Hugo Chávez and the Politics of Race
- From: "GWhyte" <gwhyte3003@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 20:59:02 -0400
A Real Racial Democracy?
Hugo Chávez and the Politics of Race
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
http://www.counterpunch.org/
As the war of words heats up between the Bush White House and Venezuelan
president Hugo Chávez, the firebrand South American leader has boldly sought
to forge ties with poor communities of color in the United States. In the
wake of Hurricane Katrina, Chávez provided relief assistance to the poverty
stricken and largely African American victims of the disaster. The head of
Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela's state owned oil company, set up
disaster relief centers in Louisiana and Texas in the wake of the hurricane
and provided humanitarian to thousands of victims. Volunteers based at Citgo
refineries in Lake Charles, Louisiana and Corpus Christi, Texas, provided
medical care, food and water to approximately 5,000 people. In Houston,
volunteers from Citgo headquarters provided similar assistance to 40,000
victims. What is more, Venezuela has provided hundreds of thousands of
barrels of oil in energy assistance to the United States. Chávez followed up
his bold initiative by announcing that he would soon begin to ship heating
and diesel oil at rock bottom prices to schools, nursing homes, hospitals
and poor communities within the U.S. The Venezuelan president has also
offered to provide free eye surgery for poor Americans suffering from
certain eye conditions. The firebrand South American leader, who proclaimed
the plan during a recent visit to New York, will begin his oil program
through an October pilot project in Chicago. There, the Venezuelan
government will target poor Mexican Americans for assistance.
In November, Chávez intends to expand the program to the South Bronx and
Boston. Chávez has even offered to ship low cost gasoline to Native American
tribal communities in the United States. "There is a lot of poverty in the
U.S. and I don't believe that reflects the American Way of Life. Many people
die of cold in the winter. Many die of heat in the summer," Chávez recently
remarked during his weekly TV show. "We could have an impact on seven to
eight million persons," he added. During his time in New York, Chávez toured
the largely African American and Latino populated Bronx and was treated like
a veritable rock star. Democratic Congress member Jose Serrano, who invited
the Venezuelan president to the Bronx, remarked, "Chávez went to the poorest
congressional district in the nation's richest city, and people on the
street there just went crazy. A lot of people told me they were really
mesmerized by him. He made quite an impression." Chávez's trip is
reminiscent of similar moves by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a figure who
Chávez frankly admires. In a celebrated trip in 1960, Castro stayed at a
cheap hotel in Harlem where he met with important political figures of the
day such as Malcolm X.
Chávez's moves are sure to play well in the inner city. In light of the high
price of oil this year, which has reached $70 a barrel, it is expected that
the price of heating oil will skyrocket and become unaffordable to many poor
people of color. By providing cheap oil to marginalized communities fed up
with price gouging, Chávez shrewdly overshadows George Bush. The U.S.
president, along with the Republican party, have long ignored the social
needs of America's inner cities as evidenced by the botched hurricane relief
operation in New Orleans. Unlike the U.S. government, which was hobbled by
Hurricane Katrina and which had to redirect much of the winter's energy
assistance program to hurricane victims, Chávez is ideally positioned to
help poor communities of color. Venezuela owns 14,000 gas stations and eight
refineries in the United States through Citgo, none of whose oil
infrastructure was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Chávez has stated he will
reserve 10% of the 800,000 barrels of Citgo oil and ship the petroleum
directly to poor communities. Unnamed Venezuelan officials claimed that
their country would not lose money through the deal, as the idea was to "cut
the middle man" out of the deal. Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's Minister of
Energy and Petroleum, says the move will relieve urban suffering as
beneficiaries could see price reductions of up to 30%. Chávez's moves are
sure to play well in the Bronx, but unlikely to be received with any sign of
gratitude in Washington. "Cutting oil prices must seem like the worst sort
of radicalism to the Big Oil companies and their buddies at the Bush-Cheney
White House," writes Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News.
