YOUR SAY
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
What can we learn from Venezuela's charity campaign?
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i`d like to add something i think is important. i was in the long haul moving business as an independent for 17 years. one of the moves that has stayed with me came out of la going to the south bronx. it was 2 knock out beautiful young puerto rican girls who had been transfered by the law firm they worked for to la to work in their la offices after showing considerable skill in the ny offices. they lived in a typical la condo. all doors facing the pool. they hated it, hence the move back to the bronx. i took them to 147th street. the building they moved into was the only one still standing on the block. they were happy to be home. most middle class people would be terrified to spend a minute there. the point is, these are vibrant communities filled with people who choose to live there. i can say, from personal experience, bed-sty and williamsburg in brooklyn are the same and the vast majority of the people in these communities are damn good people. don`t think we need to go in and save them. they don`t need saving, they need good schools, good roads and basic services. by the way, i`m 100% irish.
i was raised in nyc and have a working knowledge of all parts of the city. the south bronx has always had huge problems. fact is, even if us money wasn`t going to fund wars, there still would be no investment in the south bronx. there never has been. i applaud chavez. i have more respect for him than i do for the people running this country. viva chavez!
Great program. Chavez is really hitting the USA where it hurts, in terms of the poor. He also sent help to New Orleans disaster. This is great aid, crossing all boundaries. More power to Venezuela - rich countires use their power to promote national interest through the World Bank and AusAID. This is enpowerment, not charity. Bernadette Connole aid worker. Sydney
Fascinating documentary! What was of particular interest was that your reporter chose to interview someone from the Heritage Foundation, http://www.heritage.org/ an ultra conservative lobby group based in Washington. This organisation argues that there is no real poverty in the USA and denounces welfare support, whilst advocating lower taxes.
Chavez' actions in the Bronx are undoubtably motivated by politics rather than a general concern for the people there. The poor of the Bronx are certainly much better off than the poor of Venezuela. I met a New Yorker in South America travelling off his NY State unemployment benefits. I don't think the Venezuelan poor have access to such entitlements.
I suppose we could have learnt how easy President George W Bush made it for a leftie like President Hugo Chavez to show him up as an excessively dishonest and dangerous right wing lunatic.
Clearly, Mr. Chavez is scoring political points over the US with the South Bronx situation here. However 2 points, firstly, how can such poverty of 'Dickensian' proportions exist in the 'richest' nation on the planet, in an economy that (in liberal economic terms)promises a 'trickle down' of wealth from top-bottom, ensuring that no US citizen has to live in conditions of depravity (let alone entire communities)? The South Bronx is just one example of many US communities currently existing in 'depraved' conditions only 'thought' to occur in the third world. secondly, why does the US government continue to abandon communities like the South Bronx? To Chavez's credit, i do think he is genuine with his social programs at home and abroad (although such 'US' programs as this one are clearly politically motivated and designed to make the US government look foolish and uncaring, which they are, so what? They tried to kill him for no good reason..) there is nothing to suggest that he is just another Stalin or Mao either, using popular struggles to further a personal agenda (at the expense of his people, that is... other than scoring political points against the US). He is ambitious, but i think he genuinely wants to bridge the economic divide in Venezuela with a fairer economic system than the current neo-liberal one that presides over the global economy. I think it takes a lot of courage for a South American leader like Chavez to stand up to the 'monolithic entity', considering the brutal treatment of leaders like himself, and their supporters, by the US and their proxy regimes in South America from the 50s-70s..takes intestinal fortitude IMO, so good on him..
it's totally political!
At least part of Chavez motivation is undoubtedly political. However a) the US govt is rightfully being shamed over its inaction and severely skewed priorities b) help is being given to some of the most hopeless people in the US. So it's all good.
Probably nothing? He\'s just doing it to spite Bush and yes its working