Ian Buruma has a piece in the Sunday Times on British socialists' long and ignoble history of support for foreign dictators. He sees the current enthusiasm for Hugo Chavez as the latest chapter in this story.
I suspect he is right. And it is pleasing to learn that the ideology now in the ascendancy in Venezuela is called Chavism.
... boring... the right has an equally long history of supporting facists and tyrants... people back the side that represents most of the views they seek... people are also smart enough to realise the post WW2 the US and others have done everything possible to sink democratically elected left-wing regimes (Iran, Chile, Honduras etc)
ReplyDeleteChavez isn't perfect but he has undeniable public support. The appearence of Bolton, Otto Reich, Negroponte and others of the 'good old days' of Reagan's dirty wars to tell us how bad Chavez appeals only to one's sense of irony
in attacking Chavez why don't you attack the tens of millions of US dollars that have been handed to his opposition, who represent the white Venezuelan minorities etc etc
Both socialists and their opponents have supported dictators.
ReplyDeleteWhat is particularly shameful for the socialists is that they claim to be progressives who have the interests of 'the people' at heart (whoever the people are), and that they justify the crimes (when they acknowledge them) as being necessary for the betterment of 'the people'.
Then the claims that 'the right is worse' and try to occupy the moral high ground whilst ignoring the human suffering imposed by their idols.
We should criticise all who support authoritarians. Then again, socialism is authoritarian by its nature, so socialists will support socialist authoritarians over anyone else.