Venezuela News And ViewsVenezuela News And Views: From those who brought you the Tascon List: official racism in Venezuela
Venezuela News And Views
Saturday, March 29, 2008
From those who brought you the Tascon List: official racism in Venezuela
When I was taking my English courses to go to graduate school in the US I had to file for Social Security. We were all gathered in some auditorium and some official distributed us a form to fill up. The usual stuff until I came to a section who asked my ethnic background or something of the sort. I did not understand the question at first, and when I saw the choices I understood even less. See, I had to pick between hispanic, african, caucasian, native american, pacific islander, asian (I think those were the exact words then, but they might have changed since). I was very confused because ethnic origin for me would have been French and French was not an option. Caucasian I had no idea what that word meant then except for this word appearing in some Russian music titles and geographical features. African I was not but I wondered if it meant black or arabic or what. Hispanic was not an option at first since for me Hispanic meant from Spain and I found it odd that Spaniards would be underscored.
I had to ask and the designated helper did not know what to do with my request and blandly told me to write what I thought would describe me best. Of course, I understood much later that even if I had been pitch black with the kinkiest hair of all that person could not have even suggested African.... Eventually one of my class mates pointed Caucasian. "Why?" "European, you know..." But the Caucasus is not really in Europe!". Eventually at a loss I put Caucasian. But a few months later when I started understanding the real meaning of these code words I was genuinely upset and form then on each time I was asked such question I put a different answer. In one census I am Hispanic, in another I am "Other". By the end of my stay I was always putting "other" whenever I was asked such indiscreet question except for the single/married ones which did made sense though I resented that "concubinage" was not an option.
See, my problem is that until my early twenties I had NEVER been asked my race and the idea that I could be asked such a question directly did not even enter my mind. In Venezuela then you never asked someone's race, you just assumed it if you must, or took for granted whichever race your interlocutor wanted to be, even if you disagreed inside. That is, in Venezuela when I was a kid and in college, race was simply not a mater of discussion even though we knew that the darker one's skin the less likely one to be rich. If there was a divide it was the money one which overlapped dangerously on the skin one, but in the end the money divide was the one that mattered the most. Though in all fairness if you stroke it rich, people even forgot you used to be poor. The reason for it all was very simple: the racial mix in Venezuela is so varied that trying to bring out the "pure" races would have left at least 3/4 of the population as unclassifiable.
Well, Chavez has done away with all that. It might have been a little bit hypocrite for us to pretend that there was no racial problem, but Chavez made sure to create new racial problems where they did not exist. The latest is the little picture above, of lousy quality I am sorry, and which was reported earlier this week by Tal Cual. In it, a school of art in Venezuela asks you to fill up one of the following choices in their application form:
African descent Native (indigenous) Immigrant Handicapped Other
I do not know where to start on such a racist instrument, and a blatantly xenophobic one to boot. Whomever designed this questionnaire has no sense of nuance, and favors only native and backs, hoping for immigrants to return home ASAP. Or are we also to suppose that immigrant means Spaniard descent even if one can trace back one's ancestry tot he XVI century? Clearly, whoever is responsible for this form has been brain washed, and is full of hate.
But what can you expect? After 9 years of chavismo saying all sorts of historical nonsense and pretending to rescue minorities, some are actually starting to think that this is the way to go and that reverse discrimination is acceptable. And in a country where almost 4 million citizens suffer of a political apartheid due to the Tascon list (look in the right side column for complete references), why not also install racial separation?
With Obama the US might be advancing further on the difficult path to integration but in Venezuela we are going back to colonial times where a frustrate and idiotic Chavez wants revenge for what happened to his ancestors. In fac we are not returning to the past, we are going to a worse place where we have never been.
Written from the Venezuelan provinces, this blog started as private letters to my friends overseas, letters narrating the difficult days of the 2002/2003 strike in Venezuela. These letters became this mix of news, comments, pictures of the Venezuelan situation. Unknowingly, I have written the diary of Venezuela slow descent into authoritarianism, the slow erosion of our liberties, the takeover of the country by a military caste, the surrendering of our soul to our inner demons.
