Prominent Venezuelan sociologist and intellectual Edgardo Lander says while it’s correct to oppose U.S. intervention and interference, Left media should not minimize the responsibility of the Maduro government for the economic crisis
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This comment section is a perfect example of what Lander explains. Mostly just gringos wanting their narrative and identity reified without any capacity for criticism or empathy for the people living and leaving Venezuela.
What Bullshit, if it was not for the COUP actions of the TERRORIST USA and its puppets, sadly Canada is one of them too afraid to go against the EXCITED state of America, and the immoral and illegal SANCTIONS placed on Venezuela the country would not be in the situation they find themselves in. it is only by the actions of Russia,Cuba,China and over 50 other countries that the country of Venezuela has not collapse and become another slave of the US/israel want to be masters of the globe.
Great dialogue. Looking forward bfor the next series👏..Thank you Sharmini and The Real News👍
@TRNN: don't even bother releasing the rest of this garbage of an interview. Edgardo Lander has nothing to add besides Imperialist talking points. Please do your progressive editorial duty and stop this guy from further spewing and spreading his bullshit!
This guy is boring and he doesn't know what he is talking about. He is going round and round with the topic.
It's the corperatist portion of them that need to go & that there is only 6 people that own all of the major media corporations.
The first generation immigrant Ivy-League graduates often bribed, brought, programmed, brain-washed and harvested with fame, academic prestige position and material comfort. whom vehicles the "System Agenda" pro US foreign policy, aka commercial entity — money making machine. I couldn't stomach this man's BS so called expertise. Also, later found
out this man had a private meeting with the phony-US made self-claimed president Guaido to overthrow legitimately elected President Maduro with trails of lies, propagandas, fairytales and hand-made so called evidences. This army of category of mouth-piece pro US propagandas floored specific in Chinese communities IVY-League graduated spears far and wide for US disposal, whom serves US dirty tricks against China. China is the biggest market exports snakes in the grass and rats for US benefits.
checks out: Nearly 100,000 Pentagon Whistleblower Complaints Have Been Silenced/RT
Jimmy Dore: The US is a MAFIA STATE! goingundergroundRT 04/01/19
Democracy Now – amy goodman
VT – VeteranToday
GlobalResearch.ca
An excellent explanation for the difference between real socialism aka workers' control in the factories and workplaces, over the practice of Communism or really, state capitalism. For those who rebel against this man without considering or finishing this interview, then watch Charles Eisenstein in this Uplift doc: https://uplift.tv/2019/sacred-economics-2019/?utm_source=UPLIFT+TV&utm_campaign=f4d11645c9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_05_06_05_20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_932e12aea9-f4d11645c9-115362253
Empire?
Well, this is embarrassing. I think these big international issue should be left to the senior staff, like Greg Wilpert or Paul Jay at the Real News. Sharmini does some good stuff, but this issue is way beyond her preparation and capacity for reporting. She doesn't realize it, but she's promoting the US propaganda machine. It's kinda sad, really.
I need to go to the podcast version so I can hear him talk twice as fast. T-t-t-t-t-t-t-today junior!! Source – Billy Madison
OK, sure Stalin was a ruthless dictator no question. But during a cold war, where the US are so aggressive against communism and the world has become bipolar, if the one side renounces the leading regime, even rightfully, it hands victory and the world to the leading aggressor. So this criticism even though it is based in facts, it wasn't applicable.
So it is very philosophical and idealistic.
When criticizing Venezuela and Cuba even though again the criticism is fair, he fails to recognize that these are two models of government that tried to exist under constant intense external pressure.
Also, critical thinking has to exist on both sides. If the left is always recognizing its own problems and weaknesses, but the right refuses to acknowledge anything, how does that work out?
This guy gets it. Zero Sum Game positions ALWAYS result in thousands if not millions being either marginalized or killed. Coexistence of ideas takes hard work and an incredible amount of willingness to communicate and listen. Venezuela and the world at large is very polarized and our inability to listen to the other side in a peaceful rational manner is and will always be the demise of progress. That being said, No to US intervention. Remove all sanctions. Hands off Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people fix their own problems. A multilateral approach is sorely needed in this world.
