Podcasts about Bolivarian Revolution

Our latest podcast episode coincides with International Working Women's Day (March 8) to take stock of popular feminist struggles under the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.VA staff member Cira Pascual Marquina joins host José Luis Granados Ceja to discuss the impact of sanctions on women, the role of women in popular power, a recent conservative/religious offensive, and lots more!

https://thecommunists.org/2024/10/21/news/the-bolivarian-revolution-25-years-fighting-imperialism/

Venezuela's elections took place on July 28th. Nicolás Maudro defeated the right-wing candidate Edmundo González Urrutia by over a million votes. The imperialist machine immediately jumped into action to denounce the elections, condemning Maduro as a dictator and calling the results undemocratic. Over 1,000 international observers from 100 countries were in Venezuela for the election, and with few exceptions of those who are against the Bolivarian Revolution, they've stated that the electoral process was fair and free. That hasn't stopped the US government, its media mouthpieces, regional allies and even Elon Musk from calling for the overthrow of the Maduro government.Following the election, waves of fascist violence took the streets of Caracas and other cities, but supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution have themselves mobilized in its defense. We're joined today by Gloria La Riva of the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee.Support the Show.

On July 28, Venezuelans re-elected President Nicolas Maduro for another term despite US interference in their electoral process and subsequent attempts to delegitimize the process. The United States government has refused to recognize President Maduro, instead claiming without evidence that an opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, was the winner, a tactic reminiscent of the Juan Guaido charade. Clearing the FOG speaks with Venezuelan political analyst Maria Paez Victor about the Bolivarian Revolution, the most recent US-backed coup attempt, media attacks, and how Venezuelans have prepared to protect their deep democracy and social gains. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Within hours of polls closing in Venezuela, the US began to circulate claims that incumbent President Maduro had stolen the election. There was just one problem—these claims emanated from outside the country before election results were even announced. The absence of evidence didn't stop corporate media outlets from running with the story. The accounts of more than 800 international election observers on the ground, however, paint a very different picture. While there is certainly political division within Venezuela, opposition to Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution does not constitute an overwhelming majority. To understand why, it's crucial to examine the sides of the story left out in the corporate media narrative: the impact of US sanctions, the multiple US-backed coup attempts in Venezuela in the past 20 years, and the political and economic factors driving both support for and opposition to the Bolivarian Revolution.In this exclusive interview, The Real News speaks with three election monitors and journalists who were present on the ground in Venezuela during the election and its aftermath: Manolo de los Santos, Executive Director of The People's Forum; Zoe Alexandra, Editor of People's Dispatch; and journalist Andreína Chavez, a staff writer for Venezuelanalysis. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

