#1
Post rating: +++++
A story just broke about a Venezuelan phone company sending mass texts to people telling them to take to the streets and remove the PSUV from power

"Every two hours the company Movistar sends millions of messages to (subscribers) via telephone and internet," Maduro said of the Spanish company.
Spanish-owned mobile phone operator Movistar faces an investigation by Venezuela's socialist government after it was found to be sending mass text messages to subscribers in support of mobilization efforts by right-wing forces in the country, according to President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela faces increasingly violent mobilizations by anti-government protesters, who have looted private businesses, attacked pediatric hospitals and public housing projects, and disrupted life in a country already struggling with Washington-backed efforts toward “regime change.”

"Every two hours the company Movistar sends millions of messages to (subscribers) via telephone and internet" in support of the so-called “mother of all marches” launched by the right-wing opposition, Maduro said in a televised broadcast.

“Your kids are playing (mobile) video games and ‘march, April 19, lets go against Maduro,' appears,” he said.

“Movistar de Venezuela joined the coup forces and that's not its job, they should know this,” Maduro said, adding that more than US$100 million has been invested in efforts to mobilize citizens to answer calls by opposition forces to challenge his government.

"I denounce (Movistar) and have asked for an investigation," Maduro said. "They joined the call for a coup against the country," he added, noting the unprecedented nature of the Spanish telecom company's spam attack on Venezuelans.

Adding that the Bolivarian government had recently created a cyberwar unit to deal with online espionage and hacking threats, Maduro noted how “"Venezuela has been subjected to a tremendous cyberwar by the media and by the internet."

The company has not responded to media requests for comment.

The country's authorities have accused the U.S. government, through its State Department, of backing attempts to overthrow the government and undo the gains of the Bolivarian Revolution ahead of Venezuela's 2018 presidential elections.



http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Movistar-Spams-Venezuela-Mobile-Phones-With-Opposition-Texts-20170421-0021.html

Gee uhh where did I hear this one before? Sounds kinda familiar



On September 20, 2009, thousands of Cubans gathered at Revolution Plaza in Havana for Colombian rocker Juanes' "Peace without Borders" concert. It was the largest public gathering in Cuba since the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998. Under the watchful gaze of a giant sculpture of revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Miami-based Juanes promised music aimed at "turning hate into love."

But for the ZunZuneo team, the concert was a perfect opportunity to test the political power of their budding social network. In the weeks before, Bernheim's firm, using the phone list, sent out a half a million text messages in what it called "blasts," to test what the Cuban government would do.

The team hired Alen Lauzan Falcon, a Havana-born satirical artist based in Chile, to write Cuban-style messages. Some were mildly political and comical, others more pointed. One asked respondents whether they thought two popular local music acts out of favor with the government should join the stage with Juanes. Some 100,000 people responded — not realizing the poll was used to gather critical intelligence.

Paula Cambronero, a researcher for Mobile Accord, began building a vast database about the Cuban subscribers, including gender, age, "receptiveness" and "political tendencies." USAid believed the demographics on dissent could help it target its other Cuba programs and "maximize our possibilities to extend our reach."



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/us-cuban-twitter-zunzuneo-stir-unrest


#2
Post rating: +++++
I betchya there was one dude in the '90s that got laughed out of his CIA New Initiatives meeting when he suggested cellphones are going to be the future of state control. Now who's laughing.

And I betchya he just loves how easy it is to manipulate messaging. All the old farts at the CIA always talk about the good ol days where they had to design convoluted plans planting agents all over the place to influence different organizations, politicians, businesses etc. Now Paul just presses a button and BOOM... you can do whatever the fuck you want. cell phones, twitter, drones, facebook, brown moses, rhizzone, jon stewart. it's all too easy these days.
#3
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after inserting these variables into my historical materialism prediction matrix, mostly factoring for maximum irony, there's a 98% chance that it'll be revealed within the next decade that the united states straight-up hacks the next venezuelan election
#4
Black Belt
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Eta for demands that American election observers be sent to watch for Russian 'interference'?
#5
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lol I'm surprised I haven't heard that Maduro is Putin's b*tch yet. Nut I'm sure I'll hear it in the next 24 hours.
#6
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ask and ye shall receive http://www.newsweek.com/putin-steps-bolster-venezuelas-dictator-maduro-579095
#7
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he's just a straight up a "dictator" and venezuela's government is the "regime" in that article lmao
#8
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i searched the author's twitter and as a latin american think tank expert he's made a million posts about authoritarian hellscape venezuela and absolutely zero "0" about honduras hmmm
#9
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Tbh suspending the parliament can seem like dictatorship to somebody not paying attention to Venezuela. But being a "dictator" has been a regular charge for the head of state for like 15 years now. The best way to prove that the powers Maduro has taken are legitimate are to prove the foreign collaboration of his right opposition.

Oh wait these are US liberals we're talking about and we're talking about democracy in a darker skinned, left wing government.
#10
Black Belt
Post rating: +
The Venezuelan parliament was suspended because multiple members are accused of electoral fraud in the elections. Brits will let 20 some PMs do it and not care but it's a serious attempt at subverting the gains Venezuela has made for itself with class struggle and communalization.
#11
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chinese companies will build you a better mobile phone network for faster & cheaper, and not then use it to overthrow your government or suspend service to sanction & destabilise your country.
i dont think the world is boycotting & divesting from the West fast enough

i hope we can have a decent discussion on imperialism soon with up to date info on trade patterns of the global south with the West vs Brics, and towards a better theory of imperialism with an accounting for effects & value of 'social imperialism' of brics/socialist countries on the world system
#12
Post rating: ~
#13
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In classic right wing death squad fashion, assassination of psuv leaders