Click logo above to go directly to the English language blog. Click here to go to the Spanish language mirror.
Estamos en Venezuela, nunca se sabe. In spite of its Spanish title, an irregular blog about a French student observing Venezuela. Interesting pictures.
General info and discontinued blogs but with good archives
Venezuela Crisis has a visual and textual record "hors pair" of the recent electoral campaign in Venezuela, the first blogger to have covered live a Venezuelan campaign. Seems to be on a resting phase for a few weeks.
Digital papers with Venezuela and LatAm in mind (in Spanish)
There are two major digital papers with forums and all, for a permanent clash between factions. Noticiero Digital is the oldest one and Noticias 24 is giving it a run for tis money.
And a new comer:Venezuela es noticia.
Ciudadania Activa has a large selection of articles on Venezuelan politics and civil rights issues.
Relevant info to expose some of the regime's propaganda and human rights violations
The lies of April
The famous "infamous" video "The revolution will not be televised" has been duly analyzed and shown to be in large measure a crass manipulation. Counter-video in Spanish here, and summary of main points here.
There is a documentary that follows the April 2002 events from the perspective on what Chavez did that April 11, "La Cadena". It is about the forced broadcast made by Chavez to hide the massacre of the pacific march on Miraflores.
The infamous apartheid like system of the Tascon and Maisanta lists
The compilation of various documents from Miguel.
The video "La Lista" and my reviews in English and Spanish by invitation at Hispalibertas.
The El Nacional review of Perez Oramas.
The original video itself can be seen here.
Diverse Human Rights pages
Of course, from Amnesty International to the Human Rights Watch page, without forgetting local organizations such as prestigious COFAVIC, the Venezuelan government comes only too often lacking in its Human Rights record.
OTHER FOLKS WITH VENEZUELA MORE OR LESS IN THEIR MIND (Please send links that should be added here)
And of course to be fair there must be links to pro-Chavez sites. I do pride myself of having been the first opposition blog to have listed pro Chavez links; a situation that has now changed. However extremely rare is the pro Chavez page or blog that links to any of the sites listed above. The readers might draw their own conclusion
Aporrea (Beat up, bruise! as in the imperative mode of the verb; the only interesting one if you can read Spanish. Predicts the future)
And of course the full time propaganda agencies, ALL at tax payer expenses, the National Radio coverage, RNV, and the rather deficient official news agency, ABN (both in Spanish).
Without forgetting the "official" newsletter in English.
Some blogs, more or less sycophantic.
Yosmary, campaigning for Mario Silva, quite something.
Less sycophantic, even critical on occasion Terreno baldio.
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Map of Venezuela to help you locate the different locales mentioned through the blog (click here for a more detailed map)
For the memories. The picture below dates from the epic days of the December 2002/January 2003 "El Paro", when the opposition was strong and decided, and when Chavez was low in polls.
Then came the "misiones" and the worst populist episode of our history. Through pacific protests and strikes we tried to preserve democracy.
History proved us right even if we lost that battle.
Marching toward Hotel Melia, 01/31/03, 5 PM.
Small yellow square under the Pepsi ball is the big stage.
A special thanks to JoAnne Schmitz for the suggestions and help in setting this blog up.
up. The usual stuff until I came to a section who asked my ethnic background or something of the sort. I did not understand the question at first, and when I saw the choices I understood even less. See, I had to pick between hispanic, african, caucasian, native american, pacific islander, asian (I think those were the exact words then, but they might have changed since). I was very confused because ethnic origin for me would have been French and French was not an option. Caucasian I had no idea what that word meant then except for this word appearing in some Russian music titles and geographical features. African I was not but I wondered if it meant black or arabic or what. Hispanic was not an option at first since for me Hispanic meant from Spain and I found it odd that Spaniards would be underscored.
