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The Forum > Article Comments > Tariq the pirate: a review of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' > Comments

Tariq the pirate: a review of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' : Comments

By Rodrigo Acuņa, published 14/12/2006

If you wish to gain a deeper understanding of the enormous political shifts in Latin America then turn to the pages written by a pirate named Tariq Ali.

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Orchestrated resistance to the cultural hegemony of the US (real or imagined) fermenting far to its South will be interesting to watch

- my thanks to Rodrigo for bringing it to my attention

- I will keep a weather watch for the skull and cross bones on the hoorizon
Posted by sneekeepete, Thursday, 14 December 2006 1:19:42 PM
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Hi Rodrigo,

Do you have much knowledge of the Chavez government's management of its oil and gas reserves? How would you respond to this article in The Economist "Oil's Dark Secret" (http://www.economist.com/business/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=7270301) which depicts the Venezuellan Government as managing its reserves poorly?

You may be interested to read a brief discussion I became involved with concerning Venezuela here: http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2006/11/27/monday-message-board-51/#comment-96404
Posted by daggett, Friday, 15 December 2006 12:28:56 PM
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The world is in the midst of dynamic change and rebirth. Europe is recreating itself and is in the process of sloughing off the nation state to become a single politic. Europe, China, India and the United States are becoming closely aligned economically. Russia is working to bring back the old satellites into the economic fold. South America has as yet not been stable enough on the whole to create a united politic. Not only have they had the influence of every European colonial power but, the United States and Soviet communism by proxy. While South America has resources to trade with the world it will not have the politic to use those resources as a means to economically influence world direction or become a superpower. Chavez is very immature. At the moment he is prancing about holding his nations natural resources above his head as if he just won a title bout at Ceasars Palace. As the worlds natural resources diminish I'm sure a new economic modality will replace the current "state ownership". One nation or six will not be allowed to hold the world hostage or control all development.
The Chavez's of the world will be replaced by those who have a greater, more inclusive, democratic world view. Right now we're just starting to pick teams for the game of the next century. Those nation states that think their clever and renounce democracy will most likely pay a fair price.
Posted by aqvarivs, Saturday, 16 December 2006 2:46:47 AM
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I suspect Bolivia is more likely to face a civil war rather than a coup. The country has two quite distinct cultural regions, and Morales wants to use the resource wealth of the lowland provinces (along the Brazilian border) to fund his Andean collectivist dreams. The lowlanders obviously want more autonomy to avoid being sucked into that kind of retrograde scheme, but Morales will, no doubt, have no qualms about sending in the troops to maintain his grip on power. He is also keen on using the constitutional assembly to remake the political system in his image. He is, after all, a Chavez disciple.

If he is allowed to succeed - and it is highly unlikely that Lula will ever have the spine to stand up to him - one of Latin America's poorest countries will lose the chance to work its way out of poverty, and that will be a tragedy.
Posted by Ian, Monday, 18 December 2006 11:47:15 AM
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aqvarius wrote: "The Chavez's of the world will be replaced by those who have a greater, more inclusive, democratic world view."

But Hugo Chavez has just won an election with 61 percent of the vote. Do you that, perhaps, the people of Venezuela entitled to have a say on this?

Is the "greater, more inclusive, democratic world view" that you talk of the same as thatof the "Sweatshop Lobby" who are now threatening to move factories out of China if that country passes laws which give minimal protection to its workforce? (see http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/editorials/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=505&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1)
Posted by daggett, Tuesday, 19 December 2006 1:58:31 PM
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"The Chavez's of the world will be replaced by those who have a greater, more inclusive, democratic world view."
But Hugo Chavez has just won an election with 61 percent of the vote. Do you that, perhaps, the people of Venezuela entitled to have a say on this?
Yes dagget I do think they will have a say in this, and after they finish with Chavez they hopefully will get to elect someone with a greater sense of the changing world, a greater commitment to including more of the citizenry in the process of government and business, and the exercise of democratic values in whole rather than selecting values piecemeal. And hopefully not suffer communism or dictatorship as a result of Chavez's vision for Venezuela.

Is the "greater, more inclusive, democratic world view" that you talk of the same as thatof the "Sweatshop Lobby" who are now threatening to move factories out of China if that country passes laws which give minimal protection to its workforce?
Is the "sweatshop Lobby" a democratic government dagget. Do the "sweatshop lobby" dagget have a greater, more inclusive, democratic world view? I doubt it. Their name alone suggest that they have a narrow platform of concerns from which they operate. Why throw this in my face dagget as a challenge to my statement that "The Chavez's of the world will be replaced by those who have a greater, more inclusive, democratic world view." I grant you that Chavez was democratically elected but, to date his policies and behavior do not translate into "those who have a greater, more inclusive, democratic world view."
Have you got anything else eating away at your sense of self-rightiousness that you might want to attribute to me dagget. Or have you finished pissing into the wind.
Posted by aqvarivs, Wednesday, 20 December 2006 3:03:56 AM
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Aqvarius,

My point was they voted for Chavez in 1999, 2001 and 2004 and 2006. This is in spite of hostility from the United States and a very concerted, peristent and well-funded campaign from Venezuela's wealthy elite to have him removed from office.

If that does not indicate that Chavez enjoys the popular support of the Venezuelan people, then I don't know what will. How you can claim that those who would overturn the result of these elections have a more "have a greater, more inclusive, democratic world view" is beyond me.

Even though the "Sweatshop lobby" story is not directly related to Venezuela, I pointed it out as an example of the kinds of political forces in the world today who seem to have the strongest objection to Chavez's government, that is those who are so insatiably greedy, that they would object to even the most basic rights being granted to China's exploited workforce.

No doubt the "Sweatshop Lobby" would have a similar attitude to Venezuela's workforce and oil and gas reserves, that is that it should be theirs to freely exploit without any hindrance from Hugo Chavez's government.

Aqvarius wrote: "Have you got anything else eating away at your sense of self-rightiousness that you might want to attribute to me dagget. Or have you finished pissing into the wind."

I probably would have a lot more to say on this subject, but only to people whose minds are open and able to cope with views which are contrary to their own.
Posted by daggett, Wednesday, 20 December 2006 8:22:42 AM
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dagget says: "My point was they voted for Chavez in 1999, 2001 and 2004 and 2006. This is in spite of hostility from the United States and a very concerted, peristent and well-funded campaign from Venezuela's wealthy elite to have him removed from office."

My point dagget is that the rules of democratic elections in Venezuela give the elected a six year term with one consecutive term in office.
Follow your own information that strikes you with so much pride in Chavez's rule. 1999,2001,2004,2006. Now I wonder what could behind all that. Oh I know, it is the demon U.S. of A once again upsetting the peaceful democratic calm of South America. No body likes me cuz I'm doing such great things Chavez changes the rules at every democratic obstruction to his whim. Chavez became a peoples hero attempting a military coup, was that instigated by the USA? No No No that was my hero standing up against American imperialist injustice. Get a grip dagget. Chavez is not doing Venezuela any long term good and he has no ideas for the future of "his people" beyond using them to destroy their own future. Every thing Chavez is doing will have to be paid for tomorrow. Even the leftist Carter Centre questions the validity of his office but can't bring themselves to actually say so.
You really must learn to read beyond the knee jerk emotionalism of the daily headline dagget. I probably would have a lot more to say on this subject, but only to people whose minds are open and able to cope with views which are contrary to their own. :-)
Posted by aqvarivs, Thursday, 21 December 2006 12:08:32 AM
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