Venezuela: Defying Globalization's Logic

...Hardt concludes that “the centralized structure of state sovereignty itself runs counter to the horizontal network-form that the movements [identified with the second position] have developed...

...Although the Chavista movement began as highly “vertical,” two sets of internal elections within the MVR (one for the national party leadership and the other occurring last April for the selection of candidates in local elections) are steps in the direction of internal democratization, in spite of procedural problems that arose...

...Some activists and leaders have reacted in a similar way...

...This miscalculation translated itself into various abortive schemes to oust Chávez without any fallback plans...

...Second, active participation and mobilization are key components of the process...

...The MVR government, for example, has put a halt to schemes that were set in motion by Chávez’s neoliberal predecessors in favor of the privatization of social security, the aluminum industry and the all-important oil industry...

...interests...

...A first lesson is that the cultivation of a substantial electoral majority is essential for the implementation of far-reaching social change by democratic means...

...At this year’s World Social Forum he declared himself a “socialist” and added: “We must reclaim socialism as a thesis, a project and a path, but a new type of socialism, a humanist one that puts humans, not machines or the state, ahead of everything...

...From the outset, Chávez’s key aim has been to achieve—and hold on to—state power in order to propel radical change...

...Ambassador John Maisto supported a soft-line approach and successfully argued within the State Department that Chávez should be judged by his actions, implying that nothing would come of his radical rhetoric.2 At the time, Maisto’s thesis seemed plausible...

...Within OPEC, Chávez has stressed the dollar’s declining purchasing power as an argument for increasing dollardenominated oil prices...

...The country’s ambassador to Russia and prominent oil expert Francisco Mieres discussed this proposition at a 2001 conference in Moscow called “The Hidden Threats of Currency Crises...

...The ongoing market-based conditionality of all economic assistance (including debt forgiveness) from the United States and U.S.-dominated international financial institutions may reinforce the view that “there is no alternative” to free-market policies, as Margaret Thatcher famously quipped...

...At this stage, the most important aspects of Chávez’s demonstration effect are his nationalism, which leads him to spurn U.S...

...Victories that were followed by new slogans and proposals include the holding of the national constituent assembly in 1999, the defeat of the coup in April 2002, the defeat of the general strike in February 2003, the defeat of the recall election in August 2004 and the gubernatorial elections two months later in which the Chavistas won in all but two states...

...In response to the local path chosen by Arias, Chávez stated, “The conquest of power through a mayoralty or a governorship to have a platform to make further advances is a lie that will always drown you in a swamp...

...A third lesson of the Chávez experience is the importance of timing and the constant deepening of the process of transformation via the introduction of new goals following each political triumph...

...This goal is highly suspect to some of those who write off the importance of the nation-state and instead laud struggles for local autonomy and express solidarity with groups like Mexico’s Zapatistas...

...As we have seen, Chávez’s goal from the beginning was to achieve power at the national level...

...Government allocations favor the poor, significantly increasing the percentages of the national budget assigned to education, health, employment and credit for small-scale businesses...

...He has followed a strategy of ongoing popular mobilization to face his insurgent adversaries, actions that have proven essential for his political survival including his comeback after the April 2002 coup...

...Some leftist writers who analyze globalization also consider the strengthening of thirdworld states to be a lost cause...

...Such a political shift may lead to collective action on a variety of fronts along the lines Chávez has already outlined...

...Concurrently, red flags have been raised by the foreign private sector...

...economic domination...

...But the Chávez experience goes against Thatcher’s dictum, and it raises the interesting question of whether the Venezuelan road is applicable to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean...

...Chávez emphasized his commitment to grassroots struggle when he told the crowd: “I am not here as the President of Venezuela.… I am only President because of particular circumstances...

...The massive street actions in favor of the Chavista process have been made possible by the conviction among rank-and-file Chavistas that Chávez’s rhetoric is based on substance and commitment to thorough change, not manipulation...

...Champions of neoliberalism and globalization had pointed to the fate of Soviet socialism as hard proof that all forms of state intervention in the economy were doomed to failure...

