[Lasnetmail] Chavez: ``there is a permanent revolution in Venezuela''

Thu Jan 11 10:52:29 UTC 2007

Chavez: ``there is a
permanent revolution in Venezuela''

By Roberto Jorquera

January 10,2007 marked the
swearing in of Hugo Chavez as President of Venezuela. It was used by
Chavez to reiterate and clarify the direction that the Bolivarian
revolution would be taking during his term in office, which lasts
till 2013. In his speech Chavez stated, ``This new period of
constructing socialism has barely began''. ``Jan 10 finishes the
period of transition, this has been a transition of 3000 days (since
the last constituent assembly), we are constructing the building
which will be Venezuela's socialism'', said Chavez.

Chavez used most of his
speech to once again analyse and explain the history of the
Bolivarian revolution since his failed military coup of 1992. But he
also stressed that this will be a fundamentally new period in the
Venezuelan revolution with many changes occurring quickly. ``People
voted for a project a line of march which has been clarified as
socialism. It is socialism that people need and that the country
needs'', said Chavez.

Most importantly Chavez
emphasised the need to change the Venezuelan constitution and the
need to make the Consejos Communales (communal councils) the
fundamental and post important political decision making body in the
country. Chavez said ``we need a constituent power in Venezuela that
will draft a new constitution. This needs to have the revolutionary
injection for the Bolivarian revolution. We need this so that the
revolution never finishes'', said Chavez.

On the issue of the
constitution Chavez highlighted the need to change article 302 of the
constitution which currently states, ``The State reserves to itself,
through the pertinent organic law, and for reasons of national
expediency, the petroleum industry and other industries, operations
and goods and services which are in the public interest and of a
strategic nature''. Chavez made it clear that such an article was not
specific enough and that it needed to include other natural resources
on top of petroleum. 

Another law that was
singled out for change was the code on commerce which Chavez noted
was over 100 years old and that the last change to the law was in
1955. ``What sort of socialism can we build with such laws'', asked
Chavez. ``There are many things in the constitution that we need to
clarified and rewrite'', said Chavez.

Chavez went further to
state that, ``We have to get rid of any references to privatisation
in the constitution we are not going to privatise anything anymore''.
It was made clear during his speech that the new government will move
quickly on further state control of the main and strategic industries
of the country. 

During his speech Chavez
stressed the need to strengthen communal power in Venezuela and that
the revolution was just beginning but that no one should be worried
about this next stage. Chavez once again used Trotsky to explain his
position stating, ``Trotsky said that the revolution was permanent,
it never finishes. Lets go with Trotsky. It is Trotsky who is correct
that the revolution does not finish''.

The final third of his
speech concentrated on the political changes that needed to be
undertaken in the new period. Chavez once again stressed the need of
the importance of the United Socialist Party. ``What we need is
unity'', said Chavez. ``We are moving towards a united socialist
party, which needs to be elected from the base'', said Chavez. Also
up for attention was the need to combat bureaucracy, inefficiency and
corruption in the municipalities, which Chavez said was part of the
fourth republic but needed to be eliminated. ``The fourth republic is
still alive at the municipal level we need to dismantle it'', said
Chavez.

In relation to developing
a new ``geometry of power'' in Venezuela Chavez stressed the need for
a ``revolutionary explosion of communal power... Communal power needs
to be the number one power''. Chavez said that this was necessary as
part of ``distributing economic, social, political and military
power'' in Venezuela.

A new political structure
was envisaged  by Chavez which would not only develop and strengthen
the communal councils but also work towards developing a federation
of communal councils.``we need to create a system of cities which is
based on federations, regions which are federal... It is part of
building a socialist model which is part of a federal area that is
organised by communal power'', said Chavez..

``We need to build
communal cities, socialist cities'', said Chavez. ``They need to be
able to make diagnostic assessment of their local area'', Chavez
continued. ``We need a confederation of communal councils on a
national level. We need to transform power to the communal power.
Economic, political, power needs to be transferred to these local
bodies. So that we can work towards the communal and social state and
move away from capitalism,  we need to continue to bury it'', said
Chavez.

Another issue the Chavez
referred to was a need to efficiently use the government surplus that
is distributed the Governors and Mayors. There was also a need to
``put a cap on the public sector salaries. We need to cap the salary
of political functionaries we can not be earning 15 million
Bolivares'', said Chavez. Chavez called on all Mayors and Governors
to look at their salaries and suggest what it could be reduced to.

In conclusion Chavez said
that this was a struggle for a world without imperialism and used the
Cuban slogan Hasta la Victoria Siempre. Patria, Socialismo o Muerte,
Venceremos!

Roberto Jorquera is a
member of Direct Action and a National Coordinator of the
Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network.

______________________________________________ 
LLama Gratis a cualquier PC del Mundo. 
Llamadas a fijos y móviles desde 1 céntimo por minuto. 
http://es.voice.yahoo.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.latinlasnet.org/pipermail/lasnetmail/attachments/20070111/2134185c/attachment.htm 