This week we talk about Chávez, Maduro, and Bolivarianism.We also discuss authoritarianism, Potemkin elections, and the Venezuelan refugee crisis.Recommended Book: Nuclear War by Annie JacobsenTranscriptVenezuela, a country with a population of about 30.5 million people, has lost something like 7 to 9 million people, depending on which numbers you use, to a refugee crisis that began about a decade ago, in 2014, and which has since become the largest ever in the Americas, and one of the top ten all-time biggest outflows of people from a region in recorded history—just under the outpouring of people from Bangladesh into mostly India, which I mentioned in last week's episode, during the country's war of independence from Pakistan, and just above the number of people who have fled Syria over the course of its now 13-year-long civil war.That means Venezuela has lost around a quarter of its total population in the span of just ten years.The spark that lit the fire of Venezuela's refugee crisis wasn't a civil war, but a political movement called the Bolivarian Revolution, which is named after Simón Bolívar, who is renowned and respected throughout the region for leading the area's independence movement against Spain.This revolution was kicked-off by a soldier-turned-polician named Hugo Chávez who has long worked to implement what he calls Bolivarianism across the Americas, which calls for a nationalistic, socialistic state of affairs in which hispanic governments would work together, these governments would own most vital aspects of industry and the economy, according to a social model, it calls for self-sufficiency driven by that state-owned nature—the government reining in the purported excesses of capitalism-oriented competition, basically, and it calls for the elimination of corruption and the expulsion and exclusion of what it calls colonialist forces, alongside the equitable distribution of resources to the people.It's a riff on other socialist and communist models that have been tried, basically, with a South American twist, but it has many of the same implications for day-to-day realities, including the supposition that everything is owned and run by The People, though generally what that means in practice is a pseudo- or full-on police state, meant to keep those outside, enemy forces—which are blamed for anything that goes wrong—from meddling in local affairs, and it also tends to mean a lot of self-enrichment at the top, those in charge of the police state apparatus, and all the state-owned businesses giving a lot of handouts to their friends and family, and generally becoming quite wealthy while the rest of the population becomes increasingly disempowered and impoverished.This isn't the way these sorts of models necessarily have to go, of course, and it's not the way they're meant to go according to their own ideals and tenets, but historically this combination of claimed goals seems to lead in that direction, and in Venezuela's case we've seen that same trend play out once more, the Bolivarian Revolution putting Chávez at the top of a system predicated largely on oil wealth, which allowed Chávez to reinforce his hold on power, the reinforcement including the jailing, threatening, and harassing of political opponents, and keeping the main opposition party mostly out of power, despite their widespread popularity.In 2013, Chávez's Vice President, Nicolás Maduro, stepped into the role of acting president when Chávez had to step aside due to cancer complications. He then won an election that was triggered by Chávez's death by less than 1.5% of the vote, though his opponent claims there were irregularities. The National Election Council carried out an investigation and said that the vote was legit, and Maduro became president later that year.The seeming illegitimacy of that election, though, remains a huge point of contention between the political forces in Venezuela, and in the years since, the government has engaged in what's often euphemistically called "democratic backsliding," which means those in charge are implementing increasingly authoritarian policies in order to maintain control and keep themselves at the top, at the expense of democratic norms and values, like fair and free elections.All of which has been bad for morale and for locals' sense of power within their own governmental system, but this has all been maintainable to a certain degree because Venezuela is sitting on the world's largest known oil reserves, and has thus able to just keep pumping oil, and expanding their own pumping capabilities, and that has allowed them to fail across a lot of other metrics of success, but still keep things afloat, the average person doing just well enough that they had something to lose if they stepped too far out of line—challenging the government in some way, for instance.This increasing mono-focus on oil and similar raw materials, like gold, though, became a huge issue when a series of what are generally considered to be hamfisted policy decisions—including abundant and generous fuel subsidies for citizens and local businesses—that left them with wild levels of inflation that led to an intentional devaluation of the country's currency, as part of an effort to address that inflation, but which ultimately just ended up making things worse.The government also took out a bunch of debt to help increase their oil-pumping capacity, and that combination of debt, a weak currency, and a local economy that had done away with basically everything else except oil left them without everyday fundamentals, including food, alongside issues like burgeoning disease rates, child mortality rates, high levels of crime and corruption, and a whole lot of violence, politically motivated and otherwise.As of mid-2024, nearly 82% of Venezuela's population lives in poverty, and 53% of the population lives in extreme poverty, unable to afford enough food, and slowly starving to death.Maduro seems to have won another election in 2018, though that vote is even more widely considered to be a farce than the one in 2013, and though outside governments like the US supported the ascension of opposition candidate Juan Guaidó, who seems to have actually won, that support didn't lead to any real change within Venezuela—though it did lead to more sanctions by the US and its allies against the Venezuelan government and many higher-ups within that government, of which there were already quite a few, and the weight of these sanctions on their oil industry in particular have made it very difficult to Venezuela to openly sell their oil on the international market at full price, which has further deteriorated their economic situation.There was some hubbub within the Trump administration in 2020 that a military option, like a full-on naval blockade, to keep under-the-table oil deals that dodge US sanctions from occurring, might be on the table, as Maduro was proving resilient to other, less forceful attempts to dethrone him, like the aforementioned sanctions.But nothing came of that, and a few years later the Biden administration offered to ease sanctions on Maduro's government, and to begin the process of normalizing relations between the two countries, if Maduro agreed to have a fair and free election, letting Venezuelans decide whether to keep him or not, but in an actual election, not rigged election, this time.What I'd like to talk about today is how that election played out, and the local and international response to its results.—Some of that promised loosening of sanctions began well before the election, which took place at the tail-end of July 2024—and that allowed Venezuela to reap some profits from selling oil, gas, and gold that would have otherwise been tricky to get onto the global market.But while Maduro made a few gestures at allowing things to be free and fair, and released some political prisoners, as demanded, he figured out a way to justify keeping his main opposition, a woman named María Corina Machado, who has been incredibly popular with Venezuelans, from being on the ballot. So she picked someone to basically serve as a stand-in for her and her party, a man named Edmundo González.Official numbers released by the government indicate that Maduro won about 52% of the vote, and will thus remain in office.According to data and analysis from outside watchdog groups, however, the voter numbers released by the government are highly suspect, the numbers giving every indication that they were falsified.Evidence, including two-thirds of the tally sheets that the electronic voting machines printed out after polls closed on Election Day, provided by González's opposition alliance to some of those watchdog groups and to journalistic entities like the New York Times and Associated Press, suggest that Maduro probably only got something like 31% of the vote, while González, and through him, Machado and her party, received around 66%—a landslide victory, if those numbers are even close to accurate, and there's additional evidence that they are, as that's very similar to the results tallied by an independent exit poll on Election Day.Despite that evidence, the Venezuelan election authority has confirmed Maduro's reelection, saying that González only garnered 43% of the vote, and the governments of Venezuela's allies, like Russia, China, and Iran, have also recognized the results as valid—though to be clear, China, Russia, and Iran are all renowned for their Potempkin elections that have all the trappings of a democratic act, but which are largely ceremonial and always predetermined to some degree, even if they claim to take the will of the people into account. So this is a group of governments that regularly run invalid elections who are vouching for the legitimacy, the apparent validity, of an election that keeps their preferred, authoritarian ally, in power. Do with that information what you will.On the other side, we have a slew of mostly Western nations that have come out against the results, saying, with varying degrees of certitude, that there's abundant evidence these election results were faked, and that González is the actual winner.The US government is included on that list, and many of Venezuela's neighbors—some of whom have recently publicly spoken about their concerns related to Maduro's belligerence in the region, and seeming intention of rigging the vote in his favor—like Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, they've said they want the Venezuelan government to release the full details of the vote, so everyone can see and analyze the totality of data the government is supposedly working from.Some of Maduro's allies and former allies, and some hardcore supporters of his predecessor, Chávez, have likewise told Maduro he needs to release the baseline voter data, to clear things up.Maduro has said, instead, he'll have the country's Supreme Court audit the results, but this is being seen as a sidestep move by Maduro, as the court was recently packed with Maduro loyalists, and is therefore not capable of undertaking an independent review of the data—like other aspects of the country's government, the high court is basically in Maduro's pocket.Maduro is also saying that the US and other long-time enemies of his government are trying to rig the election against him, and that he can't release detailed vote counts because the National Electoral Council is under attack, including cyberattacks, and they're not able to provide those numbers right now because of that aggression—though he's provided no evidence to support this supposed reason he can't make any of this information public.So while it's still not 100% certain what has happened here, it's looking a lot like what happened in the last election, Maduro pulling out all the stops to muddle what information is being released, looking like he's playing ball whenever possible, but within a context in which he can make it look that way without facing any real risk of being challenged, and it would seem that he's leveraged the powers of state, once more, to lock in his position at the top for another six years, minimum.In addition to those international governments and groups calling foul on his actions, we're seeing widespread protests against the government and these alleged results, and in a few cases these protests have become violent—the government supports groups of loyalists called colectivos, giving them weapons and telling them to go attack peaceful protestors, which can spark such violence, though formal police and military forces have also seemingly triggered pushback in some cases.The government is accusing foreign nations like the US, and immigrant groups of causing this violence, saying these are special covert ops to make the government look bad and attack good loyal citizens basically—which is a common authoritarian move in such circumstances—and police and military forces have been rounding up protestors, and hunting them down afterward, arresting thousands of people for what they're calling anti-government or terrorist activities.This has led to a situation in which there are still protests, and the opposition is still pushing hard against these supposed results, but many people involved have been pulling down their social media profiles and not posting photos or videos, because they're worried the government will send people to their homes to black-bag them and take them away, which is apparently happening around the country right now, to folks from the opposition party, but also everyday people who went to a rally or protest.The question, now, is whether the outcome this time around will be any different than it was in 2013, and then again in 2018, when Maduro first stepped into power and when he retook power.Something the opposition has this time, but which it didn't have in those previous elections is Maria Corina Machado—the candidate who was booted from the ballot and who had to select González to run in her stead.Machado has become a public figure of almost religious significance in the country, and her star has arguably only gotten brighter the more Maduro has pushed back against her ability to participate in the formal processes of state.She won 90% of the vote to become the head of the opposition coalition last October, and she's been in politics since 2004, when she promoted a referendum to recall then-President Chávez, and that effort earned her a conspiracy charge.In later years, as she continued to hold various political roles, she was accused of corruption, disqualified from holding public office, accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate Maduro—all of these accusations seemingly false, and only applied to keep her from causing trouble, by the way—and then, after nearly a decade staying out of the spotlight, she became a candidate in that party primary that she won so handedly, which in turn led to her being banned from running for office for 15 years—all of which just seems to have further empowered her with everyday Venezuelans.She seems to be a lot more popular and to hold a lot more sway than Guaidó, the candidate who was held up as the actual victor of the 2018 election, and treated as such by several other governments in subsequent years.Die-hard fans of Machado also seem to have a bit more zeal than Guaidó's followers did, which could mean if the government acts against her or González, as they've threatened to do, and which both candidates seem to be daring the government to do, having shown up in public a few times despite those threats to lock them up or worse, since the election—if something like that happens, that could result in even bigger and potentially more destructive and violent protests, despite her calls for nonviolent opposition against what seems to have been a grave injustice.The world has also changed quite a lot since 2018, and many of Venezuela's neighbors, even those that would have previously stayed carefully neutral in this election, have outright recognized González as the winner, including Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, among others.This changed world could also bring more support for Maduro, though, as their global allies, the Russias, Chinas, and Irans of the world, in particular, are busily building a collection of relationships with governments that oppose the de facto hegemony of the US and Europe, and that's manifesting in all sorts of ways, including providing resources, trade, and misinformation and military support to other fellow travelers who are holding the authoritarian line against pushback from their democratic and close-enough-to-democratic peer states.There's a good chance there will be more tumult in neighboring nations as a result of all this—most immediately Colombia, as that's where the majority of Venezuelans who have left the country as part of that larger, decade-long exodus, have been going, and there's abundant indication that many people who held out, hoping this election would change something in the country and sticking around on that possibility, are planning to leave, now that Maduro has apparently managed to cling to power.There's a chance this could trickle into other nations' politics, too, as many of those Venezuelan migrants who don't stay in Colombia end up heading north to US borders, and those borders have been at the center of the past several elections, and the new Democratic nominee for president this November, Kamala Harris, was tasked with handling border issues in the country at a truly tumultuous moment for the border. So a surge in new migrants could lead to more criticism of her on that front, as her performance in that role is generally considered to have been not great.The Venezuelan military seems to be standing with Maduro, so far, which means it's unlikely the citizenry will have much of a chance of forcing the government to take them seriously and do anything about this seemingly rigged election, beyond protesting at such a scale and regularity that it messes with their ability to get anything else done, which could, at some point, nudge those in positions of power within the military to take the citizenry's side.This is considered to be unlikely at this point, as Maduro has made sure to tie those leaders to him, giving them all sorts of monetary and business benefits, and arranging the country's military and intelligence apparatuses so that all the agencies and people running them are tasked with watching each other, as much as the other elements they're meant to defend against—again, a common authoritarian tactic, as this can help stave off the potential for coups, no one willing to risk losing their own power to oust the person up top.The most likely outcome, based on how things have gone previously, at least, and how this has played out so far, is probably that this will remain a talking point internationally for a while, protests will continue to bubble up and be tamped-down, periodically becoming violent enough to warrant international news, but then in a handful of months, Maduro will have reinforced his position in power, still further, neighboring governments will be forced to reckon with his staying power and will figure out ways to deal with him, even if not happily, and the exodus of citizens from the country will continue as the economy continues to get worse in most ways, though perhaps bolstered a bit by support from the Russia/China/Iran alliance.All of which will reshape the population and demographics of the region, while causing all sorts of economic ripples globally, as well.Show Noteshttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/28/world/americas/venezuela-election-results.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/world/americas/venezuela-election-takeaways.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-election-results.htmlhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1d10453znohttps://www.wsj.com/articles/i-can-prove-maduro-got-trounced-venezuela-election-stolen-772d66a0https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/07/31/suspicious-data-pattern-in-recent-venezuelan-election/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-announces-sanctions-targeting-venezuelas-oil-industry/2019/01/28/4f4470c2-233a-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.htmlhttps://www.axios.com/2024/07/30/venezuela-election-biden-trump-responsehttps://theintercept.com/2024/08/02/venezuela-election-maduro-us-sanctions-democracy/https://www.barrons.com/news/venezuela-election-body-ratifies-maduro-s-poll-win-official-39010070https://archive.ph/izdLUhttps://apnews.com/article/colombia-president-maduro-vote-count-venezuela-election-00d399b74300b6d1ed010bed9539a166https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-08-05/venezuelas-political-crisis-enters-uncharted-territory.htmlhttps://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10715https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_refugee_criseshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3n_Bol%C3%ADvarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarianismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_Revolutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_in_Venezuelahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Venezuelan_presidential_electionhttps://dialogue.earth/en/business/8768-fuel-subsidies-have-contributed-to-venezuela-s-economic-crisis/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-election-preview-1.7274864https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelahttps://archive.ph/20240726145913/https://www.r4v.info/en/refugeeandmigrantshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctions_during_the_Venezuelan_crisishttps://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-machado-biden-gonzalez-elections-protests-d6e70bd88ee9511298a4850c224a12e2 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

