Editor's Note: Do you think you understand President Hugo Chavez Frias, the Venezuelan people and the Bolivarian Revolution? I had the opportunity to sit in my Boston living room while a friend watched President Chavez' June 2nd speech in Venezuela and translated portions of it for me over the telephone. The same speech is the subject of Antonio Maria's article below. In his recent speech to the Venezuelan people, President Chavez' profound view of the world, with Antonio Maira's incisive applications, reads like a can't-put-down novel. It addresses the victories, threats, achievements and hopes of all peoples now involved in the new world revolution. Each of these elements of the revolution are now present in the battle for supremacy between the wealthy elite and the people - not only in Venezuela but in every nation of the world.
It is almost inconceivable that anyone could possibly communicate this depth of understanding of the current political and civil processes, with their philosophical underpinnings to the masses anywhere on earth. But the response of his massive audience demonstrated that "they got it".
The diet of corporate-media "sound bites" from which the masses in the west have yet to be weaned, is a diet of sugar-coated candy when compared with this discourse by President Chavez with the Venezuelan people. This is a tribute not only to the legendary communicative power of Chavez but also to the Venezuelan people. It has only been 8 years since many Venezuelans learned to read and write under new literacy and education programs established by the Chavez admininistration. All this demonstrates how quickly an entire society can be transformed when its government is truly devoted to the people.
We are indebted to Antonio Maira for introducing key portions of this speech outside Venezuela in Spanish and to Iris Buehler and James Hollander, members of Tlaxcala* for translating the article into English. - Les Blough, Editor
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Hugo Chavez presents Gramsci to hundreds of thousands of people. A beautiful revolution.
By Antonio Maira. Translated into English by Iris Buehler and revised by James Hollander, Tlaxcala*
Who would conceive, say, Zapatero or Llamazares explaining the current political situation of Spain with the powerful concepts of the Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci? Who could picture the former sharing ideas with the people, proposing political and social analyses; talking with the people for whom they reign and claim to represent about history, about the future, and about the current process? On June 2nd, Chavez addressed a crowd ciphered by some sources to more than a million people, with almost all of them pertaining to the lowest and most humble social sectors of Venezuela. The Bolivarian President wanted to explain what occurred to a nation that is on the alert, to a certain degree surprised and alarmed by a number of violent guarimbas (1)
| "history is a school mistress, mirror, and source from which we need to drink" |
The Bolivarian President began his speech by referring to history as a "school mistress, mirror, and source from which we need to drink"in order to understand the present day and the current course of events. And after speaking of history, he spoke of philosophy:
"philosophy is nothing else but the expression of the historic moments, interpreted by thinkers and structured in philosophical bodies"; and of the more visible reality:
"that what exists today, that what we see today "these structures, these buildings, this valley, these shanty-towns, this avenue is a product of history. We are products of history".
Having his audience positioned in history, in the thought that reflects upon it and in the more concrete reality that is its result, Chavez spoke to the people about their path.
"That's the path we come from; we are barely initiating the two hundred years' cycle that has started to accelerate the process of revolutionary transformation".
On the retrieval of state control over the oil fields in the Orinoco Belt, the nationalization of the telecommunications company CANTV, the nationalization of electricity companies and the search for revolutionary unity:
"we have registered interest in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (2) of a number of four million 735 thousand Venezuelans of both sexes, that's fantastic, buddy! Boy oh boy!".
And then, talking about the long way to go in historical revolts against the oligarchy, Chavez reached the core of the problem, the origin of the latest destabilization attempt:
"it is all over with the concession that since 53 years the Venezuelan oligarchic elite wielded at whim and to their benefit over TV Channel 2 and the Venezuelan electromagnetic specter, and today we have Channel 2 liberated, it pertains no longer to the oligarchy, and it won't ever return into the hands of the oligarchy, now it pertains to the Venezuelan people, now it pertains to the Venezuelan society".
Chavez wanted to explain to the people the cause of so much violence. Furthermore, he wanted to place the bourgeoisie's ridiculous discourse about "freedom of expression" in the context of challenged power, of recovered popular dignity.
