InternetActivist.Org
15 December 2007
Ron Paul and worker's rights
Ron Paul and the Employer/Employee Relationship... including the words of the candidate by Richard Myers
[From the Front Range Coalition Email list, 14 December 2007]
Ron Paul defends the rights of the employer on principle. He calls it liberty; i call it privilege.
The boss has power over the employee, and may exert that power in illicit ways. Ron Paul considers the employment contract voluntary on both sides, and he therefore doesn't recognize the reality of that power relationship. While he won't defend a manager who actually uses force to coerce sex from a subordinate, his recommended solution to sexual harrassment by the boss is for the employee to quit her job.
This leads me to believe that Ron Paul hasn't a clue what it must mean to be a single mother, dependent upon a paycheck to feed her children. Anyone who would offer a sexually exploited employee some civil rights tools to defend herself is derided as a social do-gooder.
Ron Paul wants a woman in such a situation to stand on her own. She's signed that voluntary employment contract, she's free and capable of making other voluntary associations, so she must solve the problem herself, according to Ron Paul's libertarian philosophy.
In making such judgments, Ron Paul ignores centuries of history. We know that slavemasters took advantage of female slaves, and even prominent "founders" of the nation whom we might otherwise respect - Thomas Jefferson comes to mind - have mixed race offspring as a result. For centuries, male bosses of various stripes (whether capitalist, or slave-master) have taken advantage of women in their employ. The threat of dismissal or other punishment, coupled with the uncertainty of finding another job, has forced countless women into subservience and exploitation.
A Case History
Three decades ago I worked in a Denver factory in which women outnumbered men by five to one. There wasn't much manufacturing in the area, and we had jobs that paid comparatively well. Many of us saw the value in making this our career, and i stayed for 33 years. Some employees weren't allowed that opportunity.
Supervisors developed reputations for having numerous relationships with the women who worked for them. One supervisor routinely joked about rubbing up against women in his crew. Another was fired after multiple accusations of rape, and others were transferred for similar behavior. But it seemed that most such activity was either tolerated or ignored by upper management.
A pretty young woman walked by, and my boss blurted out in a very loud voice, "let's take her into the bathroom and rape her!" He emphasized the word "rape", and his words coincided with some animated body movement. The young woman managed an embarrassed smile and didn't say anything. Such harrassment of female employees was fairly routine in the factory, and to the extent that such behavior has been diminished, i expect that is primarily due to threat of a lawsuit.
However, Ron Paul considers such a solution unacceptable. Better for the employee to quit - just walk away, and let the managers continue their abusive games.
In fact this young woman did quit her job, and i surmise it was the taunt by my boss that caused her to leave. Was this a fair outcome? Ron Paul apparently believes so. In Freedom Under Siege, Paul has written:
"Today the lack of understanding and respect for voluntary contracts has totally confused the issue that in a free society an individual can own and control property and run his or her business as he or she chooses. The idea that the social do-gooder can legislate a system which forces industry to pay men and women by comparable worth standards boggles the mind and further destroys our competitiveness in a world economy.
Employee rights are said to be valid when employers pressure employees into sexual activity. Why don't they quit once the so-called harassment starts? Obviously the morals of the harasser cannot be defended, but how can the harassee escape some responsibility for the problem?
Seeking protection under civil rights legislation is hardly acceptable. If force was clearly used, that is another story, but pressure and submission is hardly an example of a violation of one's employment rights."
Seeking protection under civil rights legislation is hardly acceptable. If force was clearly used, that is another story, but pressure and submission is hardly an example of a violation of one's employment rights."
http://www.mises.org/books/freedomsiege.pdf, page 24
In my opinion, the young woman who quit her factory job because of a blatant sexual taunt was guilty of only one thing - being vulnerable. Yet Ron Paul wonders, "how can the harassee escape some responsibility for the problem? ...pressure and submission is hardly ... a violation of one's employment rights."
It appears that in President Paul's country, employers have the right to harrass. And, Paul himself has no concept of the difficulty of finding jobs, nor of the possible hardship when a job is lost.
Unemployment in our society is maintained at a certain level as a means of keeping down wages. The unemployment rate is based upon NAIRU, the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment. If a person becomes the one out of twenty or twenty-five workers who are out of a job by design, then the penalty of losing a job may be severe.