The USA and its allies in Latin America have refused to recognize the results of Venezuela's elections, as far-right opposition extremists try to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro, with the help of billionaire oligarch Elon Musk. Ben Norton documents the many US-backed coups since Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez came to power and launched the Bolivarian Revolution. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NglJ4J2rMEA Our investigation: "US gov't-linked firm is source of exit poll claiming Venezuelan opposition won election" - https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/07/29/us-government-edison-poll-venezuela-election/ Check out our related video: "Why is USA obsessed with overthrowing Venezuela?" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ViMqMXGGs Topics 0:00 US supports coup attempt in Venezuela 1:41 Elon Musk: "We will coup whoever we want!" 3:35 Electoral "fraud" allegations 5:52 Observers say vote was fair 8:05 Argentina's leader Javier Milei 9:06 CIA & Israeli Mossad 9:50 Venezuelan opposition loves Israel 10:38 Maduro supports Palestine 11:07 China, Russia, Iran 11:52 Why USA is obsessed with overthrowing Venezuela 12:57 Oil 13:36 CLIP Donald Trump wanted to "take over" Venezuela (and its oil) 14:07 CLIP John Bolton: US corporations want Venezuela's oil 15:18 CLIP Bolton boasts Venezuela coup attempt was "a lot of work" 15:49 From Juan Guaidó to María Corina Machado 17:55 US-backed coup in Venezuela in 2002 19:25 Venezuelan opposition's long history of crying "fraud" 19:48 Guarimbas 21:35 What "dictatorship"? 22:13 Obama declares Venezuela a "national security threat" 23:38 Economic war, sanctions, & embargo 30:15 Venezuela's oligarchy vs. working class 32:12 Inflation 33:08 Sanctions 35:39 West steals Venezuela's foreign assets 36:46 Failed CIA-backed invasion of Venezuela 37:36 No evidence for "fraud" claims 39:36 Outro