The thought of Antonio Gramsci: the historic crisis
To speak about the unfolding revolution, Chavez explicitly resorted to Gramsci:
"I want to resort to Gramsci's thought so that by using the ideas, by using the splendor of thought, we would better understand every day what is taking place here today in Venezuela. To interpret the threats that are always there with us, to be able to interpret our weaknesses and to fight them. To be able to visualize our weak flanks and to strengthen them, to be able to understand thus in their entirety the events of which we ourselves are part".
The Venezuelan President first explained the Gramscian concept historic crisis.
"Therefore I'm going to resort to the thought, to some of the ideas of this great Italian revolutionary thinker, Antonio Gramsci, to make an observation about the moment that we are living. A truly historic crisis occurs when something is dying ... but has not finished dying, and at the same time there is something that is being born but which also hasn't finished being born. In the time and space where this occurs, an authentic organic crisis unfolds, an historic crisis, a total crisis. Here, in Venezuela, let's not forget that for several years we have been right in the middle of a true organic crisis, a true Gramscian crisis, a historic crisis. That what is dying refuses to die and doesn't finish dying and that what is being born has not yet been completely born either. We are in the epicenter of the crisis, a good number of the years to come are part of this historic crisis as long as the IV Republic has not yet definitely died and the V Republic, the Socialist and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, has been completely born".
The historical bloc, hegemony, civil society "Please forgive me for being a bit academic"
And Chavez' explication of the different scenarios and moments of the crisis was excellent:
"We always will find ourselves situated in a crisis that has different shades, different colors, with different forms of expressing itself in phenomenological reality, reality that is visible on the surface so to speak".
Then, Chavez was seeking for the most profound complicity in wisdom and communication, asking his comrades for their permission:
"please forgive me for being a bit academic, but I know that the intellectual level of our people has taken an impressive leap in quality and that any moment and anywhere we all are capable to reflect about these thoughts, about those theories that illuminate reality to better understand it".
Minutes before, the people chanted "Hugo, our friend!". The chant implied their understanding of Gramsci, with sufficient detail for a first encounter and the theory of the dominant historical bloc that attains to exert social hegemony. Chavez spoke about the two levels of superstructure: political society and civil society, and about the manner in which the oligarchy and the Venezuelan people confront each other within these.
In Venezuela, illustrates Chavez, the political society formed by the institutions of the State underwent a process of transformation and liberation. Transformation of civil society does not occur in the same manner. Civil society is formed by institutions commonly called private "through these institutions, private organisms, the hegemonic ruling class is able to divulge, extend and place at all levels of life its ideology,the ideology of the ruling class". As Chavez had already observed, the enormous importance of the non-renewal of the free-to-air concession of RCTV consists within this reality.
"Chavez turned out to be shy"
The old bloc in power, the oligarchy of the Punto Fijo Pact (3) no longer attempts to gain any more control and to subordinate the state to civil society. They tried to approach Chavez but "Chavez turned out to be shy". This is one of the great contradictions that define the Venezuelan society: "Chavez shall never subordinate himself to this old civil society".
Chavez knows that the Venezuelan people listening to him can clearly observe the political conflict launched by that civil society against the state. They enumerate all the institutions upon which the old oligarchy that exploited the country for the benefit of a criminal elite supports itself. The first one is the Church.
"The catholic elite lashes out against us, here is the explication: it is a historical, scientific explication. On a world scale the catholic elite despite some exceptions that are, however, only exceptions, have always associated itself with and has formed part of the ruling blocs of worldwide capitalism".
Three Dominating Institutions of Civil Society
The Church, the communication media and the education system are the three great institutions of civil society that managed to dominate the national and international scenery in almost the whole of America for 100 years.
"It is the three great organic bodies that Gramsci points out as the fundamental institutions of civil society used by the latter to disseminate its ruling ideology to the social strata and popular levels of society".
