Another BBC hit piece on Venezuela--answered by Tamara Pearson

[Peace Patriot]

I have yet to see a BBC report on the provable, fact-based, and quite astonishing accomplishments of the Chavez government in Venezuela, such as the 45% increase in high school and higher education enrollment (1999-2006), cutting poverty in half, cutting extreme poverty by 70%, low unemployment, and five years of sustained, sizzling economic growth (over 10%) with the most growth in the private sector (not including oil) (2003-2008), nor Venezuela's low debt, good credit rating and high cash reserves, indicating excellent management of the economy. But I have seen hit piece after hit piece from the BBC, following the corpo-fascist 'news' monopoly model, of highlighting every problem they can find in Venezuela, and, when they can't find anything, making shit up, and NEVER MENTIONING THESE POSITIVE STATS about education, poverty, employment and good economic management. The "narrative" is that Venezuela is going down--and all the corpo-fascist, so-called journalists, BBC included, have gathered round to kick its head in, stab it with broken beer bottles and leave it for dead.

Well, here's another bit of BBC mob violence, answered by Tamara Pearson, who frequently writes for www.venezuelanalysis.com. She does a good job of demolishing the BBC. Take the matter of "garbage" (her opening shot)...


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A Quick Response to BBC’s Article, “Venezuela’s economy in further slide”

January 20th 2010, by Tamara Pearson - Venezuealanalysis.com

There are few things more condescending and arrogant than a journalist who arrives in a foreign country, walks around briefly in its streets, and from a few superficial observations, believes they can make a judgement on the entire economic situation of a country, as well as the social movements and hopes of millions of members of that country. In yesterday’s article “Venezuela’s economy in further slide”, BBC journalist Robert Plummer admits it’s been a long time since he set foot in Venezuela.

His article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8464960.stm) is an un-contextualised, gloomy surface skim of a list of things apparently going wrong right now in Venezuela, creating the impression of a dirty, downtrodden country wrecked by economic crisis and bad governance. Ironically, he writes it at a time when the rest of the world really is suffering such a calamity.

He begins by remembering a honey moon stop over trip of his to Caracas in 2002, and suggests that little has changed since then. Caracas has “bags of rubbish piled up”, pro and anti Chavez graffiti, and shops that are “less well-stocked than before”. Oh horror.

It’s hard to know whether these bags of rubbish are part of the simple rubbish collection system here (where rubbish is put out in the street on certain days of the week to be collected), or if its something else, but it is worth pointing out that the current government has invested in a range of large bins, big containers, and small garbage trucks. And for a bit of balance for the BBC who purports to like the stuff, the UK is the fourth highest producer of industrial waste, whereas Venezuela does not make the list of the 33 highest waste producing countries. The UK also produces 34.85 million tonnes of rubbish per (year), ranking it 5th in the world, and giving it a per capita production of roughly three times that of Venezuela, with 7.3 million tonnes yearly. (my emphasis)

(MORE)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5084

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I want to rip into the BBC headline itself--"Venezuela’s economy in further slide”--which is a lie. First of all, the entire world is in an economic slide, due to "first world" banksters and their massive malfeasance and looting. This crashed the price of oil last year--cut it in half--which is 50% of the Venezuelan government's revenues. Despite this horrendous world economic crash, Venezuela landed on its feet, with low debt, good credit and $43 million in international cash reserves, coming off of five years of sustained high growth. What this means is that Venezuelans experienced only a slight bump in unemployment, for instance--from about 7% (very low for Latin America) to about 8%--and NO cuts in social services. Inflation--the inevitable result of five years of sizzling, worker-friendly growth--stayed pretty steady in the 25% range--about half the rate of previous administrations (which at one point had produced 100% inflation), and the economic growth, low debt, good credit and high cash reserves enabled the Chavez government to voluntarily devalue the bolivar--long needed and expected in financial markets--a devaluation which they were able to structure so that it affected essential products (like food) least and luxury imports most. The voluntary devaluation was an indication of government economic managers' confidence in the economy. They projected a very conservative budget for 2010, based on only $40/barrel for oil--it is already higher--and growth of only 0.5%--it will likely be higher--with continued full funding of social programs. This gives them great flexibility in budgeting over the year, along with the debt financing flexibility of high cash reserves.

PVSDA, the state oil company, just paid off all of its debts! Standard and Poor just upgraded Venezuela's status on their Index to "stable." Most analysts consider the bolivar devaluation a positive move. What is there to criticize about the Chavez government's performance--economically, socially or any other damn way? Garbage collection is not what it should be? Street crime is still a problem? (Venezuelans are gun-lovers--and can you just hear the screams of the fascists if the Chavez government tried to do anything about that?) Let's see, what else? Whatever the corpo-fascist 'news' monopolies can pick at, they will--while ignoring FACTS that largely contradict their contrived "narrative" that Venezuela is, somehow, a mess. 45% increase in high school and higher education enrollment. Poverty cut in half. 10% economic growth for five years, before the Bushwhacks and the Blairites, and their banksters crashed the world economy.