Forging Ties With Communities of Color: Chávez's Political Imperative
Chávez's moves seem to form part of a larger, long term strategy of building
alliances with racial minorities such as African Americans. By aiding the
poor, Chávez will certainly do much to reverse the negative media onslaught
that has taken its cue from the White House and which has sought to portray
him as "totalitarian" and a threat to this country (see for example my
earlier Counterpunch piece, "Fair and Balanced or US Govt. Propaganda? Fox
News vs. Hugo Chávez," April 30-May 1, 2005). Julia Buxton, a scholar at
Bradford University who has written extensively on Venezuela, remarked that
Chávez's gambit reflects ideological as well as pragmatic considerations.
"He's been deeply, deeply frustrated by coverage in the U.S. media and the
attitude of the U.S. government, and he's trying to counter a very
Republican-directed vendetta," she said. That vendetta has included, most
recently, calls by U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson for Chávez's assassination
(see my earlier Counterpunch article, "Demeaner of the Faith, Rev. Pat
Robertson and Gen. Rios Montt," September 17-18, 2005). "He clearly needed
to build constructive alliances with more liberal sections of American
society," Buxton added, "and open a way to insulate himself against his
Washington enemies."
For Chávez, the task of recruiting domestic support within the United States
has become a political imperative. The Venezuelan president has fallen afoul
of the White House for his criticism of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the
U.S. supported drug war in the Andean region, and the U.S. sponsored Free
Trade Agreement of the Americas. What is more, Chávez has increased royalty
taxes on U.S. oil companies doing business in Venezuela, and even shipped
petroleum to the island nation of Cuba in exchange for Cuban medical
assistance. With the added oil money Chávez has funded ambitious social
programs in health and education. The Bush White House chose to confront
Chávez: in April 2002 the U.S. government provided taxpayer funds to the
Venezuelan opposition through the National Endowment For Democracy. Bush and
the neo-conservatives nearly succeeded in removing Chávez from power when
the opposition staged a short-lived coup d'etat. Since then however, Chávez
has consolidated his position and emerged as the most charismatic leader in
South America. Chávez's calls for greater regional unity, including the
formation of Petrosur, a South American oil company, and Telesur, a South
American satellite TV station, have further enraged the Bush White House.
Not surprisingly, the U.S. has forged ahead in seeking to isolate Chávez, as
evidenced by the recent strong statements coming from the likes of National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. In a meeting with the New York Times
editorial board, Rice remarked that oil was "warping" international politics
and "It [oil] gives certain power and leverage to certain countries and not
to others. We're experiencing it with Venezuela, for instance, where the oil
profits are being put to use across the region to, you know, push forward
Chávez's particular view of the world." Chávez has struck back by
threatening to cut off oil shipments to the United States if he is
assassinated. Venezuela is the United States' fourth largest oil supplier
currently accounting for 12% of imports. As such, a cut off of oil supplies
could exert a significant impact on the U.S. energy supply (see my earlier
Counterpunch column: "Chávez's Gambit 'Oil is a Geopolitical Weapon;" April
6, 2005). Chávez's recent oil for the poor idea, closely following on the
heels of the hostile war of words, will most certainly fan the flames yet
further and lead the Bush White House to continue its bellicose strategy in
Venezuela.
"I was a farm kid from the plains of South Venezuela"
While Chávez's strategy of appealing to racial minorities is certainly bold,
it is hardly surprising given the history. Chávez himself was born in the
Venezuelan plain or llano, and has a provincial accent. A forbidding area
with a harsh tropical climate, the area has had a long history of racial
conflict going back centuries. During the Spanish colonial period,
rebellious black slaves managed to escape from plantations and haciendas,
fled to the llano and became a problem for the authorities. Slaves started
to live in cumbes or escaped communities where collective forms of work were
practiced. The blacks mixed with the Indian population and carried out
daring raids on cattle ranches. The whites grew alarmed by inter-racial
mixing: escaped slaves, they feared, might have a radicalizing effect on the
Indian population. Accordingly, in 1785 the authorities drafted laws
prohibiting blacks from living with Indians "because they only corrupt them
with the bad customs which they generally acquire in their breedingand they
sow discord among the same Indians."