@The Real News Network : This interview might be interesting, something to possibly get a good wake-up call from, but it's lousy for one reason I can presently think of and it's that the VOLUME is far too low. A little more and it'd be inaudible. I have two speak or volume settings that I'm aware of with this Windows 7 system and both are set to maximum; plus, the problem isn't occurring with other videos. I just double-checked that and this volume blunder isn't occurring with the two videos I used for the test. If you wanted this interview to be "hush-hush", then you succeeded, for it's just a whisper, which is a way that I despise people using when speaking to me. Thankfully, most people speak clearly, but I have a neighbour living across the hallway from my apt and it's a nuisance speaking with him, for it's as if he thinks we live in some sort of secret prison where we must do our best to avoid letting the overseers overhear us. That's pretty much how this video sounds. So, jack up the volume, rather than decreasing it, and if it's too loud, then I'll use my own volume controls for adjustment. (I do sometimes need to do that.) For this reason, and this one alone, I'll give a thumbs down for this video. Shame.
America is openly, illegally under international law, trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government and this man is talking about Stalinism! How does America's economic blockade, sabotage and verifiable coup d'etats on Venezuela relate to Stalinism, what is this man saying?
I think a lot of people on the left don't even KNOW about worker co-ops/worker ownership being the real alternative to capitalism! Government control is just another form of capitalism (State Capitalism) because there are still owners (govt.) and employees. So Landers' point, though largely correct, forgets about ignorance being th main problem here. This ignorance probably comes from uncritical support of early "socialist" states like the USSR, like he says, but I don't think leftists are as uncritical as they were in the 20th century. We're just still ignorant.
Lander doesn't specify WHICH enterprises were taken under government control. There are some large industries that need centralised management: natural resources, transport, education, healthcare. I'd like to know which industries are state capitalist, which are co-operative/socialist and which are private capitalist in Venezuela.
1- Venezuela es la pobre víctima en la pugna de intereses entre potencias y un actor adicional carroñero como cuba.
2- La izquierda estúpida y poser fuera de Venezuela tiene la idea erronea de que maduro es "izquierda" y tiene apoyo de las masas. Falso. Telesur y RT les mienten groseramente, payasos.
3- USA quiere sacar a maduro por sus intereses, claro que sí, pero Maduro se la puso fácil por su manera ineficiente y tiránica de gobierno, la CIA no tuvo nada que ver. El favor de acabar con la economía lo hicieron los militares traidores y corruptos a cargo de sectores economicos estrategicos que saquearon al país, ellos no tenían nada socialistas y el sueño común de estos militares es disfrutar el dinero robado y lavarlo en el sector inmobiliario en miami. Repito, la CIA no necesitó hacer nada adicional que la corrupción y los estafadores alrededor de chavez y maduro no hayan hecho por si solos.
4- Guaidó es un títere de USA, pero es por culpa de maduro y las mil maneras que ha encontrado para matar a la población que Guaidó es un líder popular y sobre el cual recae las esperanzas de toda la población al ser una cara nueva y ajena a los escandalos de corrupción en los que la oposición igual que el chavismo están involucrados.
5- Tomar como referencia la popularidad de Maduro una elección fraudulenta donde participó menos del 37% de la población a falta de garantías en una elección limpia, es parte de esa arrogancia estúpida de la izquierda poser que a falta de argumentos serios toman la propaganda de Telesur para decir esas idioteces.
6- El chavismo sí fue mayoría en su momento y es innegable, pero un país en colapso y una amenaza real de justicia contra quienes acabaron con el país hizo que mostrara sus dientes dejando de lado el caracter humanista con el que el mismo Chavez se vendía él y su proyecto.
7- La gente asesinada en las protestas vienen de todos los estratos y mientras más bajo sea el estrato con mayor fuego Maduro los reprime. En 2 noches de protestas el FAES asesinó a 26 personas en Catia. Un gobierno de pueblo y masas marginadas no haría eso.
