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Popular gov't meets challenge

Venezuela mobilizes after rains

By Deirdre Griswold

Venezuela is digging out of its worst natural disaster of the century. The number of people killed in the flooding and mudslides set off by days of torrential rain is not yet known but is sure to be in the thousands. President Hugo Chavez says at least 140,000 people have been left homeless. And the rain is still falling.

The greatest devastation is along Venezuela's Caribbean coast, where beautiful hotels dominate the beach areas and the shacks of poor people climb the hillsides. The flooding and mudslides hit both mercilessly, but the poor always suffer the most when their flimsy homes are destroyed. They can't jump on a plane or yacht and go elsewhere, as tourists or vacationers can. They have few options.

This disaster is an enormous challenge for the new Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez. A military officer elected in a landslide just a few years after being jailed for trying to overthrow the government of the oligarchy, Chavez has aroused the hopes of the masses in his 10 months in office. Venezuela's oil reserves have brought vast riches to the Rockefeller empire and considerable wealth to the nation's oligarchy for much of this century, but the masses have grown poorer and poorer. They want profound change.

Military mobilizes to help people

Unlike in Turkey when the earthquake struck a month ago, the Venezuelan military under Chavez's command has quickly mobilized to help the victims of this disaster. The Navy brought its ships right to shore to pick up survivors. The Army is bulldozing through the tons of mud that fill lowland towns. Military helicopters are performing rescues and dropping food to the thousands stranded.

Chavez has announced that military bases and public land--including in the interior of the country, which was not affected by the floods--will be available to rebuild communities. A large shift of population away from the endangered coastal areas is being proposed.

This disaster can be the spur to building popular organizations of the masses like those that exist in Cuba. Every neighborhood, every village needs to take stock of where people are, who is missing, who has been found in another town, what emergency needs exist, and then communicate the information to the central government.

Popular committees can make sure that the most vulnerable are helped ahead of those with more resources. They can also keep merchants from jacking up their prices at the expense of the masses. They can help make orderly and fair any large relocation of people.

Cuba has already sent hundreds of doctors to help with this emergency. But despite any aid from the outside, this disaster will strain Venezuela's resources to the utmost.

If the people know, however, that what they are rebuilding will be theirs, that it will not fall eventually into the hands of profiteers and opportunists, there are no limits to how hard they will work to restore the country.

Global warming

This tragedy comes hard on the heels of a similar disaster in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch. There have been devastating floods in India. Bangladesh suffered even more than usual from flooding this year.

All signs point to serious climate changes caused by global warming--the result of the accumulation of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels. This comes mostly from the highly industrialized imperialist countries that consume the bulk of the world's resources.

The United States itself has just experienced the two warmest years of the century. There was widespread flooding in the Carolinas as well as a record number of tornados, which are also linked to the violent weather fueled by warmer temperatures.

It is in the interests of people everywhere that the U.S. reorient its formidable scientific establishment from the development of frightful new weapons systems to a serious attack on these burgeoning new problems. But don't expect the government to do this. It is a government of, by and for the exploiting corporations. When it looks at Venezuela, it worries only that the social process unleashed by Chavez could take the path of Cuba.

This is a prospect that many Venezuelans would cheer.

Copyright © 1999 workers.org