Physically, Hugo Chávez is a pardo, a term used in the colonial period to
denote someone of mixed racial roots. "Chávez's features," writes a magazine
columnist, "are a dark-copper color and as thick as clay; he has protruding,
sensuous lips and deep-set eyes under a heavy brow. His hair is black and
kinky. He is a burly man of medium height, with a long, hatchet-shaped nose
and a massive chin and jaw." In an interview, Chávez remarked that when he
first applied to the military academy he had an Afro. From an ethno-racial
standpoint, Chávez is similar to many of his fellow Venezuelans. Indeed,
today 67 per cent of the population is mestizo, 10 per cent black and 23 per
cent white. Chávez himself has not sought to distance himself from his
ethnic heritage. "My Indian roots are from my father's side," he remarked.
"He [my father] is mixed Indian and black, which makes me very proud." What
is more, Chávez has boasted of his grandmother, who he says was a Pumé
Indian. Like many other Venezuelans of mixed race, Chávez grew up in
poverty. One of six children, Chávez was born in extremely humbling
conditions in the llano. "I was a farm kid from the plains of South
Venezuela," he remarked to Ted Koppel on ABC's Nightline. "I grew up in a
palm tree house with an earthen floor," he added. Chávez entered the
military, which historically has been one of the few paths towards social
advancement for men of mixed race. While on duty with the military he toured
the country and became aware of economic exploitation and racial
discrimination.
Venezuela: A "Racial Democracy"?
Unlike the United States, Venezuela has not experienced poisonous anti black
racism. But the idea of racial democracy does not stand up under scrutiny:
the caste like divisions of the colonial period are still latent in society.
"Venezuelan elites," one scholar has remarked, "judged people by their
appearances. Accordingly, individuals with 'anxious hair' or 'hair like
springs' lived in the shadow of their black slave ancestors. The elites
considered respectable the whiter Venezuelans who had 'hair flat as
rainwater, of an indefinite light brown color which is neither fair nor
dark.'" Though some blacks were able to enter white society through marriage
and miscegenation, "in the long run, such individuals provided the
exceptions that proved the rule." Blacks who sought social acceptance had to
adopt the clothing, education, and language of the white elite. In present
day Venezuelan society, notes respected commentator Gregory Wilpert, "The
correspondence between skin color and class membershipis quite stunning at
times. To confirm this observation, all one has to do is compare middle to
upper class neighborhoods, where predominantly lighter colored folks live,
with the barrios, which are clearly predominantly inhabited by darker
skinned Venezuelans." Meanwhile, journalist Greg Palast noted that rich
whites had "command of the oil wealth, the best jobs, the English-language
lessons, the imported clothes, the vacations in Miami, the plantations."
Chávez and Indigenous Peoples
In 1998 while campaigning for president, Chávez made a commitment to
champion the rights of Venezuela's half-million indigenous peoples. After he
was elected, Chávez put the issue of indigenous rights front and center by
addressing it on his weekly call-in program, Aló Presidente. But actions
speak greater than words, and Chávez made good on his promises by working to
codify the rights of indigenous people in the new 1999 constitution. Article
9 proclaims that while Spanish is the official language of Venezuela,
"Indigenous languages are also for official use for Indigenous peoples and
must be respected throughout the Republic's territory for being part of the
nation's and humanity's patrimonial culture." In chapter eight of the
constitution, the state recognizes the social, political, and economic
organization within indigenous communities, in addition to their cultures,
languages, rights, and lands. What is more, in a critical provision the
government recognizes land rights as collective, inalienable, and
non-transferable. Later articles declare the government's pledge not to
engage in extraction of natural resources without prior consultation with
indigenous groups. Three long time indigenous activists have been elected to
the Venezuelan National Assembly, and prominent leaders hold positions in
government. In a novel move, Chávez has even had the constitution translated
into all of Venezuela's languages.