The Church, communication media and the educative system disarm the people, putting it to the service of the oligarchy. Once more comes out the enormous importance of not renewing the free-to-air concession of RCTV, a coup-plotter chain filtering reactionary class-division and conformist ideology towards the popular sectors.
The levels of ideology
But what does Chavez say about ideology?
"Ideology is being classified by Gramsci in layers or levels; he mentions that the most sophisticated form of ideology is philosophy but not all of us can be philosophers. Hence, the ruling classes went on to design different abstracts of ideology and in this way they have their philosophers and their philosophy and their schools of philosophy and their philosophy textbooks through which they soak society with ruling class ideology ... Gramsci indicates there is a second level of ideology which consists of the ideas properly speaking beneath the level of philosophy".
At this moment, speaking of the differentiation between philosophical concepts and more concrete ideas, Chavez resorts to real life in order to illustrate this aspect to the people:
"Neo-liberalism, for example, has a philosophy but since this level is very sophisticated and is not easily comprehensible for other social strata. Hence the ruling class elaborates the thesis of neo-liberalism, of the market: the thesis of the free market, the thesis of freedom of expression understood as they understand it and manipulate it: the thesis of the integration into a model like the ALCA the proposal of the North-American Empire.
"It also consists of the ideas about bourgeois democracy, about division of powers. With these ideas they manipulate; checks and balances, alternation in government positions, representation as the basis of democracy. These are all big lies! But they form the ideological body of that hegemonic philosophy which here in Venezuela has been practiced for 100 years. They have also practiced it well in a large part of the western world for the last 100 years".
There is a third level, a third layer of ideology, which they call "common sense".
"Now, common sense is the product of soaking society with dominant philosophy and ideology through different forms, through soap operas, through movies, through songs, through commercials, cordons, colors - even colors are being used scientifically to attain the hegemony of the bourgeois ruling class".
And there is a fourth level which is the one Gramsci describes as folklore:
"it is possible that some of the people who are being asked in the street or at the market-place for their reason why they defend the interests of what has been Radio Caracas Television (RCTV). It is possible that they would not know to explain their reasons either philosophically nor ideologically. Some could do it, certainly, but there are other victims of manipulation who could not explain their reasons other than to express folkloric phrases, such as saying for example: 'out with Chavez'. This is folklore. This is how Gramsci understands folklore: 'out with Chavez', or 'down with Chavez'; or because they claim that I do not defend freedom of expression, and that this is a dictatorship".
The power of submission generated by ideology is very strong. Chavez gives an example of that which can be observed in Venezuela during the past days:
"It is the height of perversion for a young woman or man, the height of perversion for a young boy or girl to defend the interests of imperialism which has trampled on their homeland for such a long period of time. This is really the height of perversion for a young woman or man".
The chessboard of the struggle: the hard core of bourgeois civil society
How can we understand what is occurring? Chavez explains it this way:
"We have been moving ahead with the liberation of the state, because bourgeois civil society used to control at whim the Venezuelan state, the government, the legislative and judicial power, state companies, government banks, and the national budget, but they have been losing all of that, if not yet totally, so at least essentially.
"And now they are retreating into the hard cores of bourgeois civil society, utilizing at times in a desperate way what are their remaining refuges of those institutions pointed out by Gramsci, the Church, the media and the educative system. It is in this important reality that we can understand the chessboard of the struggle".
Chavez offers to the bourgeoisie to come together with the life of the Revolution ... an invitation immediately followed by a warning:
"We do not have any plans to eliminate the oligarchy. Now, if the Venezuelan oligarchy, if the Venezuelan bourgeoisie won't understand this, if they do not accept the appeal for peace, the appeal for the life together that we, the great revolutionary majority are making; if the Venezuelan bourgeoisie continues to attack desperately, utilizing the refuges it still has left, then the Venezuelan bourgeoisie will continue to lose these refuges one by one.
"One by one they will lose it. They controlled the military, and they lost it. They controlled... they controlled TV Channel 2, and lost it, and they won't ever retake it again".
