INVICTUS
“It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate.I am the captain of my soul.”
William Ernest Henley, Echoes of Life and Death
***
I have just watched the film Invictus about Nelson Mandela and about the world cup winning Springboks team of 1995. I came across this poem on of Mr Mandela’s sources of inspiration:
Invictus by William Ernest Henley:
Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me: Unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.
***
I don’t know anything about Venezuela but I know a lot about Anglo-American imperialism.
Beware the perfidious Briton.
***
I copied this from a page on Reddit:
Welcome to political myth busters! I am a PhD student studying media portrayals of Latin America, and I can honestly say, Venezuela may be the most misrepresented country in the press.
I don’t want you to just believe me. I have given you links so you can scrutinize my argument fully. Check up on me.
Am I making this stuff up or exaggerating?
Every effort has been made to use unimpeachable sources of primary data, such as the World Bank, the United Nations and highly reputable polling organizations like Pew and Latinobarmetro, which is a Chilean polling organization whose work features regularly in the Economist, Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Let’s get myth busting!
The Accusation:
Chavez led a coup.
It is often remarked that Chavez led a coup in 1992. Two example is this New York Times article and this Washington Post article. Conveniently, the context of the coup is left out.
Despite producing more the $300 billion of oil wealth between 1958-1998, the equivalent of 20 Marshall Plans, the majority of Venezuelans were living in shocking slums. By the 1990s, quality of life indicators for ordinary Caracas residents were below Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Between 1970 and 1997, workers’ incomes declined by 50%, while poverty doubled between 1984 and 1991
President Carlos Andres Perez, on orders from the IMF, increased oil prices for Venezuelans. This led to increases in transport costs, to the point where Caracas residents were spending, on average, 25% of their entire wages on bus fares. (Jones, B. “Hugo! p. 116)
Food riots broke out and Perez sent the army in. Three days of terror ensued. The LA Times’, Bart Jones spoke of Red Cross workers being gunned down in the street, “mass graves” being filled with “mutilated corpses”, “tied up corpses” with “bullets in the back of their heads” and children being gunned down as the armies fired indiscriminately into shanty towns. (Jones, B. Hugo! pp.121-124)
Much of the army leadership was deeply shocked at this. They began to gather around a young Colonel called Hugo Chavez and conspired to rebel against the [then] President. The rebellion of 1992 failed, and Chavez was sentenced to what amounted to a life sentence, yet, the rebellion was so popular with the public that the new president, Rafael Caldera was essentially forced to release Chavez just 2 years later.
After getting out he immediately began to organize for a Presidential election.
Myth: Partially confirmed
Myth 2- The Venezuelan economy is a shambles.
In this Guardian article, the author wonder how long the Venezuelan economy can totter on.
Figures from the World Bank, hardly a Chavez ally, show a different story:
Venezuela’s GDP more than tripled under Chavez, while net national income also nearly tripled. Meanwhile, both the United Nations Development Project and the World Bank agreed that unemployment dropped from over 11% to under 8%.
Venezuelans had the highest confidence in their economy of any Latin American country. Venezuela’s external debt dropped precipitously. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s stock market was the best-performing in the world. You may have heard that Chavez wass causing massive inflation, but the facts showed the opposite.
One year before Chavez took office, inflation was 103%. It is now [was… under Chavez] in the teens. The high-point inflation under Chavez was lower than the lowest inflation under the previous 2 presidents.
Myth: Busted
Myth: Chavez is a dictator
This one is so ubiquitous I won’t give examples.
Voter turnout in Venezuela in the October 2012 election was above 80%, higher than any election in US history. Under Chavez, voter turnout in Venezuelan elections has increased by 135% (1998 turnout: 6.3mil, 2012 turnout:14.8 mil.
That means almost two and a half times as many people vote nowadays than in the 1990s. The number of registered voter has risen by over 70% under Chavez.
Jimmy carter and the Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Carter Center recently stated “the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.” The European Union Election Observation Mission agreed, saying “the system developed in Venezuela is probably the most advanced in the world to date”.
The number of polling stations increased by 38% in 10 years. One year pre-Chavez, only 11% of Venezuelans believed elections were clean. By 2006, two thirds believed they were. Venezuelans rated their democracy the second best in Latin America. Venezuela had by far the most political parties in Latin America, and confidence in them is the highest in the region.
In 2002, 80% of Venezuelans believe their vote influenced policy. Venezuelans were asked to rate their democracy from 1-10 [I couldn’t make any sense out of the link] How does Chavez do it, it must be because…
Myth: Chavez Controls the Media
There appears to be an authoritarian dictator crushing freedom of the press in Venezuela. We read about it all the time. How many free outlets are left?
As Mark Weisbrot has shown in an extensive study, the Venezuelan state owns about 5% of all media outlets. Both the BBC and Le Monde agree on the 5% figure.
In comparison, state owned media accounts for 40 and 37% of British and French television. 9 out of the top 10 selling newspapers in Venezuela are virulent anti-Chavez, and by virulent, Le Monde Diplo calls it “hate media” while Richard Gott in the Guardian says the largest station, RCTV is a “white supremacist channel” and JMH Salas reports that they regularly assault him with words like “sambo, thick-lipped monkey” “ape” (Chavez is the first-non white President) In contrast to what we read, Venezuelans believe there’s about as much freedom of speech as there is in Spain
Myth: Busted
[Actually since the present president was a Chavez favourite, you can see where the trouble came from in the recent protests in Venezuela.]