8- Lander tiene mucha más autoridad que el montón de posers de starbucks para opinar sobre Venezuela, militó en la izquierda que sacó a Chavez de la carcel cuando negociaron con Caldera la presidencia. Sin mencionar que es un referente intelectual de Venezuela y latinoamerica, un par de artículos fancy leídos de bloggers de codepink no le quitará la autoridad ni la razón sobre lo que opina, y peor para ustedes, esos artículos fancy no les darán la autoridad a ustedes para opinar sobre un país que no conocen.
The volume is sooo low
In some ways this guy is right; one needs to be selective in what is put in state control, just as one does with what is permitted to operate as a market, ideology is not a substitute for competence, and so on, but his explanations are insufficient to describe what's happening there and why. He reminds me of a someone who has been abused to the extent that they apologise for and make excuses for their abuser, coming up with any explanation that does not hold them to account.
What a mistake to give this free-market capitalist a platform to spout his BS. I hope the comments will lead to the MONOLOGUE being discontinued or at least add a dissenting opinion – Sharmini Peries is clearly not up to the task (never been too impressed by her anyway!)
It was a mistake talking to this asshole, Sharmini Peries.
Hey, Edgardo, for a "sociologist" you seem to be really cozy with the current system.
Also, wash your mouth with soap before accusing Stalin and the gulags.
Make sure you say Centrist Democrats. Bernie people are the left, the REAL left. And we don't over look that Maduro isn't a great guy either. America has caused the trouble in Venezuela. The Centrist & Republican America that is.
This guy is a anti-communist! The Venezuelan gov’t has made 2.5 fracking million houses tell me in what free market rich countries has that happened!!!! That in my books is a fucking success!!! In Vancouver Canada where I live ppl are begging the city govt to provincial to federal for affordable housing and it is falling on deaf ears!!!!
You mean Cubans were freer and having a better time of it under Batista?
What has Stalin and gulags got to do with Venezuela? Stalin was attacked by 20 divisions of Nazis. He wasn't at his best.
1 of 7??? That means I need to watch 6 more of those??? Please no!!!! You are still free not to publish the remaining 6, delete the 1/7 in the title and nobody will take notice. I promise!
Sorry, I know it's superficial, but I can't stand listening to all the spittle gurgling in his throat.
Great interview from TRNN, kudos to Sharmini Peries for refusing to accept the false pro-empire or pro-Maduro dichotomy and presenting a nuanced analysis of the crisis.
Edgardo is no leftist. Leftists don't endorse imperialist intervention,they smash it.
There is a pattern in history whereby a revolutionary or elected Left government starts out with a grassroots democratic ideal but when it comes under siege or outright attack they turn to a more disciplined and top-down approach because that is the only way to defend themselves. Try fighting a war without obeying orders against real armies. Doesn't work. Look at the French revolution which was attacked by all the kings of Europe. They ended up following Napoleon who could defeat those kings but the democratic soul of the revolution is lost in the process. Likewise the Bolsheviks were able to defeat the combined armies of Britain, US, Japan , France and their White Russian allies but the civil war saw the end of real power lying with the people's councils (Soviets). Could they have won otherwise? So by attacking, or simply threatening a revolutionary govt with military force the Imperialists can 'win' even if they lose the fighting because the violence changes the character of the revolution into one of uncritical obedience. I am ready to hear well-intentioned criticism of Chavismo like this but I will not weaken the cause of the Venezuelan people given the potential horrors they are facing.
Lets not give a platform to someone who cannot offer an alternative based on the reality as it develops without support from the traditional establishment.
It seems this theorist seems to speak from a comfortable anti left supremacist seat.
Claude Saucier
Shure, bring black Batista, keep the US blocade and make US (not America ,it's not acountry look up CONTINENT in thé dictionairy )grenat agaain, give away your naturel ressources To multi-national black-Holes and tell me when all you bave lenft ,Beeng sugar Cane, and after you gavé, paid éducation and heallh care To your citezens what other miracle could be acomplished.
