Venezuela: the international gambit

At this juncture in the social revolution of President Chavez, the revolution has exceeded the stakes limited only to Venezuela. The social changes ushered in and sought to be ushered in by the regime of President Chavez are being keenly studied and appreciated by the international audience. The demarcation of sharp boundaries and conflicts as displayed by the unsuccessful coup attempt on Chavez’s regime and the recent diplomatic disagreements with US and Britain are a natural offshoot of the immense class conflict that is bound to be felt by the policies of President Chavez. This is unavoidable, for we know that nowhere in history has the ruling class given a measure of justice to the indigenous and toiling people of the region without a violent attempt to subjugate the same.

The effect that the situation in Venezuela is having on the international audience can scarcely be appreciated by the leaders in Venezuela themselves. For the first time in the course of the last three decades and a half, people both in the developed and the developing nations are slowly waking up from their slumber and beginning to notice with interest the events in Venezuela. The effects are off course more pronounced in Europe and the north Americas partly due to the proximity of these land masses with Latin America as compared to that of Asia and partly due to the clashes with the regime of the established order in these societies with that of the regime in Venezuela. Of these, off course the second factor plays a far more crucial role than the first one.

The last decade and a half or so of triumphant capitalism has not been able to wipe off the socialist dreams of man. In fact as the dominance of capitalist firms grows it has become increasingly aware to the people that the future is socialism. For a long time the capitalist firms who portrayed a holy image at home, specially in Europe and the US by becoming the demons in developing and under developed Asia and Africa have now began to feel the pinch. As an increasing number of firms began to shift to the low cost and low wages centers of Asia this former sure fire way of garnering an unbeatable edge over rival firms is being neutralized faster than ever before. Populaces in the Europe and US have begun to be hit by this sudden change that is occurring. The rosy myth of ever expanding markets and the triumph of the free market has given way to the scorching worry of the fear of loosing jobs to the under paid worker in Asia. Firms have struggled to keep the same pace of employment generation and equally the same benefits to employees that they once managed to deliver by exploiting the underpaid workers of Asia and Africa, not because they have become liberal in these region but because they all are playing the same game now and hence to provide for better than your competitors to your native employees has become the big beast of burden even for the world’s’ most admired companies.’

In this situation an increasing number of people have been intrigued by the bold experiment in Venezuela. The secret socialist forced to earn a living under the capitalist system in Europe and US sees in Venezuela the seeds of what can be and what ought to be. The youth and the frustrated populace numbed with becoming man machines in these regions turns to the neighborhood armchair socialist he has always held in some measure of ridicule. He learns from him about the Venezuelan experiment. He is intrigued. Is it really possible that homeless people have been allowed to move in to finished unoccupied homes? That was supposed to be a utopian dream forever. The youth off course egged on by the idealism that only youth can generate are ready to swear by Venezuela. Venezuela is happening at a scale that dwarfs the normal pitiful ‘happening events’ that the media in these regions report about.

All this is very good but what does it imply for the Venezuelan revolution? Can the Bolivarian revolution and the supporters of the same, dispersed across the world harness this positive momentum for some practical use? The answer I believe is yes and therein rests the main crux of this paper.

I propose that a voluntary association of people with an international perspective be set up in Venezuela for this purpose. This association will consist of Venezuelans and international volunteers. The focus will be on the number and diversity of international volunteers that this association is able to attract. There are a number of questions that manifest themselves in this regard.
What is the purpose and objectives of such an organization? Indeed what is it supposed to do?
How will it attract sufficient international volunteers for this organization? Who exactly are we looking at when I talk about international volunteers?

