[A-List] Hundreds of Thousands March in Support of Chavez

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hundreds of Thousands March in Support of Chavez 
Chavez Dismisses International Disapproval of 
Venezuela's Media Policy Monday, Jun 04, 2007

By: Gregory Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com


President Chavez addresses the crowd gathered on 
Avenida bolivar. Credit: Prensa Presidencial



Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Chavez 
demonstrate in favor of the government's decision 
to not renew RCTV's broadcast license . Credit: Prensa Presidencial

As several hundred thousand Chavez supporters 
rallied in Venezuela's largest avenue on 
Saturday, President Chavez rejected all 
international interference with his decision not 
to renew a television station's broadcast 
license. Referring to the Marxist theorist 
Antonio Gramsci, Chavez also spoke at length 
about how private media maintains a cultural hegemony that must be broken.

"Go to hell, representatives of the global 
oligarchy, we are a free country!" said Chavez to 
wild applause, once marchers reached the Avenida 
Bolivar in the center of Caracas. The 
demonstration converged on the avenue from two 
starting points, one in the east of the city and 
the other towards the city's south. Unofficial 
estimates of the number of demonstrators ranged from 300,000 to 500,000.

Chavez said he did not care that the world media 
was presenting him as a new Hitler or Mussolini. 
"What I do care about," said Chavez, "is the 
sovereignty of the Venezuelan homeland."

"The international elite are worried, they fear 
that the example of Venezuela will extend to 
other countries where they believe that they are 
the masters of everything," continued Chavez 
during his relatively short one and a half hour 
speech. Every destabilization plan, warned 
Chavez, will be "responded with a new revolutionary offensive."

Chavez also said it was sad that university 
students have been demonstrating in support of 
RCTV. "It continues to be sad that some students 
take to the streets - to defend what? 
 On whose 
side will they place themselves, on the side of 
the people or of the oligarchy, of the homeland 
or of the North American empire?" adding that the 
vast majority of students are on the side of the 
people. The images of student protests are just 
part of a "giant manipulation, a gross media spectacle."

For Chavez, what is happening in Venezuela is 
very similar to what the U.S. has helped organize 
in eastern European countries, in the so-called 
"colored revolutions," such as in Ukraine, where 
demonstrators succeeded in overthrowing the government.

Chavez also reminded his supporters that his 
reelection on December 3rd was merely the 
beginning of a new phase in his presidency, of 
creating socialism and that so far much had been 
achieved. Chavez mentioned that the 
"re-nationalization" of the oil industry had been 
finalized and that the new Unified Socialist 
Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has been launched and 
announced that until now 4,735,000 Venezuelans 
have been registered as applicants to be activists in the new party.

Antonio Gramsci as Key for Understanding Events in Venezuela

The thought of the Marxist theorist Antonio 
Gramsci is fundamental, according to Chavez, for 
making sense of what is happening in Venezuela 
today. "I want to refer to the thought of 
Gramsci, to use his ideas, using the light of his 
thought, every day we understand better what is 
happening here today in Venezuela."

Thus Chavez launched into one his longest and 
most detailed talks on the thought of Gramsci, 
explaining Gamsci's concept of "historical 
blocs," in which a particular class manages to 
acquire hegemony that is expressed in structures 
and super-structures. The super-structure, 
explained Chavez, consists of two levels, of the 
institutions of the state and of the civil 
society. The civil society, according to Chavez's 
explanation of Gramsci, consists of economic and 
private institutions, through which the dominant class spreads its ideology.

The conflict in Venezuela can thus be understood 
as one between the institutions of the state, 
which used to be controlled by this civil 
society, but no longer is, and the old civil 
society. To this old civil society, according to 
Gramsci, belong the Catholic Church hierarchy, 
the mass media, and the education system as the 
principal institutions. The dominant classes use 
these institutions to disseminate their ideologies, explained Chavez.

This ideology of the dominant classes is 
disseminated in a variety of levels of 
abstraction, with philosophy being the most 
abstract. Below this level are belief systems 
such a neo-liberalism, the free market, the 
thesis of freedom of expression, of bourgeois 
democracy, of division of powers, representation 
as foundation of democracy. These are "Big lies!" 
exclaimed Chavez, with which for over a 100 years hegemony has been
exercised.

On a third level is common sense, which is "the 
product of being bathed in the dominant 
philosophy and of the ideology in different 
forms, via soap operas, movies, songs, propaganda, billboards
" said Chavez.

The fourth level is "folklore," whereby people 
simply express a preference as a result of manipulation, without knowing
why.

According to Chavez, the Bolivarian movement has 
been "liberating" the state, including the 
judiciary, the legislature, the state-owned 
enterprises, from the control of this hegemonic "bourgeois civil society."

Now this civil society is using its last 
remaining resources to fight for power, the 
Church, the mass media, and the universities. 
"From there is the importance of understanding 
the layout of the battle," said Chavez.

Chavez also clarified that Venezuela's oligarchy 
could live with the Bolivarian Revolution, 
because "we have no plan to eliminate the 
oligarchy, Venezuela's bourgeoisie. We have 
demonstrated this sufficiently in over eight years," said Chavez.

"But, if the oligarchy does not understand this, 
if it does not accept the call to peace, to live 
with us, that the great revolutionary majority is 
making, if the Venezuelan bourgeoisie continues 
to desperately assault, using the refuges it has 
remaining, well then the Venezuelan bourgeoisie 
will continue to lose, one by one, the refuges it 
has remaining," declared Chavez.

Directed to Venezuela's bourgeoisie, Chavez said, 
"We respect you as Venezuelans, you [should] 
respect Venezuela, respect the homeland, respect 
our constitution, respect our laws. If you do 
not, you will regret it, if you do not, we will 
make you obey Venezuela's laws."

The gathered crowd chanted, "This is how one governs!"

Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Director, Programme in 'Transformative Practice and Human Development'
Centro Internacional Miranda, P.H.
Residencias Anauco Suites, Parque Central, final Av. Bolivar
Caracas, Venezuela
fax: 0212 5768274/0212 5777231
http//:centrointernacionalmiranda.gob.ve
mlebowit at sfu.ca <http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism>