Following close on the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) electoral victory in the November 23 regional elections, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez re-proposed a constitutional reform that would allow indefinite re-election. The first attempt, bundled with various constitutional amendments that would have accelerated economic restructuring, was defeated 51 to 49 percent in December 2007. Predictably, […]
Geography Archives: Venezuela
From Bolivia’s Streets: What Voters Think about the New Constitution
25 January 2009 Today’s referendum on Bolivia’s new constitution took place on a rare sunny day for this time of year in La Paz. Since traffic is prohibited on voting day, families taking advantage of the abnormally quiet streets walked their dogs, ate ice cream, and strolled into the local schools to vote. Across the […]
Why They Hate Immigrant Workers, and Why We Love Them
On Tuesday, December 9, the anti-immigrant lobbyists at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) held a press conference in downtown Washington, DC to promote their “Immigration Reform Agenda for the 111th Congress.” The press conference followed the new line that groups like FAIR have adopted since the financial crisis broke out last September. Undocumented […]
Spilling Ink Instead of Blood: Bolivia Poised to Vote on New Constitution
Evo Morales a días del referéndum por la nueva constitución en “Bolivia Decide” Dozens of marches and rallies in support of Bolivia’s new constitution, to be voted on this Sunday, have filled the streets of the La Paz in recent days. On Tuesday, at a rally for the constitution and to celebrate Venezuela’s donation of […]
The Coronation of the New Emperor
Around the world hundreds of millions of people witnessed the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States (US), or rather the coronation of the new “emperor.” Even at the bottom tip of Africa, it was difficult to escape the scenes of imperial grandeur that beamed across television sets. As was the case with […]
Palestinian Government’s Open Letter to President Hugo Chavez
Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Office, Gaza January 12, 2009 In the Name of God; the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful President Hugo Chavez, Your Excellency, President Hugo Chavez, We, the people of Palestine, commend your courage to speak and act upon your conscience regardless of your detractors’ criticism or cowardice. Mr. […]
Firing the Boss: An Interview with Mark Meinster, Organizer of the Chicago Factory Occupation
On December 5, 2008, over 200 recently-fired workers at the Republic Window and Doors factory in Chicago occupied their plant, demanding that they be paid their vacation and severance checks. The occupation ended victoriously six days later when the Bank of America and other lenders to Republic agreed to pay the workers the approximately $2 […]
Gaza Protests, as Seen on Al Jazeera
. . . and unseen on American TV More Than 100,000 Protest in Paris, France, 11.01.09 USA, 11.01.09 Algeria, 11.01.09 Kenitra, Morocco, 11.01.09 Los Angeles, USA, 11.01.09 Journalists Protest the Israeli Army’s Targeting of Journalists, 10.01.09 Chicago and D.C., USA, 10.01.09 Tokyo, Japan, 10.01.09 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 10.01.09 Rabat, Morocco, 10.01.09 Manama, Bahrain, 10.01.09 Algiers, […]
Nasrallah: Arabs Have Much to Learn from Chavez
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the most popular leader in the Arab world, addressed a crowd of Lebanese supporters in a videoconference on 7 January 7. Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that he would expel the Israeli ambassador in Venezuela. He, of course, did this in order to show his support for the […]
Israeli Communists Thank Hugo Chávez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Israeli Communists Sent a Message to Hugo Chávez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela The Israeli Communists sent a message to the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, today (Thursday, 8 January 2009). In the name of the members of Israel’s Communist Party, they thanked Chávez for his courageous […]
Reclaiming the Land: Land Reform and Agricultural Development in Zimbabwe: An Interview with Sam Moyo
Amid the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, the agricultural sector continues to struggle. Although the plunge in agricultural output over the last few years has often been commented on in the Western media, little or no attention is paid to the complex factors contributing to that decline. Instead, matters are reduced to a simple generalization. It […]
End of Neoliberalism? Sorry, Not Yet.
“Our community is expanding: MRZine viewers have increased in number, as have the readers of our editions published outside the United States and in languages other than English. We sense a sharp increase in interest in our perspective and its history. Many in our community have made use of the MR archive we put […]
Chávez: Capitalists Have Manipulated the Message of Christ to Exploit the Poor
“Our community is expanding: MRZine viewers have increased in number, as have the readers of our editions published outside the United States and in languages other than English. We sense a sharp increase in interest in our perspective and its history. Many in our community have made use of the MR archive we put […]
Finding Common Ground in Crisis: Social Movements in South America and the US
“Our community is expanding: MRZine viewers have increased in number, as have the readers of our editions published outside the United States and in languages other than English. We sense a sharp increase in interest in our perspective and its history. Many in our community have made use of the MR archive we put […]
Indigenous Peoples Rising in Bolivia and Ecuador
Introduction Indigenous peoples in Indo-Afro-Latin America, especially Bolivia and Ecuador, are rising up to take control of their own lives and act in solidarity with others to save the planet. They are calling for new, yet ancient, practices of plurinational, participatory, and intercultural democracy. They champion ecologically sustainable development; community-based autonomies; and solidarity with other […]
The Achilles’ Heel of the Bolivarian Revolution
The media were predicting a disaster for Venezuela’s Chavistas. Desperate for news that was fit to print, the opposition-controlled Venezuelan press and its foreign counterparts convinced many that the time had come for Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian Revolution, after stumbling in a slim referendum defeat last year, to finally come crashing down under its […]
US Citizen Diplomats Arrive in Iran, Invited by Ahmadinejad
In an effort to establish peaceful diplomacy with the government and people of Iran, and to model for the new Obama administration the power of cooperative good will, three highly regarded American peace makers have ventured to Iran. CodePink cofounders, Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, along with former Army Colonel and decorated Foreign Service […]
Opposition Also Wins Tachira and Carabobo States in Regional Elections
November 24, 2008 — This morning Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that the opposition won in two more states, in Tachira and Carabobo, which had been too close to call last night when the first results had been announced. Members of Chávez’s PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) thus won governorships in 17 states, […]
Chávez Supporters Win 17 out of 23 Venezuelan States, But Lose 3 Most Populous
November 23, 2008 — President Hugo Chavez’s governing party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), got mixed results in the regional and local elections today, winning strongly in 17 out of 23 states, but losing the country’s two most populous states and the Capital District of Caracas, with two more states still to be […]
The Meeting with Hu Jintao
I did not want to talk a lot, but he obliged me to expand on things; I asked some questions and, basically, listened to him. His words recounted the feats of the Chinese people in the last 10 months. Heavy and unseasonal snowfall, an earthquake that devastated surface areas equivalent to three times the size […]
