My Enemy’s Enemy
Posted Under: George W Bush,Honduras,International,Iran,Obama,Venezuela
Hugo Chavez has a long memory. Himself the victim of a right-wing coup backed by the country’s elite, it is hardly surprising that the Venezuelan leader has been amongst the most vocal supporters of protesters in Honduras struggling to restore Manuel Zelaya, the leftist president ousted in a military coup last week. As Zelaya attempted to land his plane in Honduras on Sunday, supporters converged on the airport where they were met with stiff resistance from the military. Mourning the protesters killed, Chavez declared a “moral victory”, denouncing the repressive tactics of the military as cowardly for “abusing the people of Honduras.”
This fundamentally pro-democratic position seems difficult to reconcile with his unwavering support for Ahmedinejad in Iran. At the height of the protests following the disputed Iranian elections – widely discredited by Western governments and media – Chavez declared: “Ahmadinejad’s triumph was a triumph all the way. They are trying to stain Ahmadinejad’s triumph and through that weaken the government and the Islamic revolution. I know they will not succeed.” It was the 2002 CIA backed coup against Chavez that pushed him to the left. And for all his reforms, using the country’s vast oil wealth to raise the quality of life for the poorest sections of Venezuelan society, it was his steadfast opposition to US imperialism and to the policies of George W. Bush that endeared him to activists around the world.
George W. Bush was a man who saw the world in black and white. “You’re either with us or with the terrorists,” he famously declared. Chavez is a product of that time and it is in that context that he found a curious ally in the ultra conservative Ahmedinejad. But Obama’s election signals a more nuanced approach to foreign relations. He shared Chavez’s condemnation of the coup in Honduras, but wisely remained silent on the Iranian elections. In this new era of diplomacy which recognises a whole spectrum of grey, anti-imperialism for anti-imperialism’s sake – especially when it comes at the expense of the democratic hopes of the Iranian people – just cannot wash anymore. My enemy’s enemy should not always be my friend.
Reader Comments
Good post. The enemy’s-enemy syndrome is one of the terrible problems of the contemporary left.
“In this new era of diplomacy which recognises a whole spectrum of grey, anti-imperialism for anti-imperialism’s sake – especially when it comes at the expense of the democratic hopes of the Iranian people – just cannot wash anymore. My enemy’s enemy should not always be my friend.”
Another good post Salman — and, I’m sorry to say it, a position I was pleasantly surprised by given my initial assumptions of thirdestate. I agree with Bob: that attitude, among other problems, has helped to put mey leftism more in line with the Euston Manifesto ideals.
Thanks Tendai. Don’t get me wrong, in many regards I’m a supporter of Chavez. By all accounts, his reforms in healthcare, education, land, wages, food and industrial relations have gone along way to improving the living standards of the poorest people in Venezuela. You’d have to be a deeply conservative person not to appreciate that. As Mark Steel said in our interview: ““I would imagine in Venezuela, lots of people would think ‘oh yeah he goes on about socialism and anti- imperialism and this, that and the other, and I sort of half follow what he’s going on about, but I tell you what, the schools are better since he was in.’… I think anyone vaguely interested in human decency must be encouraged by that.” But broad support for Chavez’s domestic programme should not mean uncritical support for his foreign policy. I am encouraged by his attempts to build links with leftists across Latin America to resist decades of US imperialism in the region. Much less by his strategic alliance and curious friendship with Ahmedinejad. Especially now when his comments run contrary to genuine left-wing reform in Iran.
Salman,
Sure, I wasn’t prescribing what’good’ political preferences should be and I hope I didn’t come across that way. To some extent I suppose I’m saying I admire that you can be critical of Chavez where you see it necessary, while supporting him in other ways. It bucks the trend of uncritical hero-worship that the left is prone to.
Oh no, I didn’t think you came across that way, I just wanted to clarify my position. As for uncritical support, I think that might be because the left has precious few heroes in the modern age. It’s easy to see a promising sign and cling to it more tightly than one should. That said, I’m by no means a supporter of the Euston Manifesto. I do recognise the value and importance of resisting imperialism and I cannot see the Iraq war as the lesser of two evils as many of the Manifesto’s contributors do. It was most certainly the greater. However I do feel one should take a measured and critical approach to anti-imperialism. Otherwise we’re all George Bush.