Bolivarian Revolution and Political Religion

A good summary of the basic points of the Bolivarian Revolution’s political religion is given in the following paragraph taken from the web page of the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias:

"That February 2 [1999] Hugo Chávez addressed the people in the Paseo Los Próceres of Caracas. He had reached the presidency with 56.20% of the popular vote of the elections of December 6, 1998. [That day] the majority of the Venezuelan people resumed the Bolivarian project and dream of regional unity truncated in 1830 by the death of the Libertador Simón Bolívar and the dissolution of the Gran Colombia."

The article is a note commenting on the 15 anniversary of the beginning of Chávez’s first presidency commemoration. The article quotes from President Maduro’s discourse, but the paragraph above is a commentary by AVN, a public news agency.

The main elements of the official Bolivarian narrative in the paragraph are:

First: The Bolivarian Revolution led by Chávez, and now by his chosen successor Nicolás Maduro, is legitimated in its origin by popular democratic vote.

Second: The founding act of Venezuela occurred during the historical period of the War of Independence and the brief constitution of the Gran Colombia. Its main character/demi-god/civilizing hero is the Libertador Simón Bolivar.

Third: The physical death of Bolívar (1830) was followed by the treason and suspension of History. The treason was committed, not by the Venezuelan people, but by the oligarchy and the Empire (Chávez and Bolívar according to this narrative were both assassinated by the Empire.)

Fourth: Venezuela’s true history has been resurrected by Chávez, thus turned into a resurrection of Bolívar himself. Chávez/Bolívar has reenacted the original independence struggle in illo tempore and restarted history.

Image form the Blog of David Quintero of the PSUV Amazonas

Maduro shows evidence of a new Chávez epiphany

Not really about conspiracy theories, but equally fun: President Maduro announced yesterday that a figure resembling Chavez’s face appeared in one of the walls of the construction tunnels of the new Caracas metro line:

“Look at this figure that made its apparition to the workers, you can talk to them if you like: it is a face, whose face? It is a gaze, it is a gaze staring at the Fatherland everywhere, even from these types of phenomena that have no explanation.”

Maduro explained that the workers in the tunnel had seen the figure days before at around 2 a.m. and took pictures with their cell phones, which they then took to Maduro. However the actual image has by now unfortunately disappeared: “the same way it appeared, it disappeared, but look, what everyone is saying is true, Chavez is everywhere, we are all Chávez,” added Maduro.

Here is the picture shown by Maduro on national television and published by El Universal:

A Civic-military oath against the enemies of the fatherland

Yesterday (September 5) President Maduro heard a public oath taken by the Venezuelan military commanders of the national armed forces and the so called “Political High Command of the Revolution” in Campo de Carabobo, the place the most important battle in 1821 of the independence war.

Maduro characterized the oath as an “unconditional” support for the defense of socialism against the “psychological, electrical, and political war against the people.”

The actual wording, as published by the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, is a vague statement in the style of the patriotic rhetoric of Venezuela’s Bolivarian/Chavista political religion, but it does mention “socialism” and the need to be prepared for “any eventuality”:

We swear with all our patriotic soul, bolivarian soul, and chavista soul, to construct an independent fatherland and to construct the fatherland of socialist equality. We swear to unite all the strength of our people and to be prepared for any eventuality [coyuntura] and to guarantee the peace, the stability, and the continuity of the Bolivarian Revolution. We thus swear in this immortal field [of Carabobo].

Before the swearing of the oath, Maduro stated that October will be the month of “preparation for combat and the month of early victory in the face of the psychological, electrical, and political war against our people.”

He further explained that “a criminal war has been unleashed against the Venezuelan people; they want to drag us into chaos, they want the division of our people, they want to take us back to the times of confusion, the times of darkness. (…) The people need to know who the enemies of the fatherland are, (…) their complete names, where they are, what they think, what is their psychology. They are not my personal enemies, they are the enemies of the fatherland, of the independence of the fatherland, they are the enemies of our people, not recent enemies, but enemies that have been always there.”

(Here is the text of the oath in Spanish: "Juramos con el alma de patriotas, con el ama de bolivarianos, con el alma de chavistas, construir la patria independiente y construir la igualdad de la patria socialista. Juramos unir las fuerzas del pueblo y estar preparados ante cualquier coyuntura y garantizar la paz, la estabilidad y la continuidad de la Revolución Bolivariana. Así lo juramos en este campo inmortal")

Conspiracy theories as the official rhetoric

Conspiracies have become the official explanation for everything, from inflation to power outages. Here is a selection of quotes from declarations made yesterday (October 2) by public functionaries and elected representatives to the National Assembly, starting with President Maduro:

In a meeting with military high command, President Maduro insisted that the United States is conspiring to destabilize Venezuela: “It is an empire that says that the socialist model does not work, that conspires against us, do not doubt this for one second. To the Venezuelan brother or sister that sometimes doubts that there is a conspiracy against the fatherland o Bolivar; it’s time to wake up. (…) There is a permanent conspiracy against the stability of the country, against its security, this is a psychological war.”

The Executive Vice-President Jorge Arreaza, told chavista governors to become more involved in the struggle against the electric sabotage and the economic war: “Governors in their respective States will assume with all their strength the struggle against the bourgeoisie,” declared Arreaza.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua informed that the Venezuelan government will continue its investigation on how the three expelled US diplomats were involved in acts of sabotage and “destabilization of the fatherland.” Future investigation will focus on the relation of the diplomats with local opposition groups: “Many of the opposition political actors that met with the embassy functionaries are in the map of the groups directly involved with destabilization factors, be they called economic sabotage, paralyzation of the basic industries or the disrespect of the Venezuelan electoral authorities.”