...Chávez has received about 60% of the vote in the nine elections held since 1998...

...Nonetheless, Venezuela is far from having developed a new economic system that would allow Chávez to package and export a model to the rest of Latin America...

...Hardt’s characterization of the dubious democratic credentials of third-world governments of “national liberation” belies the complexity of the transformations currently occurring in Venezuela...

...ATTITUDES TOWARD Chávez began to coincide with those of the traditional parties of the opposition, which had all along maintained an intransigent stand...

...Finally, since early this year, a Chávez-appointed “Intervention Commission” has been reviewing the legality of agricultural land deeds, thus threatening large landowners with loss of property...

...Venezuela, however, is hardly establishing socialism, at least in the traditional sense of the word, since no sector of the economy has been slated for nationalization...

...By contrast, despite his fiery rhetoric, Chávez has maintained cordial relations with neoliberal-oriented presidents such as Mexico’s Vicente Fox, Chile’s Ricardo Lagos and Peru’s Alejandro Toledo, all three of whom quickly repudiated the 2002 anti-Chávez coup...

...4 Chávez sees national sovereignty as well-served by the goal of creating a “multi-polar world...

...The Bush Administration’s support for the short-lived coup against Chávez in April 2002, its approval of the equally futile 10-week general strike later that year and its more recent efforts to isolate Venezuela from its neighbors are not merely reactions to specific reforms threatening economic interests...

...Chávez was influential in thwarting Bush’s long-cherished plans to set up the FTAA by 2005...

...Exxon-Mobile claims that the hike violates legally binding contracts, but the government points out that earlier agreements were reached when oil prices—and profits— were just a fraction of their current levels...

...Some of them, such as Adm...

...economy is bolstered by the preeminent use of the dollar for international exchange and as the world’s principal reserve currency...

...Writers who support this thesis extend from right to left on the political spectrum...

...The rise to power in recent years of center-left governments in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay puts this question into sharp relief...

...impositions...

...and his social priorities that have translated into special programs in the fields of health and education...

...Michael Hardt, for example, co-author of the muchacclaimed book Empire, points to two distinct positions concerning “the role of national sovereignty” that have emerged at the World Social Forums...

...Washington fears the “demonstration effect,” that is, the influence the Venezuelan example can have on the rest of the continent...

...Indeed, during the presidential campaign, Chávez had toned down his position in favor of a moratorium on foreign debt payments and instead concentrated on the proposal for a constituent assembly that would bring about internal political changes by rewriting the Constitution...

...Were Venezuela to decide to switch partially to the euro—a move that would make economic sense should the dollar continue to depreciate and the European Union get its house back in order—other OPEC and Latin American nations would likely follow suit...

...These developments in the United States emboldened Venezuela’s opposition, which now claimed that Chávez’s days as president were numbered.3 The opposition’s adherence to Thatcher’s thesis regarding neoliberalism’s inevitability may well have influenced its leaders to underestimate Chávez with disastrous results...

...BY 2002, U.S...

...In 2001, however, the MVR government passed legislation with significant socioeconomic content, including an agrarian reform and a law ensuring the state’s majority ownership of all oil industry operations...

...On the diplomatic level, Chávez has been careful to avoid Cuba’s error of the 1960s, when Fidel Castro appealed to the left and the general populace throughout Latin America, but in doing so forfeited a strategy of alliances with existing governments...

...Obviously, he had no desire to alienate the U.S...

...Hernán Gruber Odremán, believe that since the end of the Cold War the United States has worked to convert Latin American militaries into veritable colonial police forces, an effort he deems “an offense to national honor...

...Chávez has relied on more than just electoral or passive support...

...foreign policy and freemarket formulas, associate strong third-world states with local oligarchies and “crony capitalism,” which they blame for the abysmal failure of neoliberalism to live up to expectations...

...his anti-neoliberalism, which puts a halt to privatization...

...When Chávez lashed out at “U.S...

