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April 19, 2007
Chavez Imposes "Socialist Formation" Classes
Anyone still in denial that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has been positioning himself as a totalitarian dictator might be interested to learn that his government will require workers to spend four hours per week in "socialist formation" classes.
Employers are required to form "Bolivarian Work Councils" to run courses on the job. The point of the classes is to speed the transition from economic freedom to slavery by teaching the official government version of Venezuelan history and "basic tools for analyzing reality, the environment, the role of the state and socialist scheme."
The classes will start with public sector jobs, then be imposed on the crippled remnants of private business, after Chavez issues a new law by decree that will establish reeducation guidelines.
Reeducation. Chavez's fellow socialist Pol Pot was so fond of the concept, he built reeducation centers all over Cambodia:
Ordinary people were forced to march to agricultural reeducation centers all around the country. Families with sick members had to carry their sick members or drag them in their hospital beds. Because the Khmer Rouge were strict Maoists, they wanted to destroy all social divisions down to even the family unit. The Khmer Rouge wanted to purify Khmer society and bring the people back to the old way, before they were invaded by the west. Every one was put to work in the rice patties. Thousands died from overwork and malnutrition. Countless more were killed by the Khmer Rouge effort to eliminate all western influences.
If Chavez has something similar in mind for Venezuela (and Pol Pot is hardly the only precedent), the USA had better be sure not to put a stop to it. I'm sure the UN — not to mention the Democrat Party — would highly disapprove of such unilateral imperialism.
On a tip from V the K.
Posted by Van Helsing at April 19, 2007 2:44 PM
Comments
Come now, VH, Chavez really cares about his people.
Posted by: Steve at April 19, 2007 3:09 PM
Heh. "Rice patties."
We'll end up doing nothing about the spread of communism in our hemisphere, since the leftards would go berserk, if we did. Between the Castros, Chavez, Morales, and Mexico vacillating on the edge of the socialism abyss, it's only a matter of time before "progressives" here in the US have the downfall of our once great nation within reach.
Posted by: skh.pcola at April 19, 2007 3:12 PM
The trouble with the Lefties is that they are so sure of their beliefs that they will not admit that anything is wrong even when confronted by the evidence. For instance, see the other thread about Cuba's "medical care".
Posted by: KHarn at April 19, 2007 4:06 PM
Didn't his compatriots once almost topple this dim-wit via a coup d'etat, early in the Bush (43) administration? Sounds like it's time (or way past time) to try that again. Anyone out there in the Venezuela military listening?
Posted by: jc14 at April 19, 2007 8:05 PM
I was checking email this morning and found this article touching on Venezuela's dive into centralized power. It also speaks to gun crime in a country where only the police can legally buy guns.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070419/ts_nm/venezuela_zeppelin_dc_1
Posted by: MB at April 20, 2007 8:28 AM
Posted by: V the K at April 20, 2007 9:00 AM
It's a non-rigid airship, not a "zeppelin". Yes, there IS a diffrence.
Man, these things just won't die! I've heard a few months ago that someone in Germany was starting up an passenger airship service!
Posted by: KHarn at April 20, 2007 3:19 PM