Deputy Soto Rojas, pro-government National Assembly representative, declared that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is in crisis because of the United States plans against Venezuela: “If we look at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, its 39 articles have been violated by the United States and the European powers. (…) Since 2002 the political line of the North American Government has been to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow its government, now headed by Nicolás Maduro.” 

Deputy Julio Chávez, pro-government National Assembly representative, declared that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should be expelled from Venezuela for the sake of stability and peace: “These [types] of organizations have been financing and stimulating plans, programs, and political parties and foundations, such as Primero Justicia and Súmate, so that they can develop their destabilization acts.” 

The Media Commission of the National Assemblywill convene the “revolutionary media” of the country to discuss, according to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, “how to stop the destabilization campaign generated by private media.” The President of the Media Commission, Julio Chávez, declared that “the private media generates anxiety and anguish [zozobra] among the population. They have become accomplices and key parts of the sabotage plans of the right.” 

  

Political religion and conspiracy theories. Marking the 6th month of the departure of the Supreme Leader

The “Cuartel de la Montaña,” which houses the remains of Hugo Chávez, has become the new epicenter of Venezuela’s political religion, temporarily displacing the National Pantheon and the recently constructed mausoleum for the remains of Simón Bolívar.

Yesterday (August 5) was the 6 month anniversary of the passing of Chávez. Monthly ceremonies are held to mark the event. Yesterday’s ceremony was attended by President Maduro and most of his cabinet and was broadcast on national cadena. An ecumenical praying session and a Catholic mass were celebrated.

In his discourse closing the event, President Maduro summarized several every conspiracy theories held by the government.

Notably, he began his exposition framing the notion of fatherland (patria) on anti-imperialism. He explained that the fundamental characteristic of the Venezuelan fatherland was its anti-imperialist condition: 

“In our case the fatherland is anti-imperialist or it is no fatherland at all, because our fatherland was born from breaking the bonds that held it to ancient empires, and now the fatherland has been reborn to face the attempts of modern empires to dominate us.”

Maduro continued his discourse linking the Empire with the ultra-right (opposition):

“They [the opposition] are obsessed. The ultra-right, the international right and the Imperial factors have an obsession with Venezuela, and now that obsession is centered on me, and this is why there are so many plans, so many crazy things.”

(…)

“How many things did they say about Chávez? How many times did they try to morally and physically assassinate him? (…) 

We are waiting for the right historical moment and, better sooner than later, we will conform a scientific commission to investigate, as our Comandante deserves, all the antecedents and the origin of the estrange, abrupt, and surprising illness he suffered, which took hold of his body at the height of his strength and creative and physical energies.”

(…)

“The historical enemies of the fatherland were certain that, with the physical departure of our Comandante and the huge void he left behind, the Revolution would not resist for a single day.”

Blaming the opposition for the recent electric power cuts he declared:

“They [the opposition] want to blackout our souls [hacer un apagón del alma] so that we stop believing in the creative powers of our people, they want to blackout the hopes of the peoples of the world, not only of the Venezuelan people, they want to produce a general blackout of the dignity of independence.”

Maduro ended his intervention in religious terms, asking Venezuelans to live by the example set by the Eternal Comandante:

“What is the best way to be Chávez, to be loyal to his gigantic figure beyond the tears and the pain? What is the best way to authentically connect to what he was, with his dreams and hopes? What is the best way to correspond him for everything he did for the people and for the history of this reborn fatherland? (…) Those who love the Supreme Leader must revise themselves and ask themselves, such as I do every day: What do I do for Chávez? How much do I do for Chávez? How do I do it? And, where do I do it?”

[Translating President Maduro’s peculiar rhetoric is difficult. Help is welcome.]

Secular Theodicies and Some Political Consequences of Conspiracy Theories

When people stop believing in God, they don´t believe in nothing – they believe in anything. G.K. Chesterton

In this blog I am not so much concerned with the truth claims made by conspiracy theorists but with the consequences of believing in them. This is not a value free claim; instead I believe that in certain historical moments, when vast numbers of people become convinced that their polity is threatened or controlled by powerful conspiracies, the consequences for society have been catastrophic and even genocidal.

Elsewhere I have argued that conspiracy theories are an integral part of the construction of forms of political religion (here and here). Discursively they serve as a theodicy: clearly defining an enemy that can be blamed for all evils and calling for total loyalty to the authoritarian leader, who is presented as the only one capable of defeating the vast conspiracy. Historical examples of this are obviously Stalinism and National Socialism, and the best literary example is Orwell´s 1984.

Most modern conspiracy theories act as secular forms of theodicies (by secular theodicy I mean that the explanations of the evils of this world are to be sought in this world). Through them people can be sure that their suffering is not just part of natural, structural, or religious causes, but that concrete this-worldly groups or their agents are to blame. This gives people a sense of political empowerment because if the root of evil is inner-worldly, then it can be defeated with the tools of this world. Only that this empowerment is based on the premise that a powerful conspiracy can only be defeated by a powerful leader. The more powerful the conspiracy, the more power the leader, or in some cases the movement, needs to have in order to defeat it. The consequence is that political mobilization is only effected in support of an authoritarian leader.

Total trust in the leader and his capacity to defeat the conspiracy means that political dissent and internal opposition are considered treason. Conspiracy theories are part of a construction of a siege mentality that stresses the inner group against the enemy. As Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro clearly put it: “There is no opposition in Venezuela, there is only a conspiracy.” Internal debate must be suspended until the day the conspiracy is totally defeated.

When conspiracies are as vast as “capitalism”, “the empire”, “the Zionists”, etc., internal debate must be suspended indefinitely. The secular theodicy argument comes full circle: evils may be caused by human agents, but they are so vast and powerful that they can only be defeated by a leader with out of this world, messianic, and religious powers. Conspiracy theorists truly stop believing in God, and believe in anything.