Chavez Sworn In For Third Term
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has pledged to implement a program of reform that will lead the South American country towards “21st Century Socialism” after he was sworn in for his third term of office.
In taking his oath of office Chavez said: “I will give my days and nights, my entire life to the construction of Venezuelan socialism, of a new political system, a new social system, a new economic system.”
He continued: “The time has come for the end of privileges, the end of inequality, and nothing and no-one can make us stop the car of the revolution, cost us what it may.”
Since Chavez came to power in 1998, primarily through the support of Venezuela’s poor who constitute the vast majority of the population of this hugely wealthy country, his democratically elected government has faced intermittent threats from the right-wing regime in Washington and their allies within the business elite of Venezuela. This real axis of evil was most notably defeated by the mass mobilisation of Chavez supporters following an attempted coup in April 2002.
In the years that have followed the rollout of the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ (named after 19th Century independence fighter Simon Bolívar) has gathered apace. Steps have begun to redistribute Venezuela’s wealth, massive campaigns against illiteracy have swept the country and working class communities have organised themselves in defence of the aims of the Chavez government.
In his speech, Chavez spoke of the five ‘motors’ of change needed to transform Venezuela. These are:
1. An enabling law or ‘law of laws’ which would be needed to correct a number of old laws written in the interests of the owners of large capital. Chavez has said the enabling law will allow for the nationalisation of previously privatised industries.
2. Changes to the constitution that will reserve gas exploration as the duty of the Venezuelan state and the protection of the state oil company from privatisation.
3. The launch of a popular education program throughout the country which will, in Chavez’s words, “deepen the new values and demolish the old values of individualism, capitalism and egotism.”
4. The reconfiguration of Venezuela’s municipalities with regard to population and geography.
5. The last engine has been labelled the ‘explosion of communal power’. This is aimed at consolidating and expanding the thousands of communal councils that have blossomed since the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution with a view to replacing the existing state with them.
While acknowledging that there are many differences between the realities of life in Venezuela and the realities of life in Ireland there are still some valid comparisons to be made most notably in terms of how the wounds of a deeply unequal society can be healed.
Chavez and the Venezuelan people have correctly identified that such inequalities lie at the heart of many of the problems facing their society and are now moving towards a society based upon cooperation and equality in the distribution of wealth and access to power. We in Ireland would do well to follow the example of the Venezuelan people in this regard.