Protest condemns U.S. funding of counterrevolutionary student

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City on May 15th to protest the presentation of the Milton Friedman Prize to Yon Goichochea. Inside, the leader of a counterrevolutionary Venezuelan student group received the award at a lavish $500-a-plate banquet sponsored by The Cato Institute, a right-wing think tank.

The prize—named after the founding father of neoliberal economic policy and economic advisor to Chile’s fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet—is a $500,000 award given to individuals who promote the interests of U.S. imperialism.

The protest outside the hotel was organized by the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle, and included supporters and allies of the Bolivarian Revolution from numerous organizations.

Speakers at the demonstration asserted that Goichochea did not represent Venezuelan students, and that he would use the award money to further fund attacks aimed at destabilizing the presidency of Hugo Chávez. They said Goichochea, acting as a puppet for U.S. imperial interests, seeks to reverse the tremendous gains achieved by the Bolivarian Revolution in the area of education.

Demonstrators also contended that The Cato Institute is interfering in Venezuelan affairs by attempting to fund the Venezuelan opposition movement.

In the past year, Goichochea has been heralded by groups such as The Cato Institute and pundits in the corporate press as a peaceful organizer for “liberty and freedom of speech.”

But the reality is that Goichochea is a violence-provoking, 23-year-old student mouthpiece for the deposed Venezuelan oligarchy. He is a privileged son of the old elite. He advocates a return to the pre-Bolivarian Revolution days, when education was a commodity reserved only for the wealthy.

As a student, Goichochea attended the private Catholic University. One of the few remaining private universities in Venezuela, Catholic University has a long been a training ground for the privileged class.

The student demonstrations which Goichochea has organized have been attended almost entirely by wealthy students from the private universities. These demonstrations by the children of the oligarchy have received enormous amounts of news coverage, though the participants only represent a minute fraction of the total Venezuelan student body.

The demonstrations Goichochea and his pro-imperialist stooges have organized have been violent and destructive. Goichochea and his supporters have trashed publicly funded Bolivarian educational facilities.

In one 2007 demonstration, Goichochea supporters targeted the Caracas School of Social Work. They trashed the campus, setting the building on fire and trapping some social work students inside. Goichochea and his supporters targeted the School of Social Work because the social work students overwhelmingly support Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution.

Far from championing “freedom of speech,” Goichochea and his supporters have sought to violently intimidate and silence students who support the Bolivarian Revolution.

Education in Venezuela and the U.S.: A study in contrasts

Despite Goichochea’s efforts, the Bolivarian Revolution has ushered in a new era in Venezuelan education that has led to increased access to education for all sectors of Venezuelan society.

Chávez has implemented a massive increase in social spending, particularly in education and health care. Social spending as a percentage of GDP has increased from 8.2 percent in 1998 to 13.6 percent in 2006. (source: Weisbrot, Center for Economic Policy Research)

“Bolivarian missions” such as Mission Robinson and Mission Ribas, which are programs dedicated to improving social conditions in Venezuela, have helped increase literacy and arithmetic skills in poorer urban and rural areas across the country.

Another Bolivarian mission, Mission Sucre, provides free university education to any Venezuelan, regardless of income or resources. Mission Sucre’s official statement of purpose is “to guarantee access to university education for all undergraduates and to transform the condition of those excluded from the subsystem of higher education.” Through Mission Sucre, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan students who had previously lacked access to higher education have been able to obtain a university degree.

The achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution in the area of education highlight the great benefits of socializing production to satisfy human needs instead of corporate greed. The Bolivarian education programs are funded in large part through revenues from the nationalized petroleum industry. PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, funds a large proportion of the budgets for Missions Robinson, Ribas and Sucre.

Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution are using Venezuela’s productive capacity to improve the quality of life for all Venezuelans. Rather than enriching foreign corporations, the Bolivarian Revolution is instead investing in the educational enrichment of Venezuelan students.

The Bolivarian Revolution’s focus on increasing access to education stands in stark contrast to the focus of the educational system in the U.S. While an increasing number of students in Venezuela are gaining access to higher education, the opposite is true in the U.S.

Tuition rates in the U.S. are skyrocketing. With debt loads of U.S. students, upon graduation, now averaging more than $20,000, higher education is becoming increasingly unaffordable for most working-class students. Many working-class students in the U.S are forced into the armed forces in order to afford higher education. A free university education, as is provided in Venezuela, would be a welcome reprieve for millions of U.S. students potentially facing a life of indebtedness.

The Bolivarian Revolution is daily proving that there is a clear-cut alternative to the violence, greed and destruction wrought by capitalism and U.S. imperialism. The gains achieved by the Bolivarian Revolution in areas such as education, housing and health care provide examples to the world of the potential benefits of socialism. The hundreds of thousands of recent college graduates in Venezuela who attended school through Mission Sucre are testament to the reality that a better system is possible.