As for Venezuella Chavez and Maduro,reduced pauvrety by 50% and extrême pauvrety by 70% , # one in the new constitution all natural ressources belong To ALL poeple equaly. they have paid education, health care even som housinq. All grocery product for the country negociated in balk payed by govt. with oil money and sold To population ,with responsable profit by private entreprises. Gas at .05 or .06 cents/gal…
Since US sanctions literaly stole over 100 billions of Venezuelian money in différent banks To pay for what the country need most med.Suply , oil drilling equepment, hospital equip. and mutch more.the lack of it have killed 40 To 70,000 Venezuelliens of all ages. So US keep an economic strangle hold with one hand while emptying it's Pocket with the other and dare to blame the democraticly elected govt. for thé dificultys felth by population. So please people in thé US of A , do yourselfs and the world a huge favor and try an keep thoses
psychopath in D.C. the hell OUT of the other country 's busniss so wee can rebuild and start living in peace, not in pièces.Wee would .be forever gratefull… Oh by thé wap gent that moncky off your back, it's strangling you too ! Time for Loving our planet,and most of it's peaples, PEACE…
can see why he is at Harvard he continues the anti Communist Harvard tradition – he identifies socialism as just being the state – when in fact there are many forms of social ownership – he wants a market socialism the transition BACK to capitalism.- he is an enemy NOT a friend – he want to soften up Cuba and Venezuela to US attack
What the hell RNN? Isn't this the same guy who said Guaidó is the most popular opposition leader in VENEZUELA?!
"On the other side, we have Guaidó, who has become the most popular leader in the country today. He has backing of the—today, I can say that it’s the majority of the Venezuelan population." From his democracy now interview. Nobody in VENEZUELA knew who this prick was, hell even the opposition was surprised at his declaration. Fuck this guy.
Venezuela is a victim of outside influences which also has a dagger in the back.
Sharmini is not incisive enough as an interviewer. Perhaps she is in awe of her guest. Prof. Lander says that many, many profitable enterprises were brought under state control. Sharmini could have asked for some examples? As far as I know, only Petroleum and Mining in Ven were nationalized, much of it before Chavez. Other businesses are mainly in private hands. A few enterprises were set up, with state assistance, to compete with established private interests, e.g. Media, Consumer / Agriculture Co-operatives.
BTW, I found myself liking Eduardo Lander based on his RAI interviews with Paul Jay a few years ago. I am disappointed with this vague, academic critique of Maduro and Chavismo, which goes against the facts as I know them. Is the problem with Maduro/Chavismo just a plain and simple lack of technical competence (from leadership downwards)? Since there are 6 more to go in this 7 part series, maybe Sharmini could ask him these questions directly. Also, why does Lander consider Guaido the most popular politician in Ven? What was the purpose and outcome of his February meeting with Guaido? I do miss Aaron Mate`.
Typical Trotskyist.
Can anyone give me an example of where democracy really works in the developing world?
Democracy in the developing world is a by word for corruption and organized crime.
The problem with Venezuela, it's been too democratic. It would have been better off going full communist.
Whatever this turkey has to say, Second World beats Third World. The people of Venezuela would be better off under Cuban style socialism with great healthcare; education, low rates of crime.
Of course in an ideal world, we'd have greater democracy, worker co-ops, and free ice cream for all. But unfortunately while the US EMPIRE is around – that ain't gonna happen.
In his assertion that ideological purity is less important than technical competence (which is arguable), Lander seems to ignore that anyone, an individual or a company or a family or a nation, who decides to conduct their business differently than the status quo is going to have a tumultuous period during the transition, and with so many forces working to prevent any deviation from the norm, the transition is likely to be a long one. Deciding to prioritize idealistic behavior over what's easy is the difference between succeeding with a new culture (or preserving an ancient one) and succumbing to one's adversary. It's not right or wrong. The point is to live the way we want to live, to behave in a humane way because of all the benefits that offers, not to simply survive and have jobs (slave conditions). Just because a method is more difficult, isn't evidence that it's wrong.
Brilliant. Let's shut down the only pro-Maduro coverage as biased while letting rampant lies and blatant pro-empire propaganda go unchecked. Lander's subtly of thought and nuance of discernment rivals only the depth of the Harvard education he received and built a career complaining about.
His argument is that the analysis must go beyond good vs bad as if in a state of war. What of Admiral's Tidd's plan to sack Maduro?
Maduro is no Stalin. Lander exaggerates. His argument applies more to the right who are sycophantically tethered to Trump than to the left who are not likewise licking Maduro's boots.