Venezuela is educating its youth, while the US drastically slashes school budgets to pay for war and bankster bailouts and bonuses. Venezuela is feeding its people--even the poorest are getting good nutrition--and is now providing free universal health care to all--while in the US the elderly have to choose between medicine and food, and food banks cannot handles the influx of hungry Americans. Which economy is well-managed?

The self interest of these so-called journalists--whether of the Wall Street Urinal, or the New York Slimes, or the Washington Psst-CIA, or the BBCons, or the alphabet soup of corporate broadcast monopolies--in preserving their jobs by kissing up to their editors and owners, is blatant and disgusting. They are all telling the same lie, based on NO FACTS. And I don't know what's worse, seeing journalism and the truth so disgraced, or contemplating the naked greed and violence that is lurking behind the lies.

[ChangoLoa]

1. "Street crime is still a problem?"

"Venezuelans are gun-lovers--and can you just hear the screams of the fascists if the Chavez government tried to do anything about that?"
I'm curious, what do you mean? Isn't everybody and, especially, the opposition asking and proposing policies to disarm the people and to control police weapons? What "fascists" are you talking about? The Venezuelan branch of the NRA...?


Inflation...the inevitable result of five years of sizzling growth?
Do you know India and China's growth, inflation rates?

The reserves... 28 (+7*) billion $, not 43.


And why, if Venezuela is a great social model, didn't the government increase its expenditures on public health more than previous governments, while the price of oil increased so dramatically?

* 7 billion going to the development fund in january to be spent this year.

[ChangoLoa]

4. Who to believe? Central Bank of Venezuela, W.H.O, or a poster

who doesn't get stats from institutions or primary sources, but from a writer working with the Venezuelan Embassy in London?

Easy choice. I trust real numbers, not quick interpretations based on fake stats.

Venezuelan reserves: 34.312 B$ (according to the Central Bank of Venezuela)
http://www.bcv.org.ve/cuadros/2/231.asp?id=32

Venezuelan real public expenditure on health per capita (W.H.O):
"real" = inflation adjusted (PPP)

1995: 130 $
1996: 112 $
1997: 197 $
1998: 186 $
1999: 172 $ Beginning of Chavez government
2000: 189 $
2001: 127 $
2002: 118 $
2003: 103 $
2004: 140 $
2005: 147 $
2006: 196 $

Retrieve stats from the World Health Organization at:
http://apps.who.int/whosis/data/Search.jsp

In 3 steps:
1. Regions/countries: Venezuela
2. Indicators: Per capita government expenditure on health
3. Time period: Select all time periods

[Peace Patriot]

2. Anyone who wants to believe Changoloa's disinformation, feel free.

But I advise checking how many anti-Chavez posts Changoloa has made in DU's Latin American Forum, trumpeting the latest corpo-fascist 'news' hit pieces on Chavez. They ought to put her on salary.

Note: I gave the conservative figure for international cash reserves that the Chavez government put aside against a "rainy day" (such as a slump in oil prices or the Bushwhack Financial 9/11). The total figure is actually $50 billion.

If you want to get educated on the Chavez government's economy and social progress, see Reports # 2 and 14, at
http://ideas.repec.org/e/pwe148.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Just took the first look at the material you've added to this forum today. Wonderful.

Only had the time for a hurried look, will be back tomorrow to read it more carefully.

Never saw the link to Mark Weisbrot's information page before a few minutes ago. It's a gold mine. He's a truly detailed, thorough, serious researcher and author. That's a link similarly conscientious people would take for future reference.

One Weisbrot is worth more than galaxies of right-wing trolls, for people searching for the truth.

Tamara Pearson's response is excellent. She's an Australian living in Venezuela, very capable. Great discovery finding out about her work, too.

Looking forward to getting a chance to study this more Friday during the day.
We've seen tons of slimy disinformation spewers stumble by us through the years. They are easy to spot. People who are serious about learning as much as they can about important US policy can smell them a mile away. What a way to spend a life, attempting to spin lies to deceive people who are determined to find the truth because it's important to them personally.

Trying to play games with human beings, imagining they are entitled to polute the information pool is shabby criminality, nothing less.

Thank you for your lock on the important stuff, Peace Patriot. We all know there is a multitude of DU'ers now who look for your comments, many, many who have thanked you, too, some of them just starting their own journeys to make their way out of the fog of deliberate lies planted by our own propagandists from the first to cover their sins against humanity.

