THE OIL IS A CURSE; A COUP WOULD BE A BLESSING:

Venezuela's new motto: power to the people: The chaos often associated with Hugo Chávez's presidency has obscured a political maturation in Venezuela, where grass-roots activism is thriving. (Mike Ceaser, 9/09/03, The Christian Science Monitor)

The 17 volunteers gathered in a central Caracas apartment have at least one thing in common: most have President Hugo Chávez to thank for getting them involved in politics. Now they're determined to end his political career by having him recalled from office.

In a poor neighborhood across town, Paula Bastida has also turned into an activist - but for the opposite cause. A passionate supporter of Mr. Chávez, Ms. Bastida volunteers for a government-sponsored literacy program in her hillside neighborhood of tin-roofed shacks. She believes Chávez to be the savior of the nation's poor.

Welcome to Venezuela's world of grass-roots activism, a new phenomenon in a country not known for its power of the people.

"Before, one didn't worry about politics," says William Méndez, a customer-service representative for a book-publishing company, at the recall meeting. "One left politics to the politicians and accepted whatever they said."

Not anymore. The political drama of Chávez's rule, punctuated by a spiraling economy and often violent demonstrations, has obscured what might be called a process of political maturation here. Millions of previously apolitical Venezuelans have become passionate about the future of their nation, and relatively low-profile groups have found prominent roles. [...]

The boom in activism represents something of a rebirth for the nation which has South America's longest continuous democracy, but also one of its most dysfunctional ones. Despite the nation's vast oil reserves, four decades of democratic governments failed to pull most Venezuelans
out of poverty. Citizens lost interest in the system, and voter abstention has soared to 50 percent recently.

It need hardly be pointed out that neither oil wealth nor the continuousness of the democracy are a guarantee of the democracy's health. In fact, both may, as in Venezuela, work against it.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 10, 2003 8:36 AM