AFP is a global news agency that delivers fast, accurate, in-depth coverage of the events shaping our world. From conflicts to politics, economics, entertainment and the latest breakthroughs in health, science and technology – they cover it all. They also have a Fact Check division which covers their
The writings of Fausto Reinaga has found a large audience in MAS, Evo Morales party, and is important to understanding their political policies over the past ten years.
Alas, I don’t. So instead, I will just cover who’s sharing it…
Eva Golinger: Chavista “Media Personality”, not a Journalist
Interesting to note how despite this “media personality” being informed that the information the promoted is factually incorrect, they still leave it up.
One of the persons cited in the above AFP article, which even including a screenshot of their original Tweet, is Eva Golinger.
Eva Golinger used to work as legal council for Hugo Chavez, so given this former principal – and that she doesn’t claim to be a journalist – it’s perhaps not surprising that she shows no principle related to truth-telling and does not take the two seconds required to correct their claim after others have pointed it out. According to other’s which have investigated her writings with greater depth then myself, this isn’t the first time that Eva Golinger has promoted a gross misrepresentation of reality.
George Ciccariello-Maher: Chavista Activist with Academic Characteristics
Then there’s George Ciccariello-Maher. This is the “Political Science” Professor (I put this in quotations as after readings his PhD dissertation this doesn’t seem an appropriate title. Comparative Literature, maybe…) who once made news headlines following Russian sock puppets extensively re-tweeting his trolling Chavista messages and the left Twitter after Left-Twitter started harassing him for dating someone much younger than him.
After leaving his position for reasons that have never been clarified, he then got a titular role at one of NYU’s art school and UNAM – the Mexican University whose political science department isn’t credentialed with the state and has longstanding connections with the FARC.
He too posts disinformation and then leaves it up after followers point out it’s falsity.
TeleSUR English: Disinformation, not Journalism
“I dream of a #Bolivia free of Indigenous satanic rites, the city is not for ‘Indians,’ they better go to the highlands or El Chaco,” Senator @JeanineAnez said on her Twitter account about her country where more than 65% of the population is Indigenous. #GolpeDeEstadoBoliviapic.twitter.com/IB6109iGYR
Given the long time love affair between Hugo Chavez and Nicholas Maduro and their PSUV with Evo Morales and his MAS, unsurprisingly TeleSUR English too got in on the action. An authentic screen shot of TeleSUR’s inauthentic reporting can be viewed here.
Jacobin, Democratic Socialists of America and Disinformation
Jacobin, the Democratic Socialists of America, and a “Leftist activist” all sharing the same incorrect information.
I’ve noticed that Jacobin’s editorial line has become significantly more alinged with that with Venezuela as Bhaskar Sunkara started to expand the organization. Branko Marcetic’s article “Why Did Facebook Purge TeleSUR English“, which is passed off as insightful editorial commentary when it is just uninformed braingarbage remixed from RT and Sputnik talking points, was the first indicator for me.
Regardless of their past – here we can see that Jacobin and the Democratic Socialists of America, along with accounts connected to Venezuela’s large coordinated, inauthentic behavior network are all sharing this as well.
Conclusion
So, en toto, who’s spreading anti-Christian disinformation?
The color red is used by members of the PSUV and the Bloods street gang. Covering one’s face with bandanas is typical of the Bloods and the ELN.
Abstract
Existing aesthetic approaches to interpretating trap and ganga-rap music frequently conceptualize the lyrical performances as being done by someone responding to economic precarity and a low-level likelihood of upward social mobility with an entrepreneurial mindset.
This article seeks to subvert that paradigm and understand it as an expression of wholesale rejection of the existant political institutions which enforce laws. Because of the lyrics of popular artists and the numerous arrests made for those involved with rap labels that are fronts for illicit drug acitivty – most famously the Black Mafia Family – it is my claim that this music is more appropriately situated in a context of transnational drug-trafficking networks, just as narcocorridos are.
By looking at Pusha T’s recent rap-album Daytona in such a light, it appears that it could be interpretated as an articistic confession of participation in drug trafficking operations that involved the FARC, the Venezuela’s Cartel of the Sons, and the Cuban Communist Party.
The first two lines of Daytona establishs a connection between the luxury goods that Pusha T enjoys and Pink Floyd.
