Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The aristocratic left has a new pet zoo: Hugo Chavez's Venezuela

Taken from Juan Forero's article on the NYT:

"Some of the people who have visited Venezuela or have moved here acknowledge having some doubts. Chesa Boudin, 25, a New Yorker who has worked as a volunteer here, notes that some on the left glorify Mr. Chávez simply because he has positioned himself as the anti-Bush leader in Latin America.

But Mr. Boudin, one of the authors of a book favorable to Venezuela's government, said many people who had been dismayed by the advance of globalization saw the possibility of a better world in Venezuela.

The fact that we have a country that's trying to create an alternative model is bold and ambitious and unique, and that's why people are wondering, 'Is this possible?' " said Mr. Boudin, whose parents, Katherine Boudin and David Gilbert, were members of the 1970's radical (I would say terrorist) group the Weathermen. "The intellectual in me is curious."

About the Weathermen: Read here and here. (thanks DBC to explain what and who the weatherman was. After reading about Mr. Chesa Boudin's background, I understood his "intelectual curiosity" for a man like Hugo Chavez -Mr. Boudin was a Rhodes scholar for Christ's sake, he should know a little better. But then again, maybe he can't get away from his family's past).

The weather_underground info on wikipedia, click here.


Photo:Noah Friedman-Rudovsky for The New York Times

Please note of the new red-beret version of the Ugly American taking pictures of the creatures on his safari to Caracas. Still the colonialist, imperialist mind, this time taking pictures, doing some field inspection, and then coming back to america to write a shitty article about what they think is going on there, and totally be oblivious of many important cultural and social variables and relate everything to US intervention. Hello? And what do they think they are doing? Why don't mentioning in their college reports the blatant corruption of the institutions of the regime of Hugo Chavez. How about Civil and Human Rights abuses? Isn't that important? Nahhh... as long as Hugo insults Bush, that's what is important, their agenda.

Taken from the comment section from Quico's post, from GP: "The funny thing is that he uses the phrase "revolutionary tourism" as though that form of travel didn't represent merely another chapter (this time from the left) in the long history of North American and European imperialism in Latin America."

Again, from GP: "Now, as for actually taking the time to research and study Venezuelan culture beyond a snapshot?"

Seems Hugo won the lottery when he discovered the power of manipulation of the sheeps by simply label himself as "anti-Bush".

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