September 4, 2000 Features Never Mind the Bollocks BY BILL BOISVERT Here's the new Republican Party The Battle of Philadelphia BY DAVE LINDORFF Working It BY DAVID MOBERG Will unions go all out for Gore? Black Radicals Regroup BY SALIM MUWAKKIL Detroit hosts the Black Radical Congress. Mad Sheep Scare BY TERRY J. ALLEN Farmers, scientists and the USDA square off in Vermont. News Cleaning Up BY HANS JOHNSON Missouri, Oregon consider campaign finance initiatives. Star Strike BY BEN WINTERS Actors demand a better deal. Renegade or Redeemer? BY STEVE ELLNER Hugo Chavez leads Venezuela into a new era. The New Front BY KARI LYDERSEN American anti-abortion groups crusade in Ireland. Profile BY TED KLEINE Johnny Lira is in their corner. Views Editorial BY DAVID MOBERG Big money problems. Appall-O-Meter BY DAVID FUTRELLE A Terry Laban Cartoon Dialogue: The Balkans More Conspiracy Theories? BY EDWARD S. HERMAN A Humanitarian Crusade BY DIANA JOHNSTONE Culture A Man for All Seasons BY HOWARD ZINN Francis Wheen's Marx: A Life. Interstate Rambler BY PHILIP CONNORS On the road with Larry McMurty. England's Dreaming BY JOHN GHAZVINIAN History falls off the back of a lorry. Under the Influence BY JASON SHOLL Sadie Plant writes on drugs. Vanishing Act BY JOSHUA ROTHKOPF Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man. Presidential Dance Parties BY GREG SMITHSIMON

Renegade or Redeemer? By Steve Ellner Caracas Following his re-election, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez evoked the words of Pablo Neruda, saying: "Simon Bolivar awakes every hundred years. You, the Venezuelan people, have awoken as a result of this process of revolutionary change." Hugo Chavez champions the poor and snubs U.S. interests. Credit: Rodrigo Arangua/AFP. The elections on July 30 put Chavez's popularity with the Venezuelan people, especially the poor, to a test. The economy plunged into a recession during his first year as president, and unemployment has reached 18 percent. In spite of these difficulties, Chavez received 59 percent of the vote, 3 percent more than in his initial election in 1998. In addition, his "Patriotic Pole" coalition won about 100 seats in the 165-member Congress. The "revolution" that Chavez advocates is aimed at improving the lives of the "marginal class," Venezuelans lacking steady work. After two decades of economic downturn, this group now constitutes 70 percent of the working population. Chavez has lashed out at neoliberalism, although he stops short of calling for a state-run economy. Venezuela's new constitution, which was ratified through a national referendum last December, allows private investments for the state pension system, but mandates government oversight. In addition, the new constitution opens the social security system to those working in the informal economy.   TOP HOME SUBSCRIBE MAIL   In These Times © 2000 Vol. 24, No. 20