The water shortages in Caracas are caused mainly by a lack of maintenance to the city’s water network - and a lack of funds to replace broken parts. Socialist dictator, Nicolás Maduro, blamed the problem on right-wing “terrorists” who he accuses of sabotage. 75% of Caracas residents do not consistently have access to running water. [...]
“The trouble with socialism is eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
This was the text of the bumper sticker adorning the old Chevy pickup in front of me in traffic today. As fate would have it, it was actually the second anti-socialist bumper sticker that I would see during my daily commute. The odd, coincidental nature of the two messages got me thinking about the nature and content of political expression these days and more specifically the lack of depth of those expressions.
This week my guest is journalist Paul Dobson of Venezuelanalysis. We had a wide ranging discussion on Venezuela, its current political and economic situation, and western media distortions. First, we covered the recent terrorist attack on President Maduro’s life on August 4th. We touched on the right-wing media operations out of Miami, which supported this terrorist act, as well as the role of ultra right-wing activists in Venezuela and Colombia.
Läs min senaste krönika hos Mårtensson:Hur får vi Sverige att fungera? »Om varför ett centraliserat, politiserat samhälle inte kan fungera - och om vad vi skulle kunna ha istället.
Being run by business, American culture suffers from an overwhelming preponderance of stupidity. When a set of institutions as reactionary as big business has a virtual monopoly over government and the media, the kinds of information, entertainment, commentary, ideologies, and educational policies on offer will not conduce to rationality or social understanding.
At a time when the American population is radicalizing, when popular movements are coalescing around “radical” demands—Medicare for All, the abolition of ICE, tuition-free college, in general the demand to make society livable for everyone—it can be useful to draw collective inspiration from the past. Irruptions of the popular will have on innumerable occasions reshaped history, remade the terrain of class struggle such that the ruling class was, at least for a moment, thrown on the defensive and forced to retreat.
On a personal level, it seems I have always been reluctant to characterize myself as anything ending in “ist”. In my twenties, I’m sure everyone could tell I was a feminist; I always believed that girls and women were not valued equally, and we should be. But I didn’t call myself a feminist.
The Sun was shining as I was strolling
The wheat field waving the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice was chanting
This land was made for you and me
— Woody Guthrie
On a personal level, it seems I have always been reluctant to characterize myself as anything ending in “ist”. In my twenties, I’m sure everyone could tell I was a feminist; I always believed that girls and women were not valued equally, and we should be. But I didn’t call myself a feminist.