The people of Venezuela are preparing for the presidential election this upcoming Sunday. For years, the corporate media and the Washington-dominated opposition have spread lies about the legitimacy of Venezuela's elections. Despite U.S. sanctions and coup attempts, the people of Venezuela continue to protect The Bolivarian Revolution. Track Listing: [0:00] - TRN-KREZ Morning Show [1:24] - Is fraud possible in Venezuela?  [3:32] - "Venezuela: Sanctions and Democracy" (Release Date: 12/23/2020) [17:41] - Venezuela & sanctions w/ Abril Viscaya & Carolina Morales (Release Date: 04/18/2020) [33:01] - Venezuela, US sanctions, & Coronavirus w/ Carlos Ron (Release Date: 03/23/2020)[43:44] - Venezuela & anti-imperialism w/ Onyesonwu (Release Date: 02/10/2020 [53:37] -  Indigenous people & Venezuela w/ Jorge Arreaza (Release Date: 11/06/2019)   The Red Nation Podcast is produced by Red Media and is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

The brutal US-led sanctions campaign has led grassroots socialist organizations to reinvent themselves and come together to survive the conditions created by the economic blockade. In our latest podcast episode, we go deep into communes and the socialist project in Venezuela, discussing the challenges in building a communal economy, political autonomy and lots more. Host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by Venezuelanalysis' Cira Pascual Marquina who shares her experiences documenting the efforts of communards to build their productive capacity and end their isolation. We also speak with Juan “Juancho” Lenzo, co-founder of Tatuy Televisión and the Communard Union's communications coordinator, to discuss the genesis of the Communard Union and its role in defending socialism as the strategic horizon of the Bolivarian Revolution.Music: Embandolaos - Los Caimanes NegrosDionis Bahamonde Alan Gonzalez Eli Rondon y Truk - Comuna o Nada

From April 18 to 20, more than 500 activists from around the world gathered in Caracas, Venezuela for the "World Gathering for a Social Alternative." The meeting was convened by the Simon Bolivar Institute and the ALBA Movement, and it was followed by an ALBA-TCP leaders summit, which included the ten ALBA countries and Honduras. Clearing the FOG speaks with Carlos Ron, president of the Simon Bolivar Institute, about the urgency of the gathering, what will come out of it and the next steps. Ron shared the progress Venezuela has made under the Bolivarian Revolution, the retaliation against Venezuela primarily by the United States and the importance of connecting social movements to confront the many global crises of this era. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

February 2 marked the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, which was the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution. Over the past 25 years, Venezuela has made remarkable gains in reducing poverty, ending illiteracy and building social infrastructure such as housing, health care, education, transportation and more, despite persistent interference by the United States to impose an economic blockade, fund an opposition, attempt coups and assassinations, delegitimize the elections and threaten military attacks. Clearing the FOG speaks with Leo Flores, a Venezuelan activist, about the progress of the revolution, Venezuela's deep democracy and current efforts by the US to stop it. There is much to learn from Venezuelan's struggle for a better life. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Following a day-long discussion about U.S. interventionism and efforts to resist imperialism at the Latin America and Caribbean Policy Forum, host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by Nick Estes from The Red Nation, Claudia De La Cruz from The People's Forum, Teri Mattson of the WTF is Going on in Latin America and the Caribbean podcast, Celina della Croce and Hector Figarella from the Anti-Imperialist Action Committee, as well as Venezuelanalysis' Greg Wilpert, to have a rich discussion about the fight to bury the Monroe Doctrine, ending sanctions on Venezuela, and drawing inspiration from the Bolivarian Revolution. This is a repost from our comrades at Venezuela Analysis. Follow them on Twitter (@venanalysis) and subscribe to their podcast.  Support www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Following a day-long discussion about U.S. interventionism and efforts to resist imperialism at the Latin America and the Caribbean Policy Forum, host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by Nick Estes from The Red Nation, Claudia De La Cruz from The People's Forum, Teri Mattson of the WTF is Going on in Latin America and the Caribbean podcast, Hector Figarella from the Anti-Imperialist Action Committee, and Celina della Croce from the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, as well as Venezuelanalysis' Greg Wilpert, to have a rich discussion about the fight to bury the Monroe Doctrine, ending sanctions on Venezuela, and drawing inspiration from the Bolivarian Revolution.

Last month, the National Anti-Corruption Police revealed alleged “serious acts of corruption" in state-owned oil company PDVSA. Fallout was swift, over 50 individuals have now been arraigned. The charges include misappropriation of public funds, influence peddling and money laundering. Some may even face treason charges. Calling the anti-corruption drive an “ethical, spiritual, and moral battle”, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said that those engaged in unscrupulous behavior were betraying the values of the Bolivarian Revolution.In response to the US economic war, the Venezuelan government also implemented an anti-blockade law, it has helped the country survive but has ripple effects, namely a lack of transparency. It is in these obscured spaces where corruption can flourish. But corruption is not the only consequence of the economic war against Venezuela. The country is also battling inflation, which is severely impacting the working class in the country. When it comes to corruption and inflation, these two are also sites of class struggle. To explain, we will speak with Venezuelan economist and National Assembly member Tony Boza.Music: Embandolaos - Los Caimanes NegrosHay que aligerar la carga - Alí Primera

In this weeks internview I speak with CPGB-ML Vice Chair Joti Brar about her recent visit to Caracas. We talk about the unfolding revolutionary process that is going on there, the masses continued support for a socialist future and their building of workers democratic organisations. We also discuss the recent meeting of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform held in Caracas and the declaration made by those parties attending.   Outro Music is 'La Hora Del Pueblo' A song of the PSUV

