Chavez of Venezuela makes Antisemitic Speech

[Semsem]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull



Chavez accused of anti-Semitic remarks
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARACAS, Venezuela



A Jewish rights organization accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of making anti-Semitic comments during a Christmas Eve speech.

The Los Angeles, California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center demanded an apology from Chavez in a statement issued Wednesday, saying such remarks have long been used to persecute Jews.

"Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ ... took all the world's wealth for themselves," Chavez said in the Dec. 24 speech.

"In your words, the two central arguments of anti-Semitism emerge ... the accusation that Jews killed Jesus (and) associating them with wealth," the Center said in a letter sent to Chavez. "Our center strongly condemns your anti-Semitic declarations."

Chavez did not did not mention the Jewish people explicitly in the speech, which was broadcast on national television. A spokeswoman for the president's office said it had no immediate response to the complaint.

During the speech, Chavez also praised Jesus Christ as a revolutionary hero, saying he was the world's first true socialist.

The letter was signed by Shimon Samuels, the Center's international relations director, and Sergio Widder, a Latin American representative based in Argentina.

They said the Center would urge the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to "freeze the process" of incorporating Venezuela into the Mercosur trade bloc unless Chavez makes a public apology.

Widder said Thursday that the group had yet to receive a response. He said even if Chavez had not intended to refer to Jews, the possibility for that interpretation was cause for concern.

"The words of a head of state should be cautious," Widder said.

The Jewish rights organization has expressed concerns about other comments by Chavez in the past. Chavez, a fiery speaker who says he is leading Venezuela toward socialism, has said he wants to have good relations will all religious groups.

Venezuela's president is known for speaking candidly. On one occasion he used an epithet in referring to US President George W. Bush, and he once suggested US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was illiterate, offering to send her materials to learn how to read and write.

Chavez's barbs are usually aimed at opposition leaders or US officials, but he has also criticized Latin American leaders such as Mexican President Vicente Fox and former Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez.

[Mediocrates]

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[varian]

Chavez is not totally anti-Semitic. He seems to have an affinity for Marx. Actually I prefer Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo to Karl.

[takeo]

Chavez has survived a US-sponsored coup, he has survived several elections which were absolutely free and fair, even the opposition had to recognise it, he survived a strike not organised by workers but by owners (quite a particular strike!), the opposition uses every means at their disposal even telelvision-networks to campaign against him, but nevertheless he remained loyal to his democratic principles. This is puzzling America, they hate him, he turned a loyal sattelite state into a pain in the a*se... he wants independance for Latin America, he wants to end the gap between the poor and the rich, and best of all other Latin American countries like Bolivia, Uruguay, Brasil and Argentina are following his example. He is my personal hero!
Of course one can expect him to be called "anti-semite" (by the Wiesenthal-centre, which proved already in the past to prefere fidelity to US-interests over fighting real antisemitism in the world), and in a few months perhaps questions will be raised about his "support for terrorists" and in a few months he will possess WMD's, and he will rape little children, and worship the devil, and steam will come from his ears...

[Illuminatus]

a few excerpts form Switzerland's ISN:

[..Venezuela is experiencing a trend of voter abstention that has reached alarming levels. Now, with under a year before the next presidential elections, the government must work to establish trust in the electoral process or risk certain, and perhaps violent, social instability that comes in the wake of a government that represents a significant minority of voters.

The president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Jorge Rodriguez, announced on Thursday that Venezuela's presidential elections would be held on 3 December 2006. That announcement came less than three weeks after Rodriguez admitted that 75 per cent of the electorate had failed to vote in recent parliamentary elections.

Tens of millions of Venezuelans are registered to vote, but less than three million cast ballots in general elections on 4 December. Days before the poll, all major opposition candidates pulled out of the race and urged Venezuelan voters to boycott an electoral process they said would not be free and fair.

In Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s first presidential victory in December 1998, he won 56 per cent of the popular vote, with a voter turnout of 64 per cent. Eight years later, it is clear that the majority of Venezuelans who once supported Chavez no longer even bother to vote, clearly viewing the country’s voting process as a product of corruption and manipulation.
.
.
.
Proclaiming an autocracy could very well spark a civil war. A domestic conflict even partially resembling a civil war in Venezuela would unravel any plans Chavez has for uniting South America under his leadership. Even if it is an illusion, Chavez wants to maintain the perception of peace and prosperity in Venezuela - proof that his Socialism for the 21st Century works. As such, democracy is allowed to limp along, as long as it keeps its distance.

Chavez cannot deny that his representative democracy no longer represents the Venezuelan voting public - while he may be able to cajole his neighbors, voters have made their position clear by refusing to show up at the polling stations. ..]

Chavez intends to change the constitution so that he can rule for the next 35 years. When your in power for that long - Fascism, Total Control and anti-semitism comes naturally.

read the rest of ISN's (long) analysis here:
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=14022

^_^

[takeo]

a few excerpts form Switzerland's ISN:

[..Venezuela is experiencing a trend of voter abstention that has reached alarming levels. Now, with under a year before the next presidential elections, the government must work to establish trust in the electoral process or risk certain, and perhaps violent, social instability that comes in the wake of a government that represents a significant minority of voters.

The president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Jorge Rodriguez, announced on Thursday that Venezuela's presidential elections would be held on 3 December 2006. That announcement came less than three weeks after Rodriguez admitted that 75 per cent of the electorate had failed to vote in recent parliamentary elections.