The purpose and objective of the association is simple: to work voluntarily for some period, from a matter of days to a matter of weeks as per the time the volunteers have for this purpose, in tandem with the government of Venezuela to help the indigenous and the exploited of Venezuela. This seems a very vague and broad objective. What actually are these volunteers supposed to do? This vagueness arises from the multitude of tasks that can be accomplished by such volunteers. The nature of tasks that are aimed to be realized will be mainly implementional in nature where a lack of manpower is a hamper. Say for example, the sanitary program in the slums of the cities. The volunteers will work for this purpose with the aid that the government normally allocates for this. The funds and programs will be of the government, the implementation and human labor of the association of the volunteers. The program might be of any nature right from building a road in an interior village to a city literacy campaign. The volunteers will work for the program as long as they wish and for as many days as they can devote to the program as directed to them by the association. Off course it goes without saying that the nature of a majority of the tasks must be of a replicable kind, the kind that does not hinder itself by the change of hand, for men working with the centre will always be in a state of flux, of continuous change. We can not have for instance an architect volunteer who draws up housing complex plans if he can not stay through the entire life of the project. On the other hand we can have something as the building of a road or distribution of medicines which are completely unaffected by the change of hands.

What will be the nature of these volunteers? Anybody who is willing to work will be a volunteer. This seems overtly simple but this should be the approach to make this association work. I am looking at the student who comes to spend his summer break to Venezuela motivated by a dual desire to see the wonderful land of Venezuela and also responding to the clarion call of the international appeal, which must be issued by the association. He spends two weeks in his leisurely pursuit and one week for the centre working deep in a village for say free medicine distribution. I am looking at hundreds of such students who will be assigned to various tasks by the association. But I am also looking beyond. I am looking for the socially conscious couple that irrespective of ideological affiliation is looking for some way to help. They may make a trip in any time of the year again perhaps motivated by a dual desire to both see and work. I am looking for people cutting across national boundaries and across professions in this regard. The armchair socialist in rich nations and socialist sympathizers who are forced to eke out a living under the capitalist system will have at last found a way to contribute and do something for the cause. I am looking at the university professor and the corporate executive who really want to do something for the exploited and are on the look out for an opportunity for the same.

This may seem analogous to the missionaries call for such help but the difference is enormous. Firstly, the scale of the association supported by direct government action lends to the association something that no religious missionary can ever hope to exert. Secondly and most importantly lies the difference in attitude of the people who respond to the two calls. The man who responds to the first call responds to it in a spirit of charity manifested by the very name of such organizations where the word charity is often prevalent or subconsciously inherent. The biggest such organization in India is mother Teresa’s missionaries of… yes you guessed it right, missionaries of charity. The first kind of man is always doing a favor, an act of charity. Very different is the attitude of the volunteers that I seek to attract through the association. For him the association represents a chance to do repay a part of the debt he owes to the society. He is looking for a chance to do something fruitful for the greater part of the society who live in penury. He is disturbed, irrespective of ideological and economic affiliations and wishes to do something that he can see and realize as his contribution to the society to alleviate some part of the sufferings that the system of which he is an integral part, imposes on a major part of the society. This motivates him and this alone. There are hundreds of such people who are fed up of donating to charities, who yearn for some practical action. The association provides just such an opportunity. The association represents a clarion call to such socially responsible citizens who wish to contribute to make life a bit easier for the underprivileged. The call will attract only those who feel deeply about this issue and who consider in the existing order of things a grievous wrong.
This attitudinal difference is the great difference that distinguishes the association from any other such association. This and the eagerness and scale of operations that is possible with the direct help of the government of Venezuela. This represents a chance truly of epic proportions, a big organization supported by the government where things can actually be accomplished.

Thus it is very important to present the correct picture to the first set of volunteers. They must go back home and talk in glowing terms of the work that is in progress. They must be able to tell their friends and relatives that this association is not just a run of the mill association, it is one that actually works. Above all they must be able to feel a sense of achievement and satisfaction that can prompt them to recommend the same course to others. This can only be possible by a true dedication of the authorities towards the association. Only affirmative government policies towards the association, a measure of independence to the organization and above all involvement with tasks that are expected from such an association will lead to a positive image of the association on the volunteers.
Nothing springs from magic in this world. The association will grow with time as more and more volunteers go back from their days of voluntary labor and explain to their acquaintances what this association stands for and what it really does.

