First, read the following passage from George Galloway’s latest “Comment is Free” piece on The Guardian website:
This month I watched with Chávez as thousands of soldiers, French and British tanks, Russian helicopters and brand new Mirage and Sukhoi fighter bombers passed by: the soldiers chanting “patria, socialismo o muerte” – enough to make any US president blanch. Chávez answered the salute with the words: “the Bolivarian revolution is a peaceful revolution but it is not unarmed”.
Now, does this make you:
a) swell with pride at the tremendous resolve of Comrade Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution in the face of the imperialist and Zionist enemies seeking to destroy them?
b) vaguely uneasy, but still willing to consider Chavez part of the same Left as you?
c) wonder why any leftist in his or her right mind would feel anything in common, or want anything to do, with this militaristic, authoritarian caudillo and his increasingly one-man rule?
Or feel free to compose your own response.