Panopticon posted:

Scrree posted:

there are trots in venezuela and theyre against the revolution lol

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12028

if there is corruption, it should be opposed

either way this article doesn't really give enough details to determine much of anything.

Antonio Pestana, chief of Venezuela's farming association, indicated that Venezuela’s food crisis was a simple issue related to the underutilization of available ag land, telling reporters last month that only 25 percent of agricultural land is actually being farmed in Venezuela.

As Vice News reports, President Nicolás Maduro signed a new law last week that requires "all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how" to work in agricultural fields on demand. The new law mandates that citizens can be required to work in the agricultural sector for a period of 60 days which can be extended "if the circumstances require it."

So what do you do if you’re the President of a Socialist government with mounting civil unrest and growing political opposition seeking your ouster via a recall referendum? Well you enslave your entire nation, of course.

Despite holding itself out as a town crier for market angst, transcripts from Zero Hedge internal chat sessions provided by Lokey reveal a focus on Web traffic by the Durdens. Headlines are debated and a relentless publishing schedule maintained to keep readers sated. Lokey said the emphasis on profit—and what he considered political bias at the site—motivated him to quit.

He pointed to the wealth of the Durdens as a factor. Ivandjiiski has a multimillion-dollar mansion in Mahwah, N.J., and Backshall lives in a plush San Francisco suburb—not exactly reflections of Pitt's anticapitalist icon. “What you are reading at Zero Hedge is nonsense. And you shouldn’t support it,” Lokey wrote in an e-mail. “Two guys who live a lifestyle you only dream of are pretending to speak for you.”

Lokey adds: “Durden lives in a castle. If you’ve seen Fight Club, you know how ironic that is.”

A former “director of contributor success” at website Seeking Alpha, Lokey said he joined Zero Hedge for $6,000 a month and received an annual bonus of $50,000, earning more than $100,000 last year. His salary helped pay the rent on a “very nice” condominium on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island, he said. Despite the compensation, he contends that he left because he disagreed with the site's editorial vision. “Reality checks are great. But Zero Hedge ceased to serve that public service years ago,” Lokey wrote. “They care what generates page views. Clicks. Money.”

Zero Hedge founder Ivandjiiski defended the site, adding that it's designed to be a for-profit entity. “Ultimately, the website makes money, and it’s profitable, which is also why we’ve never had to seek outside funding or any outside money—our only revenue is from advertising, always has been since day one,” he said. “Obviously, every publisher’s mission is to maximize revenue and page views, and we think that we do it in a way that is appropriate.”

mediumpig posted:

So how is this gonna end up guys? My understanding is that while Maduro is in some sense unpopular the opposition isn't doing much better. Is there any way for Maduro to just ride this out? Or is it gonna keep getting worse until it comes to a head?

Also, I can't really tell what to make of the current opposition protests, is that mostly propaganda or are there actually a lot of people in the streets (even if just in Caracas)?

Maduro is not unpopular. He, and his party the PSUV, have been gaining in popularity. Also, we are not concerned with the numbers of the protesters, but their class position. What class do they belong to, what class do they (and their actions) serve, etc? From observing the political parties in Venezuela that organize the protests, to the constant racist braying of the American media, and the neighborhoods that the protests mostly occur in we can answer these questions.

The situation will not get "better" or "worse", it will remain this way as long as the comprador class exists and has power and the support of the American empire. Maduro and PSUV have no good options. They can appease the compradors and initiate "structural reforms" but nothing will ever be enough, at least until the working class is taught a lesson in blood for their disobedience to America (i.e. Chile). They can expropriate the capital, eliminate the compradors and their power base, but that would likely provoke a bigger and bloodier response, a possible shooting war (or "rebellion").

Support for Chavismo Climbs in Venezuela

By RACHAEL BOOTHROYD-ROJAS

Caracas, April 13, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Support for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and the allied leftist coalition, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), has risen to 35% – up from 27% in January – according to a new poll.

Carried out by independent think tank Hinterlaces, the survey shows that the ruling Chavista parties – which share the same voting ticket – continue to be Venezuela’s most popular electoral option despite an ongoing economic crisis.

Additionally, the poll puts support for the entirety of Venezuela’s opposition parties six points below at 29%, which includes 7% for Democratic Action, 7% for the Popular Will party, 6% for the Justice First party, and 6% for the opposition MUD coalition as a whole.

Nonetheless, a significant 36% of Venezuelans interviewed did not sympathize with any national party.

In its conclusions based on the poll, Hinterlaces asserts that the PSUV “continues to be the main political, social, and cultural force in the country,” while Democratic Action and the Popular Will party have managed to “consolidate themselves as the principal parties of the opposition, displacing Justice First” (PJ).

However, support for the Popular Will party appears to have dropped from 8.6% in January, while backing for Democratic Action has risen by 1%.

The pollster attributed the rise of the two opposition parties in the MUD to the “fall” of PJ leader Henrique Capriles Radonski, due to “his repeated setbacks as promoter of the failed strategies carried forward by the opposition from 2013, and for the growing unpopularity of his administration as governor of Miranda state”.

1580 people were interviewed as part of the poll, which has a 2.5% margin of error.

The survey results come on the back of another poll carried out by centre-right independent think tank Datanalisis in March, which put President Nicolas Maduro’s popularity ratings at 24.1%, according a report by Torino Capital. The figure represents an increase of 6% since November 2016, and places Maduro above other regional leaders such as Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (21%), de-facto Brazilian President Michel Temer (10%), and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (23%).

Also: https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13061