Chavez, Venezuelan oil in spirit of Fair trade

SOUTHOF BOSTON.COM's Nov. 25 editiorial "Low-cost oil is not free from political strings"...misses the point entirely.

At least in our humble opinion at Blacklogic.

That Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has brokered the economic leverage of that nation to help not only his own nation's poor but regionally in South America, the Carribbean, and these here United States is commendable to say the least. As evidenced by the sham oil hearings before Congress a few weeks ago, American oil multinationals lack the humanity do do the same for poor here at home.

The writer is correct to suggest that "almost everything about oil is political," but even before the US War induced spike in oil prices led to $35 and up barrel prices for crude, Chavez had long championed and advocated global fair trade.

See, there are other forms of commerce besides the disparity-inducing capitalism that only a small percentage the world's populace deems necessary for their survival.

The writer continues the same tired white supremacist/colonialist/imperialist narratives newspapers have subtly and not so subtly evoked as the myth of objective, normative information, ever since I don't know when. I just admit it's kinda fun watching the U.S. propagandist mainstream media gradually exposed for the infotaintment fraud they've prepetrated for access t o power, and to participate in the preservation of an order based on economic disparities, racial division and distrust at the expense of the world's majority; an order that could only be created, enforced, and now, desperately maintained through exponential violence. that Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is an ardent foe of President Bush and helped make a shambles of the Free Trade Area of the Americas conference in Argentina this month," as the writer notes, should only highlight what's right about President Chavez. The writer omits to inform his South Boston readership of the antithesis to free trade, FAIR TRADE. " His (Chavez's) opposition to free trade prevents opening new markets for American companies and improving life for working people in Latin America."

It is important we as Blacks recognized these narratives passed off as normal discourse. After Hurricane Katrina it was Cuba who stepped forward to offer emergency medical assistance on the spot that our own government couldn't provide. Just think what hundreds of professional doctors trained in the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba could have done in the immediate aftermath of that devestation!
"Chavez now would like nothing better than to tweak Bush and American corporations by playing the humanitarian," a role it seems no one at the top of America's military/industrial complex seems willing or able to assume. Oil, whether in abundance or disparity, influences the politics of the entire world (just check the recent greenhouse gas reports about man's impact over the last 200 years versus the previous 650 millinea). That Chavez chooses freely to extend that nation's oil wealth to help others worldwide, should not be criticized as mere grandstanding when the world's richest nation has done so very little for the same.

Let's be glad others are there to fill the void.