A classic "red bait" campaign: right wing Chavez

Long time readers of this blog are familiar with my thesis that this is not a revolution but a reactionary movement harking back to supposed values of Venezuela's past. Well, this 2009 campaign is quite a throw back to the past, an almost classical reference to those campaigns in the 50ies and 60ies, the "red bait" who served all the way until Reagan was elected in 1980 and Mitterrand in 1981.

What is the Chavez campaign doing this time around?

• Gassing students protesting, beating up marches of students walking hands painted in white and raised above their heads.


• Calling political opponents traitors, accusing them of conspiracy to surrender the country to foreign powers.


• Blackmailing the country with the argument that the sitting president (political party) is the only guarantee of peace for Venezuela.


• And the classical argument that all in Venezuela is getting better, that what lags behind is due to sabotage and simply to a lack of time to do all that needs to be done.

Now, does that not ring a bell? Were not those the arguments offered by all sorts of right wing political parties in office in Europe and elsewhere to delay as much as possible the arrival of the democratic left to power?

Amazingly, the campaign of Human Rights, of progress is held in Venezuela by the opposition while Chavez manages a classical old style right wing campaign.

Update: a couple of hours after writing the above lines I saw this perfect Weil cartoon to illustrate the harsh right wing campaign Chavez is subjecting the country.




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