Democrats vs. aristocrats and oligarchs

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
11/15/2007



Due to Western media control and spin, few will read the whole story about the King Juan Carlos versus President Hugo Chavez fight at the conference of Spanish and Portuguese speaking nations. Let me add perspective by quoting from “1000 paper cuts” website:

“ ‘King of Spain: "Shut Up!" Chavez: "You are a Bull, I am A Bull-Fighter’… Hugo Chavez wants to know: What did the King of Spain know and when did he know it? (about the two anti-Chavez coups in 2002)” The angry exchange occurred after Chavez called a former Spain Prime Minster, Jose Maria Aznar, a “fascist”. Bush’s best friend and “War on Terror” ally: “Aznar… in his youth and during the Transition (savage Francoism to democracy) joined the extreme right-wing movements of Blas Piñar”, the movement to re-establish a fascist Internationale. Aznar is suspected of allowing the Madrid bombing to happen to boost his dismal 2004 electoral chance fortunes, and also plotted a coup.

In 2002 Aznar’s ambassador to Venezuela appeared on stage with anti-Chavez coup interim president and oligarch Pedro Carmona. Chavez rightly asks: "Mr. King, did you know about the coup d'etat against Venezuela, against the democratic, legitimate government of Venezuela in 2002?... It's very hard to imagine the Spanish ambassador would have been at the presidential palace supporting the coup plotters without authorization from his majesty." Spain’s El Mundo reported that the King "got very mad, like a bull", Chavez responded: "But I'm a great bullfighter - ole!" Royalties are normally shielded from the mortal nuisances, but “cacique” Juan Carlos lost his poise with the “indio”.

Western media is demonizing Chavez as a “dictator” even though he has been elected by 61% of Venezuelans in the re-election of 2006 for his third term. Chavez nationalized his country’s oil sector and distributed the benefits of that patrimony to his people’s needs, and democratized health care and education. He has closed down oligarch-owned TV networks which we directly involved in the coups of 2002, but has allowed other opposition media to operate. Whatever he does and however many votes, to the Western media he will always be a “dictator” because of the hundreds of billions of profits taken away from of erstwhile U.S. corporations to allocate to his nation’s development.

In the Philippines, President Estrada was similarly elected by Philippine history’s largest winning vote, 40% over the closest rival Jose de Venecia, yet he was deposed by a conspiracy of oligarchs (the aristocracy of wealth), foreign corporate interests and corrupt military-police generals, persecuted and imprisoned on trumped up corruption charges – all done to suppress popular aspirations for political and economic democracy and emancipation. Blas Piñar’s fraternal institutions here like the Opus Dei and the Jesuits helped in the conspiracy to enforce the will of the Philippine oligarchs and plunge this country into seven years of increasing poverty and exploitation.

Like Hugo Chavez, we will see startling comebacks from President Joseph E. Estrada because the people want him. Estrada’s was also ouster as mayor by a powerful local branch of a religious sect but he bounced back. The Philippine oligarchy’s campaign to put him down failed miserably as we can see from the continuing massive support he gets from the people in the mammoth welcoming crowds at his post-imprisonment visits to poor communities. His launching of ERAP (Estrada’s Revolution Against Poverty) in Nueva Ecija, Friday, at the Central Luzon State University carabao breeding center will reaffirm his commitment to uplift of the nation and the people from poverty and mendicancy.

Like Venezuela, the Philippines needs a popular, democratic revolution – by election if possible, by any other mean if unavoidable. Poverty and hunger in the country today is beyond imagination, getting worse by the day. Marianette Ampers abound. There are worse: people have forgotten about the news items some time ago of a mother who killed her four children when she could not feed them anymore. All statistics and surveys have shown this dire phenomenon to be growing instead of subsiding, unlike other Asean nations where poverty has decreased significantly. Wealth of this society is going to fewer and fewer oligarch families and corporations.

The oligarchic system prevailing in Venezuela before Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution is exactly what the Philippines still have today – a 40-year sham “democratic” government controlled and used by the local and foreign oligarchy to usurp the country’s resources. Liked the Philippines today, Venezuela was victimized by a neo-liberal privatization campaign led by the Washington controlled President Carlos Andres Perez reduced employment in strategic industries and transferred ownership to foreign capital. Populist, former detainee Hugo Chavez turned things around through re-nationalization of the strategic sectors and restoration of public ownership of basic utilities and strategic industries.

Philippine traditional politicians are toadies of oligarchs, their political system one huge obfuscation to distract from the fundamental issue of exploitation by the oligarchs: Chiz Escudero stonewalling EPIRA review because of his radio program on Lopez’s radio empire and Enrile faking a review for cosmetic “minimum access” amendment, while Gloria with Razon and Endica Aboitiz loot projects like ZTE, etc. Aristocracy and oligarchy represent exploitation, exploitation, poverty (Spain is rich because of centuries of colonial exploitation) – only genuine popular, elected democratic leadership can usher in the age of justice and progress for our country and the world.

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