Chávez has lived up to the constitution by awarding communal land titles to
six Kariña indigenous communities. The land titles will be handed out to
4,000 people and encompass 317,000 acres in the Venezuelan states of Monagas
and Anzoategui. The land transfers form part of Mission Guaicaipuro, a plan
to provide land titles to all of Venezuela's 28 indigenous peoples. Chávez
awarded the communal titles to the Kariña in August during the 16th World
Festival of Students and Youth. The conference, which was attended by 40,000
people, was held in Caracas. During the opening procession of nations Chávez
gave a "thumbs up" to a banner which displayed the words "Leonard Peltier."
An indigenous woman speaker at the conference, one of three indigenous
representatives in the Venezuela Assembly, praised recent advances for
indigenous people. One conference participant reported, "Chávez hugged all
the indigenous leaders in front of the world and gave deeds of territory to
the tribes." By the end of 2006, Chávez' Mission Guaicaipuro plans to award
land titles to 15 more indigenous groups. Participants at the conference
were also pleased by Chávez's moves to halt the celebration of Columbus Day,
which he has replaced with "Indigenous Resistance Day."
Chávez and Afro-Venezuelans
On the other hand, while the new constitution recognizes indigenous rights,
it mentions nothing about blacks in Venezuela, leading Bill Fletcher of the
Washington-based TransAfrica Forum to comment, "I feel that black issues
need to be injected into politics." On the other hand, there are signs that
Chávez government is at least aware of the problem. From March to May 2004,
Afro Venezuelan groups celebrated the 150th anniversary of the end of
slavery in Caracas. At the end of the conference Chávez made an appearance
and the audience heard a lecture from Afro-Venezuelan historian José Marcial
Ramos Guedez. Some participants expressed optimism that racial progress
would be made under the Chávez government. "Representatives of Venezuela's
Afro-descendants are so positive about the current reforms in government
[under Chávez]," said Máryori Márquez, assistant to the director of culture
in the city of Sucre, "that we are now also trying to have legislation
drafted that will mandate the acceptance and the recognition of the
traditional and current human rights of Black Venezuelans." Máryori added
that Chávez was "completely open to this initiative, we just have to work to
make this come true, we have to develop this. Because this won't just
benefit a few people, it would be to everyone's benefit."
The White Elite Strikes Back
The white elite has not been amused by Chávez's recent moves. For them, the
new president was an outsider. In contrast to previous leaders in Venezuela
and throughout the region who identified with the outside European world,
Chávez loudly proclaimed his indigenous and African roots. Chávez himself
seems well aware of the race issue. According to the Venezuelan president,
racial tensions have increased since his election. "There is racism here,"
Chávez remarked. "It used to be more hidden and now it is more open."
Chávez's opponents, who argue that racism does not exist in the country,
charged that the president exploits the race card for political gain.
According to Fletcher, the Chávez opposition "has attacked him [Chávez]
using racist language and imagery which would be totally unacceptable in
public discourse in the USA." The Venezuelan elite has used racial slurs to
taint Chávez, denouncing him as a black monkey. According to author Tariq
Ali, "A puppet show to this effect with a monkey playing Chávez was even
organized at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. But Colin Powell was not amused
and the Ambassador was compelled to issue an apology." The attacks continued
when Venezuelan media commentators referred to the Minister of Education,
Aristobulo Isturiz, who is black, as "a monkey" and "an ape." Meanwhile,
analysts have remarked upon the racial undertones of political conflict in
Chávez's Venezuela. "Class and skin color differences," remarks Wilpert,
"clearly correlate very highly at demonstrations, such that the darker
skinned (and presumably lower class) support the Chávez government and the
lighter skinned (and presumably middle and upper class) oppose the Chávez
government."