Ron Paul's Rationale for Corporate Dominance
Ron Paul's website states that:
"Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence..."
What exactly does it mean, that "liberty means free-market capitalism"? Paul believes that "in a free society an individual can own and control property and run his or her business as he or she chooses." [page 24]. Paul's philosophy would set corporations free to do essentially whatever they wish.
Well, then, what rights will workers have? The freedom to seek a different employer.
But for working folk, "freedom" should mean more than the right to change bosses.
Under President Ron Paul, "do-gooding" is verboten. No one will have any right to balance the power relationship between employer and employee, by legislative or other means. Would that give us sweatshops, child labor, poorhouses, company towns? Would Ron Paul excuse and defend company unions, trusts, monopolies, cartels, blacklists, private goons, slumlords? These questions should be asked of the candidate.
Ron Paul Specifics
Under Ron Paul, an employer would be free to fire an employee "for any reason he chooses".
Paul doesn't believe that working people should have any right to "equal pay for equal work".
Under President Paul, if you're not physically attractive, you may not have a right to a job.
Ron Paul wrote in his book:
"The concept of equal pay for equal work is not only an impossible task, it can only be accomplished with the total rejection of the idea of the voluntary contract. By what right does the government assume the power to tell an airline it must hire unattractive women if it does not want to? The idea that a businessman must hire anyone and is prevented from firing anyone for any reason he chooses and in the name of rights is a clear indication that the basic concept of a free society has been lost."
http://www.mises.org/books/freedomsiege.pdf, page 24
Note the phraseology here. Paul doesn't qualify his statement to pertain to an employment position (such as stewardess?) that is socially anticipated to have a certain image to uphold. Paul's stated principle appears to allow an airline to make attractiveness (or anything else they may choose) a hiring issue across the board.
What's to prevent them from hiring only employees with blue eyes and blond hair? Might Aryan Airlines become a viable carrier under President Paul?
Granted, Paul is no national socialist. He probably would not support the incorporation of such ideologies into government. That's because all government is inherently evil, and only the market delivers righteousness and justice.
But with recent corporate license in the nature of Enron, Haliburton, Blackwater, and those responsible for the mortgage lending crisis, shouldn't this sort of "corporate freedom" also give us pause?
Some more Ron Paul specifics:
a. When it comes to illness (AIDS in particular), Paul is quick to assert the "rights of the insurance company owners" [page 30]. Well of course; he is the CEO's friend, too.
b. He would allow sweatshop labor - presumably, work such as sewing garments for long hours at low pay - in the home [page 28]. How many children would be forced to work in such an unregulated environment? Didn't we have congressional hearings nearly a century ago and conclude that such unregulated working conditions were an abomination?
c. Ron Paul has voted to zero-fund an OSHA intiative relating to ergonomics.
d. He is against the minimum wage, and has voted not to increase it. http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Ron_Paul_Jobs.htm
e. He crosses picket lines: http://www.laborradio.org/node/7423
What about Ron Paul's views on union rights? Ron Paul believes there should be:
"...no privileges, no special benefits legislated to benefit the unions, but you should never deny any working group to organize and negotiate for the best set of standards of working conditions."
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Ron_Paul_Jobs.htm
Unions with no special privileges or benefits, with members who can be fired "for any reason". Consider what sort of emasculated organization that might be.
Ron Paul appears to believe that unlimited corporate power is just fine, so long as it is market-derived. Unions under Ron Paul would be less relevant than they already are. Workers will become low-paid wage-slaves with no rights on the job, with the exit door always held open for them.
The individual liberty of the Ron Paul variety is the freedom to nakedly exploit, without regulation or constraint. Seems clear enough that Ron Paul is no friend to working people who may wish to unite for their own protection.
best wishes,
Richard Myers
03 December 2007
So much for the "Chavez as Dictator" libel
As has always been the case, President Chavez has accepted the will of the people and conceded that his referendum has failed this time. While this will slow the Bolivarian Process, Chavez is still President for another five years and hopefully the people can be won over the next time around. To reproduce a good article from Huffington Post:
[Bold emphasis added here & there are a number of embedded links that are not reproduced here, go to the original for these]
"Dictator humbly accepts electoral defeat"
By Stan Goff, 3 December 2007
"With the vast majority of the media owned and operated by Venezuela's racist comprador bourgeoisie, a media that has never suffered a day of government control even approaching what is exercised against media in the United States, the Constitutional Referendum that had bundled 69 reforms failed by a hair. Feral Scholar's friend Rootless Cosmopolitan may have put his finger on one of the aspects of the referendum that made that margin. The entire package was bundled into a singular up-or-down vote.
