LONDON, 2 June, 2017 – President Donald Trump abandons science with his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, saying: “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris” – a wonderfully clear statement of his inability to recognise that the Earth shares one atmosphere.Read More »
Donald Trump today sentenced Planet Earth to death. Whether he has the power actually to have that sentence carried out is open to serious question. Mass movements around the world and dozens of political leaders will seek to stay and even reverse the sentence. If the sentence is carried out, Planet Earth will suffer a long and painful death.Read More »
Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami announced on Thursday that the government would be launching a lawsuit against right-wing opposition leader and president of the National Assembly, Julio Borges, for his efforts to hinder foreign investment in the Venezuelan economy.
You were in Venezuela in recent weeks. How does the reality that you witnessed contrast with one being presented by the western media?
There are a number of different points. The first one is that is that the media is presenting this idea that in Venezuela we have groups of peaceful opposition demonstrators fighting for democracy, and government repression that has killed over 50 people. This is all wrong. There are big opposition demonstrations, they have been going on now for nearly two months and have attracted quite a lot of people. But in most cases they have also degenerated into violent clashes in which the opposition demonstrators, or groups in the vanguard of the opposition demonstrations, have used firearms, home-made explosives/weapons/rocket launchers and all sorts of stuff against the police, but also against educational institutions, state buildings, housing projects of the Misión Vivienda, public transportation, they have even set up burning barricades outside maternity hospitals. On top of this there has been gunfire coming from opposition rioters also against civilians and against chavistas in general.
The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela is facing its most challenging times. The right-wing opposition, backed by the United States, is engaged in a full-blown “regime change” campaign, with violent protests occurring daily for over 2 months and resulting in over 50 casualties. The chavista supporters of the government have also taken to the streets in defence of the Bolivarian Revolution, and President Maduro surprised everyone by calling for a Constituent Assembly. To better understand the situation and where it might lead to, we have interviewed Jorge Martín, the secretary of the “Hands Off Venezuela” solidarity campaign.
In this second part we examine what led to the current situation, the mistakes made by chavismo, and the possibilities brought on by the upcoming Constituent Assembly. (For the first part of the interview see here)
Let us rewind a little bit. This renewed attempt of overthrowing the government started with the Supreme Court decision of stepping in for the National Assembly, or at least that was the official pretext, and that even led some people who in the past had defended the Bolivarian Revolution to now launch accusations of authoritarianism. What is your analysis on this?
Further cementing the widespread opposition against the President from diverse sections of the Brazilian public, an open letter signed Thursday by over 100 Brazilian diplomats condemned the administration of Michel Temer and called for the restoration of democratic elections to the country.
Journal of People 