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Subject: [UNIVERSALHUMANRIGHTS] Fw: [LABOR-L] FYI:Chavez at UN: "Rise Up Against the Empire"

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Subject: [LABOR-L] FYI:Chavez at UN: "Rise Up Against the Empire"

> ----------------------------------------------------------
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> http://www.counterpunch.org/chavez09202006.html
>
> September 20, 2006 Address to the United Nations
> Rise Up Against the Empire
>
> By HUGO CHAVEZ
>
> Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning to all of
> you.
> First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who
> have not read this book, to read it.
>
> Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world
> intellectuals,
> Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, 'Hegemony or
> Survival:
> The Imperialist Strategy of the United States.'" [Holds up book, waves it
> in
> front of General Assembly.] "It's an excellent book to help us understand
> what
> has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's
> happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet.
>
> The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the
> very survival of the human species. We continue to warn you about this
> danger and
> we appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this
> threat, which is like a sword hanging over our heads. I had considered
> reading from
> this book, but, for the sake of time," [flips through the pages, which are
> numerous] "I will just leave it as a recommendation.
>
> It reads easily, it is a very good book, I'm sure Madame [President] you
> are
> familiar with it. It appears in English, in Russian, in Arabic, in German.
> I
> think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and
> sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own
> house.
>
> The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the
> house.
> "And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right
> here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today.
>
> Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the
> United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here,
> talking as
> if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.
>
> I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's statement made
> by the president of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he
> came
> to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of
> domination,
> exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world.
>
> An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose
> a
> title: "The Devil's Recipe."
>
> As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, the American empire is doing
> all
> it can to consolidate its system of domination. And we cannot allow them
> to
> do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated.
>
> The world parent's statement -- cynical, hypocritical, full of this
> imperial
> hypocrisy from the need they have to control everything.
>
> They say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's their
> democratic
> model. It's the false democracy of elites, and, I would say, a very
> original
> democracy that's imposed by weapons and bombs and firing weapons.
>
> What a strange democracy. Aristotle might not recognize it or others who
> are
> at the root of democracy.
>
> What type of democracy do you impose with marines and bombs?
>
> The president of the United States, yesterday, said to us, right here, in
> this room, and I'm quoting, "Anywhere you look, you hear extremists
> telling you
> can escape from poverty and recover your dignity through violence, terror
> and
> martyrdom."
>
> Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother -- he looks at
> your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist. Evo Morales, the worthy
> president of Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him.
>
> The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are
> extremists.
> It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are
> standing up.
>
> I have the feeling, dear world dictator, that you are going to live the
> rest
> of your days as a nightmare because the rest of us are standing up, all
> those
> who are rising up against American imperialism, who are shouting for
> equality, for respect, for the sovereignty of nations.
>
> Yes, you can call us extremists, but we are rising up against the empire,
> against the model of domination.
>
> The president then -- and this he said himself, he said: "I have come to
> speak directly to the populations in the Middle East, to tell them that my
> country wants peace."
>
> That's true. If we walk in the streets of the Bronx, if we walk around New
> York, Washington, San Diego, in any city, San Antonio, San Francisco, and
> we
> ask individuals, the citizens of the United States, what does this country
> want?
> Does it want peace?
>
> They'll say yes.
>
> But the government doesn't want peace. The government of the United States
> doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of exploitation, of
> pillage,
> of hegemony through war.
>
> It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened in Lebanon? In
> Palestine? What's happening? What's happened over the last 100 years in
> Latin
> America and in the world? And now threatening Venezuela -- new threats
> against
> Venezuela, against Iran?
>
> He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said, have seen how
> your
> homes and communities were caught in the crossfire. How cynical can you
> get?
> What a capacity to lie shamefacedly. The bombs in Beirut with millimetric
> precision?
>
> This is crossfire? He's thinking of a western, when people would shoot
> from
> the hip and somebody would be caught in the crossfire.
>
> This is imperialist, fascist, assassin, genocidal, the empire and Israel
> firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon. That is what happened. And
> now we
> hear, "We're suffering because we see homes destroyed.'
>
> The president of the United States came to talk to the peoples -- to the
> peoples of the world. He came to say -- I brought some documents with me,
> because
> this morning I was reading some statements, and I see that he talked to
> the
> people of Afghanistan, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran. And he
> addressed all these peoples directly.
