Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony
Public Inquiry >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left
Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy
Human Rights in Ireland >>
Fifteen Year-Old Swiss Girl Taken into Care After Parents Refuse to Consent to Course of Puberty Blo... Wed Jul 24, 2024 15:00 | Dr Frederick Attenborough
A Swiss girl has been been taken into care because her parents stopped her taking puberty blockers, breaching a ban on conversion therapy. Is this what Labour means by a "full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices"?
The post Fifteen Year-Old Swiss Girl Taken into Care After Parents Refuse to Consent to Course of Puberty Blockers appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Net Zero is Impoverishing the West and Enriching China Wed Jul 24, 2024 13:30 | Will Jones
The West's headlong rush to jettison fossil fuels and hit 'Net Zero' CO2 emissions is impoverishing us while enriching China, which is ramping up its coal-fired industry to sell us all the 'green' technology.
The post Net Zero is Impoverishing the West and Enriching China appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Threat to Democracy Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:29 | James Alexander
'Populists' like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage are a "threat to democracy", chant the mainstream media. In fact, they are just reminding our politicians what they are supposed to be doing, says Prof James Alexander.
The post The Threat to Democracy appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
In the Latest Weekly Sceptic, Nick Dixon and Toby Young Talk About Biden?s Withdrawal, Kamala Harris... Wed Jul 24, 2024 09:00 | Toby Young
In the latest Weekly Sceptic, the talking points are whether Biden was the victim of a palace coup, Kamala Harris's staggeringly bad speeches and Kim Cheatle's humiliation.
The post In the Latest Weekly Sceptic, Nick Dixon and Toby Young Talk About Biden?s Withdrawal, Kamala Harris?s Chances and the Kim Cheatle?s Shame appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Wanted: Climate Researcher to Write Extreme Weather Just-So Stories to Serve Up to Credulous Media Wed Jul 24, 2024 07:00 | Chris Morrison
If you wondered where the MSM get all their lurid stories attributing 'extreme weather' to climate change, look no further than a new job ad for a "researcher" focused on creating alarmist propaganda, says Chris Morrison.
The post Wanted: Climate Researcher to Write Extreme Weather Just-So Stories to Serve Up to Credulous Media appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en
Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en
Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en
Voltaire Network >>
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 3 2 1Like a lot of stuff on Venezuela, this article seems far too keen to force Chavez and the movement he heads into a neat little box drawn from past experience. I don’t think Chavez is either a Trotskyist or a social-democrat in the traditional sense. If you had to sum him up in a couple of sentences, I’d say he’s a reformist who started out with unusual determination to put his reform programme into practice, who didn’t allow himself to be blown off course when the privileged classes dug in their heels and tried to sabotage reform (unlike most social-democratic leaders who have been only too willing to throw in the towel at the first sign of difficulty). Along the way, Chavez has had to encourage a quasi-revolutionary mobilisation of his supporters, and the scale of that mobilisation has a radicalising logic of its own which has pushed his government further to the Left. How far Chavez is prepared to go, I don’t know.
Anyway, this is an article by Stuart Munckton of the Australian DSP, arguing that Chavez is actually putting the transitional programme of Leon Trotsky into practice – wouldn’t entirely agree with him, but I think it may be closer to the truth than this article’s take on things:
‘A common analysis of the politics of Chavez, the government he leads, and, in some cases, the broader revolutionary movement based on the impoverished, working people, is that they can be understood as “social democratic”. Social-democratic politics tend to be understood as seeking to implement reforms that alleviate some of the worst aspects of the profit-driven capitalist system, to the benefit of ordinary people, without breaking with capitalism itself.
Certainly, the Chavez government has implemented a wide number of reforms that in and of themselves don’t do away with capitalism — a system based on private ownership and control over the economy, run for profit and based on the exploitation of working people — but have still benefited the poor majority.
However, describing the process as social democratic misses the profoundly revolutionary nature of the struggle being led by Chavez (who in almost every speech he gives calls for the need to construct socialism and describes himself as the “subversive within Miraflores”, the presidential palace).’
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/727/37703
And a bit of shameless self-promotion – this was my two cents earlier in the year:
http://www.irishsocialist.net/publications_chavismo_the....html
So Chavez's predecessor Carlos Andrés Pérez is a member of the same Socialist International as the 26-County Labour Party. Small world.
Referring to the initial post, are there any socialists out there who still believe that socialism can be implemented by getting elected to a bourgeois parliament? I think everyone knows that there are limits to what Chavez can do, including Chavez himself, which is why such focus has been placed on the new United Socialist Party of Venezuela organising itself from the bottom up.
What is this - some sort of co-option job for Labour hacks to make themselves feel good about themselves for a change? I think if you are looking for more run of the mill social democrats in Venezuela Carlos Andrés Pérez might be a sure safer bet, he was three term vice-president of the Socialist International, a predecessor of Chavez and way back in 2004 was happy enough to call for the violent over throwing of the Chavista regime - oh and he over saw a massacre of a few protesters back in '89 after an uprising against his free market reforms. And sure, wasn't this self same wee chap that Chavez had his original coup against?
Huzzah! Tis a social democrat beneath those neo-liberal clothing! What's your point with this posting? Now I'm no expert on Venezuela, hardly have a notion whats going on over there at all - but these sort of contributions that contend he is a trot, social democrat or neo-liberalist really say more about the sort of political games that are played between the various parties of the Irish left, their hangers on and some more obscure sects than shed light on events there. Wrap the red beret around me, boys.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/601