Given the braggadocio typical of King Push this seems an interesting choice given Roger Waters doesn’t isn’t even listed amongst the top ten richest rockstars.
Another reason that Pusha T could be citing this particular individual is their mutual connection via Nicholas Maduro Moros – who recently gave a “new toy,” a guitar, to Roger Waters. Waters received this because he had promoted and performed a concert to keep Hands Off Venezuela, a phrase often used by Communist political organizers and activists. Considering Nicholas Maduro Moros and Hugo Chanvez before him has given praise and money to African-Americans they considered to be “fighting their cause” – such as Ajamu Baraka and Danny Glover – this raises the likelihood of such an interpretation being true.
Roger Waters’ new stage show connects the current political climate to 1984. An immediate indicator of possible connection to Venezuela.
The two musicians also share an avowed animosity towards President Donald Trump. Whereas Waters is significantly more ostentatious in his declarations, in an interview on the Angie Martinez Show, Pusha expresses disdain towards Kanye West for his support of the President and his Christianity.
While rapping about cocaine, as Pusha T often does, doesn’t lend the same political cachet as producing the types of songs which Pink Floyd has – it’s worth considering that the valorization of his behavior has a sort of Ninotchka effect – i.e. the development of desires and aspirations within the audience that leads to the normalization of “new” behaviors – in this case accepting cocaine trafficking as the behavior of an anti-hero rather than a law-breaker.
Pusha T’s Knowledge on Cocaine Prices
In the same first song, Pusha T states that many of the rappers currently singing about the prices their connects offer them aren’t accurate. More than that, in additino to proclaiming that many of these rappers turned trappers are fake – he periodizes how long it’s been lower. Because he claims to be a “trappers turned rappers”, he knows the “real price”.
Here are some of the geopolitical events that helped drive down the cost of cocaine.
In the book Bumerán Chávez: Los Fraudes que Llevaron al Colapso de Venezuela by Emili J Blasck, Chávez’s former bodyguard Leamsy Salazar states that Hugo Chávez met with the high command of FARC somewhere in rural Venezuela in 2007. Chávez created a system in which the FARC would provide the Venezuelan government with drugs that would be transported in live cattle and the FARC would receive money and weaponry from the Venezuelan government. According to Salazar, this was done in order to weaken Chávez’s perceived enemy, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe. This drastically reduced the risk costs associated with cocaine production
(2) Rise of Bitcoin as a Means of Managing Drug Money
Bitcoin was first launched on 3, January 2009. The coins were first announced and promoted via an email list populated by numberous computer security specialists with connections to international anarchist organizations and Communist Party Activists. Actors connected to Occupy Wall Street – a Situationist-inspired political festival organized in coordination with above mentioned international Anarchist and Communist activists – were some of it’s first promoters. Their ability to get enough “real people” involved with Bitcoin provided cover for the FARC-EP to use it and thus drastically reduce the risk costs associated with moving money.
While both of these facts are within the public record – neither of them are “general knowledge” and indicate that Pusha T has insider information, that is the information of a co-conspirator.
Pusha T – Confessions of being Under Cuban Surveillance and Relation to Broader Conspiracy
In verse two of If You Know You Know, Pusha T states that amongst the members of a “fraternity of drug dealers” there are still people looking at him with “one eye”. When one consider’s Fidel Castro’s role in cocaine trafficking, and that ten years ago the Cuban Five were released and CubaInformation – who’s logo is a single eye – was founded then this makes much more sense. This “news network” was formed as it allowed Cuba’s Intelligence services to operate in much the same way that the spy-ring did, but with more legal cover.
Following this admission of being under surveillance, he makes two other cryptic statements that can be related to his participation in a transnational-drug trafficking network connected to the FARC, the PSUV, and the PCC.
“The company I keep isn’t corporate enough”
The two great proponents of Che-Z thought: ex-coca-leaf farmer’s union leader turned disgraced president of Bolivia Evo Morales and ex(?) cocaine-trafficker turned rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z.
This seems to be criticism levelled by the fraternity of drug dealers against Pusha T because his closeness to the street prevents him from being able to easily diversify his money laundering operations and corruption networks.
“Child Rebel Soldier, You Ain’t Orphan Enough.”
