Larger than life and now larger than death ~ Hugo Chavez will not be forgotten. His permanently displayed embalmed body will be a constant reminder of his righteous indignation of the imperialistic West and our illegal wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as his empowering commitment to the Latin American poor and disenfranchised which even extended to the United States: Allen L Roland
"Like
Bolívar, Chávez swore to break the chains binding Latin Americans to the will
of the mighty. Within his lifetime, the ties of dependency and indirect empire
have loosened" Oscar Guardiola-Rivera
Every
lifetime personalities emerge whose personality, presence and commitment
transcend politics and they stand alone at the pinnacle of human achievement.
Nelson Mandela is one of these people as is
Martin Luther King Jr but the irrepressible Hugo Chavez also belongs on that
same world stage. Who can forget Chavez rightfully calling the Cheney/Bush
administration the devil from the podium of the UN on September 20, 2006.
Every word he spoke denouncing American intentions and imperialistic ambitions, to the enjoyment of many in the UN
audience, was true ~ for seven years later American imperialism and
exceptionalism is dying in the graveyard of Empires, Afghanistan. Three
minute UN Chavez speech ~
As Chris Nineham correctly
concludes in ICH ~ "Chavez put to shame all
the so-called progressive leaders around the world who hide behind fabricated
public opinion to justify embracing the market and moving to the right. He
proved that radical policies work and win support. He showed that defiance
of US imperialism is possible and popular. He will be missed in every corner
of the globe." See article ~ http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34216.htm
He
will be missed but not forgotten, as another nemesis
to neoliberalism, British MP George Galloway,
articulates on the death of Chavez during
a recent interview ~ along with Republican
congressman Luke Messer, who airily dismissed
Chavez as an unimportant tyrant and despot and in the process revealed the moral shallowness of our political arena. Note
the disparity of their views in this excellent 8 minute video interview ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0rojYMx5c4
Above all, Hugo
Chavez was a man of the people and had a fondness for the south Bronx of New
York. On one of his trips to the UN, Representative José E. Serrano, a Democrat from the South
Bronx, invited him to the neighborhood. As Frances Robles writes in the New
York Times ~ " Mr. Chávez, the congressman said, made it clear he
did not want to visit “power brokers.” Instead, he spent
several hours one September morning greeting local leaders at a community
development corporation, where tables were set up and various groups
distributed brochures as if the event were a college fair at a high school.
Mr. Chávez stopped to chat with neighborhood advocates one by one, several people recalled, impressing everyone with his uncanny ability to recall obscure historical facts about each person’s home country… We expected, honestly, for him to walk through, say a few words and leave,” Mr. Serrano said. “Three and a half hours later, he was still there. ‘What’s the name of your organization? What do they do? How are you funded? Why did you name it that?’ He did this table by table by table. Then he would quote a poet, artist, politician or historical figure from Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic or wherever the person was from.” He left people with the impression that he had looked at the South Bronx, saw the slums of Caracas and fell in love with the place. He ended the morning dancing with a straw hat perched on his head. Out of that visit was born a community-relations program that would donate $5 million to grass-roots groups in the South Bronx, paying for a variety of projects, including the restoration of the Bronx River, after-school classes, literacy programs and food cooperatives." See article ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/nyregion/in-the-south-bronx-memories-of-chavez-and-his-largess.html?emc=eta1
Mr. Chávez stopped to chat with neighborhood advocates one by one, several people recalled, impressing everyone with his uncanny ability to recall obscure historical facts about each person’s home country… We expected, honestly, for him to walk through, say a few words and leave,” Mr. Serrano said. “Three and a half hours later, he was still there. ‘What’s the name of your organization? What do they do? How are you funded? Why did you name it that?’ He did this table by table by table. Then he would quote a poet, artist, politician or historical figure from Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic or wherever the person was from.” He left people with the impression that he had looked at the South Bronx, saw the slums of Caracas and fell in love with the place. He ended the morning dancing with a straw hat perched on his head. Out of that visit was born a community-relations program that would donate $5 million to grass-roots groups in the South Bronx, paying for a variety of projects, including the restoration of the Bronx River, after-school classes, literacy programs and food cooperatives." See article ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/nyregion/in-the-south-bronx-memories-of-chavez-and-his-largess.html?emc=eta1
President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela,
who died this week, playing percussion on the guira with Omar Freilla of the
band Palol Monte during a visit to the South Bronx in 2005.
“Here was a guy who the corporate media tried to push
us to dislike by saying, ‘This guy is trying to empower himself
forever,’ ” said Julio Pabon, a City Council candidate who
participated in a Citgo-financed food co-op. “That’s not how we saw him
in the Bronx. In the Bronx, he was a guy who came here and talked about helping
people so they didn’t get strung out trying to pay their heating bills.”
Here's some of Chavez's most colorful quotes which
endeared him to many, including myself, for indeed he was a fearless revolutionary and truth
teller in a time of worldwide apathy and deception;
“Remember,
little girl, I’m like the thorn tree that flowers on the plain. I want my scent
to passers-by and prick he who shakes me. Don’t mess with me, Condoleezza.
Don’t mess with me, girl.” — Chávez, to then U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, in 2006
“A building
never collapses like that, unless it’s with an implosion.” Chavez in
2006 reacting to a television report investigating a theory that the U.S.
government was behind the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers
“Go right to hell.” “You are a pawn of
imperialism.”
To British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006
“He is a donkey.”
“Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W. Bush.” On former president
George W. Bush, 2006
Chavez was right on many counts and particularly on Bush
and Iraq. "There were never weapons of mass
destruction but Iraq was bombed, and over U.N. objections, (it was) occupied
and continues being occupied," Chavez said. Bush alleged that Iraq
possessed weapons of mass destruction but none have been found, shattering one
of his main arguments for going to war. That's why we propose to this
assembly that the United Nations leave this country (USA), which is not
respectful of the very resolutions of this assembly," Chavez said.
As we come up to the 10th anniversary of the Cheney/Bush illegal attack on
Iraq ~ history will show that it was indeed the worst mistake in U.S. history.
Peter Van Buren elaborates on this mistake ~ "I
was there. And “there” was nowhere. And nowhere was the place to be if
you wanted to see the signs of end times for the American Empire up close.
I stood at Ground Zero of what was intended to be the new centerpiece for
a Pax Americana in the Greater Middle East. Not to
put too fine a point on it, but the invasion of Iraq turned out to be a joke…In case
you want to jump to the punch line, though, it’s this: by invading Iraq, the
U.S. did more to destabilize the Middle East than we could possibly have
imagined at the time. And we -- and so many others -- will pay the price for it
for a long, long time." See article www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175658/
The lion may be lying in
state but the truth still lives, the revolution will continue on and there will be other
lions who will carry the banner of nonviolent progressive social
change and South America's
regional integration.
"Hated by the entrenched
classes, Hugo Chavez will live forever in history. My friend, rest finally in a
peace long earned." - Oliver Stone
Allen
L Roland
Allen
L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and
lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his web log and
website allenroland.com He also
guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
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