>
> And you can wonder, just as the president of the United States addresses
> those peoples of the world, what would those peoples of the world tell him
> if
> they were given the floor? What would they have to say?
>
> And I think I have some inkling of what the peoples of the south, the
> oppressed people think. They would say, "Yankee imperialist, go home." I
> think that
> is what those people would say if they were given the microphone and if
> they
> could speak with one voice to the American imperialists.
>
> And that is why, Madam President, my colleagues, my friends, last year we
> came here to this same hall as we have been doing for the past eight
> years, and
> we said something that has now been confirmed -- fully, fully confirmed.
>
> I don't think anybody in this room could defend the system. Let's
> accept --
> let's be honest. The U.N. system, born after the Second World War,
> collapsed.
> It's worthless.
>
> Oh, yes, it's good to bring us together once a year, see each other, make
> statements and prepare all kinds of long documents, and listen to good
> speeches,
> like Abel's yesterday, or President Mullah's . Yes, it's good for that.
>
> And there are a lot of speeches, and we've heard lots from the president
> of
> Sri Lanka, for instance, and the president of Chile.
>
> But we, the assembly, have been turned into a merely deliberative organ.
> We
> have no power, no power to make any impact on the terrible situation in
> the
> world. And that is why Venezuela once again proposes, here, today, 20
> September,
> that we re-establish the United Nations.
>
> Last year, Madam, we made four modest proposals that we felt to be
> crucially
> important. We have to assume the responsibility our heads of state, our
> ambassadors, our representatives, and we have to discuss it.
>
> The first is expansion, and Mullah talked about this yesterday right here.
> The Security Council, both as it has permanent and non-permanent
> categories,
> (inaudible) developing countries and LDCs must be given access as new
> permanent
> members. That's step one.
>
> Second, effective methods to address and resolve world conflicts,
> transparent decisions.
>
> Point three, the immediate suppression -- and that is something everyone's
> calling for -- of the anti-democratic mechanism known as the veto, the
> veto on
> decisions of the Security Council.
>
> Let me give you a recent example. The immoral veto of the United States
> allowed the Israelis, with impunity, to destroy Lebanon. Right in front of
> all of
> us as we stood there watching, a resolution in the council was prevented.
>
> Fourthly, we have to strengthen, as we've always said, the role and the
> powers of the secretary general of the United Nations.
>
> Yesterday, the secretary general practically gave us his speech of
> farewell.
> And he recognized that over the last 10 years, things have just gotten
> more
> complicated; hunger, poverty, violence, human rights violations have just
> worsened. That is the tremendous consequence of the collapse of the United
> Nations
> system and American hegemonistic pretensions.
>
> Madam, Venezuela a few years ago decided to wage this battle within the
> United Nations by recognizing the United Nations, as members of it that we
> are,
> and lending it our voice, our thinking.
>
> Our voice is an independent voice to represent the dignity and the search
> for peace and the reformulation of the international system; to denounce
> persecution and aggression of hegemonistic forces on the planet.
>
> This is how Venezuela has presented itself. Bolivar's home has sought a
> nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.
>
> Let's see. Well, there's been an open attack by the U.S. government, an
> immoral attack, to try and prevent Venezuela from being freely elected to
> a post
> in the Security Council.
>
> The imperium is afraid of truth, is afraid of independent voices. It calls
> us extremists, but they are the extremists.
>
> And I would like to thank all the countries that have kindly announced
> their
> support for Venezuela, even though the ballot is a secret one and there's
> no
> need to announce things.
>
> But since the imperium has attacked, openly, they strengthened the
> convictions of many countries. And their support strengthens us.
>
> Mercosur, as a bloc, has expressed its support, our brothers in Mercosur.
> Venezuela, with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, is a full member of
> Mercosur.
>
> And many other Latin American countries, CARICOM, Bolivia have expressed
> their support for Venezuela. The Arab League, the full Arab League has
> voiced its
> support.
>
> And I am immensely grateful to the Arab world, to our Arab brothers, our
> Caribbean brothers, the African Union. Almost all of Africa has expressed
> its
> support for Venezuela and countries such as Russia or China and many
> others.
>
> I thank you all warmly on behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of our people,
> and
> on behalf of the truth, because Venezuela, with a seat on the Security
> Council, will be expressing not only Venezuela's thoughts, but it will
> also be the
> voice of all the peoples of the world, and we will defend dignity and
> truth.
