l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Venezuela: the Left's favourite 'socialist paradise' is sliding into poverty
and dictatorship
Genesis Carmona is carried away by motorcycle, after being shot in the head
(Photo: EPA)
How are things coming along in Venezuela, that paradise of democratic
socialism? You must remember Venezuela. That's the country that Diane Abbott
said was showing "a better way", which Owen Jones told us had proven that "
you can lead a progressive, popular government that says no to neo-
liberalism"? The apple in the eye of Marx, the last hope for humanity in a
world of fat cat banksters and austerity Scrooges. The Copacobana of the
international revolution. Viva!
How is Venezuela doing? Well, tens of thousands of protesters are in the
streets, the army's been sent to crush revolt, an opposition leader has been
arrested and supporters of the government just shot dead a former beauty
queen. It's going to hell in a handcart, that's how it's doing.
After Hugo Chavez died he was replaced by Nicolas Maduro, a man of
considerably less talent who bears a striking resemblance to an obese Burt
Reynolds. A Venezuelan friend explains that Chavez's titanic personality
held his revolution together, reconciling its various contradictions with
his charismatic nationalism. By contrast, "Maduro has let the worst people
take over" – surrendering authority to radical mobs and corrupt officials
in a bid to keep them all on side. The result? Bad economic management,
inflation at 56 per cent, rising unemployment, food shortages, shocking
levels of crime and an increasing reliance on government control of the
press.
The Left always insisted under Chavez that some meddling in the media was
necessary because it was otherwise controlled by dark, foreign forces (read:
people who disagreed with Chavez). But Maduro is now threatening to expel
CNN, which is about the fairest and most balanced news source on the planet.
CNN's crime was to report on the recent protests that have engulfed the
capital. And good for CNN. Coverage on what's happening in Venezuela has
been eclipsed by events in Ukraine, so for those who don't know here's what'
s happening on the ground.
- On February 12, the opposition held a massive rally that resulted in
bloodshed. Three people were killed, including two opposition protesters and
one pro-government activist. The National Guard was dispatched to prevent
further rallies.
- Violence quickly spread out across the country. Some 3,000 troops were
sent to pacify the city of San Cristobal, where the government also cut off
transport links and the internet.
- Opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, was forced to hand himself over to the
National Guard on charges of inciting violence.
- The President blamed America for starting the conflict and has expelled US
officials.
- Local TV stations have gone into lockdown and simply aren't reporting the
fighting. Venezuelans are relying on social media, which includes some false
reporting. The opposition lack a single national TV outlet to be heard on.*
The crisis hasn't come from nowhere. It is the inevitable product of Chavez'
s brand of socialism, which created a base of support by convincing the
urban poor that they were the victims of a conspiracy by the rich. The base
has been kept on side with social services bought with the use of oil,
fostering a false economic boom and a fantasy of progress. Beneath the
surface, civil society has been allowed to stagnate. Now that Chavez is dead
and the magic gone, there is anarchy. We might even ask if the elections
that put Chavezism in office were ever truly legitimate. Yes, they were
technically democratic (although the opposition complained that the odds
were rigged against them) but the Chavezistas were never really committed to
democracy in the orthodox, liberal sense. They were constructing a new
order out of clientism. It's astonishing that their supporters in the West
couldn't see this, that they deluded themselves that Hugo was building a
Latin American Sweden.
And perhaps the breaking of the spell accounts for some of the relative
quietness about what's happening right now in Venezuela. Some Left-wing
commentators understandably don't wish to comment: one Labour MP appeared to
raise the threat of legal action when the subject was raised on Twitter.
The European and American enthusiasm for Chavez was born out of an
understandable, sympathetic desire to see a country defy the neo-liberal
model and go it alone – to turn away from the US, a power that has so often
meddled in Latin America with appalling results. But the slow collapse of
Venezuela into lawlessness demonstrates that the economic facts of life
cannot be ignored. You can't buy a democracy, you can't bribe people to
build a paradise. And when the money runs out, all that holds the new state
together is force.
The government suggests that Genesis Carmona, the 22-year old former beauty
queen murdered this week, was the victim of a stray bullet fired from her
own side. The protesters say she was gunned down by pro-government
supporters on motorbikes. The test of a true democracy would be a full,
transparent inquiry and the culprits being brought to justice. Will that
happen in Maduro's Venezuela? Unlikely. A relative asked, "How long are we
going to live like this? How long do we have to tolerate this pressure with
them killing us?" The answer is probably "for as long as Maduro can get away
with it."
This, comrades, is how every experiment in Marxism ends.
*I could've phrased this better and have been rightly challenged about it on
Twitter. But, as you can read here, the Venezuelan networks are charged
with not fairly reporting the crisis and Venezuelans have to rely on
Colombian TV for coverage – which the government has tried to censor. The
situation has eroded enormously since the 2013 elections. | T*********I
发帖数: 10729 | 2 我在禁枪政策的尴尬：委内瑞拉中更新，在持续的反政府示威中，有5人死亡。既上次
那个莫妮卡以后，第二位选美皇后（22岁）身亡。
中新网2月20日电 据外媒报道，委内瑞拉中部城市瓦伦西亚当地时间19日再度爆发警民
冲突，一名22岁的“选美皇后”在冲突中因头部中枪身亡，她成为反政府示威中的第5
名遇难者。
据报道，22岁的委内瑞拉大学生卡孟纳(Genesis Carmona)兼职担任模特，她曾被评为
2013年家乡的“旅游小姐”选美冠军。
19日，瓦伦西亚爆发警民冲突，卡孟纳在参与抗议活动时中枪，并在诊所去世。
Génesis was a college student studying tourism and in 2013 was named
Venezuela’s Miss Tourism Carabobo. She was reportedly protesting against
the government on Feb. 18, when the National Guard began shooting rubber
bullets and unknown gunmen began firing rounds into the crowds from
motorcycles. She was shot in the head and photographed laying limp in the
arms of a man on a motorbike, on her way to the hospital. She was pronounced
dead the following day at a local hospital. | l****z
发帖数: 29846 | | C****n
发帖数: 2324 | 4 太尼玛浪费了。
让我老给她来个假结婚移民就好了。
【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
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