Venezuela Sees “Historic” Turnout in National Constituent Assembly Elections

by LUCAS KOERNER

VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM | July 31, 2017

CNE President Tibisay Lucena announces the results Sunday evening. (Ricardo Herdenez/AVN)

Philadelphia, July 31, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s national electoral body announced Sunday evening that 8,089,320 people had participated in the day’s National Constituent Assembly (ANC) elections.

Shortly before midnight, National Electoral Council (CNE) President Tibisay Lucena revealed that turnout in elections to choose delegates to the body tasked with rewriting Venezuela’s constitution was 41.5 percent.

“The balance of the day is extremely positive, because as we always say, peace won out, and when peace wins, Venezuela wins,” she declared on national television.

In Defense of Venezuela

by BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS 

VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM | July 30, 2017

Hundreds of thousands of Chavistas take part in the close of the campaign for National Constituent Assembly elections in Caracas. (Prensa Presidencial)

Venezuela has been undergoing one of the most difficult moments of her history. I have been following the Bolivarian Revolution from its beginning with critical attention and solidarity. Venezuela’s social conquests of the past two decades cannot be disputed. You just have to consult the 2016 UN Report on the evolution of the Human Development Index (HDI). Here is what the Report states concerning Venezuela: «Venezuela’s HDI value for 2015 is 0.767 – which put the country in the high human development category – positioning it at 71 out of 188 countries and territories. The rank is shared with Turkey. Between 1990 and 2015, Venezuela’s HDI value increased from 0.634 to 0.767, an increase of 20.9 percent. Between 1990 and 2015, Venezuela’s life expectancy increased by 4.3 years, mean years of schooling increased by 4.8 years and expected years of schooling increased by 3.8 years. Venezuela’a GNI per capita increased by about 5.4 percent between 1990 and 2015.» It must be stressed that such progress was achieved in democracy, which was only interrupted by the 2002 attempted coup, a coup that had the active support of the U S.

Maduro: I Am Proud to Be Sanctioned by Mr Donald Trump

teleSUR | July 31, 2017

President Maduro celebrates the results of the National Constituent Assembly. | Photo: EFE

“Impose whatever sanctions you like but I am the leader of the free people,” said Maduro in response to recent U.S. sanctions.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has defended himself against recent sanctions imposed by the United States.

Over 8 Million Vote in Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly Election

teleSUR | July 31, 2017

CNE President said Venezuela voted “massively” for the National Constituent Assembly. | Photo: EFE

The National Electoral Council announced that voter turnout for the National Constituent Assembly was over 41 percent.

The president of the National Electoral Council Tibisay Lucena has announced that turnout in Venezuela’s historic National Constituent Assembly was over 41 percent, indicating that over 8 million people voted in the elections.

Bolivia, Russia Defend Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly

teleSUR | July 31, 2017

President of Bolivia Evo Morales. | Photo: Reuters

“I would recommend Mexico and Colombia make their own Constituent Assembly … to change their capitalist system, their imperialist system,” Morales said.

Bolivian President Evo Morales congratulated Venezuela for its successful National Constituent Assembly election Sunday and its efforts to establish peace in the country Monday, criticizing right-wing Latin American countries for rejecting the assembly even before the vote.

Class politics must be brought in, strengthen the worker-peasant alliance: Prabhat Patnaik talks about capitalism and socialism

by JIPSON JOHN AND JITHEESH P.M.

The Wire

Prabhat Patnaik. Credit: Youtube

In an interview with The Wire, Prabhat Patnaik, renowned economist and emeritus professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, talks about capitalism, socialism, the future of Left politics, the directions neoliberalism has taken and more.

The “Interview: Prabhat Patnaik on Contemporary Capitalism and the Shape It Takes in India” headlined interview in The Wire was dated July 26, 2017. Following are excerpts from the interview:

 

Capitalism at dead end

Eminent Marxist intellectuals like Samir Amin, John Smith and others hold the theoretical conclusion that contemporary capitalism has reached a stage of explosion. Their argument is that unlike the previous crisis, no malleable mechanism is available for capitalism to survive and sustain. Has capitalism reached a dead end?

The economy is the essential task, since it is the base upon which all the Revolution’s conquests are sustained (+Photos)

by  José Ramón Machado Ventura

Granma | July 26, 2017

Foto: Jose M. Correa

Full text of speech delivered by José R. Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, during the commemoration of the 64th anniversary of the assaults on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes

Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe: 90 years of struggle, suffering and sacrifice 169

by Thando Sipuye

Pambazuka News | July 27, 2017

Thando Sipuye/University of Sobukwe

Mama Sobukwe epitomises the collective experiences of many Black women throughout the Afrikan continent and diaspora whose roles and contributions in the liberation struggle remain unacknowledged, written out of popular historical narratives, biographical memory and national consciousness.

 

Today, 27 July 2017, marks the 90^th birthday of Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe, the forgotten, ignored and erased ‘Mother of Azania’ who has endured unspeakable suffering, struggle and pain.

She will celebrate her 90^th birthday, as usual, in private, at her humble home, with family and close friends. There will be no glamour, no journalists, and no live broadcast. And, quite frankly, the saddest part is that most people aren’t even aware that she’s still alive.

The Nigerian socialist movement and the imperative of revolutionary organisation

by Osaze Lanre Nosaze

Pambazuka News | June 15, 2017

Recognising the structural basis of the organisational failure of the socialist movement is necessary for arriving at a correct conception of the organisational challenge confronting the movement. Explaining this failure by the contingent factors commonly adduced, it is only possible to arrive at a structuralist and mechanistic conception of the challenge. Only by recognising the structural character of the failure is it possible to realise that the challenge before the movement is to transform itself into an organic element and instrument in the struggle of the oppressed.

Trump’s Fossil-Fueled Foreign Policy

by Michael T Klare

Countercurrents.org | July 31, 2017

Who says President Trump doesn’t have a coherent foreign policy?  Pundits and critics across the political spectrum have chided him for failing to articulate and implement a clear international agenda. Look closely at his overseas endeavors, though, and one all-too-consistent pattern emerges: Donald Trump will do whatever it takes to prolong the reign of fossil fuels by sabotaging efforts to curb carbon emissions and promoting the global consumption of U.S. oil, coal, and natural gas.  Whenever he meets with foreign leaders, it seems, his first impulse is to ply them with American fossil fuels.