This screenshot from a FARC account on Facebook seems to hint that those with sexual proclivities for pre-pubescent children will find their desires satisfied if they decide to join the People’s Army.
It’s in this context that we see that this is another criticism levelled by the “fraternity of drug dealers” against Pusha T.
Specifically they seem be upset that he cannot manage “real” artists – like the musicians in Child Rebel Soldier – in the same way that orphans – like Puff Daddy – can be.
This tension between Pusha T and this Fraternitiy; those – to quote from the chorus of this song – which are “coachin from the side of the ball courts” is important and comes up again later in the album.
Pusha T & Cuban Cocaine Trafficking Networks
Lyrics from Santeria, an artistic depiction of Fidel Castro as the Santeria god Elegguá, two examples of FARC logos, the sign for Che Bar and Grill and a photo of Ivan Marquez – leader of the FARC – holding a rose.
Lest all the above seem like a reach, let’s look at Santeria, track five on Pusha T’s album Daytona.
For appropriate context, it’s important to understand that as a religion, Santeria is most appropriately associated with Cuba. According to RT, the state media outlet of Cuba’s long-time ally Russia – Cuba is a paradise for santeros. But the connection between Santeros and Cuba goes even deeper…
In his book Fidel and Religion, the theologian Frei Betto – one of the Liberation Theologists involved with the creation of the Sao Paulo Forum – transcribed his conversations with Fidel Castro. Betto asks him about Castro’s relationship with Santeria. While he denies being a practitioner, he does say that many santeros who supported the Communist Revolution saw in him a spiritual liberator for Cuba, and that there are many who consider him the son of the deity Elegguá. Also worth noting is that in the book Los Brujos de Chavez David Placer provides ample documentation that Hugo Chavez has engaged in Santeria practices.
Pretext done, to the song lyrics.
By Pusha T’s own admission, the song opens with a reference to his road manager’s murder – for reasons that the courts were never able to determine.
Cursory research shows that not only is “CHE” the name of the location of where Pusha’s tour manager DayDay Pickett was stabbed, but that the sign outside the building includes a red rose at the top – which is one of the symbols of the FARC-EP!
Given this graphic, and that restaurants (and concert tours) are often cash-based businesses that provide amble opportunity for money laundering – I would speculate that the “payola” Pusha T mentions relates to contested percentages considered due for such services – be it transporting cocaine or laundering money.
Thus we can come to understand that Pusha T’s equation of himself with a priest is to put himself on the level of Hugo Chavez – who helps grow cocaine – and Raul Castro – who helps ship cocaine.
Is Pusha T a Drug Dealing Money Launderer working on behalf of The Cartel of the Suns, the Cuban Communist Party and the FARC-EP?
“When people show you who they are, believe them.” – Maya Angelou
Given the above – I’m curious as to what it is you think? Is Pusha T currently just a rapper – or, like his idols Big Meech and Sosa – is he engaged in cocaine trafficking with artistry as a cover..?
“The war on drugs has not failed: it has never existed. There has been no war on drugs in the United States.”
– Joseph D Douglass, Jr.
*
The extent of money spent by the United States Federal Government on drug enforcement and interdiction nationally and internationally would make the above quote from Joseph D Douglass, Jr.’s book Red Cocaine: The Drugging of America seem intuitively false. And yet in this highly documented tome the author shows how it is that numerous government agencies have prioritized working relations with Communist governments such as China, Russia and Cuba over open conflict with them over facilitation of drug trafficking as a form of irregular warfare. Given the gravity of the claims made within the text I found myself constantly looking up references, and sure enough a geopolitical world-view that I was not at all familiar with started to emerge.
I don’t normally provide background on the authors I read, but given the topic it seems important to do so here…
Dr. Joseph Douglass is a national security analyst and author with expertise in defence policy, threat assessment, deception, intelligence and political warfare, nuclear strategy, terrorism, advanced chemical and biological warfare agents and applications, and international narcotics trafficking. Since the mid-1980s, his primary focus has been research into various dimensions of cultural warfare and notably into the illegal drugs plague, with emphasis on its origins, support structures, and marketing.
