Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Venezuela - the Other Side
Clearly there is another side to the opinion of the outcome in Venezuela:
Comments to one of these articles on MetaFilter.
A WatchBlog post titled A Sad Day in Venezuela which also has some healthy commentary.
I've been thinking about these two parts of the story:
and
So let's generalize this. Start with stipulating that you have a democracy that everyone is confident of (little or no voter fraud, etc.). Your country is extremely rich in oil but that wealth in controlled by the top 1% of the population while 50% of the population are essentially peasants. The media is held in firm control of corporation sympathetic to the status quo. Now, along comes a political leader who promises large-scale help to the poor via wealth redistribution plans (read Socialist). It’s also known that this leader will probably erode some civil rights that you know enjoy. And you are one of the peasants. Given a choice who do you choose?
I certainly don't blame the citizens of Venezuela for their choice - I'm sure I would have done the same thing. Civil rights are great - as long as you can eat. I would be hoping that with more equity in the future we could then work on more civil rights.
I've been thinking about these two parts of the story:
Chavez has shown time and time again that he does not respect individual rights- be they the right to protest or the right to one's own property. he has shown repeatedly that he does not carea about the institutions that protect freedom and made LONG TERM democracy sustainable- as shown by his admission that he is gonna crack down on the courts (meaning there wont be an indepedent judiciary, which is indespesible for the rule of law).
- Misha Tseytlin in comments on Watchblog
and
Is Sr. Chavez a Libertarian sort of fellow? Of course not. Neither are John Kerry of President Bush. But I fail to see how an election with two options -- Sr. Chavez, or these semi-feudalistic terratenientes who own over 90% of Venezuela's farmable land -- had any "absolutely great" option.
Today's not a "great" day in Venezuela. But it's certainly not a sad one. With the terrantenientes screaming "if you take all this away from us, there will be civil war," I didn't see "happy" written on the line beneath Sr. Chavez's on Venezuelan ballots.
That's how democracy works, you know. If you create an environment where over 50% of the people are peasants, they can do something about it. Score one for the people.
Unless you'd rather the terrantenientes had their way. Dirt-poor masses are great for a plantation-filled economy, you know.
- Shem Daimwood in comments on Watchblog
So let's generalize this. Start with stipulating that you have a democracy that everyone is confident of (little or no voter fraud, etc.). Your country is extremely rich in oil but that wealth in controlled by the top 1% of the population while 50% of the population are essentially peasants. The media is held in firm control of corporation sympathetic to the status quo. Now, along comes a political leader who promises large-scale help to the poor via wealth redistribution plans (read Socialist). It’s also known that this leader will probably erode some civil rights that you know enjoy. And you are one of the peasants. Given a choice who do you choose?
I certainly don't blame the citizens of Venezuela for their choice - I'm sure I would have done the same thing. Civil rights are great - as long as you can eat. I would be hoping that with more equity in the future we could then work on more civil rights.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home