In this episode we begin by discussing some of the international news stories of the week, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran committing to a path towards re-establishing diplomatic ties through the negotiations held in Beijing with the help of China; the 10 year anniversary of the passing of Hugo Chavez, who took on the mantle of leading the Bolivarian Revolution along with his people; the recent US-Cuba Normalization conference held at Fordham University March 10-11; the upcoming Call to Action on March 15+16 to call the White House incessantly to demand Cuba be removed from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List; the upcoming rally and demonstration/march in DC on March 18th....along with a few other stories. We then transition to discussing the recent censorship of Black Power Media, an independent media coalition of incredible organizers, historians, educators and activists who were given a vague conclusion that they "engaged in election misinformation" leading to a 7-day post ban, and then told this was 1 of 3 strikes before their entire account is removed. Dr. Jared Ball was on BreakThrough News with Eugene Puryear and Rania Khalek talking about it and it struck a cord with me, so wanted to show love to the Comrade Jared Ball and all the folks at BPM, but also connect it to the confusion, lack of revolutionary awareness, consciousness, and history that the Western, Euro-Amerikan and European Left is ignorant of or intentionally ignoring. Let me know what you think! ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Sanctions, also known as unilateral coercive measures, should primarily be understood as a tool of neocolonialism. Unilateral Coercive Measures are aimed at inflicting collective punishment on a sovereign state. In the case of Venezuela, they are driven by an effort to secure access to the country's vast oil wealth, to once again bring Venezuela under the heel of US dominance in the region. Washington wants to also punish the Bolivarian Revolution for not bowing to its hegemony. On today's program we're looking at the efforts to resist the US neocolonial practice of sanctions. What is the Maduro government doing in the face of this challenge? Can we say there's an economic recovery in Venezuela despite the imposition of unilateral coercive measures? And how are solidarity activists inside the belly of the beast organizing to end US sanctions?To talk about the impact of unilateral coercive measures on Venezuela and efforts by activists in the US to resist sanctions policy, we will speak with Michelle Ellner, a Latin America campaign coordinator at CODEPINK. We also chat with Venezuela Analysis' Ricardo Vaz about the state of Venezuela's economy today and what the Venezuelan government can do to address inequality in the country.Music:Embandolaos - Los Caimanes NegrosEfren Clavo - La Caída del Imperio

We continue our discussion with Cira Pascual Marquina about the Venezuelan commune movement. Cira is a Political Science professor at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela in Caracas and a writer and editor for Venezuela Analysis. El Panal Commune:https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15629Indorca Workers:https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15542

We welcome Cira Pascual Marquina to the show to talk about the Venezuelan commune movement. Cira is a Political Science professor at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela in Caracas and a writer and editor for Venezuela Analysis. El Panal Commune:https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15629Indorca Workers:https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15542

Sean and Kyle talk with Lainie Cassel about her time as an independent journalist in Venezuela during the Bolivarian Revolution. We dig into what it felt like to be at the reelection of Chavez, how western media portrayed the Bolivarian Revolution, and how to become a journalist. Kyle also draws heavily from Naomi Schiller's book, Channeling The State: Community Media and Popular Politics in Venezuela.Aside from her journalistic work, which can be found on her YouTube Channel, Lainie is also a Nutritional Therapist Practitioner and Strength Coach. You can find her on her website and InstagramOur stellar theme song, Cosmic Background Radiation, was composed by Occult A/V. Check out more over on bandcamp.

The Great Housing Mission is undoubtedly one of the flagships of the Bolivarian Revolution. The program created by Hugo Chávez in 2011 has provided a reported four million houses for low-income families and looks to reach five million by 2025.In the newest episode of the Venezuelanalysis podcast, we go over the struggle to establish housing as a human right in Venezuela, as opposed to a capitalist commodity, and we put the spotlight on grassroots movements that have pushed the so-called “urban revolution.”Host José Luis Granados Ceja, fellow VA writer Andreína Chávez and Juan Carlos Rodríguez from the Pobladores Movement go over the housing mission and its achievements, as well as the emerging challenges and contradictions in Venezuela's current political context.

The Bolivarian Revolution has always worked to put social inclusion at the very center of its political program, focusing on attending to the needs of the most marginalized. In a capitalist patriarchal system this meant expanding the political participation of women; but this also doubled the social reproduction work of women, who found themselves working, taking care of their families and taking care of the community.Nonetheless, Venezuelan women today continue to organize and fight for equality, struggling to end machista violence and secure recognition of their sexual and reproductive rights.In honor of International Working Women's Day on March 8th, we're going to talk about the gains and the challenges facing the feminist movement in Venezuela and will speak with Daniela Inojosa, a long time feminist and founder of Tinta Violeta.Music:Embandolaos - Los Caimanes NegrosLa Chiche Manaure - La Mujer Bolivariana

Discussing the historical roots of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution. During today's episode, we focus on two key February events that shaped Chavismo. First, the Caracazo Uprising of 1989. Second, the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement Uprising of 1992. We also talk about the gains of the Bolivarian Revolution and 21st century socialism. Today's guests are Yhamir Chabur, Aminta Zea, and Kayla Popuchet. Yhamir is a Colombian activist based in New York City. He is the host of The Bolivarian Flame. Aminta is a sociologist and researcher with the Friends of the ATC. She is also part of the Troika Kollective. She is a U.S. born Nicaraguan-Palestinian currently based in Managua, Nicaragua. Aminta also attended Xiomara's inauguration in Honduras. Kayla is a Peruvian-Haitian student, worker and organizer based in New York City. Unmasking Imperialism exposes imperialist propaganda in mainstream media. Hosted by Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez.

For Episode 4 of New World Coming, James Counts Early is joined by historian, activist, and former diplomat, Jesus “Chucho” Garcia to discuss the complexities of the state, social and civil organizations, and the people working together to deepen the principles of the Bolivarian Revolution. They also discuss the power relations of developing democracy, the struggle for reparations in Latin America, and his career work of studying African history. Jesus “Chucho” Garcia is the founder of Fundación AfroAmérica Y Diáspora Africana and former Venezuelan Ambassador to Angola.To learn more about James and Chucho's discussion, check out our Political Education platform at https://politicaleducation.peoplesforum.org/new-world-coming-ep-4 to see resources, texts, and a glossary of terms for each episode!New World Coming is an interview series program produced by The People's Forum. Our host for this program is James Counts Early, longtime thinker and collaborator of Afro-descendent movements and Black liberation struggles in the Americas. We will be interviewing scholars, activists, and leaders of the African diaspora on lessons from the history of anti-racist organizing.

A conversation with Geo Maher about his forthcoming book Anticolonial Eruptions: Racial Hubris and the Cunning of Resistance, which explores the history and political character of revolutionary action and its continuity with racial justice struggle in the contemporary moment.Geo Maher teaches in the Department of Political Science at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. He is the author of numerous articles in academic venues, as well as popular and radical political media. He has written five books: ‘We Created Chavez': A People's History of the Bolivarian Revolution and Decolonizing Dialectics, both with Duke University Press, and with Verso he has published Building the Commune and A World Without Police. Anticolonial Eruptions is forthcoming with University of California Press in late-March 2022.