Narcotics Trafficking as Irregular Warfare
The case that is laid out in Red Cocaine is that China and the Soviet Union were involved at the state level in the faciltation of trafficking narcotics to the United States. Citing a variety of data points, including several high-ranking Communist Party members, Douglass shows how destroying American youth through drugs and corruption was covert Communist policy. Potential traffickers were identified for training and marketing of drugs and then various government agents – from those monitoring inports/exports to those involved with policing – were encouraged to support their comrades by turning a blind eye or, if they were sufficiently compromised, by themselves actively facilitating such activities.
The case study stemming from the Vietnamese war and Chinese heroin being distributed to the American military was particularly insightful in demonstrating the manner in which the claim that large scale drug-production is just done by individuals is particularly compelling. The war became a sort of social science experiment – with the military being the subjects. Far-below market-value drugs were offered in order to test how this would affect military readiness and morale.
Cuba and Bulgaria are singled out specifically as entrepots for these activities, the former for cocaine and the latter for opium. Fidel Castro’s role in helping the Andean region industrialize cocaine-producers operations is shown to be extensive.
The book also examines issues of strategy. For instance the reason why it is that so many radical leftist groups within Colombia and Venezuela were formed with the encouragement of Fidel. Their development – to whit – created multiple service suppliers should there ever be political periods akin to those of the FARC-EP peace accords. While one snakes head, the FARC, avows not to continue such activity another, the ELN, can take their place.
Narcotics and Corruption as a Vector for Societal Disruption
This By Any Means Necessary approach to political change allowed for foreign intelligence operatives to track and manage Americans that could be used, wittingly or not, to disrupt the country’s economy and political system. Furthermore, it became a means by which to raise funds in order to support these and other military intelligence operations. While the Chinese, Soviets and the Cubans sought to avoid their role in such activities from becoming overtly known, the Americans had an incentive not to look too deeply lest the relationships between the country’s denegrate further.
Black and Hispanic people are specifically targeted by Fidel Castro to be the manner by which drugs are disseminated in the United States. By focusing the building of connections with drug distributors of such demographics, it helped allow the Drug War to be cast as racist and thus facilitate the increase of political polarization. Given that some members of the black community laud Fidel Castro and demonize Ronald Regean, this is an example of a rich Orwellian Irony.
There’s a lot of other detailed accounts that are worth going into in detail, but I’ll close instead by saying if drugs, communism, or geopolitics interests you – definitely give this book a read.
Snow Storm in the Jungle
Quotes from Red Cocaine
Brief Excerpt about Drug Revenue’s Impact
‘In 1996, annual revenues derived from global criminalist activities were estimated by the World Bank’s experts at $1.2 trillion, of which $500 billion were thought to represent profits. These were and remain highly conservative estimates. The narcotics trade alone is in the $500 billion or more range. A more realistic estimate today would probably be of the order of $2 trillion per year – with $1 trillion, more or less, by way of straight profit; and some experts would raise these estimates further, towards $3.0 trillion annually in turnover. That is to say, governments, banks and the global criminalists are arranging the transfer of at least $1.0 trillion every year of national and private wealth into the bank accounts of the global criminal fraternity – a massive transfer of wealth for which there has been no historical parallel. This scandalous state of affairs has been continuing for several decades on an ever expanding scale, and the power conferred as a consequence threatens to destroy governments, democracy and the international banking system itself. Drug money also weakens and corrodes competition by favouring some economic agents at the expense of others’.
‘Two trillion+ dollars a year (a conservative figure, as noted) over the past two decades, excluding interest, would imply that more than $40 trillion will have been added to the wealth of the global criminal classes, including the managers and representatives of Lenin’s continuing world socialist revolution. Most of this money has been invested in property, bonds and stocks, and each year a further trillion or more dollars is added to the pool. Given that these data are believed by some experts to understate the position, the probable value of accrued drug money lodged in the international financial system now exceeds this $40 trillion estimate by a considerable margin. The associated corruption among financial institutions, investment advisory services (including stock brokerage houses and mutual funds), prestigious law firms, and among the political classes, has by now long since reached epidemic proportions. And this transformation has been accompanied by minimal publicity, with the exception of extensively publicised, but intermittent, ‘drug busts’…’.