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13072

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11915
#14
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#15
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lol that needs a lizard people of new york treatment for sure
#16
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https://socialistworker.org/2017/05/03/against-venezuelas-authoritarian-turn

Just read the URL tbh and you get the picture
#17
UNUSUALY COOL
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since they've been saying Venezuela is "authoritarian" for years that just means that it's reached a full 180 angle of attack and is now very good.
#18
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +++++
they're also salty because Fifth Republic Movement/United Socialist Party instituted probably the best possible policy toward local Trot groups, meaning they sent people around to pick up everything the Trots wrote and place it directly in the garbage which saved everyone else a walk of two or three yards at the most.
#19
Post rating: +++++


People are literally falling out of trees there. When are we going to do something?
#20
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#21
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The lack of unrest from the poor is further proof that they need our help
#22
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Since they repeat the same accusations for Venezuela as they use for Cuba (condom pizza etc), and since Cuba has one of the best diets and is food self sufficient I guess that its also lies with Venezuela.

Especially since its a huge tropical country and Cubans are explicitly helping them with collective farming.

Has anyone researched it?
#23
[account deactivated]
#24
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let no one question the virility of the bolivarian revolution
#25
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Counterpoint to defending the PSUV: what on earth would the ascension of the opposition do to get rid of the underlying Dutch disease of the petro-economy? Do liberals ever ask such questions?
#26
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The only thing that it would do would allow the country to take foreign aid. Which the PSUV won't take because the US government has funded several right wing coup attempts at this point. So the best thing liberals and "human rights activists" have to ask for is to give the world another Greece/Puerto Rico to kick around.

Edited by walkinginonit ()

#27
Post rating: +

xipe posted:

Since they repeat the same accusations for Venezuela as they use for Cuba (condom pizza etc), and since Cuba has one of the best diets and is food self sufficient I guess that its also lies with Venezuela.

Especially since its a huge tropical country and Cubans are explicitly helping them with collective farming.

Has anyone researched it?


this is from last summer but my understanding is that the basic situation it describes--serious, genuine shortages of staples, but not necessarily of calories as a whole--is still pretty much what's going on

#28
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a few months ago there were a lot of headlines about a living-conditions survey performed by some universities that suggested significant incidence of meal-skipping, food substitution and weight loss among the public. at a glance, i can find loads of people editorializing about it and claiming broad consumption under 2000 calories. the weird thing is, i don't see "calorie" or "caloria" anywhere in that document, so unless there's a more detailed doc somewhere that's eluded me, it kinda looks like people are taking liberties with its already fairly sensational content. i guess that's why none of them bother to link the survey, forcing me to use more than one google search

in any case, if that's true, then 2016 stands as an exceptional year of food crisis in Venezuela, given the stable 2015 figure in thirdplace's link

worth mentioning also: in 2009, 3/4 of the population of india couldn't afford 2200 calories/day. this was not an exceptional year, but rather part of a longer-term worsening trend that to my knowledge hasn't reversed. the difference is, is they're nice to billionaires
#29
Online
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someone get Wheatcroft on the case
#30
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What's goatstein's take on socialist food shortages?
#31
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I had a conversation with a friend online about Venezuela that ended with him thinking I accused him of hating the poor (I wasn't) and that I wasn't calm (I was). He also won't admit any sources critical of the western narrative because they are socialist, and biased. So I guess we are kind of at an impasse.


#32
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mediumpig posted:

I had a conversation with a friend online about Venezuela that ended with him thinking I accused him of hating the poor (I wasn't) and that I wasn't calm (I was). He also won't admit any sources critical of the western narrative because they are socialist, and biased. So I guess we are kind of at an impasse.




You would say this because ur a commie. Im with your friend on this one

#33
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mediumpig posted:

I had a conversation with a friend online about Venezuela that ended with him thinking I accused him of hating the poor (I wasn't) and that I wasn't calm (I was). He also won't admit any sources critical of the western narrative because they are socialist, and biased. So I guess we are kind of at an impasse.

did you try telling him that you were calmer than he was?

#34
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I should have told him he was projecting his hatred of the poor and non-calmness on to me, but I just went on explaining how he misinterpreted my points. Basically I was very calm.

To the point, I guess his point was that Maduro and anyone in government that oversaw the crisis should never hold office again. I explained that the oil crash would have ravaged the country no matter who was in power, to which he said currency and price controls made it worse. Which I might agree with, but I don't get why that means Maduro and his government are unfit to rule.
#35
[account deactivated]
#36
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I'm curious as to what extent the underlying economic problems of Venezuela have now reflect those of the 1994 banking crisis, does anyone know of any sources that go into detail on the finer points of Venezuela in the early-mid 90s?
#37
UNUSUALY COOL
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at some point over the last couple years the rhetorical tactic of denouncing people's "passion" for issues became de rigeur among Democrat-style liberals. the easiest effective response to this i've found is that Democrats' lack of passion for their own shaky positions guaranteed their loss in 2016 and will guarantee their continued electoral failure in the near future, because they can't project even the illusion of conviction.
#38
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pretty disgusting the way that the political right in this country doesn't fully endorse the position that politics are stupid vulgar bullshit and its like super tacky to have dreams and ambitions that extend beyond cynical careerism. we're never gonna get anything done if we don't stop putin from tricking these people into voting against their (purely financial and therefore rational) interests all the time
#39
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someone on ciabook made the point that the economic situation is slowly beginning to improve again, hence the increased agitation from rich neighborhoods where almost all the protesting is occurring, since the opposition is afraid that by the time election time rolls around economic woes will be mostly abated and the psuv will easily win again just as they have for the past 15 years. increased foreign involvement to destabilize the government and a possible coup is the bourgeoisie's only hope to reclaim power.
#40
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