For now, the flag and the blog are my weapons

blogs.salon.com By Miguel Octavio

For days I have been pondering on how to answer Ken Hagler on the comment he made on his site on my story “Woke up in a dictatorship today”. Ken’s comment was direct and simple, and coincides with my gut feeling when I see what is happening around me:   “I think at some point, perhaps now, the people of Venezuela should stop relying entirely on protests and exercise their right to "vote 'no' with the weapon of their choice."   You see, I have always seen myself as a pacifist. Never shot a gun. Never considered reacting or acting violently in my life. During the last year, I have gone to marches, demonstrations, and protests believing that the sheer numbers of people involved would convince the Government that the only way out of our crisis was some form of an electoral solution. It is in the Constitution, which Chavez himself created. That is what Constitutions are for, they are there, you have to respect them, and you look for the protections that it provides for you, even if you don’t like the Constitution. But it has not worked. The control that Hugo Chavez has on what are supposed to be the independent powers: the electoral commission, the Supreme Court and the National Assembly are such that we are further away from any election at this point when we were on Nov. 4th., when we submitted the petition to have the consultative referendum.   I also believed that the OAS mediated negotiating table, while useless in the end, would keep Chavez in check. It would stop him from going beyond what civilized rules call for. At that time it appeared as if Chavez and his Government were at least afraid of international opinion, which they had masterfully managed to their advantage. But Chavez is simply a user. Whether it is “the people”, his collaborators, international opinion or even his wife, Chavez uses people, gets the most out of them to his advantage and then disposes them at will. And he moves on.   And I marched, I blogged, I e-mailed, I chanted, I screamed and I did all of the things that I thought would inevitably force Chavez to come to terms with the fact that his mandate has been cancelled. He is no longer popular. His supporters are a minority across all social strata. The revolution is dead, it was simply not viable under his primitive and incompetent leadership.   But what has not been viable was my belief in decency, fairness and rationality. That is not how Hugo Chavez’ minds works. So, instead of the rosy electoral solution we have slipped further and further into this violent dictatorship. And if last week it was the shock to see the deaths of dissident military officers, followed by the order to capture the two most important opposition leaders, this week it is the shock of huge C4 bombs exploding at diplomatic missions four blocks from my home.   And thus we come to Ken’s suggestion to stop the protest and start relying on our weapon of choice. And I do want to march to the presidential palace. And I hate it everytime our marches are cancelled or stopped because Chavez’ violent supporters are there waiting for us. And I think it is time to prove to the country and the world that there is no space that can be banned to us. But at the same time, I believe that the only reason we are right, the only reason we are truly superior, the only reason why we are the honorable and decent opposition to an outlaw Government, is simply that we refuse to go and fight under their own terms. I prefer to blog tonight and then go to tomorrow’s march with my flag and whistle and get shot at by Chavez’ supporters, than to go armed and shoot somebody. Maybe that is why we are losing, if indeed we are. But I still feel we will win in the end, because we are indeed morally right, we are morally better. We have proven it!   Will this change if we start getting shot at daily? I don’t know, and I hope I never find out......

Comments in response to this post: Please find some time and post in The Guardian's Talkboards.

I sometimes post links to your blog. I'm sure other regular readers of your blog (by far, one of the best on Latin American issues) might be interested too.

talk.guardian.co.uk Jotavitch [jotavitch@worldcrossing.com] • 2/25/03; 7:12:55 PM

I agree with your strong and deeply felt post, Miguel. At long last the uneven fight is beginning to pay off, as more and more people see Chávez as he really is. Val [val@dorta.com] • 2/26/03; 6:43:20 AM