‘It is critical for the survival of Western civilisation, and in order to slow down its rapid descent into pervasive, corrosive globalised criminality and corruption, which is the grim outlook for the 21st century, that Western countries begin, even at this late hour, to understand the true nature of the illegal drug crisis – which means correctly analysing its sources, especially its political origins, its enabling mechanisms, and its related criminal dimensions. Unless the nature and provenance of the challenge is finally understood, the appropriate strategy and tactics to address it will never be formulated. The drugs scourge continues to escalate because the measures so far developed to counter it do not take account of the geopolitical dimension – that is to say, of the malevolent, revolutionary intent which drives it’.
‘As a consequence, the measures taken, in the United States, Britain and elsewhere, to address the scourge, have remained essentially irrelevant and ineffective…. The plague continues to spread because the West is the victim of a deliberate, sustained and relentless offensive planned and directed by enemy intelligence which Western policymakers appear not to begin, or care, to understand. Some Western leaders even share the ideological objectives of the perpetrators of the drugs offensive. To make matters much worse, the values of many policymakers have been fatally eroded; and if one has no real values, one is not emboldened to defend anything at all, let alone with conviction and vigour. Policymakers too often stand for nothing and fall for everything – for every false assessment, for every piece of fashionable disinformation and for every diversionary tactic which is intended to add to the confusion and which clouds the truth: namely, that the West has been targeted as an act of war, and is the victim of a sustained offensive’.
‘Obviously, the longer this perversity and blindness continue, the more powerful and insuperable will the forces which help to perpetuate this blanket offensive, become. Soon, they will wield almost total power in some Western countries. The European Union’s collectivist structures, with their pork-barrel traditions and inclinations, are conspicuously vulnerable to drug-related corruption…’.
The thesis of this book is that while many other parts of the world – such as Ireland, Asia, India – have been able to successfully adjust themselves to the new technological and economic imperatives created by globalization, Latin America has lagged behind. It’s not that the political and economic leaderships within LatAm haven’t felt the need for change – they face declining prices for commodities, rising costs for foreign goods and services, and difficulty gaining anything close to the amount of foreign capital received by the “winners” in the globalization – it’s that they seem stuck in a haughty provincialist populism that is inherently suspicious of anything that they think may harm their sovereignty, be they bi- or multi-national economic agreements or changes to social welfare policies that were barely sustainable when they were first passed and are now burdens that hangs on government expenditure like it was an albatross.
Given the access to politicians and businessmen his role as journalist provides him, Oppenheimer is also able to provide a human context to the trade agreements and international diplomacy in a compassionate manner that allows the reader to see how the personality quirks and worldviews of leaders can have a tremendous impact on the manner in which they get resolved. This perspective is not limited to the Latin American leaders, but also within the United States. The description of the pre-9/11 leadership presents the U.S. government as largely aloof towards all of Latin America and the Caribbean, with the exception of Haiti and Colombia, despite Brazil’s economic might and the possibility for mutually-beneficial economic development. Given Chavez’s disdain for Bush due to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the latter’s apparent readiness to create new partnerships in Latin America, it’s interesting to wonder what would have transpired between them had the terrorist attack not occurred.
The Opening to Capitalism on America’s Nautical Borders
Oppenheimer opens his book on Latin American by examining a number of Asian and European globalizatio success stories. These are the foils to the case studies of Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico which, in his assessment, have not been able to reach the special “sweet spot” that leads to annual rates of growth higher than 5%.
His assessment of Latin American is not good, and shows how their social and economic policies have not kept pace with the needed changes in a manner sufficient enough to create the high annual growth of their competitors.
Argentina
The portrait Oppenheimer presents of Kirchner as the leader of a nation is not at all flattering, but neither does he receive the type of dismissiveness that Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro receives. In light of his leadership abilities, he is presented almost as a tragic figure in nation which constantly cycles between political extremes. Kirchner, for example, is described as canceling the FTAA negotiations with the United States out of purely personal reasons and breaking schedules talks with other presidents out of antipathy.
Given this description of leadership, Oppenheimer’s description of Kirchner and his supporters as suffering from Maradona Syndrome is apt. Kirchner’s “K Style” may have done much to bolster their emotional needs, but from a practical standpoint it was a failure.