...Chávez even lent a hand to embattled Bolivian President Carlos Mesa before Mesa was forced to step down last June, calling on Bolivia’s combative social movements to allow him to complete his term...

...He has taken steps to diversify commercial and military relations in order to lessen dependency on the United States, efforts that have intensified over the last year...

...High oil prices finance popular programs and thus place Venezuela in a separate league...

...Early this year Exxon-Mobile announced that it was considering arbitration to challenge the government’s royalty increase from 1% to 16.66% on sales of non-conventional oil from the eastern part of the country...

...hostility and an aggressive U.S.-supported domestic opposition has important implications for progressive Latin American struggles...

...That is the debate we need to promote around the world...

...Washington’s fear is that Chávez’s Venezuela may have the opposite effect by demonstrating the feasibility of defying the neoliberal model and establishing viable alternatives...

...One such swap agreement involves Venezuelan oil in exchange for the presence of some 12,000 Cuban doctors, who have set up shop and work free of charge in impoverished areas throughout the nation...

...Chávez gained official support for the Fund plan at the Iberian-American Presidential Summit held in November 2003...

...1 The radical thrust of Chávez’s actions since his initial electoral triumph in 1998 goes beyond style and discourse...

...He has called on the other OPEC nations to reach similar accords...

...Venezuela’s ability to influence the Americas is contingent on the successful implementation of Chavista policies and strategies...

...Deutsche Bank recently downgraded its outlook for U.S.-based Conoco Phillips, a major investor in Venezuela, due to its concern that the now-profitable relationship between transnational oil companies and the Venezuelan state may soon change...

...The emulation of Chávez’s policies by neighboring countries would show, if nothing else, that third-world governments are very much at the center of political struggle and that national alternatives do exist, despite the dire warnings of many outstanding writers on globalization...

...Chávez’s hemispheric influence can be felt at both the popular and diplomatic levels...

...Before coming to power, he criticized Francisco Arias Cárdenas, his second-in-command in the abortive military coup he led in 1992, for running for a state governor’s office in 1995 rather than concentrating on achieving national power...

...Venezuela is currently considering the purchase of Russian MIG-29 fighter jets to replace the F- 16s acquired from the United States in the early 1980s...

...He calls for the creation of a Latin American hemispheric union—the “Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas” (ALBA)—as an alternative to the Washington-promoted Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA...

...By placing in doubt the possibility of any effective challenge to the dominant system of global capitalism, this demonstration effect hurt leftists worldwide, no matter how they felt about the Soviet Union...

...Furthermore, Chávez has recently bought military goods from Russia, Spain and Brazil, acquisitions that Washington has attempted to block...

...To that end, he has built the nation’s largest political party, the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), which has governed since 1998 in alliance with smaller leftist parties...

...In this vein, he has insisted at numerous international conferences that 10% of the payment of the foreign debt go to an International Humanitarian Fund that would provide assistance to social programs without attaching the customary neoliberal strings...

...Analysts with this perspective have argued that in today’s global economy, the assertion of national sovereignty by strong third-world governments has no potential for transformation and, moreover, it may not even be feasible...

...During his first two years in office, Chávez stressed political reforms...

...On an even more sensitive subject, Washington has been particularly concerned about the de-dollarization of international oil sales...

...As a result, Washington was able to isolate Cuba from the Latin American community of nations...

...Despite the tense political atmosphere, the oil multinationals have shown no signs of wanting to pull out...

...This second group “opposes any national solutions and seeks instead a democratic globalization...

...Chávez’s leadership and diplomatic initiatives may potentially lead to dramatic changes in Latin America— undoubtedly the source of much concern for Washington...

...For Chávez, power and self-determination go hand-inhand...

...Chávez’s advocacy for the collective negotiation of the Latin American foreign debt is even more detrimental to U.S...

...Unlike the mixed reaction to Lula’s speech at this year’s World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Chávez received thunderous applause...

...In January, he traveled to Beijing in an attempt to gain Chinese support for a plan to build an oil pipeline from Venezuela to Colombia’s Pacific coast in order to facilitate exports to China...

