Re: [OPE-L] Workers' Self-management in Venezuela

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

At 09:48 23/02/2005, Jerry wrote:

> No doubt.  Internal opposition from various sources (is there a common
> word that is used now to describe them by the Venezuelan revolutionaries
> -- like "momios" [mummies] in Chile or "gusanos" [worms] from Cuba?)
> and *external opposition* as well:

hi jerry,
        The term that is used here is 'escualidos' --- but getting a
precise translation is a story in itself (if you see the MEPLA video about
Venezuela, 'With the Poor of the Earth', you can see several people
struggling with it). Literally, it seems to mean the squalid ones-- but has
been used in reference to 'puny' demonstrations; Chavez has used it in
speeches, where it seems to be the skinny ones who are afraid of everything
(and everyone laughs when  he says that)
        un abrazo bolivariano,
         michael
ps. the more standard attack is on the 'oligarchy' but there's no way that
there are 4 million of those.

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

Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at
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