"Rootless criticized this as undemocratic, and that is a fair reaction to this electoral tactic.
My own sense is that its deeper tactical failure was that one cannot compete against the capitalist media in the realm of ideas when one is trying to explain a list of 69 constitutional reform items -- written in legalese -- against the ability and willingness of that corporate media to simplify, spin, and often just lie... with incessant and coordinated repetition through the vast echo chamber of capitalist control over the entertainment media. This is a lesson we all need to internalize. The media's power in this regard cannot be overestimated; and it is a real thing that cannot be wished away in our own tactical considerations. Given the house of cards that international finance is, and the drip-drip hemorrhage of the myth of American military invincibility, this capacity to shape culture and ideas has become even more critical to the exercise of power.
"Before the vote began, Venezuela's government had agreed to randomly open 30% of the ballot boxes to monitors in order to assure a fair election. Upon receipt of the result, President Hugo Chavez -- the putative dictator in waiting for Venezuela -- announced simply, 'I congratulate my adversaries for this victory. For now, we could not do it.'
"The Venezuelan and American press -- both enormously and dishonestly hostile to Venezuela's Bolivarian transformation -- had spun the article dropping term limits as a bid to become 'President for Life,' though there was no provision to ever stop presidential elections that put that decision into the hands of Venezuelan voters. We shall now see if a single mea culpa is expressed by any of the media in the wake of the Chavez government's quick and gracious acceptance of the referendum result. I doubt it.
"In 2006, the vote to re-elect Chavez was more than 7 million to just over 4.5 million iirc. So this is not a wholesale rejection of the Bolivarian process, though I believe a win would have accelerated the process. Chavez is an old paratrooper -- like me, so I do overidentify with him sometimes -- and he takes risks. Hopefully, he will dust himself off and begin immediately pushing through the individual reforms that will strengthen Bolivarian democracy where it most requires further development. His government has many successes to build upon.
"In particular, the further development of the communal councils as independent and effective bodies of relocalized governance must have more time to mature... with more experience, these councils will deepen the cultural revolution that has lagged behind the policy changes of the Bolivarian government. I hope the workerist left in the Bolivarian government is outweighed in its influence on the emphases of future developments, because they are investing their hopes in the political party (PSUV) that was the vehicle to promote these reforms. I hope they are outweighed by those who argue that the PSUV must become the responsive and subordinate expression of popular political vitality, and not a kind of "democratic centralist" command general staff. Democracy can only become as direct as it is local; and this idea is anathema to many of the Old Left.
"I hope Chavez continues to develop the idea of arming, training, and supporting local militias as both an adjunct and counterbalance to the national armed forces. This will protect direct democracy, as well as make future schemes of invasion generated in the north more untenable.
"I hope Venezuela will place special emphasis on food security, sustainable agriculture, and permaculture design principles as a critical defense of the Bolivarian struggle against neoliberalism. These initiatives are already in place, but they can be expanded, and they are the practical basis of a combined social and cultural revolution. The additional constitutional definitions of property were paving the way for this; and re-asserting this reform as soon as possible, along with the reduced workweek, increased minimum wage, and expanded social security benefits, will materially strengthen the people against the oligarchy and begin the process of breaking dependence altogether with initiatives the reduce the essential dependence of more and more people from the monetized economy altogether.
"But Venezuela has made great strides, so with my distant hopes, I'll trust in the collective experience of the Bolivarians and re-commit to the struggle we have to wage inside the belly of the beast. That is where we can do the most to assist the rest of the world in breaking with neoliberalism.
"The one paradoxical victory here is that Chavez and his government have made the dictator narrative from a panicking corporate press a pretty tough sell. That is a breach we can go though to make an inch or two more progress in our general unmasking of what passes for journalism in the United States. This will also stand down contingency planning from Embajada Americana to foment a coup d'etat.... hopefully. (Old joke in Latin America: Why has there never been a coup in Washington DC? Answer: There is no US Embassy there.)
