Portside

The OAS has no positive role to play in resolving the political crisis in Venezuela, any more than would Senator Marco Rubio or other Florida politicians who seek regime change there. It should be clear that the organization is currently an instrument of those who simply want to use the current crisis to topple the Venezuelan government. People who want to avoid escalating violence or civil war in Venezuela should not pretend otherwise. Differing responses.

Venezuela updates.

The historical time is in our favour. What helps us in this fight is that the kind of society we propose is in the interests of the immense majority. The great question is: why does this not translate into an equivalent social and electoral support? Part of the reason is media disinformation. But we are also at fault. We have not been able to explain our project in understandable terms. And worst of all, we preach democracy but act in an authoritarian way.

Another challenge facing us is to be capable of explaining the difficulties that the country is facing to the people. There are those who think that it is not necessary to tell the people about the problems, because they might get depressed. I believe the opposite, our people are sufficiently intelligent to understand and to buckle up their belts when necessary,

Yet strangely missing from the narrative of the Venezuelan opposition’s peaceful march to victory over a cruel dictatorship was the small detail of the murder of a Venezuelan police officer by demonstrators Wednesday evening.

The factory, now controlled by the workers, can provide 20 percent of the national demand for hard-to-find personal hygiene products.

Petro-states are different from other countries because the fates of their governing institutions are so deeply woven into the boom-and-bust cycles of the international petroleum economy. Now, one thing is finally clear: the business model for these corporatized states is busted. The most basic assumption behind their operation -- that global oil demand will continue to outpace world petroleum supplies and ensure high prices into the foreseeable future -- no longer holds

I believe that these challenges, missions and tasks can be comprised of and developed in two principal parts: 1) Defend the Bolivarian government HOWEVER NECESSARY AND AT ALL COST. 2) The creation and/or strengthening of communal/people’s self-sustainable structures at the margins of the state.