...response to Chávez following his election in 1998 was guided by the then-conventional wisdom regarding the inevitability of his eventual coming around to neoliberal policies...

...More recently, the possibility has been mentioned by Alvaro Silva Calderón, a former Minister of Mines and OPEC’s outgoing Secretary-General...

...These are well-taken points, but the Venezuelan “revolutionary process” nonetheless holds important lessons for those in Latin America who champion social justice and the transformations necessary to achieve it...

...Indeed, Chinese-Venezuelan trade is expected to more than double this year...

...As with much of his rhetoric, this term has been translated into concrete policies...

...And several representatives of the Venezuelan government have raised the possibility of selling a certain percentage of oil in euros...

...Furthermore, Venezuela’s activist role in OPEC during Chávez’s first years in office, more than any other member nation, helped restore oil prices to their 1970s levels...

...oil companies that continue to do business in Venezuela...

...While the second position is inherently democratic and confronts capital, argues Hardt, the first one is top-down and potentially authoritarian...

...6 But contrary to what Hardt asserts, Chávez’s six and a half years in power demonstrate that third-world governments can forcefully uphold national sovereignty and at the same time promote a nationalist, progressive agenda in opposition to powerful economic interests...

...The U.S...

...Indeed, many of his reforms and actions have undermined the economic interests of powerful Venezuelan and transnational groups...

...He has become a hero to millions of non-privileged Latin Americans who admire his courage and take careful note of his political successes...

...A quite different demonstration effect had worked in Washington’s favor 10 years earlier with the collapse of the Soviet Union...

...The defense of national sovereignty and the right of the Venezuelan government to formulate its own policies without foreign interference are at the heart of the Chavista movement...

...These results seem to substantiate the observation that a slim majority or plurality of votes, such as the 36% that elected Salvador Allende in Chile in 1970, does not represent a mandate for radical change...

...imperialism” for the first time last year, he directed his fire at the Bush Administration without making reference to U.S...

...It is also frequently argued that Chávez’s Venezuela is too distinct from the rest of Latin America to have any lasting influence...

...The second position is supported by a majority of those who attend the Forums and belong to social movements organized around diverse causes that complement one another...

...Furthermore, Chávez derives crucial support from a military structure whose officers have historically come from the middle and lower-middle class, in sharp contrast to the caste-like nature of the armed forces found throughout most of the continent...

...Under Chávez, Venezuela has bypassed the dollar by establishing non-monetary barter deals for its oil with over a dozen Latin American and Caribbean countries...

...Chávez’s success places in doubt the view that in today’s world of global capitalism it is no longer possible for Latin American and Caribbean countries to effectively resist the “freemarket” neoliberal order...

...The radicalization of the government coincided with the beginning of the Bush Administration, and the hardening of Washington’s global stance following 9/11...

...On the one hand, he says, the leaders of most internationally recognized organizations that participate in the Forums defend third-world national sovereignty “as a defensive barrier against the control of foreign and global capital...

...The military officers who rose up in 1992, and followed Chávez in subsequent years, view the defense of national sovereignty as the military’s sacred mission...

...The left has made electoral inroads over the last few years, and the triumph of center-left candidates in the presidential elections in Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico and Nicaragua over the next year and a half would further alter the correlation of forces in the continent...

...Those on the right, who defend U.S...

...I am Hugo Chávez and am an activist as well as a revolutionary...

...The U.S...

...At the height of the ten-week general strike designed to topple the government, Chevron-Texaco signed a wellpublicized contract to exploit gas in the Orinoco Delta region, an agreement that Chávez used to his political advantage.5 More recently, however, tensions within the oil industry have manifested themselves...

...THE VENEZUELAN EXPERIENCE POINTS IN THE OPPOSITE direction of current writing on globalization that minimizes the role of the nation-state, particularly in underdeveloped countries...

...If a new model is emerging, it is based on prioritization of social needs, the emergence of worker cooperatives and small producers both in the countryside and urban areas, and the state’s rejection of alliances with large capitalist groups while not discarding a modus vivendi with them...