Race and the Venezuelan Media
This difference in skin color was clearly evident during the demonstrations
both for and against Chávez in the days preceding the April 2002 coup, and
during an oil lock out in December 2002-January 2003. What is more, the
Venezuelan TV media, which is dominated by whites or light skinned
individuals, and which relegates blacks or dark skinned people to play roles
as criminals or servants in soap operas, played a significant role in the
April 2002 coup. In the days leading up to Chávez's ouster, Venevisión,
RCTV, Globovisión and Televen substituted their regular programming with
non-stop vitriolic anti-Chávez propaganda, which some of their staff later
acknowledged as unprofessional behavior. This relentless barrage was
interrupted by commercials urging TV viewers to go into the streets.
Inflammatory ads blaring, "Not one step backward. Out! Leave now!" were
carried by the stations as public service announcements. Later on the day of
the coup, Gustavo Cisneros allowed his television station Venevision to
serve as the meeting place for anti-Chávez coup plotters. Reportedly,
interim coup president Pedro Carmona was present.
Chávez has struck back against the established media through Vive TV, a
state sponsored station. In contrast to TV stations like RCTV, which airs
shows such as "Quien Quiere Ser Millionario" ("Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire"), Vive TV shuns American-style consumerism. According to its
website, Vive TV promotes "the common citizen, the millions of Venezuelans
and Latin Americans who have been made invisible by imperialism and its
cultural domination." Through Vive's programming, claim the station's
managers, "it is possible to acquaint oneself with the reality, lives and
struggle of people of African descent [and] indigenous peoples." As Blanca
Eekhout, the former manager of Vive explains, people of color previously
"have appeared in the media but in a stigmatized way; they are shown as
marginal people, criminals. They are not shown building, constructing, which
is part of the struggle for the development of the country. That's one thing
we are trying to change." The result of that changed attitude was plain to
see during Vive TV's extended coverage of the Social Forum of the Americas
in Ecuador. According to Eekhout, Venezuelan Indians attended the event and
"The [Venezuelan] indigenous movement was excited; they could see not only
movements there, but also their own Venezuelan delegates." Chávez has also
increased the visibility of Latin America's indigenous peoples through the
launching of the government-sponsored Televisora del Sur (Telesur). The
network, which offers news and opinion programming, has hired Ati Kiwa as a
presenter, an indigenous Colombian woman who wears traditional dress. The
station provides a stark contrast to Univisión celebrity anchor Jorge Ramos,
who wears a jacket and tie.
Chávez, Glover, and Martin Luther King
Even as he forges ahead with his media initiatives, the indefatigable Chávez
has also moved to increase his political ties with the African American
community. In January, 2004 TransAfrica Forum sent a delegation of
influential artists, actors, activists and scholars to Caracas to meet with
government officials. The group included the likes of screen actor Danny
Glover ("Lethal Weapon," "The Color Purple"), who expressed his excitement
at the social changes taking place in Venezuela. Glover remarked that the
U.S. media's portrayal of Venezuela "has nothing to do with reality." Glover
stated that his presence in Venezuela was "to listen and learn, not only
from government and opposition politicians, but to share with the people,
those who are promoting the changes in this country and we want to be in
contact with those who benefit from those changes." Glover and others later
presided over the inauguration of a new "Martin Luther King., Jr." school in
the coastal town of Naiguata. The area is home to large numbers of
Afro-Venezuelans. The school inauguration was the first official Venezuelan
recognition of the importance of the slain civil rights leader. What is
more, the government launched a photo exposition to honor Dr. King. Speaking
at the event, the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, Bernardo
Alvarez, declared that "The visit by members of the TransAfrica Forum
represents a struggle that goes beyond the figure of Martin Luther King; his
struggle, his ideas and the African-American social movements inspired by
him. This is a struggle aimed at defending people's rights, not only in the
United States, but in the hemisphere and the world." Glover, clearly touched
by the occasion, commented, ""This isn't Danny Glover the artist. I'm here
as a citizen, not only of the US, but a citizen of the world. We understand
fully the importance of this historical moment." Chávez later honored the
late Dr. King during his radio and TV show Alo Presidente; Glover and others
were invited on air to participate.
