What we are witnessing in Venezuela today is a classic demonstration of the most extreme expression of class warfare. (See my recent series on the class war in America here, here and here).
Let’s begin with two observations:
One, starting with the election of Hugo Chavez in 1999, the Venezuelan government has put an extraordinary amount of energy into improving the quality of life for its poorest members. International capitalists haven’t approved of their methods, but then, they weren’t elected by the Venezuelan people.
Check out this article from The Guardian to see statistics on the dramatic improvements brought about by the Chavez-Maduro party in Venezuela’s levels of education, health care, poverty, infant mortality and unemployment.
Two, Americans in general, and Christians in particular, need to break out of our simple-minded binary (either this or that) way of thinking. The world is more complicated. It rarely offers only two possibilities, e.g. it’s either this way or the highway; it’s always America against the world; vote either Republican or Democrat; you either support another American coup in Venezuela or you are a communist who thinks there is nothing wrong with Maduro.
Christians must think differently!
As citizens of God’s kingdom, we know that there is always another alternative. We are obligated to look at this world through the radically alternative lens of Jesus Christ and his gospel. This requires nuance, an understanding of alternatives, and stepping outside of the conventional “wisdom.”
So, an alternative option in this current situation is opposition to any and every U.S. attempt to manipulate and control the internal politics of a foreign country.
It doesn’t mean that we are blessing everything that the Bolivarian Revolution has done in Venezuela, but it must mean that as followers of Jesus (a) we applaud the government’s attempts to prioritize the needs of the poorest members of Venezuelan society, and (b) we oppose any actions intended to reestablish domination by wealthy elites inside the country and/or foreign, corporate powers like the U.S.A.
Jesus Christ never bludgeoned anyone into following him. HE is our one and only model in life, not the realpolitik of American “strategic interests.” Using force, deception, or cheating to get our way is not the way of Jesus Christ.
Anyone who wants to understand this world with the mind of Christ; to embrace his/her role as a citizen of God’s kingdom, now living in America; to grasp Jesus’ call to live lives of peaceableness and non-violence, will always oppose, in words and actions, any American attempt to spread more violence, war and social unrest by forcing its will onto other people in the world for its own selfish purpose.
Below are several brief videos offering a picture of the widespread, popular support Maduro has among the poor of Venezuela.
Here and here are two longer videos (about 30 minutes each) offering more detailed discussion of what is happening in Venezuela from long-time students of Venezuelan politics at The Real News.