We talk with comrade Fidel about the Yukpa Indigenous revolutionary Sabino Romero and his life, legacy, and role in the Bolivarian Revolution. Instagram: @kupaye Support  www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Christian and Rudy join Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina, authors of Venezuela, The Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution for a discussion on the past, present and future of the Bolivarian  revolution. We cover the history of the revolution from its origins as a  reaction against the neoliberal adjustments in the late 80s, through  the electoral victory up to the declaration of the revolution as  socialist in 2006. We discuss Communes in both urban and rural settings,  and their role in the transition to socialism, the questions around Oil  and the Economy, the economic problems of the revolution, the shadows  of bureaucratization, the differences between the cities and the  countryside and possible way forwards for the revolution. Make sure to check Venezuela Analysis, and in particular their Youtube videos where they visit the Panal and Che Guevara communes.  

The Canadian book launch of "Extraordinary Threat: The U.S. Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela." Joe Emersberger and Justin Podur apply media analysis to the absurd claims that Venezuela represents an "extraordinary threat" to the United States, or that 'Chavizmo' transformed "once prosperous" Venezuela into a poorhouse. The U.S. desire to intervene in oil-rich Venezuela means that it needs to construct narratives to justify intervention. These self-serving stories denigrate the achievements in poverty reduction of the Bolivarian Revolution, while minimizing the U.S. role in disrupting the Venezuelan economy and civil society. Particular attention is given to "human rights organizations" such as Amnesty International, who minimize the effect of U.S. encirclement and coup-promotion, instead preferring to "referee" a supposedly level-playing-field in the country.

The Canadian book launch of "Extraordinary Threat: The U.S. Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela." Joe Emersberger and Justin Podur apply media analysis to the absurd claims that Venezuela represents an "extraordinary threat" to the United States, or that 'Chavizmo' transformed "once prosperous" Venezuela into a poorhouse. The U.S. desire to intervene in oil-rich Venezuela means that it needs to construct narratives to justify intervention. These self-serving stories denigrate the achievements in poverty reduction of the Bolivarian Revolution, while minimizing the U.S. role in disrupting the Venezuelan economy and civil society. Particular attention is given to "human rights organizations" such as Amnesty International, who minimize the effect of U.S. encirclement and coup-promotion, instead preferring to "referee" a supposedly level-playing-field in the country.

In this episode Yanis Iqbal reports over the Venezuela Bolivarian Revolution.  Yanis can be found on Twitter from the handle @yanisiqbal .You can find the Plough and Stars on Twitter @ploughandstars. You can @ us, or send us a DM. We are also on twitter, and our handles are @imdocplague and @redbernarr. If you enjoy this show and would like to support us, you can find us on patreon at patreon.com/ploughandstars. We also have a redbubble where you can find Plough and Stars and RAS merch at redbubble.com/people/ploughandstars/shop. Finally, if you have an interest in the larger party we are affiliated with, the Party for Reclamation and Survival, you can contact us at reclamation (dot) and (dot) survival (at) protonmail (dot) com. RAS has an archive.org page set up where you can read various party publications. That site is archive.org/details/@reclaim_survive. Lastly, if you want to support the party overall, you can find our Ko-Fi account at ko-fi.com/rasredaid. In multiple locations across the country we have comrades out meeting with and feeding the masses, and doing the work. Speaking of which, while it is extremely important to learn the theory, that means nothing if you are not following through with the work. So we would encourage you to first reach out, get involved, and then come back and listen.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ploughandstars)

Exposing mainstream media coverage of life in Venezuela and showing what life is truly like in the Latin American country. Today's guest is Yhamir Chabur, a Colombian activist based in New York City. Yhamir recently traveled to Venezuela to participate in the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples of the World. The Congress was held on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo, in which Venezuelan General Simón Bolívar defeated Spanish royalist forces. It eventually led to the independence of Venezuela. The Battle of Carabobo continues to inspire the country's Bolivarian Revolution. Unmasking Imperialism exposes imperialist propaganda in mainstream media. Hosted by Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez.

Exposing mainstream media coverage of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution. Today's guests are Aminta Zea and Kayla Popuchet. Aminta is a Nicaraguan-American sociologist based out of New Orleans, Louisiana. She currently researches transnational Central American identity, imperialism in the Americas and different modes of social struggle and labor organizing. Kayla is a Peruvian-Haitian student, worker and organizer based in New York City. Unmasking Imperialism exposes imperialist propaganda in mainstream media. Hosted by Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez.

Welcome to another episode of That Anthro Podcast, where we dive into all things anthropology. This episode was just as much of a treat to record as it is to listen to, Dr. Layla Brown-Vincent is a captivating scholar, storyteller, and professor. Dr. Brown-Vincent is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at U Mass Boston, but holds a Phd in Cultural Anthropology, and commonly works and teaches on the subject of Black Feminism and Power. She certainly wowed and inspired me with her views on the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela and the parallels with the US Black Lives Matter movements; as well as her teaching philosophy! We dove into her unique childhood growing up in a very politically active community of diverse, international voices, which would later help guide her studies. Please consider checking out one of these links, reading her extraordinary work, or following her on Twitter. https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/faculty/layla_brown_vincent Follow her on Twitter @PanAfrikFem_PhD / https://twitter.com/panafrikfem_phd?lang=en https://www.arkrepublic.com/2021/01/09/dr-layla-brown-vincent-envisions-a-better-world-for-her-people/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=syYBakcAAAAJ&hl=en (for a list of her publications) Follow @thatanthropodcast on Instagram, and @ThatAnthroPod on Twitter for more behind the scenes content. Brought to you in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association check out their podcast library here https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1629 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Anya Parampil, Max Blumenthal, and Brandon Madsen join Kevin to discuss the Biden Administration’s continued recognition of Juan Guaidó as president of Venezuela, the history of the Bolivarian revolution, and a bit of a debate about how socialists should view it and the government headed by Maduro and the PSUV.

Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert on the dynamics of Venezuelan society, struggles on the communal path towards socialism and their book "Venezuela, the Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution" via Monthly Review. https://monthlyreview.org/product/venezuela_the_present_as_struggle/

A generation of populist leaders with strong personalities has defined Latin American politics in the 21st century. BBC correspondent Will Grant has been working in the region since 2007, based in Venezuela, Mexico and Cuba, in which time he has borne witness to the political movements collectively painted as the ‘Pink Tide’. In his new book, Populista: The Rise of Latin America’s 21st Century Strongman, he pieces together the stories of Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, Luis Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva in Brazil, Bolivia’s Movimiento al Socialismo under Evo Morales, Rafael Correa over in Ecuador, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro. In this interview, Will and John discuss Chávez’s rambling cadenas on state television, caudillismo in the 21st century, how commodity prices underpinned progress under Pink Tide governments and the countries these leaders ultimately left behind. Follow Will on Twitter: @will__grant Buy ¡Populista! here: https://headofzeus.com/books/9781789543957 Follow us: @MiradasPod Email us: info@miradaspodcast.com Visit our website: www.miradaspodcast.com You can sign up to our mailing list for the latest news from Miradas on our website.