"Here is today's headline:
'Dictator humbly accepts electoral defeat'
"Don't hold your breath."
[Bold emphasis added here & there are a number of embedded links that are not reproduced here, go to the original for these]
"Dictator humbly accepts electoral defeat"
By Stan Goff, 3 December 2007
"With the vast majority of the media owned and operated by Venezuela's racist comprador bourgeoisie, a media that has never suffered a day of government control even approaching what is exercised against media in the United States, the Constitutional Referendum that had bundled 69 reforms failed by a hair. Feral Scholar's friend Rootless Cosmopolitan may have put his finger on one of the aspects of the referendum that made that margin. The entire package was bundled into a singular up-or-down vote.
"Rootless criticized this as undemocratic, and that is a fair reaction to this electoral tactic.
My own sense is that its deeper tactical failure was that one cannot compete against the capitalist media in the realm of ideas when one is trying to explain a list of 69 constitutional reform items -- written in legalese -- against the ability and willingness of that corporate media to simplify, spin, and often just lie... with incessant and coordinated repetition through the vast echo chamber of capitalist control over the entertainment media. This is a lesson we all need to internalize. The media's power in this regard cannot be overestimated; and it is a real thing that cannot be wished away in our own tactical considerations. Given the house of cards that international finance is, and the drip-drip hemorrhage of the myth of American military invincibility, this capacity to shape culture and ideas has become even more critical to the exercise of power.
"Before the vote began, Venezuela's government had agreed to randomly open 30% of the ballot boxes to monitors in order to assure a fair election. Upon receipt of the result, President Hugo Chavez -- the putative dictator in waiting for Venezuela -- announced simply, 'I congratulate my adversaries for this victory. For now, we could not do it.'
"The Venezuelan and American press -- both enormously and dishonestly hostile to Venezuela's Bolivarian transformation -- had spun the article dropping term limits as a bid to become 'President for Life,' though there was no provision to ever stop presidential elections that put that decision into the hands of Venezuelan voters. We shall now see if a single mea culpa is expressed by any of the media in the wake of the Chavez government's quick and gracious acceptance of the referendum result. I doubt it.
"In 2006, the vote to re-elect Chavez was more than 7 million to just over 4.5 million iirc. So this is not a wholesale rejection of the Bolivarian process, though I believe a win would have accelerated the process. Chavez is an old paratrooper -- like me, so I do overidentify with him sometimes -- and he takes risks. Hopefully, he will dust himself off and begin immediately pushing through the individual reforms that will strengthen Bolivarian democracy where it most requires further development. His government has many successes to build upon.
"In particular, the further development of the communal councils as independent and effective bodies of relocalized governance must have more time to mature... with more experience, these councils will deepen the cultural revolution that has lagged behind the policy changes of the Bolivarian government. I hope the workerist left in the Bolivarian government is outweighed in its influence on the emphases of future developments, because they are investing their hopes in the political party (PSUV) that was the vehicle to promote these reforms. I hope they are outweighed by those who argue that the PSUV must become the responsive and subordinate expression of popular political vitality, and not a kind of "democratic centralist" command general staff. Democracy can only become as direct as it is local; and this idea is anathema to many of the Old Left.
"I hope Chavez continues to develop the idea of arming, training, and supporting local militias as both an adjunct and counterbalance to the national armed forces. This will protect direct democracy, as well as make future schemes of invasion generated in the north more untenable.
"I hope Venezuela will place special emphasis on food security, sustainable agriculture, and permaculture design principles as a critical defense of the Bolivarian struggle against neoliberalism. These initiatives are already in place, but they can be expanded, and they are the practical basis of a combined social and cultural revolution. The additional constitutional definitions of property were paving the way for this; and re-asserting this reform as soon as possible, along with the reduced workweek, increased minimum wage, and expanded social security benefits, will materially strengthen the people against the oligarchy and begin the process of breaking dependence altogether with initiatives the reduce the essential dependence of more and more people from the monetized economy altogether.