There are two options left for the opposition, Miguel. Option One: Civil Disobedience; it worked for Ghandi and Martin Luther King. What it requires is that opposition marchers must be willing to put their lives in immediate danger. For instance, marching to Miraflores knowing full well that armed Chavistas are there waiting to kill you. Besides the obvious danger of being killed, there is another caveat. It may not further illegitamize Chavez. This is because any violence visited upon opposition marchers would not be perpetrated by personnel in government uniforms. So Chavez could be able to deny that his government is culpable. Ghandi and Martin Luther King had the "benefit" of being assaulted by forces of the government. Therefore the media ran stories and film footage of peaceful protesters being beaten or killed by soldiers and policemen. This led to the de-legitimization of the policiy of segregation in the US, and also the policy of Great Britian toward its then colony of India. Opposition marchers will not have this advantage in Venezuela. Thus the option of Civil Disobedience could easily fail. The second option is for the opposition to meet force with force. In either case, Civil Disobedience or Use of Force, there is going to be bloodshed on the road to a resolution of the crisis in Venezuela. Gary Duncan [gduncan19@yahoo.com] • 2/26/03; 9:17:43 AM

Unfortunately I agree Gary, however, much like in April of last year, even if it is not soldiers or cops, the world will be watching and taping and everyone will know who they are, it should not make a difference. I think we have shown that we are willing to put ourselves in danger in the cases where marches were on the move before the violent Chavistas arrived. We(I) have been shot at three times so far. And the shots came, in every instance, at the same time the National Guard was using tear gas on us. It will happen again and I think it will be the magnitude of the bloodshed what will shock the world. In my mind it was the magnitude of the bloodshed which shocked Venezuela last April and made Chavez resign, the world was simply not watching. Miguel Octavio [moctavio@bbo.com.ve] • 2/26/03; 9:49:38 AM

Miguel, you are brave. Keep marching, keep blogging. This is a struggle. And as such, there are no easy solutions. Violence is always too easily opted for because it is just that, easy. We know who has the most guns, and it is not the people. This phase of the conflict, the arrests, bombings and continuing violence is going to be the hardest. This is the means by which the tyrant hopes to silence you. Get a louder whistle. Get a bigger drum. Paint yourself in the flag. In the end, you will win. Because you are right. Because you have the truth on your side...and the truth will set you free.--scott JS Barnard [jsb@earthdome.com] • 2/26/03; 11:12:22 AM

I agree with Scott. We are going through the hardest part of this struggle, but we have to endure and keep trying and trying the Democratic path. Look at Chile, with the most feroucious repression and dictatorship, they went to elections and at the end Democracy won. We can't abandon the streets, we can't let this Mother FFFF become what he wants to be, he is not already because WE the majority of the people haven't let him. We have to keep the negotiation table very much alive, opossition just have to find its way united and we will. We can't abandon Venezuela and just leave like cubans did letting Fidel do as he pleased with a resignated society. The truth is on my side. five5546@yahoo.com Symetric [symetric@ziplip.com] • 2/26/03; 11:49:17 AM

I think someone should start a campaign to donate tens of thousands of video cameras to the Venezuelans. Ron [ron@pdxnag.com] • 2/26/03; 12:33:56 PM

Thank to all of you for your comments, indeed what is happening here is quite amazing. As to Ron's suggestion on the video cameras, it is already happening. TV stations have shown amateur videos showing the excesses of state sponsored violence. Such was the case of the pro-Chavez people shooting at us in Los Proceres and in the "Valles del Tuy". Thanks again. There is a very good comment today by Francisco Toro in Caracas Chronicles (link on the left of my page) on those that say the opposition also abuses, in which he reminds people that Government's have a responsability towrds ALL its citizens. Anyway, read it he expresses it very well. Miguel Octavio [moctavio@bbo.com.ve] • 2/26/03; 2:04:37 PM

Plus a lot of us are film makers and we are trying to do our best work with documentaries and interviews... Soda Cáustica [causticasoda@yahoo.com] • 2/26/03; 4:52:03 PM

Or amateur reporters...like me....not like Francisco toro, who is a REAL reporter. Miguel Octavio [moctavio@bbo.com.ve] • 2/26/03; 5:59:08 PM