Paul Pott
3rd October 2013, 07:07
So I'm getting fed up with the World Socialist Web Site.
This is the shameful article I'm speaking of:
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/02/vene-o02.html (http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/02/vene-o02.html)
I'm a regular reader of the WSWS, despite not being a supporter of the organization that it is an organ of (ICFI) or of Trotskyism in general. Most of the articles and analyses that don't stem from the cult of Trotsky provide a much needed radical view on current events compared to the ocean of bourgeois obscurity that dominates the internet on most issues, and I think all leftists find this to be a fresh breath of air, Trot or otherwise.
A major exception to this is the WSWS's recent coverage on Venezuela. Just last week I wrote about this in my Revleft "blog", in which I pointed out that the author of that article is taking the side of the old comprador elite and US imperialism by parroting their narratives on Venezuela, and by ignoring the campaign against the living standards of the Venezuelan people waged by the part of capital aligned against the government in hopes of bringing the masses to support the right wing opposition. This is essentially austerity through artificial scarcity, a form of what is euphemized in ruling circles in Washington as "soft power". Yesterday, the WSWS continued its coverage along the same lines.
That this exact thing happened in, for example, Chile, in a more extreme form is apparently irrelevant to the left wing rightists that write for the WSWS, or, at least, it warrants no mention.
Most glaring of all, it seems to be lost on the author that inflation and scarcity are down quite a bit from their election season high (and I don't think I have to explain why the timing can't be stressed enough). The article in question seems to be copying point for point from a recent New York Times article, which claims just as the WSWS does that Venezuela's economic problems are 'getting worse' which is in fact not true. WSWS also cites a poll in which a tiny percentage of those polled see signs of sabotage in the economy. Since almost all other polls show a majority of Venezuelans continue to see the Maduro presidency in a positive light, one could easily get the impression that WSWS's cited source is suspect, especially since severe economic issues do exist in Venezuela, an environment in which presidents tend not to be popular (ask Francois Hollande). Unless Venezuelans both generally support Maduro and call him a liar, it would seem this poll does not represent popular opinion. At any rate, as the opposition controls most media as well as the economy, its poison is bound to infect popular belief to some extent.
This disgusting article parrots the claim that Maduro's expulsion of US diplomats is simply a distraction rather than a response to a security concern. Such tropes are to be expected from major media, but a "socialist" website should know better.
Of course, the WSWS justifies its gloss negligence by stating that the Venezuelan ruling class faces a crisis of capitalism and defiance on the part of the working class. That the Maduro government fears a movement of the working class independent from its reformist agenda as much as it fears the rightist opposition is not in question. The issue is whether the "left" should support imperialism and its propaganda in order to spite the national bourgeoisie, protecting another faction of capital which is much more hostile to the working class in the process. On that, the WSWS is failing history.
Fin. Please chime in.
This is the shameful article I'm speaking of:
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/02/vene-o02.html (http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/02/vene-o02.html)
I'm a regular reader of the WSWS, despite not being a supporter of the organization that it is an organ of (ICFI) or of Trotskyism in general. Most of the articles and analyses that don't stem from the cult of Trotsky provide a much needed radical view on current events compared to the ocean of bourgeois obscurity that dominates the internet on most issues, and I think all leftists find this to be a fresh breath of air, Trot or otherwise.
A major exception to this is the WSWS's recent coverage on Venezuela. Just last week I wrote about this in my Revleft "blog", in which I pointed out that the author of that article is taking the side of the old comprador elite and US imperialism by parroting their narratives on Venezuela, and by ignoring the campaign against the living standards of the Venezuelan people waged by the part of capital aligned against the government in hopes of bringing the masses to support the right wing opposition. This is essentially austerity through artificial scarcity, a form of what is euphemized in ruling circles in Washington as "soft power". Yesterday, the WSWS continued its coverage along the same lines.
That this exact thing happened in, for example, Chile, in a more extreme form is apparently irrelevant to the left wing rightists that write for the WSWS, or, at least, it warrants no mention.
Most glaring of all, it seems to be lost on the author that inflation and scarcity are down quite a bit from their election season high (and I don't think I have to explain why the timing can't be stressed enough). The article in question seems to be copying point for point from a recent New York Times article, which claims just as the WSWS does that Venezuela's economic problems are 'getting worse' which is in fact not true. WSWS also cites a poll in which a tiny percentage of those polled see signs of sabotage in the economy. Since almost all other polls show a majority of Venezuelans continue to see the Maduro presidency in a positive light, one could easily get the impression that WSWS's cited source is suspect, especially since severe economic issues do exist in Venezuela, an environment in which presidents tend not to be popular (ask Francois Hollande). Unless Venezuelans both generally support Maduro and call him a liar, it would seem this poll does not represent popular opinion. At any rate, as the opposition controls most media as well as the economy, its poison is bound to infect popular belief to some extent.
This disgusting article parrots the claim that Maduro's expulsion of US diplomats is simply a distraction rather than a response to a security concern. Such tropes are to be expected from major media, but a "socialist" website should know better.
Of course, the WSWS justifies its gloss negligence by stating that the Venezuelan ruling class faces a crisis of capitalism and defiance on the part of the working class. That the Maduro government fears a movement of the working class independent from its reformist agenda as much as it fears the rightist opposition is not in question. The issue is whether the "left" should support imperialism and its propaganda in order to spite the national bourgeoisie, protecting another faction of capital which is much more hostile to the working class in the process. On that, the WSWS is failing history.
Fin. Please chime in.