Venezuela
Oppenheimer describes Chavez’s rule as that of a narcissist-Leninist revolution. The image of his arriving to a trade conference in a private jet that he paid millions over cost with a huge entourage of lackey’s was compelling evidence in lights of this. The irregular hours he worked, his lack of self-management skills, the poor manner in which he treats his subordinates, his inability to plan at a macro-economic level and his inability to think deeply on a number of important issues – a claim made by his former mentor and host for several years following his release from prison – are just some of the reasons that helps explain how the economy in Venezuela, once the strongest in the region, became ruined.
Mexico
It is a type of political paralysis which seems to prevent Mexico from getting over the hump needed to achieve a level of dynamism and innovation within their economy. The multi-party system inhibits the enactment of progressive change as there are always those that want to see someone and their policies fail.
Given AMLO is now the president of Mexico, I found the extended background on him to be very interesting. While clearly a passionate politician able to mobilize a large support based – the picture presented does not inspire the sort of confidence required in the age of globalization.
Oppenheimer’s analysis of UNAM – the Autonomous University of Mexico was for me – a former professor and someone that takes professionalization standards seriously – quite shocking. That there are schools within this university – such as the social and political sciences – that categorically refuse to engage with accreditation organizations or professional review boards would be amusing as an example of hubris were it not for the fact that it’s so sad that so much money is wasted as Mexico – unlike Communist China – subsidizes it’s students. Perhaps this is why UNAM students are described as needing more years to graduate college than other countries. More than that, the country is not preparing their population neither for the needs of the knowledge economy NOR for that of the industries which provide high wages – the university graduates 15 times as many therapists as petroleum engineers.
Latin America
One of Oppenheimer’s recurring pieces of advice, which is echoed by his numerous interlocutors involved in the institutional bodies being described, are the benefits of supranational bodies in assisting with political and economic policies. In the populist rhetoric of Latin America this is viewed as the giving up of sovereignty, a preciously valued concept for el pueblo – but the fact that those that have done this are those within the opening success stories seems to be a fact lost on Nationalists and Bolivarians alike.
Regional agreements, such as MercoSur, are agreed upon but according to conditions that removes the capacity to lead to dynamic economic growth. Political support is to be found between nations, but it’s not to reinforce stability and to ensure the rule of law but done by Chavez in order to create pockets of politicians dependent on his largesse and good intentions – which he does not have.
In short, while trade agreements may change – the knowledge economy is now recognized as one of the primary drivers for economic growth and the Latin American focus on the past isn’t helping it have a clear vision for the future. In a geopolitical context where those able to demonstrate their capacity to add value to companies through their knowledge will flee to countries that value such skills, modern governments need to both help create more of such people and provide incentives to stay and apply themselves within their nation of birth. Access to resources and low wages are no longer sufficient – but are sometimes seen as a reason to avoid foreign investment. After all, if you wanted to invest in a research park or a factory that required a large number of complex, technical tasks to complete, where would you invest: Finland, which has 5,000 scientists per million people, or Argentina – with only 712, or Chile with 370 or Mexico, with 225. Given the trajectory of Revolution 4.0, Latin America – they face the choice of rapidly playing catch up or seeing themselves unable to do anything other than provide primary goods or produce light-manufacturing.
I was recently quoted in the New York Times‘ article “Ahead of 2020, Facebook Falls Short on Plan to Share Data on Disinformation” by Davey Alba in relation to my research on Venezuela.
While I’d have liked to expand more on the issues, it’s a good read.
In the article they state the following: “Ariel Sheen, a Colombia-based researcher, claims his group has found evidence of a disinformation campaign by Venezuelan media on Facebook using fake accounts, but that the social media giant has not provided the necessary information for them to prove it.”
This is categorically false – we know that Venezuela is using fake accounts and we don’t need Facebook’s assistance to prove this.
Why would Sputnik then claim otherwise? I can think of two answers.
One, is that the unnamed person who compilied this is incompetent and was not able to distinguish between the part from the whole. Meaning in this case that we can have verifiable findings about one aspect of the project (sock-puppets) but not be able to continue other parts of the project without access to data.
Secondly, they want to seed the notion that there is doubt as to whether or not Venezuela in fact uses a large number of fake Facebook accounts to promote their worldview.
Whatever it is, the takeaway is this, in terms of fairness and accuracy in reporting, by far:
Several years ago Occupy Wall Street and Russia Today darling Chris Hedges – who is now an author at TruthDig – wrote the book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. After seeing a quote of his in my feed from one of the sock-puppet operated groups I follow, I decided to give it a look into.