Predictably, the TransAfrica Forum delegates came under heavy attack from
the Venezuelan opposition. "In the Opposition-oriented media, racist
language and imagery wereused to characterize, if not caricaturize, our
visit," Fletcher remarked. According to him, the delegation received racist
e mail, and newspaper editorials and cartoons depicted the delegation in a
racist manner. During a press conference, however, TransAfrica participants
held their own against the media. James Early, Director of Cultural Studies
and Communication at the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies
at the Smithsonian Institution, expressed dismay with Venezuelan
journalists. Early said he was surprised that none of the journalist's
questions had to do with issues of cultural or racial diversity. "What are
you journalists doing to educate the Venezuelan people about racial and
cultural diversity? Democracy in the hemisphere relies heavily on the social
responsibility of journalists, and asking questions only about the
government or the opposition isn't going to help reach that goal. Democracy
is not the government or the opposition, it is the people, being the people
of Venezuela or the people of the United States," he said. Sitting in the
audience was Education and Sports Minister Aristobulo Isturiz, the same
black man who had been described by opposition reporters as "a monkey" in
the past. Reportedly, Isturiz couldn't hide his satisfaction at the way the
delegation handled the combative journalists.
Jackson, Glover, Belafonte: Chávez's New Friends
Chávez has maintained his close relationships with prominent black
entertainers in the United States. In July 2005, Danny Glover and singer
Harry Belafonte were invited to the ceremonial launching of Chávez's new TV
station Telesur. Glover was impressed with the new media initiative, but
criticized the station for not having any people of African or indigenous
descent on its advisory board. Chávez himself called in to the inauguration
shortly after and said to Glover, in English, "Danny, I am with you."
Meanwhile, Chávez has cultivated ties with civil rights leader Jesse
Jackson. During a visit to Caracas, the veteran African American activist
condemned Pat Robertson's call for Chávez's assassination. Coinciding with
Jackson's stay in the country, the Venezuelan National Assembly declared a
special session to commemorate Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech. National
Assembly member Nohelí Pocaterra, an indigenous woman of Wayuú descent,
addressed parliament in her native language and later in Spanish. Pocaterra
compared Chávez's struggle for equality in Venezuela with Dr. King's civil
rights work. Speaking later at the National Assembly, Jackson discussed the
role of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights struggle. Jackson
praised Venezuela for making slavery illegal prior to the United States.
"You in Venezuela ended the system of slavery in 1854," he remarked. At the
end of his speech Jackson was cheered with thunderous applause from
Venezuelan lawmakers.
The Future of Hemispheric Racial Politics
Chávez's international diplomacy and his warm ties with prominent African
Americans will surely enrage the Bush White House yet further. Just at the
time when Bush's popularity is flagging over the war in Iraq and botched
relief efforts at home, Chávez has emerged as the most charismatic South
American leader in recent times. For Bush, who tried and failed to dislodge
Chávez in 2002, it is hardly a promising picture. Meanwhile, Chávez has
inspired not only oppressed minorities within his own country but also
blacks living outside Venezuela. "Advanced by individuals such as President
Chávez," Fletcher remarks, "the recognition of the on-going reality of
racism, and the struggles against it by the African descendant and
Indigenous populations, could have a momentous impact on the politics and
future of Latin America, let alone the entire Western Hemisphere."
Nikolas Kozloff received his doctorate in Latin American history from Oxford
University in 2002. His book, South America In Revolt: Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela and The Politics of Hemispheric Unity, is forthcoming from St.
Martin's Press.
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