If Latin America has defied becoming Uncle Sam's Backyard it's precisely because of the cultural diversity Lander speaks of. That cannot be the anchor of his argument against the left's media coverage. Moreover, much of that media coverage is not Venezuelan, much less is it sycophantically tethered to Maduro, as Lander dreads.
How did Madurismo come to be linked to American consumerism? Lander's argument states: if you do not question Maduro, you will lose cultural diversity and consumerism will triumph. OK, Lander will have us believe that the socialist Maduro will save capitalism, I guess much like China did in 2008.
When Sharmini Pereis asked Lander if Chavez failed, Lander responds affirmatively because the Chavez Administration had to subsidize corporation that otherwise would have gone bankrupt. That's a lame definition of failure, but if we run with it for a moment, what about the USA? As we speak the Plunge Protection Team engages in near daily market manipulations to keep the entire stock market from collapsing. QE has become standard practice, and talk is a new round of QE is coming in May before the May 30 GDP numbers prove that the "estimates" of April are pure lies.
It's clear that Lander is not an economist. No. It wasn't the bureaucratic control that led to the demise of production. It was the US meddling, tightening their monetary control over Venezuela that led to that fall. See what Michael Hudson, arguably the world's best economist, has to say about this:
https://thesaker.is/saker-interview-with-michael-hudson-on-venezuela-february-7-2019/
Sorry to see RealNews give this idiot so much deference.
Centrist alert.
A loss for the Chavezta government was that they did not developer their own oil refineries. I also keep hearing that they purchased too much of their food products from sources outside the county.
I have not heard anyone on TRNN claim to support Stalinist type governing in Venezuela, as Edgardo Lander claimed.
Yes this man is a fraud. The major issue legitimate opposition has faced in Venezuela: the real violence and suppression of their criticism. Is fixable. Not by aligning with the imperialists. You call for DC Regime intervention you deserve whatever suppression you get (as would any American groups that did so in the homeland).
He completely ignores any consideration for the fact that people long marginalized and oppressed will be forced with many struggles over how to use their newfound power. For example the restraint NOT to turn around and do what was done to them to their previous abusers. If they tell those absuers to shut up for a decade or so, perhaps the trade off is worth it.
Instead of spending a decade in reflection though this opposition immediately moved to oust and kill Chavez in 2002, they are LUCKY Mr. Chavez was a compassionate man, a dictator would have excited and jailed every single member of their dissenters.
Personally, the time has come to deport the opposition to Columbia. They want an aristocracy that bows to DC move next-door. There are numerous supporters of the PSUV government in Venezuela in Columbia who would be more than happy to trade places. They know how to provide criticism and scrutiny without undermining and destroying the entire project of moving all of Venezuela forward.
US sanctions have killed more than 40,000 Venezuelan citizens since the took hold in August 2017 – according to a recent report by CEPR.
– Sanctions have reduced the availability of food and medicine, and increased disease and mortality;
• The August 2017 sanctions contributed to a sharp decline in oil production, causing great harm to the civilian population;
• If US sanctions implemented in January 2019 continue, they will almost certainly result in tens of thousands more avoidable deaths;
• This finding is based on an estimated 80,000 people with HIV who have not had antiretroviral treatment since 2017, 16,000 people who need dialysis, 16,000 people with cancer, and 4 million with diabetes and hypertension (many of whom cannot obtain insulin or cardiovascular medicine);
• Since the January 2019 sanctions, oil production has fallen by 431,000 barrels per day or 36.4 per cent. This will greatly accelerate the humanitarian crisis. But the projected 67 per cent decline in oil production for the year, if the sanctions continue, would cause vastly more loss of human life. (Summary from media lens).
All other arguments closely resemble propaganda.
Sanctions are an ACT of war.
THESE particular sanctions look an awful lot like 'collective punishment' violating both the Geneva and Hague conventions.
No one will dare speak this truth.
P.S. What is the magnitsky act?
Peace.
This guy sounds like your typical liberal who doesn't like the way the Left keeps pointing out the moral and philosophical bankruptcy found in the type of corporate liberalism (and shilling) that would be (thankfully) eliminated with socialism.