I found a free copy available online, downloaded it, read it and uuuf!
I admit to not being versed with his work as a whole, but after having read this I have a better understanding of why a lot of mainstream outlets no longer publish him, thus leaving him to taken up helping WSWS engage in fundraising fraud.
Based on Chris Hedges’ co-sign of what defines fascism, it’s appearent that Chris Hedges think Nicolas Maduro and the PSUV are a fascist political organization that ought to be stopped, by violence if necessary. What follows below is a graphic organizer which demonstrates how Nicolas Maduro and the PSUV fit the definition of a fascist organization, and then commentary.
Nicolas Maduro is a Fascist
Feature of Fascism
Example from PSUV
The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”
The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”
The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”
Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”
Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”
Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”
The obsession with a plot. “The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia.”
The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”
Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”
Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”
Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”
Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”
Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”
Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”
The Fascism of Nicolas Maduro and Orwellian Irony
Meeting of the first ever “Antifa International” in Caracas, Venezuela
While I’m not now sure of the connections between of the Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation in Portland, whose members recently displayed Antifa flags at a soccer game, to the numerous new Antifa-themed soccer clubs in Latin America – but it does seem to indicate some sort of working relationship between the groups.
This is one of a number of Antifa football groups that have recently announced their existence in Latin America . Worth noting is that these are all in locations that do not historically have fascist movements there.
Given the hundreds of millions of dollars that the government of Hugo Chavez Frias provided to anyone and everyone outside of his country that he thought he could influence and the large number of Venezuelans that have migrated out of the country – it’s no logical leap to suspect a connection given the timing.
On this point it’s also worth noting that some of the main defenders of Antifa activity in the United States are the Socialist and Communist parties whose members frequently visit and defend Cuba, Venezuela and the FARC in their press organs.
Nicholas Maduro: The Would-Be Hitler of Latin America?
Left: Maduro, yet again, claims that President Donald Trump ia a Nazi. Right: According to Aporrea, this is Nicolas Maduro’s favorite book on rhetoric. (JK)
While the above graphic organizer makes abundantly evident that the PSUV is a fascist organization – according to the categories created by Umberto Eco and then repeated by Chris Hedges – these are not the only examples of it.
There’s also his project of colonization, which is couched in an appeal to create a “greater Latin America” via a constitutent political body, which of course, would be lead by Cuba and Venezuela and achieved via force, corruption and blackmail.
Any serious comparison between Nicolas Maduro and Adolph Hitler is, of course, absurd. But given the PSUV’s control over the population via CLAP, the extent of pro-government corruption and the millions of people that have emigrated out of the country since the rise of the PSUV – we could say that they have engaged in a sort of politically-based genocide (genocide being understood as forced migration, UNHRC), or political cleansing. This interpretation is furthered when one considers the massive government-sponsored influx of the Cubans to work in the military and in health centers.
To understand where Maduro’s fascism comes from, one need only look to his biography…
Nicolas Maduro, Graduate of Fidel Castro’s School of Political Education
Here Nicolas Maduro is shown taking the “bus” to the School of Political Education in Havana, Cuba that was founded by Fidel Castro.
It’s well documented that Nicolas Maduro “graduated” from Fidel Castro’s School of Political Education. I read in one online forum that he was also a counselor-in-training at an Sleepaway Indoctrination Camp a few miles outside of Cienfuegos, but I believe that was just a joke.
What’s not a joke is the clear committment that Nicolas Maduro has to sell out Venezuela’s potential to be a prosperous, democratic country in order to fulfil the future-dreams of a now-dead dictator.
While marketing himself as a humble unionist and bus-driver to his people in Venezuela, by looking at a wider, comparative picture it’s clear that he’s just an autocrat that aspires to be a world-historical figure.
* : Chris Hedges has never actually said what is in the title of this post, I merely use the conceptual framework he provides in his books American Fascist to show that he should.
I’ve decided to made public this selection of videos related to my research on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s efforts to influence politics in the United States.
It’s not comprehensive, I don’t include a number of videos related to the project for operational reasons, but does provide a base for others to view.
Ex-President Rafael Correa in the center with FARC leadership on either side.
This is an English translation of this article from the PanAm Post.
