I interviewed a prominent academic who is a profound critic of the Venezuelan government, and in contrast a strong academic supporter. The conversations were relaxed, open and I believe worthwhile.
There is no serious dispute that the Venezuelan government shifted to some degree towards economic liberalism under President Maduro. The question is to what extent this was an unavoidable response to crippling economic and financial sanctions, and whether there is still a socialist trajectory.
There are several more videos from my time in Venezuela still in production, which embody much of what I learnt, and after publishing them over the next few days I shall publish an article giving my considered reflections on the country.
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Great stuff! I’ve shared the link to a few friends.
Other countries could learn from Venezuela’s example about free education for all up to university being a human right. It reminds me of Cuba’s programme of free medical education to students from Africa. As I recall, the graduates didn’t use their skill to make a killing in the West, but went back to Africa to help their communities.
Whether Cuba has been to sustain the scheme or indeed its own society generally under the pressure of the American blockade, I don’t know.
‘Maduro recognizes Venezuela is still a capitalist-based economy…’ (Popular Resistance newsletter, 27 May, 2018).
Thatcher: ‘there is only one economic system in the world, and that is capitalism. The difference lies in whether the capital is in the hands of the state or whether the greater part of it is in the hands of people outside of state control’ (House of Commons speech, 24 November, 1976).
Capitalist hallmarks, such as class society, commodity production, profit motive, exploitation of wage labour, markets, etc., are found worldwide.
What exactly do you mean by “Socialism”?
If you mean Clement Attlee’s socialism, I can be with you.
f you mean one-party-state socialism like China or the old USSR, I’m against you because a one-party State always succumbs eventually to corruption. In a genuinely multi-party State there is at least a good chance that the parties not in power will call attention to corruption among those in power. It doesn’t always work, but there’s a chance. In a one-party state, there’s no chance.
‘Chinese socialism’ has been around, in various incarnations, for several thousand years. It is dynamic in that it learns and adapts and is run by highly qualified people. The current push to weed out corruption should be a lesson for the, corrupt, west. No-one is immune or is spared and in many cases corruption leads to prison or death for the offenders. One just has to look at the west to see the glaring differences and rampant corruption that defines western democracy. China may not be perfect but I fail to see anything good in the western democratic systems.
The west needs a root and branch overhaul, unfortunately the corruption is so deep and wide ranging that I fail to see anything other than revolution as a cure.
I’m afraid you’ve missed the point. The key word is “eventually”. Let’s suppose you are right that Xi Jinping is a paragon of clean government who works tirelessly to root out corruption. The point is that he won’t live forever. In a decade or so there’ll be a new generation of leaders, then another, and another. Eventually, but inevitably, there will come to power a corrupt leader.
As Popper wrote, “The problem of politics is not, ‘Who shall rule?’; it is, ‘How shall we control the rulers?’ “.
Has any country ever achieved true socialism? They either descend into dictatorship or become mixed economies.
No, because oligarchies always fight back. Short of a French Revolution style execution of all the oligarchs, there is no way round this. That’s what the Chinese Cultural Revolution was all about: it was the fightback against the oligarchical fightback.
This report shows that all is not bliss in Venezuela. The writer (James Luckey) put it nicely when he says that . “I know he’s not in there because of all the wrongs he’s done. He’s in there because bigger bully [Trump] attacked smaller bully [Maduro].”