The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

[UPDATED--#2]

Translated-

The Revolution is for the people (except for blacks)!

I guess you can consider this part 2 of the last posting on the real deal that is going on in Venezuela. It was by chance this morning that I came across this article that yet again show us just how much Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is looking out for the peeps (especially since he wants to give the inner-cites in America da’ hook up with cheaper gas).

The network wants a reform of the constitution, so that it recognizes the nation’s multi-ethnicity and respects Afro-Venezuelan rights; the creation of a new census that categorizes and counts Venezuela’s Black population; the acknowledgement of Afro-Venezuelan history in school curriculum; the creation of a federal-level ministry to implement the World Conference Against Racism’s “Durban Plan of Action”; the creation of a ministry to implement UNESCO’s Convention on Diversity; and the creation of an Afro-Venezuelan Ministry, to address the everyday lives of Blacks in the country.

Wow! It really sound like Chavez is really looking out for blacks. Jesus “Chucho” Garcia, Afro-Venezuelan activist and head of the network mentioned above then makes the following statement:

“This is just constructive criticism of the government. We’re not part of the government and we’re not at all part of the opposition to the Chávez administration…We just think that with the implementation of these six principles, we will make the Bolívarian revolution complete,”

¿Qué? (What?)

Constructive criticism?

I think this needs to be a little stronger.

Garcia later mentions…

… that there are more than 7 million Venezuelans of African descent, a fact that he and the groups who make up the Afro-Venezuelan Network have been working for years to have recognized by the government. (click here to read the rest of the story)

If this so-called “revolution” is for the people, then why are the Afro-Venezuelan people spending years to be recognized by it?

*****UPDATED*******

As expected, Jesse Jackson steps in the picture:

Rev. Jackson Lends Support to Chavez

Jackson later met and shook hands with Chavez during the Venezuelan leader’s weekly radio and television program.

“Reverend Jackson, you can be sure that we will continue fighting for the ideas of Martin Luther King, for Christ the Redeemer’s idea of loving one another and building a society of equals through our peaceful and democratic revolution,” said Chavez.

He told Jackson he wanted to discuss the possibility of sending oil at preferential terms to poor communities in the United States. (more…)

Selling out the poor for a gallon of gas.

****UPDATE 2*****

Venezuela: 150 years after abolishment of slavery, racism persists

By Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Mar 23 (IPS)

(Excerpted)

Racism continues to exist in Venezuela in different guises 150 years after slavery was abolished, according to the Network of Afro-Venezuelan Organisations, which wants the cultural contributions of black people to be recognised by the constitution.

…The constitution promoted by populist, left-leaning President Hugo Chávez and approved by voters in a 1999 referendum highlights the contribution made towards the creation of an independent nation by Simón Bolívar and the rest of the independence heroes.

It also recognises the resistance put up by the country’s indigenous peoples, who unlike blacks are specifically mentioned in the constitution.

But ”it does not reflect the contribution by the black population, and we accounted for around 400,000 of the one million inhabitants of the country at the time of independence,” said García.

…one notorious recent case of racism was a spoof by the private Venezuelan TV news station Globovisión — a vociferously anti-Chávez channel — of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who visited Caracas in late February to attend the summit of the Group of 15 developing countries, which promotes South-South cooperation.

Images of Mugabe, who appeared to nod off during a speech by Chávez, were accompanied by sounds of snoring and monkey-like screeches, followed by hilarious laughter by the programme’s presenters.

African ambassadors to Venezuela — representing Algeria, Egypt, Libya, the Saharawi Republic (Western Sahara), Nigeria and South Africa — issued a statement of protest against Globovisión, ”whose viewers have been presented with an indecent spectacle, replete with unquestionably racist and rude sound-effects and gestures.”

But the TV station’s managers justified the sketch saying the African ambassadors ”do not understand Venezuelans’ sense of humour.” (more…)