Reviews

Pascual Serrano (ed.) (2004) Mirando a Venezuela

Hondarribia, Hiru. 236 pages. ISBN 8495786753. £10.99 Paperback.

'This book is not neutral. As Howard Zinn stated, you can't be neutral on a moving train' (p.8). Mirando a Venezuela is a collection of essays, published in the Spanish Website www.rebelion.org, on the Bolivarian process which, as all revolutions, is complex and utterly controversial. From the start of the book there isn't a shadow of doubt about which side it takes: The authors are all committed to the popular movements and transformations that the Venezuelan peoples and government are carrying out to progressively free themselves from neo-liberalism and imperialism. They put their sharp pens to the service of those 'from below'.

In its eight chapters, intellectuals such as Tariq Ali, James Petras, Ignacio Ramonet, Heinz Dietrich, Pascual Serrano, Alan Woods, Emir Sader or Marta Harnecker approach Venezuela from different perspectives: looking at the country's past, present and future, at the USA and the continent, at Hugo Chávez and the opposition, at the national economy, at the media, etc.

The book starts with the pre-Hugo Chávez era of puntofijismo (two-party system between AD and COPEI, 1958-1998) with special attention to President Carlos Andrés Pérez who accepted the IMF's structural adjustment package, and to the subsequent popular response. In 1989, the year that Francis Fukuyama wrote The End of History, masses of Venezuelans rallied violently against the IMF and the government at the cost of thousands of lives. The so-called 'Caracazo' meant the beginning of a new era. Historical socialism had collapsed and liberal democracy was prominent, but the end of Utopia was far from being a reality: the poor had rebelled against an unjust system.

It is in this context of popular discontent and hostility towards privatisation, liberalisation, illiteracy and misery when Hugo Chávez appeared when a failed military coup took him to prison in 1992. His popularity grew and when he was liberated two years later, he decided to travel all over Venezuela trying to convince the people of the necessity of a profound institutional change and economic shift. In 1998, he won the election with 56% of the votes initiating a period of institutional, economic and social transformation based on a new Bolivarian Constitution which was approved by popular referendum (71,78% of the votes). According to Marta Harnecker, it is an 'anti-neoliberal Constitution which gives rise to a new profoundly participative democratic model and a new cooperative, self-managed economic model based on humanism and solidarity' (p.222). Moreover, under the new Constitution's provisions, an elected official, including the President, can be subjected to a recall referendum.

In 2000, Chávez was re-elected with 60% of the votes and accelerates the process elaborating a revolutionary legislation. The National Assembly passes the 'Enabling Act' which allowed the President to rule by decree during one year. In December 2001, he announced a set of 49 decrees which included the Hydrocarbons Law, the Fishing Law, the Land Law, the Microcredits Law and the Cooperatives law. These laws were welcome by the poor majority, but were strongly opposed by the oligarchy which viewed them as a danger to their interests. In fact, the national business federation Fedecámaras and the US-funded federation of labour unions CTV called for a general strike. At the state oil company (PDVSA's) managers abandoned their tasks, but most workers neglected the call and managed to keep the machines working. The managers continued with their destabilisation plans: 'Through their technical knowledge and absolute control of the company's information, top executives modified the passwords, interrupted processes, and gravely damaged the installations…' (p.228). 'The oil sabotage provoked a 30% fall in the GDP and the loss of 700 000 jobs' (p.57).

Although accused by the opposition of driving the country towards totalitarian communism and of creating social instability, according to Tariq Ali 'what Chávez is attempting is nothing more or less than the creation of a radical, social democracy in Venezuela that seeks to empower the lowest strata of society'. And he adds: 'Chávez's aims are regarded as revolutionary, even though the measures proposed are no different to those of the post- war Attlee government in Britain' (p.35).

Emir Sader describes Venezuela as 'a good example of how social movements can develop and get stronger in alliance with governments that carry out policies that privilege social concerns and democratic reforms of the State' (p.141). Venezuelan and the international economic elite argue that these transformations endanger their privileges, but it should also be noted that a growing number of the middle class supports the Bolivarian process. The organisation 'Clase Media en Positivo' is the best example.

In spite of the overwhelming popular support for the revolution -Chávez has succeeded in 10 electoral and referenda processes - both the national and international media have attacked virulently the government stating that Chávez is a dictator, a demagogue, and an authoritarian leader who is leading the country towards 'Castro-communism'.

The strategy is clear: On the one hand, the triumphs and the democratic grounds of the revolution are generally omitted. For example, the development of small community councils which allow the people to present their plans and petitions directly to the government receives little attention. In the same way, scarce coverage is given to issues like the eradication of illiteracy through free education programmes, the decrease in poverty rates, the recovery of sovereignty, the success of health programmes, the construction of houses for the poor, the financial aid received by small businesses, the fairer distribution of wealth, the improvement of the macroeconomic indicators or the fact that since 1998 the government has increased its social expenditure by 40%.

On the other hand, the media repeat ad nauseam the Venezuelan opposition's discourse which is presented as the democratic counterbalance to Chávez. Paradoxically, or consequently, the media backed up the 2002 coup by which former Fedecámaras president Pedro Carmona assumed the country's presidency during two days, and the 2002-2003 bosses' lock out of PDVSA.

The book also gives a detailed analysis of the 2004 recall referendum to unseat Chávez. The National Endowment for Democracy had poured millions of dollars to support the opposition during the previous years. Prior to the referendum it generously funded the organisation Súmate, which was accused of falsifying almost one million signatures to meet the 2.4 million required to order the recall elections. Súmate also carried out a poll with positive results for the opposition during the referendum day. Nevertheless, Chávez won the referendum by an 18% margin. Although the Organization of American States and the Carter Centre approved the results, the opposition did not, and called for civil rebellion.

Mirando a Venezuela is a worthy book which embraces the Bolivarian process and gives the reader a good account of the country's main political, economic and social realities. Although some of the information is repeated in different articles, its multi-perspective approach allows the reader to get a wide picture of the revolution and to critically assess its myths and realities. The essays originally written in English can be accessed on the Internet. However, it would be interesting that the book is translated because it is a compact compilation which not only provides the analyses of Western observers, but more importantly, of journalists, social scientists, and economists who are participating in one way or another in the construction of the '21st Century Socialism'.

Joan Pedro, Spain.