And in this way it will continue, with the counter-revolution feeding ... nurturing the revolution:
"Each and every destabilization plan launched by the Venezuelan oligarchy, manipulated by the North-American Empire will be met with a new revolutionary offensive".
Working hard to mold the historical bloc
It is the people, the revolutionary people of Venezuela who are entitled to mold the new historical bloc. This is what Ch��vez vigorously emphasizes:
"it is us who are the responsible ones to continue working really hard, cementing bricks to construct in this way the new Venezuelan historic bloc, much larger, more solid than the towers of the Parque Central".
"Natives of the homeland, native peoples, colored peoples, white peoples, Venezuelan managers, workers of all sectors, of the public, of the private sectors, let's continue to study, to think and to make, to create Socialism starting out from our small spaces. Let's continue with our five constituent motors, let's continue through the seven tracks: the political, building up socialist democracy, the economical, building up socialist economy, the ethical, starting up new socialist morals; the social, creating supreme social happiness, the greatest amount of happiness possible, a new national geopolitics, the new geometry of power, the new international geopolitics; the multi-polar world".
"Hence, we continue with both hands, with one hand building up the new historical bloc, creating Socialism, creating the new political society that shall be the social state, the socialist state, the socialist republic, on all its levels, the central power, local powers, local governments, community governments. You from below, from the bases, continue pushing to construct the new state, the new political society and meanwhile the old, elitist, bourgeois, pro-fascist civil society, dressed in the black shirts of Mussolini, to accuse me of being like Mussolini, that are dressed in the black shirts of Hitler, to accuse me of being a Hitler, that are dressed in the black shirts and horns of the devil to call me the devil, that old bourgeois civil society we must continue to transform, listen carefully, to transform into the new socialist society, socialist society, socialist state, socialist republic, socialist structure, socialist superstructure. This is what the Venezuelan bourgeoisie fears as they follow instructions given by Washington, intending one more time, trying again to perform here in Venezuela one of these so called colored revolutions".
"But we can say that this strategy of the White House, the so called 'slow fuse' or 'colored revolutions' as they like to call it, have worked out relatively well in some place. But here in Venezuela we are going to pulverize it, the imperialist strategy of the 'slow fuse', or the so called revolution of colors. The symbols are the same, the black shirts, the national flag put upside down, and don't you see conclusively that show for which they are using some boys who, when the press - above all the international press - turns up, they start to run, bending their knees in front of a policeman who is doing absolutely nothing to them. They kneel down putting their hands up, it's a show, it is a show that is being prepared so that this specific photo would go around the world, and it was this way that they were able to cause several crisis in some nations whose governments would not subordinate themselves to Washington. Here they are trying to do it; here they are trying to make it by utilizing some communication media, playing with the feelings of some Venezuelans, with cheap mawkishness, with which they said goodbye to the old TV channel which I don't even want to name anymore, I don't even recall the name of that channel anymore, I don't even recall it, what I do know is that today Channel 2 is TVes, the new Venezuelan social TV channel, this is what I know for sure".
"Nobody should despair, nobody should alter the rhythm of their days, of their responsibilities, of their tasks, by no means should the advance of the revolutionary plans be curbed at any of the fronts of our struggle, at the economic, at the social, at the political, at the territorial, at the international, at the moral front".
In the face of all these threats, Chavez recommends to continue the revolutionary labor:
"Nobody should despair, nobody should alter the rhythm of their days, of their responsibilities, of their tasks, by no means should the advance of the revolutionary plans be curbed at any of the fronts of our struggle, at the economic, at the social, at the political, at the territorial, at the international, at the moral front".
The struggle extends beyond Venezuela's national borders
One of the most interesting perceptions of Hugo Chavez, above all for the friends of the Bolivarian Revolution around the world, is the one that refers to the inevitable contagion of the revolutionary process beyond Venezuela's national borders.
The attack on Venezuela launched by the part of the oligarchies of other nations of the world, like France, Spain, Brazil or Peru, converts into an unpleasant situation for those bourgeoisies: they just happened to stumble over the stone they themselves placed in their own territory.