Tens of millions of Venezuelans are registered to vote, but less than three million cast ballots in general elections on 4 December. Days before the poll, all major opposition candidates pulled out of the race and urged Venezuelan voters to boycott an electoral process they said would not be free and fair.

In Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s first presidential victory in December 1998, he won 56 per cent of the popular vote, with a voter turnout of 64 per cent. Eight years later, it is clear that the majority of Venezuelans who once supported Chavez no longer even bother to vote, clearly viewing the country’s voting process as a product of corruption and manipulation.
.
.
.
Proclaiming an autocracy could very well spark a civil war. A domestic conflict even partially resembling a civil war in Venezuela would unravel any plans Chavez has for uniting South America under his leadership. Even if it is an illusion, Chavez wants to maintain the perception of peace and prosperity in Venezuela - proof that his Socialism for the 21st Century works. As such, democracy is allowed to limp along, as long as it keeps its distance.

Chavez cannot deny that his representative democracy no longer represents the Venezuelan voting public - while he may be able to cajole his neighbors, voters have made their position clear by refusing to show up at the polling stations. ..]

Chavez intends to change the constitution so that he can rule for the next 35 years. When your in power for that long - Fascism, Total Control and anti-semitism comes naturally.

read the rest of ISN's (long) analysis here:
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=14022

^_^

What nonsense, so far he survived 7 elections, most of them with high voter turnout, and one referendum which was called for by the opposition.
Less people showed up to vote because the opposition boycotted the elections, doing so they already gave victory to Chavez, and because they only voted last year. They know they were going to loose, and so they decided to destabilise Venezuelan democracy instead of participating to it. It's only one of their tactics, another one was to organise an American endorsed military coup against the democratically elected president, an old tric which proved to be succesful in Chile, where the democratically elected president allende was overthrown by the American supported bloody tyrant Pinochet. Similar to Pinochet, one of the first decisions of the military leaders were to arrest all Chavez-supporters. However the people of Venezuela took to the streets and chased the military regime away. Later the opposition (nevertheless their help to the military insurgeants they were not arrested by Chavez, who is a dedicated democrat), tried violent strikes, and even later they organised a referendum, which they lost... so now tell me which side is on the side of democracy and which one on the side of darkness and oppression... And usual, the US is on the side of oppression...




This are the results of the referendum last year, assisted by international observers, and called for by the opposition:

Officials from the National Electoral Council said that, with 94% of ballots counted, Mr Chavez had 58% of the vote.

Opponents rejected the outcome as a fraud, insisting they had won.

But former US President Jimmy Carter endorsed the results, saying they tallied with the findings of his referendum monitoring team.

It now seems clear the opposition desire to force Mr Chavez from office failed as previous attempts did, the BBC's James Menendez in Caracas says.

There was a large turnout for the vote, in which Venezuelans were asked whether Mr Chavez should serve out the remaining two-and-a-half years of his term.

Had he lost, fresh presidential elections would have been called in 30 days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3569012.stm

[varian]

"To ignore the abstention trend could bring Venezuela to the brink of violence. Venezuelans would be forced to act, and Chavez - a supporter of Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution - may find himself with a revolution on his own doorstep."

Above is another quote from the article posted by Illuminatus. This doesn't sound like all is well to me. Leftists always promise big, but deliver little. This sounds like Hugo is caught in another leftist paradigm and can't get out. More "Left Illusions."

[takeo]

"To ignore the abstention trend could bring Venezuela to the brink of violence. Venezuelans would be forced to act, and Chavez - a supporter of Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution - may find himself with a revolution on his own doorstep."

Above is another quote from the article posted by Illuminatus. This doesn't sound like all is well to me. Leftists always promise big, but deliver little. This sounds like Hugo is caught in another leftist paradigm and can't get out. More "Left Illusions."

What does this quote say? Nothing at all, empty words, because you run out of arguments to defend your aggressive and undemocratic policy in Latin America. Chavez has been democratically elected several times, and so the US has to accept his policy and accept the independance of Venezuela, and the US should also accept the independance of all Latin American countries, and end its annoying interference. Since Chavez took power poverty has been seriously reduced in venezuela and the economy has expanded, and that's what counts, not empty words.

[KettleWhistle]

He is my personal hero!

Given what he has to say, of course he is!

"Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ ... took all the world's wealth for themselves," Chavez said in the Dec. 24 speech.

[takeo]

Given what he has to say, of course he is!

Read the link provided in this thread, Chavez is not an anti-semite, this is all you can say? Pathetic and low...

[KettleWhistle]

I'll take his words over yours:

"Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ ... took all the world's wealth for themselves," Chavez said in the Dec. 24 speech.

[Illuminatus]

In a major speech to his nation on Christmas eve, Chavez says:

[.. Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ ... took all the world's wealth for themselves ..]

If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, eats like a duck, looks like a duck.......it Must be a duck (paraphrasing Abe Lincoln).

[Mil]

Takeo, if Che-Hugo Chavez-Chegevara would be reading your exact comments on this forum - he would find you more then just amuzing.

[Mediocrates]

Arrogance and sabre rattling seems to be a disease of those countries that can afford it. With crude at $62/bbl it's easy for Chavez to make noisy speeches. He IS part of OPEC after all and I'm sure they meet once in a while over port and cigars to chat about the Jews they're planning to kill.

[minusthejihad]

Luckily, Danny Glover, House-Nigga-Accuser-Day-O-Harry Bellafonte, and Cornell West are there by his side making sure he keeps his hatred limited to Jews and white Americans.