservative chorus. In late June, I headed to Venezuela with a fact-finding delegation sponsored by the respected U.S. human rights group, Witness for Peace. The grueling trip covered much ground and all sides of Venezuela's social/political landscape. It is a complex country, headed by sometimes volatile President Hugo Chavez, a leftist and harsh Bush critic who was first elected in 1998.

As soon as I returned home, I headed to the nearest Citgo to fill up my tank -- more committed than ever to send a few dollars toward Venezuela's poor.

"You, sir, are as un-American as they come."

For decades, Venezuela's vast oil wealth had been squandered and hoarded by its light-skinned elite, while most Venezuelans -- largely of indigenous, African and mixed descent -- lived in dire poverty. Today, oil revenue from Citgo and elsewhere is funneled into social programs (called "missions") to benefit the country's poor majority. They're reminiscent of FDR's New Deal programs. . .born of our economic bust. But Venezuela's missions are fueled by a boom -- a boom in oil prices that is likely to persist for years.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0706-32.htm

[Judi Lynn]

3. Tremendous article. I hope right-wing visitors will take the time out

available to them to read the material. It may help save them from uneccessary posts, as it answers capably many of the false charges they've made here.

And finally, I want to join my rightwing critics in one recommendation: Go to Venezuela. If you can arrange it, examine the social transformations for yourself. Study Spanish there. See the decades of poverty, neglect and corruption that led to the election of Hugo Chavez -- and whether his government is improving things.

Thanks a lot, IndyOp.

[Bacchus39]

4. apparently there is still much to be seen

"See the decades of poverty, neglect and corruption that led to the election of Hugo Chavez -- and whether his government is improving things."

[pberq]

5. Kick & Nominated

[rman]

6. k&r