In Brazil, after the Senate had approved an adverse declaration concerning the non-renewal of RCTV's free-to-air concession "which is an evidently sovereign decision of Venezuela" a TV station initiated a debate on the nature of "freedom of information" in Brazil. In Mexico, Lopez Obrador denounced the profoundly oligarchic character of the entire communication system in his country. In Spain, a debate about Venezuela slipped out of the hands of Antena 3 which ended up accused, together with other akin communication media, of having encouraged and supported the fascist coup d'etat of April 2002.
"For sure, talking about international politics, we all know how the great communication media of the western world, in the hands of the elites, put us up against the wall, in front of a firing squad, but this firing squad does not affect us, those insane and manipulated critics - what they actually are producing is also a worldwide reaction.
"I was watching French television, I use to watch a lot of TV because I am conscious that this small screen is the scenery of a World War, a true media World War. In France, leaders of the French left, intellectuals of France, our friend Ignacio Ramonet "one of our friends" stood up to defend Venezuela and to furthermore place the stumbling stone in their own territory.
"Placing the stumbling stone in their own territory. So the oligarchy of the world maybe doesn't realize, or it'll realize too late that the attack against Venezuela shall convert itself into an attack unfolding over there, a counter-attack unfolding in their own territory".
Defending Chavez, defending the Bolivarian Revolution means to go into action against all the oligarchies of the world that control the same or similar systems of power and production of ideology for the sake of domination and exploitation.
"Defending Chavez, defending the Bolivarian Revolution means to go into action against all the oligarchies of the world"
Also here, in Spain, we need to recover the "political society" for the people, initiating, as did Chavez, a constituent process that would rise upon the ruins of a corrupt "democracy" and of some political agreements between oligarchic elites similar to those of the Punto Fijo Pact in Venezuela.
Simultaneously we need to conquer the popular character of civil society and battle the same enemies against which the Venezuelans are going into action: the Church, the communication media and the educative system.
There is no other way out. From there, from Venezuela, we are being given the example. Thank you, Chavez.
Author's Note: This article compiles and structures different fragments of a speech given by Chavez on June 2nd, on the occasion of the anti-imperialist manifestation in defense of the non-renovation of the free-to-air concession of the coup-plotting TV station RCTV. The author has selected and connected texts without major mutilations from this excellent speech given by the President of Venezuela.
1. T.n.: See Eva Golinger's article Old School U.S. Intervention Model Used in Venezuela:
"The 'Guarimba', a plan allegedly formed by opposition guru Robert Alonso, intended for right-wing forces to engage in widespread civil disobedience and violence in the streets of Caracas and other metropolitan areas, provoking repressive reactions from State forces that would then justify cries of human rights violations and lack of constitutional order".
2. T.n.: Spanish: Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV). For further information on the new political party that is planned to be formed by the end of 2007, and whose purpose is to unite all pro-Chavez forces, please see United Socialist Party of Venezuela Holds Membership Drive.
3. T.n.: See Venezuela's Electoral System Past & Present:
"After the fall of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez in 1958, the country's major political parties entered into an agreement known as the Punto Fijo Pact. Under the terms of the pact, Democratic Action (AD), and the Social Christian Party (COPEI) agreed to share cabinet positions and the control of state institutions regardless of who won the elections. The result was that all other political parties were effectively shut out from Venezuela's political life. This period, which lasted until President Chavez was elected in 1998, 'created hierarchical national organizations and relied on oil revenues to satisfy the needs of their [the parties] major constituencies. [...] In other words, the major political parties and their supporters received economic benefits while other parties --largely representing the interests of the poor-- were systematically left out. The system was famously corrupt, as the two parties conspired to set rules that consolidated their hold on power'."
Original source in Spanish: Hugo Chavez presenta a Gramsci ante cientos de miles de personas. Una hermosa revolucion
Tlaxcala- Iris Buehler and James Hollander are members of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity.This translation is on Copyleft for any non-commercial use: verbatim copy of the translation in its entirety may be freely reproduced, respecting its integrity and citing the source, the author and the translator.