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, host Jacquie Luqman and producer Wyatt Reed are joined by Ted Rall, award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, and author of the new book, “Political Suicide: The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party,” to discuss the move by House Republicans to block the bill by Democrats to include $2,000 checks as part of a COVID-19 relief package, the investigation which found the Democratic National Committee was "directly involved" in the development of the notorious Shadow app responsible for the Iowa caucus chaos, and what the latest Russiagate story means for the future of US-Russian relations.In the second segment, Jacquie and Wyatt are joined by Max Blumenthal, Editor of The Grayzone, Co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast, and author of "The Management of Savagery," to discuss his recent interview with former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, the current state of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution and the US-aligned forces which oppose it, and some of the stories Grayzone viewers can expect to see in the coming weeks.Later in the show, Jacquie and Wyatt are joined by Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, and author of the new book The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering, and the Political Economy of Boxing,” to discuss negotiations over the COVID-19 relief package, the Trump administration's decision to pardon the four Blackwater mercenaries who carried out the 2007 Nisour Square massacre, and how the common threads of imperialism and settler-colonialism tie together so much of the daily oppression facing working and oppressed peoples.

In this segment of By Any Means Necessary, host Jacquie Luqman and producer Wyatt Reed are joined by Max Blumenthal, Editor of The Grayzone, Co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast, and author of "The Management of Savagery," to discuss his recent interview with former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, the current state of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution and the US-aligned forces which oppose it, and some of the stories and interviews Grayzone viewers can expect to see in the coming weeks.

In this double episode Raul Barbano and Michelle Munjanattu report back about Venezuela's December 6th, 2020 National Assembly elections as they served as election observers, and speak about the Bolivarian revolution, the impact of sanctions on Venezuela and the economic and political crisis facing the country, the Lima Group's role in capitalist accumulation in the region, U.S. and Canadian imperialism and ways social movements are mobilizing against the crisis. This episode also offers rich reflections and examples of how to build a communal and socialist society and offer lessons from the global south on how to resist capitalism and emphasizes the importance of political education and solidarity in struggle, and shares liberatory visions for another world.

On Sunday, Dec. 6, the Venezuelan people will vote to elect the new deputies of the National Assembly. This election is enormously important for the Bolivarian Revolution. The progressive forces are mobilizing nationwide to win back the assembly from right-wing politicians who won the majority in December 2015. It is not a contest between one political party and another. It is the struggle for the very survival of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution against a brutal U.S. economic war and coup plots. U.S. imperialism has captured the nation’s enormous resources and wealth and severely blockaded the country for years now. Regaining the National Assembly is one immediate goal for the revolutionary government, to restore control of the country’s resources, reestablish legislative legitimacy, and help to overcome the economic hardships the U.S. blockade has caused in the population. To combat the U.S. economic war, a new strategy was unveiled on Sept. 29 by President Nicolás Maduro, called the “Anti-Blockade Constitutional Law for National Development and Guarantee of Human Rights,” or anti-blockade law for short. It was approved in a session of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC by its Spanish initials) on Oct. 8. The ANC has served as an interim legislative body after the right-wing-led National Assembly was declared in contempt for illegal election practices and other violations. The siege by the U.S., Canada and its European allies against Venezuela includes the U.S. seizure of CITGO and other Venezuelan properties, the withholding of the country’s gold and money reserves by Britain and Portugal, and a severe sanctions regime. They have cut off its ability to import spare parts and critical chemicals for the oil and mining industries, particularly imports from the U.S., with its dominance in oil technology. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/venezuelas-anti-blockade-law-and-the-dec-6-elections/

On December 6, Venezuela will hold parliamentary elections to choose new deputies for the National Assembly, the country’s legislature. With heightened U.S. attacks in Venezuela, including a tightening economic blockade, the elections are of great consequence to the future of the country. In the last legislative election held in 2015, the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) lost a majority of seats in the National Assembly to a coalition of right-wing parties called the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). This shift allowed the opposition to heighten its efforts to destabilize Venezuela and promote U.S. intervention. Central to this destabilization campaign has been the claim that the country’s democratic processes are fraudulent, and that the elected president Nicolás Maduro is a “dictator”. However, ever since the Bolivarian Revolution began, after the election of Hugo Chavez as president in 1998, Venezuela has strictly adhered to constitutional principles and a fair and transparent electoral process. Venezuela’s electoral authority — the National Electoral Council (CNE) — is one of five co-equal branches of the country’s government. It presides over one of the most technologically advanced and transparent electoral systems in the world. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter famously remarked “[…] of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.” Venezuela has an electronic voting system where an individual’s ID card and fingerprints are used to determine their identity to prevent double voting. The system then prints a paper ballot confirmation that can be verified by the voter and placed in the ballot box. The voter then signs and leaves a physical fingerprint in a record book at the center they are voting at. This makes any attempt of fraud during elections extremely difficult. Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/why-venezuelas-dec-6-election-is-legitimate/

Kayla Pop and Danny Shaw speak with three women leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela: Taina González Rubio, Karen Echeto and Ingrid Carmona. They discuss U.S. imperialist aggression against the Bolivarian Revolution as well as the construction of socialism in Venezuela and the leading role of women.

In the 1970s, Venezuela had the highest growth rate and lowest inequality in Latin America. Today, Venezuela is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, where 96.4% of the population now lives below the poverty line and on less than two dollars a day. What led to the total collapse of Venezuela's economy in less than a decade? Was it mismanagement? Sanctions? Or was it the central planning philosophy of "21st Century Socialism" championed by Hugo Chávez to advance his Bolivarian Revolution agenda that ultimately set Venezuela on a downward spiral toward nationwide abject poverty? In this episode we're joined by Daniel Di Martino, a syndicated Venezuelan economist, incoming PhD student, and research associate at the University of Kentucky's Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise. We begin with Daniel's experience growing up under Venezuela's authoritarian framework and later review the failed economic policies that drove the country to disaster. Join us as we listen to Daniel's thoughts on the efforts of the Juan Guaidó-led interim government, and consider whether Venezuela will learn from the mistakes of the Chavéz/Maduro regime, or if history is doomed to repeat itself after this dark chapter in Venezuela's history comes to a close.   Twitter: @DanielDiMartino www.danieldimartino.com