We ARE going to win, in the end.

Thanks.

[Peace Patriot]

5. I hope that's true, that "We ARE going to win, in the end"--that is, the great majority

of people in the world, who want peace and justice, who want a good life for everyone, who are not greedy or violent, and who blossom in the presence of the truth, whatever it is, whether it's the hard truths of corporate rule, or the truths that emerge from many voices in a democratic process of empowerment--for instance, the truth that every human being is precious and deserves food, shelter, medical care and education, and that human beings naturally want to contribute to society in a positive way, if only given the chance.

The truths of progressive democracy--not this pathetic thing we have now in the U.S., a fake democracy controlled by war profiteers and the super-rich.

As for the U.S., I am convinced that we need a citizen movement, in every local and state venue, to rid ourselves of the corporate-run 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines. Our most fundamental right and power as a people--voting--has been grossly tampered with, and we see the result every day, in truly bad policy. There are many things wrong with our system--dirty money, fascist media, entrenched power of every kind, but 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines, under far rightwing corporate control, have locked in the bad, and locked out every effort of reform. We MUST fix this, and we CAN still fix this--it is doable--and also it would be the best issue on which to challenge corporate rule, because almost everyone--if they had a voice--would support transparent vote counting.

Our country and our democracy are headed down the drain, unless we can fix this. Vote counting that everyone can see and understand is the most fundamental condition for democracy. Without it, we really don't have a democracy.

And this is one of the most important and impressive accomplishments of the people of Latin America. Even with rancid corpo-fascist media, they have managed to elect leaders in many countries who are responsive to the people and who really care about their people, their countries and their region. This took time--it took about a decade of hard work on their democratic institutions, prime among them, a fair and transparent voting system. There are, of course, still pitfalls, with the USAID pouring money into rightwing groups all over Latin America, the CIA busy with covert activities, the corpo-fascist media continuing to spew out propaganda, the Pentagon planning a war and the State Department cooperating in rightwing coups in vulnerable countries like Honduras. And then there is the murderous cesspool of Colombia (being Vietnamized by the Pentagon). But on the whole, we are seeing many manifestations of the success of democracy in Latin America, including the widespread resistance to US domination. And the key has been the ability of grass roots movements to elect their leaders to high office, and that, in turn, is a function of transparent vote counting.

The Latin Americans have had a century of US interference and consequent horrors to overcome, in the modern era, with the Reagan horrors continuing into the 1990s in some places. If they can do it--establish democracy--so can we. They are an inspiration. This does not mean that any particular Latin American economic/political system is perfect. None of them are. But they are experimenting, as democracies should be. That's what democracy is all about--letting new ideas "rise to the top," benefiting from the ability to change, tapping new political talent and leadership--for instance, Evo Morales in Bolivia, a poor coca leaf farmer who is now the most popular president in South America. That is the brilliance of democracy--that someone from Morales' circumstances can become president. I wish I could say the same about Barack Obama--that his rise to power was truly the result of a grass roots democracy movement here. The movement was real enough, but the candidate was not. He obviously made deals with the corpo-fascist rulers in order to be permitted in the White House. With their 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines, they can block anyone from any office. He made deals to continue the Forever War--while falsely tapping the anti-war sentiment of the American people; he made deals not to prosecute Bush Junta war criminals--which has set our country onto a permanent lawless path; he made deals with the Clintons and the DLC regarding "free trade for the rich" and, obviously, regarding Latin American policy. He is not a democratic leader, like Morales; he is a corporate front man for fake democracy. He may have good intentions--actually I think he does--but he made so many compromises in order to achieve power that he has ended up virtually powerless, and they are going to use him as their "whipping boy" to smash even the faintest bits of "liberal" fairness that are left in our system, and then install Bush Junta II. That's the plan, anyway. I can smell it. It is already odorously evident.

Evo Morales is the genuine article. So is Hugo Chavez. So is Rafael Correa in Ecuador. These are the three most representative, most democratic leaders in Latin America. That is why they have been targeted. And the aim of the US project is to 'divide and conquer' the alliance that they have forged with other good leaders, such as Lulu da Silva in Brazil and Michele Batchelet in Chile. The corpo-fascists just cut Chile out of the alliance (and I imagine that, some day, we will find out how the CIA did it). The Pentagon/State Dept. cut out Honduras with the rightwing military coup. These are both very bad developments, but I have confidence that the leftist democracy movement is in tact, and cannot be stopped. When people get the fire of democracy in their hearts, on such a widespread basis, they don't give up. They are like we were during the "New Deal" and WW II era--a people with reason to believe that democracy works.