"But Venezuela has made great strides, so with my distant hopes, I'll trust in the collective experience of the Bolivarians and re-commit to the struggle we have to wage inside the belly of the beast. That is where we can do the most to assist the rest of the world in breaking with neoliberalism.
"The one paradoxical victory here is that Chavez and his government have made the dictator narrative from a panicking corporate press a pretty tough sell. That is a breach we can go though to make an inch or two more progress in our general unmasking of what passes for journalism in the United States. This will also stand down contingency planning from Embajada Americana to foment a coup d'etat.... hopefully. (Old joke in Latin America: Why has there never been a coup in Washington DC? Answer: There is no US Embassy there.)
"Here is today's headline:
'Dictator humbly accepts electoral defeat'
"Don't hold your breath."
02 December 2007
¡Sí a la reforma constitucional! - Venezuela Updates and ACTION ALERT
Updated information in solidarity with the Constitutional Reform Referendum in Venezuela...
The International Hands Off venezuela Campaign has launched a special blog to follow developments in English:
http://hovreferendum.wordpress.com/
-----------------------------
Marea roja cubrió de punta a punta las calles de Caracas en apoyo a Chávez [Lots of photos and video of pro-Reform pro-Chávez rallies in Venezuela] - http://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n105638.html
------------------------------
Radio Mission Statement - http://radiovenezuelaenvivo.blogspot.com/
Venezuela En Vivo is a live web-streaming internet radio based in Caracas, Venezuela, and broadcast in English, French and Portuguese (In English En Français Em Portugues) by a group of Venezuelan and international journalists, academics and activists living and working in Venezuela. The radio will report on the latest breaking news in and around the day of Venezuela..s December 2nd Constitutional Reform Referendum; cover the destabilization attempts against the democratic electoral process; put the events in to context with interviews and analytical content; and act as an alternative source of news to the mainstream media, which has proven time and again unable to report independently and unbiased on Venezuela.
The radio will begin periodic broadcast on Thursday, November 29th and will continue in to the following week. Special 24 hour coverage will
take place on December 2nd. See upcoming program schedule for more details.
-----------------------------------------
Key Online English Articles about the Reform Process can be found at: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/constreform
-----------------------------------------
The US media has launched a major campaign against democracy in Venezuela: "The U.S. Media and Government Launch an All-Out Campaign Against the Venezuelan Revolution"
------------------------------------
The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC has issued a Communiqué regarding the lies being propagated by the US government:
United States Administration Lies about Venezuelan Electoral Process
The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, DC, clarifies to the public opinion the reality of the process of the international observers of the constitutional referendum process in Venezuela as a consequence of the statements released by the United States Department of State on November 30, 2007, through its spokesperson, Sean McCormack, which are aimed at generating doubts regarding our electoral branch and asserting that there are no guarantees that the result of the elections expresses the will of the majority of the people in Venezuela.
The Department of State reveals its total lack of knowledge by assuring that there will be no international observers in the voting process to be held on December 2, 2007, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and in which the people of Venezuela will exercise their right to decide whether they approve or reject a reform of 69 articles of our constitution.
The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, DC, would like to remind the Department of State, as well as the public opinion in the United States, that 39 countries in the world will send their electoral international observers to see our democratic process of people's participation, including the United States, as well as more than 100 observers and specialists in electoral systems who belong to electoral bodies in Europe and the Americas.
Likewise, Venezuelan organizations such as Asamblea de Educación, Ojo Electoral and Universitarios por la Equidad, will be part of the observing process and will be able to accredit approximately 500 observers for each organization. Unlike elections in the United States, we have had a broad auditing system in Venezuela and the immediate verification after voting by a paper trail has guaranteed the trustworthiness of the results every voting process we have undertaken.
The opportunity is propitious to alert the international community about actions that some undemocratic sectors could undertake by failing to concede the final results of the referendum process, abetting on opinion tendencies whose only interest is to destabilize the correct performance and democratic character of the elections in our country, such as the ones asserted today by the Department of State.
It is our duty to appeal to the sense of responsibility of the spokespeople of the administration of the United States regarding the attempts of not legitimizing and conceding our democratic and sovereign processes.
- Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the United States of America 01/12/07
--------------------------------
***ACTION ALERT: PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY***
AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION FROM THE VENEZUELA SOLIDARITY NETWORK
(www.vensolidarity.net Email us at vsn@afgj.org. Call us at 202-544-9355 or 520-243-0381)
SHOUT OUT FOR VENEZUELA: NOVEMBER 30TH THROUGH DECEMBER 7TH
TELL CONGRESS: NO US SPONSORED COUP ATTEMPT IN VENEZUELA
(Congressional contact info provided below)
Venezuela is under direct threat!!! New evidence has been uncovered about plans to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela, and even to assassinate its president, Hugo Chávez. The time for American citizens who favor justice and non-intervention to spring into
action is not the day after a coup, but the days before!
The Venezuela Solidarity Network is calling on Solidarity and pro-Democracy activists to participate in the NOV. 30 THROUGH DEC. 7TH SHOUT OUT FOR VENEZUELA!
DEMAND THAT CONGRESS:
1) Intervene to stop US violations of Venezuelan sovereignty by the State Department and the CIA;
2) Respect the electoral decisions of the Venezuelan people;
3) Investigate recent evidence of a US sponsored and directed plot to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela;
We are urging solidarity and pro-Democracy activists everywhere to call, email, and/or visit your members of the House and Senate and the US State Department and demand that there be NO US SPONSORED AND FUNDED, CIA DIRECTED, COUP ATTEMPT AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA. We are urging non-US citizens to also contact US Embassies and Consulates. Please email AND call Congress. While emails alone are less effective, emails combined with phone calls and/or visits to Congressional and other government offices are a powerful strategy to get the word out.
SAMPLE EMAIL TO CONGRESS (CUT, PASTE, AND SEND!):
The Honorable (full name)
United States House of Representatives/United States Senate
Washington DC 20515
Dear Representative/Senator (last name)
I am writing you to express my urgent concern about plots already underway to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela - plots which are being coordinated with sectors of the US government. Most distressing is the recent uncovering of a memo from CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steer to the CIA Director General Michael Hayden outlining details of "Operation Pliers", an effort to interfere in the Dec. 2nd vote on constitutional reforms in Venezuela, and to encourage a coup against the Venezuelan government. The memo indicates that as much as $8 million dollars, funneled through USAID, have been given by the US government to finance the opposition's campaign against the reforms. The memo details strategies for interfering with and discrediting the vote, and calls for steps to be taken that would lead to an overthrow of the Venezuelan government, including support provided from US military bases in Curacao and Colombia.
This is just one piece of evidence recently uncovered indicating preparation for a US sponsored coup. Others include CNN briefly showing a picture of President Chavez with a caption that read, "Who killed him?" Supposedly it was a technical error. There have also been reports that at a recent rally a laser pointer appeared on Chávez' chest and head, and recently a cache of weapons and US military uniforms were found at a private residence in Caracas.
There is one fact that every Congress person and every citizen in the United States of America needs to know: democracy is alive and well in Venezuela. Whether we like it or not, the current government of Venezuela is an elected and popular government. Its elections have been certified by a number of international bodies, including the Carter Center, the Organization of American States, the European Union, and the NAACP. Any attempt by the US to support an overthrow of the Venezuelan government would be interpreted by the world as an assault against democracy and an abandonment of democratic principles.
I am writing to demand that you, as a representative of the people, take action NOW to contact the CIA, the State Department, USAID, and the Bush administration and let them know that another US sponsored coup attempt in Venezuela is unacceptable. Furthermore, I am writing to demand that
a Congressional investigation be undertaken regarding this memo and other violations of Venezuela's sovereignty.
Here are some informative links that will help you better understand the current situation in Venezuela.
