Rakhmetov
8th September 2010, 15:47
This campaign has reached unprecedented levels. Chvez has been variously described as a "barracks populist," a "strongman," a "firebrand," and "a psychopath. He is supposed to be an aggressive thug who "flirts with megalomania" and whose behaviour borders on the paranoiac." Earlier, they used to describe him as a dictator (some still do), but this language sits awkwardly with the well-known fact that over the past eleven years he has won more elections than any other political leader in the world.
In order to accommodate this unfortunate fact, they have been obliged to invent categories that were previously unknown to the political lexicon. They speak of an elected autocracy. The London Financial Times sees him as "increasingly autocratic" and presiding over something called a "rogue democracy." Behind this language is fear and hatred: the hatred of the rich and powerful for a man who has roused the masses to fight against their oppressors and their ingrained fear of the power of these same masses.
http://www.marxist.com/elections-in-venezuela-fight-for-socialism.htm
In order to accommodate this unfortunate fact, they have been obliged to invent categories that were previously unknown to the political lexicon. They speak of an elected autocracy. The London Financial Times sees him as "increasingly autocratic" and presiding over something called a "rogue democracy." Behind this language is fear and hatred: the hatred of the rich and powerful for a man who has roused the masses to fight against their oppressors and their ingrained fear of the power of these same masses.
http://www.marxist.com/elections-in-venezuela-fight-for-socialism.htm