A former FARC guerrilla fighter that’s now a witness protected by Justice in Colombia said that the former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa was financed by the FARC to help win the presidency of that country.
Alexander Duque, known as Chorizo on the 48th front, said on the program The Informants of the Caracol that the FARC guerrillas voted in Ecuador to support Correa’s presidential campaign. In addition to obtaining agreements for permanent permits for members of the FARC to have access to Raúl Reyes’ camp, which was located in Ecuadorian territory, he also said that the withdrawal of the US military base in Manta was part of the agreement in exchange for financial support for his campaign.
“That money to finance Rafael Correa’s campaign was delivered directly to my house, one bag of USD $200,000 and USD $300,000. All under the guidance of Raúl Reyes.”
He affirmed that he even worked on one of Rafael Correa’s campaigns: “It was my task to assist the campaign, doing publicity, incentivizing Colombians who had Ecuadorian documents allowing them to vote as well as Ecuadorians who were from the FARC or associated militias, to vote for Rafael Correa” .
On the pact to withdraw the military base from Manta, “Chorizo” said that once Correa came to the presidency “he immediately asked for that base to be removed from there because they were fulfilling the contract, he did not want to renew for FARC requirement”.
After ten years of operations, in 2009 the bilateral cooperation agreement was terminated and US military stopped operations at the Manta base and departed.
Lenín Moreno and the Investigation of Correa
The president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, announced in April that this country would not continue to be the guarantor of the peace talks between the Colombian Government and the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN). Renglón often maintained that he had also withdrawn Quito as the headquarters of the negotiations.
In the same statement, Moreno ordered to investigate the veracity of a video that involved Correa with the alleged financing of his political campaign by the FARC guerrillas.
“I just saw a video (…) in which a protected witness shows that the FARC gave money to the campaigns of former President Correa. I asked that its truth be checked, ”he said.
Rumors of the possible relationship between the former Ecuadorian president and the FARC, known as Farcpolitica, intensified after the FARC dissent of the Oliver Sinisterra Front, led by alias “Guacho”, murdered three Ecuadorian journalists of the newspaper El Comercio, and the subsequent kidnapping of an Ecuadorian couple at the border of the two countries.
Correa and the FARC advance on the Border
For years Hugo Chavez denied the status of terrorist organization to the FARC. Simultaneously, Correa did the same in Ecuador, refusing to say they were terrorists and did not allowing the government to give them official status as belligerents. In an interview, the Ecuadorian ex-president indicated that the FARC has always been: “Irregular groups. No country in Latin America calls them terrorists, not even the Colombian government before Uribe.” he explained.
In “Operation Phoenix”, in which Raúl Reyes was discharged, a series of documents were found that established the relationship of the Ecuadorian ex-president and the FARC. Especially an email in which the guerrilla group congratulated Correa on his electoral victory in 2007.
“We visited Ecuador’s Minister of Security, Gustavo Larrea, hereinafter ‘Juan’ who on behalf of President Correa brought greetings to Comrade Manuel and the Secretariat. (…) and expressed interest of the president to formalize relations with the FARC leadership through ‘Juan,’ a willingness to coordinate social activities to help the residents of the border. Exchange of information and control of paramilitary crime in its territory,” read the letter of Raúl Reyes to members of the secretariat, on January 18, 2008.
At the time this military action triggered a diplomatic crisis between Colombia and Ecuador, as Correa accused President Uribe of having stepped on Ecuadorian territory and thus violated the sovereignty of that country and international treaties in order to terminate Reyes.
In 2008, Correa denied having links with the FARC and asked to carry out the necessary investigations in this regard, ensuring that if it were proven otherwise he would resign – a fact that never happened. And yet that year the Angostura Report which detailed the case of the death of Raúl Reyes revealed that Ecuadorian soil was being used as a bridge for drug trafficking.
In an interview for the PanAm Post, Johnny Estupiñán Echeverría, Vice Admiral of the Naval Force of Ecuador in passive service since 2008, said the Correa Government was complicit in the FARC.
“Obviously they were allies and accomplices. All the actions of the previous government favored drug trafficking, fueled by aggressive and widespread corruption.”
Now that the current government wants to fight against all inherited illegalities, it is logical to think that the outgoing government’s link with narcoterrorists, even indirectly, is generating terrorist actions to destabilize the current government, ”he said.