Regarding the current US sponsored threats to Venezuelan democracy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-goff/the-cia-plan-to-destabili_b_74557.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c..va&aid=7475
For accurate information about the Constitutional Reforms:
Democracy Still Alive and Well in Venezuela,
http://www.cepr.net/content/view/1366/45/
What is Venezuela's Constitutional Reform Really About,
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2890
Venezuela's Constitutional Reform: An Article by Article Summary
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2890
Sincerely,
(Your name and address)
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR SENATOR, REPRESENTATIVE, AND THE WHITE HOUSE
CALL THE CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD TOLL FREE AT:
1-800-828-0498
1-877-210-5351
1-800-614-2803
1-866-340-9281
TO EMAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, FOLLOW THIS LINK:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
TO EMAIL YOUR SENATOR, FOLLOW THIS LINK:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
FOR DETAILED CONTACT INFO FOR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS, INCLUDING INFO ON LOCAL OFFICES:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
TO CONTACT THE STATE DEPARTMENT:
202-647-4000
TO CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE:
202-456-1111
202-456-6213
Or email President Bush at
president@whitehouse.gov
The International Hands Off venezuela Campaign has launched a special blog to follow developments in English:
http://hovreferendum.wordpress.com/
-----------------------------
Marea roja cubrió de punta a punta las calles de Caracas en apoyo a Chávez [Lots of photos and video of pro-Reform pro-Chávez rallies in Venezuela] - http://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n105638.html
------------------------------
Radio Mission Statement - http://radiovenezuelaenvivo.blogspot.com/
Venezuela En Vivo is a live web-streaming internet radio based in Caracas, Venezuela, and broadcast in English, French and Portuguese (In English En Français Em Portugues) by a group of Venezuelan and international journalists, academics and activists living and working in Venezuela. The radio will report on the latest breaking news in and around the day of Venezuela..s December 2nd Constitutional Reform Referendum; cover the destabilization attempts against the democratic electoral process; put the events in to context with interviews and analytical content; and act as an alternative source of news to the mainstream media, which has proven time and again unable to report independently and unbiased on Venezuela.
The radio will begin periodic broadcast on Thursday, November 29th and will continue in to the following week. Special 24 hour coverage will
take place on December 2nd. See upcoming program schedule for more details.
-----------------------------------------
Key Online English Articles about the Reform Process can be found at: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/constreform
-----------------------------------------
The US media has launched a major campaign against democracy in Venezuela: "The U.S. Media and Government Launch an All-Out Campaign Against the Venezuelan Revolution"
------------------------------------
The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC has issued a Communiqué regarding the lies being propagated by the US government:
United States Administration Lies about Venezuelan Electoral Process
The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, DC, clarifies to the public opinion the reality of the process of the international observers of the constitutional referendum process in Venezuela as a consequence of the statements released by the United States Department of State on November 30, 2007, through its spokesperson, Sean McCormack, which are aimed at generating doubts regarding our electoral branch and asserting that there are no guarantees that the result of the elections expresses the will of the majority of the people in Venezuela.
The Department of State reveals its total lack of knowledge by assuring that there will be no international observers in the voting process to be held on December 2, 2007, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and in which the people of Venezuela will exercise their right to decide whether they approve or reject a reform of 69 articles of our constitution.
The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, DC, would like to remind the Department of State, as well as the public opinion in the United States, that 39 countries in the world will send their electoral international observers to see our democratic process of people's participation, including the United States, as well as more than 100 observers and specialists in electoral systems who belong to electoral bodies in Europe and the Americas.
Likewise, Venezuelan organizations such as Asamblea de Educación, Ojo Electoral and Universitarios por la Equidad, will be part of the observing process and will be able to accredit approximately 500 observers for each organization. Unlike elections in the United States, we have had a broad auditing system in Venezuela and the immediate verification after voting by a paper trail has guaranteed the trustworthiness of the results every voting process we have undertaken.
The opportunity is propitious to alert the international community about actions that some undemocratic sectors could undertake by failing to concede the final results of the referendum process, abetting on opinion tendencies whose only interest is to destabilize the correct performance and democratic character of the elections in our country, such as the ones asserted today by the Department of State.
It is our duty to appeal to the sense of responsibility of the spokespeople of the administration of the United States regarding the attempts of not legitimizing and conceding our democratic and sovereign processes.
- Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the United States of America 01/12/07
--------------------------------
***ACTION ALERT: PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY***
AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION FROM THE VENEZUELA SOLIDARITY NETWORK
(www.vensolidarity.net Email us at vsn@afgj.org. Call us at 202-544-9355 or 520-243-0381)
SHOUT OUT FOR VENEZUELA: NOVEMBER 30TH THROUGH DECEMBER 7TH
TELL CONGRESS: NO US SPONSORED COUP ATTEMPT IN VENEZUELA
(Congressional contact info provided below)
Venezuela is under direct threat!!! New evidence has been uncovered about plans to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela, and even to assassinate its president, Hugo Chávez. The time for American citizens who favor justice and non-intervention to spring into
action is not the day after a coup, but the days before!