April 25, 2020 TOPIC: CONTINUING and OUTRAGEOUS U.S. MEDDLING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF VENEZUELA GUEST: Whitney Webb Whitney Webb – Writer/Investigator: Whitney Webb is a staff writer for The Last American Vagabond. She has previously written for Mintpress News, Ben Swann's Truth In Media. Her work has appeared on Global Research, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She currently lives with her family in southern Chile. For this episode of The Soapbox, Cindy chats with journalist, Whitney Webb about her piece entitled: As US Shale Oil Plunges, Trump Admin Takes Aim at Venezuela A confluence of factors suggests that such a Panama-style invasion of Venezuela is not only a possibility, but increasingly likely. by Whitney Webb ******************************* As a long time supporter of the people of Venezuela, Cindy finds the Trump administration's attack against Venezuela particularly troubling, even though the U.s. has been trying to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution of former President Hugo Chavez since 1999. This is an important conversation and an important reminder that there are other urgent issues in the world at this time! ************* https://afgj.salsalabs.org/cindysheehan/index.html https://www.facebook.com/Cindy-Sheehans-Soapbox-Radio-Show-188031143274/

Onyesonwu joins us for a report-back from recent African and Indigenous delegations to Venezuela, and why the Bolivarian Revolution is leading at the forefront of the global anti-imperialist movement. Onyesonwu is an organizer with the All African People's Revolutionary Party and the All African Women's Revolutionary Union as well as an editor with Hood Communist. Read the Final Declaration of the World Conference Against Imperialism: http://hoodcommunist.org/2020/02/06/final-declaration-of-the-world-meeting-against-imperialism/ Read the Declaration of the First International Gathering of Indigenous Peoples: https://therednation.org/2020/01/11/declaration-of-the-first-international-gathering-of-indigenous-peoples-guayana-venezuela-oct-31-2019/  Support www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza (@jaarreaza) talks about the Indigenous socialist vision of the Bolivarian Revolution and how US sanctions have affected the country. Support www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Adam returns to discuss what a war with Iran would look like, with a focus on the resourcefulness and strength of the revolutionary guards. Followed by a discussion on Venezuela and the possibility of civil war with US backing.Support the show at Patreon.Featuring "Break The State" by Time. Find Time on Soundcloud or SpotifySupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/movementspod)

The word “socialism” — like capitalism, liberalism, and fascism — means different things to different people.While libertarians picture the deprivations of actual socialism in places like the Cuba, Venezuela, and the former Soviet Union, idealists prefer to cherry-pick Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway.Talking with a socialist can be like playing whack-a-mole. You point to a failure and they tell you, “But that wasn't REAL socialism.”In his 2003 book Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism, World Affairs Institute fellow Joshua Muravchik documents the many faces of socialism throughout history, and none of them are pretty. In a piece for the Wall Street Journal this week, Muravchik notes that even the best case scenarios for socialism have been disasters (or else morphed into something that was no longer socialism). Now he's publishing a new edition that includes “the Afterlife,” on the recent reincarnation of the bad idea that just won't stay dead.Bernie Sanders' popularity as a Democratic candidate is just one worrisome sign that socialism is regaining influence. Humanity might be forgiven for initially falling for socialism and its utopian promises of a “New Socialist Man.” Two centuries later, however, ignorance is no excuse. Marxism was supposed to be scientific, but Karl Marx's intellectual legacy has brought about more human misery than virtually any ideas in history.Muravchik charts this tragic history of the world's worst idea with clarity and fascinating detail. His book includes the story of a relatively obscure Welsh social reformer named Robert Owen, whose efforts to help industrial workers led him to found several experiments in communal living — both in the UK and the US. In almost every case, these experiments were dystopian and short-lived.But before Owen and his followers coined the term socialism, the French Revolution had given birth to the spirit of Egalité by any means necessary. The Reign of Terror and elimination of the hierarchy would soon morph into a totalizing economic doctrine that swept away traditions of property rights. Much like the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in the 1900s, the French Revolution used fear and violence to replace religious ideals, customs, and institutions with allegedly more “rational” ones that would usher in heaven on earth.Socialism, Muravchik demonstrates convincingly, was always a substitute religion — and an extremely popular one at that.He himself was brought up under this religion, and joined the Young People's Socialist League in 1962, the same year as Bernie Sanders. However, his anti-communism and growing awareness of the failure of socialist experiments around the world turned him into a neo-conservative.[Watch this 2002 video of Muravchik in discussion with Irving Kristol and Charles Krauthammer at the American Enterprise Institute]Resurrecting the CorpseSo what should we make of the rapid ascent of politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib? Considering that the Democratic Socialists of America, of which they are members, stand in solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution, we probably ought to be worried.In an article for the Weekly Standard, [Up from the Grave, Nov. 8, 2018], Muravchik explains that the seeming compromise of “democratic” socialism is merely a cover for a coercive socialist agenda. Democratic countries never adopt socialism, and real socialism requires taking away people's democratic rights. Therefore democratic socialism is a contradiction in terms.But What About Sweden?Neither are “social democracies” in countries like Norway and Sweden the shining beacons of socialism their proponents claim them to be. After a few decades of lukewarm socialism, most Nordic countries embraced free markets in most areas — using the explosive growth allowed by capitalism to generate revenues for a more expansive welfare state.Muravchik notes that the kibbutzim in Israel are not the a demonstration that socialism works on a small scale, since these have gradually replaced the shared purse with private ownership. Thankfully, the participants in Israel's kibbutzim seem to have acknowledged the failures of socialism rather than taking them as evidence for a need to simply expand the scope.It remains to be seen whether Sanders, AOC, and the vanguard of the unemployed college graduates will organize into a force to be reckoned with, or if we can put socialism back to rest in peace — permanently.President Trump went on the record at the United Nations recently to say that the United States will never be a socialist country, adding that “America was founded on liberty and independence, not coercion, domination and control.”Let's hope he's right.

This month we discuss the Bolivarian Revolution and why it is important for us all to stand together in solidarity with nations in the crosshairs of imperial aggression. We also provide some background on US Intervention and destruction across Central and South America, and a few resources and arguments when your liberal or chauvinist interlocutors tell you that President Maduro is a "dictator."Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ploughandstars)

When Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998, it was on a wave of optimism about challenging the fundamental inequities of Venezuela, a country that had been battered by neoliberalism.  But the trajectory of the country from the heyday of the Bolivarian Revolution has been rocky. Leftwing Venezuelan scholar Margarita Lopez Maya discusses populism, Chavez, and his successor Nicolas Maduro. The post Populism and the Bolivarian Revolution appeared first on KPFA.