Myth: There are food shortages in Venezuela
Actually, venezuela has doubled the amount of cereals it produces in just 10 years,as has milk, eggs and pork. Child malnutrition has dropped by two thirds in 10 years, too. So, are there food shortages?
Look at this anti-Chavez blogger’s post.
He shows that food shortages mean the most popular mayonnaise is gone, but there are clearly 4 or 5 other brands still available. Again, white sugar is gone but there is plenty of brown left. Only one brand of powdered milk is left. The reason for this is Chavez instituted price-controls and gave people jobs, increasing their purchasing power.
This meant for the first time in their lives, ordinary people can afford dairy produce. If you think about the logic behind this, you can find out a lot about how the media see ordinary people. In the 1990s when children were dying from malnutrition, there were no stories of food shortages but now that rich people can’t find Kraft mayonnaise and have to settle for Hellmans, that is a shortage.
Myth: Busted
Myth: Venezuela is the most dangerous place in the world
There can be no doubt that there are many murders in Venezuela, as this chart of reported homicides shows.. Those claiming crime was the country’s major problem increased from less than 1% in 2001 to 65% in 2010. And yet, when asked whether they or their family were victims of crime, “yes” dropped from 49% in 2000 to 28% 2010. Your chances of being a victim of crime have dropped by half while your fear of crime has spiked 6500%.
Myth: Partially Confirmed
Myth Hugo Chavez is anti-semitic
[When the film I was watching came to an end, I found that it was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood -a notable anti-semite. I wondered how odd that he made the film.]
The entire case for this comes from a quote where Chavez spoke ill of “those who crucified Jesus”. When read in context, it cannot be taken as such. He gave a list of traitors.
He mentioned those who doubled-crossed Simon Bolivar, those who crucified Jesus, those who betrayed Che Guevara, etc. Here’s a pic of Chavez meeting the leading Rabbi in Venezuela. I might add that this is common tactic of the US elite. A New York Times search for “Nicaragua anti-semitism” shows no hits for 130 years, a slew of stories between 1983-1986, when the left-wing Sandinistas were in charge, then nothing for 25 years.
Myth: Busted
Myth: Hugo Chavez loves dictators like Saddam and Ahmadinejad .
Most of the reports of this come from the time when Chavez went on a whistle-stop tour of the oil-producing countries. The day after he met Ahmadinejad, he actually met a dictator with a far worse human rights record:
That picture elicited almost no response in the US media whatsoever. Chavez has taken a lead in reinvigorating the OPEC cartel, and his visits were laying the groundwork for an agreed reduction in oil drilling, in order to stabilize prices.
Myth: Busted Myth: Chavez is [not] an Isolated, Unpopular Leader
Chavez was the first President of the Pink Tide, who see themselves as left-leaning, anti-imperialist politicians. President Lula of Brazil openly backed Chavez, saying:
[“A victory for Chávez is not just a victory for the people of Venezuela but also a victory for all the people of Latin America … this victory will strike another blow against imperialism.”]
(www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/03/why-us-dcemonises-venezuelas-democracy). President Correa of Ecuador has called Chavez “a guiding light” ( Jones, B. “Hugo” p.420)
Here’s a picture of the Presidents of Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina with Chavez, and here’s what the Argentine public think of him. When asked which country they admired the most, Latin Americans chose Venezuela by a considerable margin.
Myth: Busted
Bonus Myth: The People are worse off under Chavez
Chavez instituted a national healthcare system which had performed 225 million consultations by 2007 alone. (Cannon, B. Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution, p. 93)
The number of public doctors has increased by 1200%, from 1628 to 19571 by 2007.
50,000 Venezuelans were given free operations to restore their sight, between 1 and 1.5 million were taught to read for the first time (Jones p. 8)
Health expenditure per person has tripled According to the Gini coefficient, venezuela went from the most unequal country in Latin America to the most equal. An AC Nielsen/Datos report showed that, from 2004-2006, 97.6% of the population grew in income.
Venezuela is one of the most vibrant democracies on Earth, yet the media is representing it as a hellhole. Why is this?
Many have wondered. Some say it can be explained with Chomsky and Hermann’s Propaganda Model
For me, I think it is because they’re scared. They’re scared if people in [the United States of] America knew the truth about what can be achieved in a small country, there would be a dramatic change in American politics overnight.
Venezuela is certainly not an ideal society by any means and I’m not even much of a Chavez supporter but it saddens me to see so many derogatory remarks made about someone who spearheaded change which the vast majority wanted. It also clouds real debate over his failings, as people like me are forced to spend their time correcting and replying to nonsense accusations.
Some documentaries about Venezuela:
The Revolution Will Not be Televised
Effort Post: Busting Some Myths about Chavez and Venezuela from socialism
I am no lover of politicians. History is a list of fools and the damage they cause. However, I am pretty sure that whatever is goingon in Venezuela at the moment the evil is not the fault of the present government. Thay may be fighting a coup by right wing nazis. (The usual suspects.)
***
With all due respect to the poet…
In our darkest nights, black as the pit from pole to pole, I think of what god has given us.
And thank him for our heart and soul.
No matter what our circumstance; what hurt that makes us cry out loud. Whatever bludgeonings of fate, we can stand bloody but unbowed.
In times of wrath and tears and secret evils of the shade and all the menace of our fears we won’t find a better place.
It does not matters what our fate, nor how costly the coming toll.
WE are the masters of our fate. We are the masters of our souls!