The Venezuela Solidarity Network is calling on Solidarity and pro-Democracy activists to participate in the NOV. 30 THROUGH DEC. 7TH SHOUT OUT FOR VENEZUELA!
DEMAND THAT CONGRESS:
1) Intervene to stop US violations of Venezuelan sovereignty by the State Department and the CIA;
2) Respect the electoral decisions of the Venezuelan people;
3) Investigate recent evidence of a US sponsored and directed plot to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela;
We are urging solidarity and pro-Democracy activists everywhere to call, email, and/or visit your members of the House and Senate and the US State Department and demand that there be NO US SPONSORED AND FUNDED, CIA DIRECTED, COUP ATTEMPT AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA. We are urging non-US citizens to also contact US Embassies and Consulates. Please email AND call Congress. While emails alone are less effective, emails combined with phone calls and/or visits to Congressional and other government offices are a powerful strategy to get the word out.
SAMPLE EMAIL TO CONGRESS (CUT, PASTE, AND SEND!):
The Honorable (full name)
United States House of Representatives/United States Senate
Washington DC 20515
Dear Representative/Senator (last name)
I am writing you to express my urgent concern about plots already underway to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela - plots which are being coordinated with sectors of the US government. Most distressing is the recent uncovering of a memo from CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steer to the CIA Director General Michael Hayden outlining details of "Operation Pliers", an effort to interfere in the Dec. 2nd vote on constitutional reforms in Venezuela, and to encourage a coup against the Venezuelan government. The memo indicates that as much as $8 million dollars, funneled through USAID, have been given by the US government to finance the opposition's campaign against the reforms. The memo details strategies for interfering with and discrediting the vote, and calls for steps to be taken that would lead to an overthrow of the Venezuelan government, including support provided from US military bases in Curacao and Colombia.
This is just one piece of evidence recently uncovered indicating preparation for a US sponsored coup. Others include CNN briefly showing a picture of President Chavez with a caption that read, "Who killed him?" Supposedly it was a technical error. There have also been reports that at a recent rally a laser pointer appeared on Chávez' chest and head, and recently a cache of weapons and US military uniforms were found at a private residence in Caracas.
There is one fact that every Congress person and every citizen in the United States of America needs to know: democracy is alive and well in Venezuela. Whether we like it or not, the current government of Venezuela is an elected and popular government. Its elections have been certified by a number of international bodies, including the Carter Center, the Organization of American States, the European Union, and the NAACP. Any attempt by the US to support an overthrow of the Venezuelan government would be interpreted by the world as an assault against democracy and an abandonment of democratic principles.
I am writing to demand that you, as a representative of the people, take action NOW to contact the CIA, the State Department, USAID, and the Bush administration and let them know that another US sponsored coup attempt in Venezuela is unacceptable. Furthermore, I am writing to demand that
a Congressional investigation be undertaken regarding this memo and other violations of Venezuela's sovereignty.
Here are some informative links that will help you better understand the current situation in Venezuela.
Regarding the current US sponsored threats to Venezuelan democracy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-goff/the-cia-plan-to-destabili_b_74557.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c..va&aid=7475
For accurate information about the Constitutional Reforms:
Democracy Still Alive and Well in Venezuela,
http://www.cepr.net/content/view/1366/45/
What is Venezuela's Constitutional Reform Really About,
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2890
Venezuela's Constitutional Reform: An Article by Article Summary
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2890
Sincerely,
(Your name and address)
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR SENATOR, REPRESENTATIVE, AND THE WHITE HOUSE
CALL THE CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD TOLL FREE AT:
1-800-828-0498
1-877-210-5351
1-800-614-2803
1-866-340-9281
TO EMAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, FOLLOW THIS LINK:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
TO EMAIL YOUR SENATOR, FOLLOW THIS LINK:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
FOR DETAILED CONTACT INFO FOR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS, INCLUDING INFO ON LOCAL OFFICES:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
TO CONTACT THE STATE DEPARTMENT:
202-647-4000
TO CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE:
202-456-1111
202-456-6213
Or email President Bush at
president@whitehouse.gov
