That his life and his deeds had black dots is part of the story; but that should not block seeing the greatness of a maker of history.<\/p>\n
First, in his own society, Venezuela, he lifted the bottom people up from misery, into economic wellness, political participation, cultural pride (of their often African, or Indian, blood), social dignity; much beyond Gini coefficients to measure increasing equality. Even the rich human rights language is too bland to reflect all that.<\/p>\n
Second, he did the same for Latin America; he helped lift the bottom countries up, also under the name of the iconic Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar: Cuba and Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia, Brazil to mention some.<\/p>\n
Of course the two policies are related.\u00a0 Colombia with its immense record of violence 1948-2013, is a pariah country and can only be lifted up by lifting its bottom up, attacking flagrant inequality. Ch\u00e1vez and his fellow leaders Castro and Ortega, Correa and Mor\u00e1les, Lula, are on line. The leadership of the continent, with Kirchner from Argentina,\u00a0and the Salvador Allende icon from Chile!\u00a0 A formidable team; well beyond the European leaders trying to manage their crises.<\/p>\n
The late essayist-journalist Christopher Hitchens interviewed Ch\u00e1vez some years ago, asking him about similarities and differences with Fidel. Ch\u00e1vez answered that when it came to US imperialism they were of one mind, in complete solidarity.\u00a0 But then he added: \u201cHowever,<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFidel is a communist who believes in a one party state headed by the communist party; I am a democrat to the left, believing in a multi-party state and free elections;<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFidel is a marxist who believes in the public, state sector of the economy only; I believe in a mixed economy, public and private;<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFidel is an atheist, believing in scientific atheism; I am a Catholic and take note of the fact that Jesus lived among the poor.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Too dissonant for some Anglo-American minds to handle.<\/p>\n
Very meaningful in Latin America, however, particularly when so many leave the Catholic Church, joining the evangelicals.\u00a0 The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 as political program: not lifting the bottom up to Heaven, but to a better reality in this world.\u00a0 Many countries have the oil money to do so, and the majority of poor to give them democratic legitimacy.\u00a0 But Ch\u00e1vez did it, inspiring and sharing with other Latin American leaders and peoples, and beyond, the world.<\/p>\n
Who is the better Christian: Ch\u00e1vez or a forgettable German with an 11-12th century brain, retired, being tired?\u00a0 Fighting a liberation theology as close to Ch\u00e1vez’ heart as distant from his, if he has any?<\/p>\n
Leaving that aside; is Venezuela economically sustainable?<\/p>\n
The economy is in trouble, lack of investments etc., debt to the Chinese piling up (a minor point as long as oil flows to China rather than to a USA now turning tar sands into sink holes). The key factor is to make former marginalized, excluded slum dwellers contribute to the economy, strengthening both production, supply, and demand.<\/p>\n
Many feel threatened by the poor and the race factor, also Ch\u00e1vez himself, coming up: “Will they treat us the way we treated them”? And, will they outcompete us?\u00a0 Some will sabotage, too late to kill Ch\u00e1vez, but maybe some of the economy. Many countries will feel threatened by poor countries coming up, for the same reasons and one more: will that inspire our downtrodden to do the same?\u00a0 Could blacks in the US Gulf states be interested in a (con)federation with Caribbean countries populated the same way, by slavers from Liverpool?<\/p>\n
Somebody is working 24\/7 for Venezuela not to succeed, for sure.\u00a0 But it may be too late.\u00a0 The egg has been stood on its head with a little crack, and Ch\u00e1vez did it.\u00a0 The thought has been not only thought but enacted, and, given the enthusiasm and the dedication of the born-again in red T-shirts, Venezuela will probably make it.<\/p>\n
There are questions beyond Venezuela’s future on the horizon.<\/p>\n
It will be difficult for economists to stick to their trickling down illusions given Ch\u00e1vez’ bold option.\u00a0 But positive discrimination is sometimes an indispensable shock therapy to lift those in misery–women all over, non-whites, Malays in Malaysia, dalits in India–even if it “destroys market mechanisms”–for the short time it took to have an effect in Venezuela.\u00a0 Economists should help lifting the bottom up, also in the not oil rich countries, not only show the problems.<\/p>\n
It will also be difficult for Christian theologians to disregard this challenge.\u00a0 Jesus lived among the poor<\/i>, not only preaching on the Mount, but feeding, nursing, comforting, with compassion, on earth.\u00a0 Ch\u00e1vez was not a theologian entering that intellectual landscape, mined for two millennia where every step is wrong, for some, for many.\u00a0 He acted.\u00a0 This eternal debate inside the church is by no means new, as Hans K\u00fcng writes in his superb “Is it time, at last, for a Vatican Spring” (IHT<\/i>, 01 Mar 2013). If not, says K\u00fcng, “the church will–fall into a new ice age–shrinking into an increasingly irrelevant sect”.<\/p>\n
K\u00fcng himself could turn it around, as pope, for the whole world.<\/p>\n
It will also be difficult for left wing extremists to see Fidel’s line as the only possible.\u00a0 Western democratic legitimacy, diverse-symbiotic economy and strong ethical motivation may carry us further.\u00a0 But the West has a tendency to confuse violence with conflict, ceasefire and disarmament of “rebels” with solutions, multi-party national election democracy with mediation; and the rule of law leaves out acts of omission as human rights leave out people’s rights.<\/p>\n
It will also be difficult for politicians to hide their lack of initiative behind anti-populism.\u00a0 Democracy is already people-ist, and Ch\u00e1vez has shown that what people want, dignity, is not populist in the sense of promising the undeliverable but even short term feasible.<\/p>\n
A genius makes us think, and act, differently, thereby making history.\u00a0 Ch\u00e1vez was one.\u00a0 Thank you Hugo–may you not rest in peace.<\/p>\n
___________________<\/p>\n
Johan Galtung, a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, is rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU<\/a>. He is author of over 150 books on peace and related issues, including \u2018<\/i>50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,\u2019 published by the TRANSCEND University Press-TUP<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgment and link to the source, TRANSCEND Media Service-TMS, is included. Thank you.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A genius makes us think, and act, differently, thereby making history. Ch\u00e1vez was one. Thank you Hugo\u2013may you not rest in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,206,53,194,148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","category-coops-cooperation-sharing","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean","category-socialism-marxism","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}