What does the government of Venezuela gain from this? There are three significant benefits that immediately come to attention. Firstly, off course the volunteers will provide for extremely low cost manpower to carry out actual government schemes targeted at the segment of the society that needs it most. The expenses of the government will be only fooding and lodging of the volunteers. Our volunteers will not need air-conditioned chambers, no! Just a place to rest and have healthy food will do admirably well for them. From the cream of the volunteers, the doctors and the engineers, the association will find the services of skilled practitioners at a pittance.

Secondly it will give the government a great chance to demonstrate to the volunteers the ideology that we follow. Exclamations against capitalist firms will not just be a mere rhetoric but a practical demonstration. The excesses and the results of looting of the US firms will be demonstrated first hand to the volunteers. Those who are not socialistically inclined will for the first time understand how differently some exploitive firms operate in Europe, US and the third world nations. They will be explained the failures of capitalism which they will see first hand. Nothing is still equal to seeing for the self. The time they will spend with the association will open their minds to the alternate ideology of socialism. They will begin to understand why we pump for socialism, not because we are utopian dreamers but because the reality demands socialism. Facts hidden by the world media about the double standards of exploitive private firms will be revealed to the volunteers who will go back with a deep sense of introspection about the way their society is being run and at whose cost it is being run.

Thirdly and most importantly the association will make the socialist movement unleashed by Premier Chavez, an international movement. Volunteers returning from Venezuela will forever identify themselves with the policies of President Chavez. They will in turn explain to their friends and relatives the social reality that is Venezuela today. It is easier to believe in your personal experience or of the experience of someone you trust rather than read about the same in papers and websites. Most importantly, it will build up a favorable public image about the Bolivarian revolution. This is an important factor for the future. The lies and propaganda of certain sections of the world media will be exposed for what they are. In future this public opinion spearheaded by a few hundred actual people who had been volunteers at the association will be a huge barrier against any covert or direct interference by Europe or US against Venezuela. And that there will be, of that I am in no doubt. The man who is merely sympathetic to Venezuela stands in stark contrast to the man who has worked for or who has ample reason to believe through testimonials of people he trusts the Venezuelan cause. This man will be alive to the slightest hint of any covert operation or any financial support to anti revolutionary forces in Venezuela. He will find out more given the slightest hint of such an event. He will build up the public opinion rapidly and at the proper time to halt or hinder such activities. At the very least, he will spearhead twenty other men who in turn will spearhead countless others to build up an active social pressure group that will present the greatest of difficulties to anti revolutionary forces. The revolution will have its own representatives across the world. This is the most important gain from the association. We will successfully internationalize the movement.

The last part of this article will be devoted to suggest some general measures while setting up the association. The active support of the government is a must for this association particularly at its birth. President Chavez must himself announce the birth of such an organization. He himself must issue the appeal to the world citizens not once but many times. Remember, this appeal is as much a request from Venezuela as it is an opportunity for those who are trapped in the everyday moorings of life under the capitalist system and those who are looking for a way to do something for the exploited. The appeal must be made to all responsible world citizens irrespective of ideological affiliations. Particular letters of appeal from the Venezuelan government must reach universities and associations of the intelligentsia across the world. Of the countries to be targeted are particularly, the US, Europe and Latin America.

The leadership of the association must be dual. One Venezuelan and one international person must collectively lead the association. The international man so chosen must be able to devote all his time to the association. Off course knowledge of Spanish is an advantage but not a must. However the man so chosen must know at least one of Spanish or English. Translators and interpreters must accompany the volunteers specially deep in native villages where the local man is a necessity. The leadership of the movement should also tour the Americas and Europe in the initial months. There they must explain the aims and objectives of the association clearly and concisely to the public in universities or gatherings of sympathizers.

We must make the movement international and let it influence all walks of life from America to Asia and from the Arctic to the Antarctica. Socialism as an ideology has always been international, devoid of partisan nationalistic interests. We must make this movement an issue that is personal to every citizen of the world. The proposed association represents a chance to do the same while at the same time a chance to help the Venezuelan government with the implementational sides of affairs. It gives the government a chance to involve dedicated and eager people to work for the cause that is the great aim of socialism, a better life for man.

The future is socialism, the future is ours and we shall have it one way or other.