>
> Over and above all of this, Madam President, I think there are reasons to
> be
> optimistic. A poet would have said "helplessly optimistic," because over
> and
> above the wars and the bombs and the aggressive and the preventive war and
> the
> destruction of entire peoples, one can see that a new era is dawning.
>
> As Sylvia Rodriguez says, the era is giving birth to a heart. There are
> alternative ways of thinking. There are young people who think
> differently. And
> this has already been seen within the space of a mere decade.
> It was shown that the end of history was a totally false assumption, and
> the
> same was shown about Pax Americana and the establishment of the capitalist
> neo-liberal world. It has been shown, this system, to generate mere
> poverty. Who
> believes in it now? (See Project for A New American Century aricle on
> Rebuil
> ding Americas Defenses at:
> www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf)
>
>
> What we now have to do is define the future of the world. Dawn is breaking
> out all over. You can see it in Africa and Europe and Latin America and
> Oceanea. I want to emphasize that optimistic vision.
>
> We have to strengthen ourselves, our will to do battle, our awareness. We
> have to build a new and better world.
>
> Venezuela joins that struggle, and that's why we are threatened. The U.S.
> has already planned, financed and set in motion a coup in Venezuela, and
> it
> continues to support coup attempts in Venezuela and elsewhere.
>
> President Michelle Bachelet reminded us just a moment ago of the
> horrendous
> assassination of the former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier.
>
> And I would just add one thing: Those who perpetrated this crime are free.
> And that other event where an American citizen also died were American
> themselves. They were CIA killers, terrorists.
>
> And we must recall in this room that in just a few days there will be
> another anniversary. Thirty years will have passed from this other
> horrendous
> terrorist attack on the Cuban plane, where 73 innocents died, a Cubana de
> Aviacion
> airliner.
>
> And where is the biggest terrorist of this continent who took the
> responsibility for blowing up the plane? He spent a few years in jail in
> Venezuela.
> Thanks to CIA and then government officials, he was allowed to escape, and
> he
> lives here in this country, protected by the government.
>
> And he was convicted. He has confessed to his crime. But the U.S.
> government
> has double standards. It protects terrorism when it wants to.
>
> And this is to say that Venezuela is fully committed to combating
> terrorism
> and violence. And we are one of the people who are fighting for peace.
>
> Luis Posada Carriles is the name of that terrorist who is protected here.
> And other tremendously corrupt people who escaped from Venezuela are also
> living
> here under protection: a group that bombed various embassies, that
> assassinated people during the coup. They kidnapped me and they were going
> to kill me,
> but I think God reached down and our people came out into the streets and
> the
> army was too, and so I'm here today.
>
> But these people who led that coup are here today in this country
> protected
> by the American government. And I accuse the American government of
> protecting
> terrorists and of having a completely cynical discourse.
>
> We mentioned Cuba. Yes, we were just there a few days ago. We just came
> from
> there happily.
>
> And there you see another era born. The Summit of the 15, the Summit of
> the N
> onaligned, adopted a historic resolution. This is the outcome document.
> Don't
> worry, I'm not going to read it.
>
> But you have a whole set of resolutions here that were adopted after open
> debate in a transparent matter -- more than 50 heads of state. Havana was
> the
> capital of the south for a few weeks, and we have now launched, once
> again, the
> group of the nonaligned with new momentum.
>
> And if there is anything I could ask all of you here, my companions, my
> brothers and sisters, it is to please lend your good will to lend momentum
> to the
> Nonaligned Movement for the birth of the new era, to prevent hegemony and
> prevent further advances of imperialism.
>
> And as you know, Fidel Castro is the president of the nonaligned for the
> next three years, and we can trust him to lead the charge very
> efficiently.
>
> Unfortunately they thought, "Oh, Fidel was going to die." But they're
> going
> to be disappointed because he didn't. And he's not only alive, he's back
> in
> his green fatigues, and he's now presiding the nonaligned.
>
> So, my dear colleagues, Madam President, a new, strong movement has been
> born, a movement of the south. We are men and women of the south.
>
> With this document, with these ideas, with these criticisms, I'm now
> closing
> my file. I'm taking the book with me. And, don't forget, I'm recommending
> it
> very warmly and very humbly to all of you.
>
> We want ideas to save our planet, to save the planet from the imperialist
> thr
> eat. And hopefully in this very century, in not too long a time, we will
> see
> this, we will see this new era, and for our children and our grandchildren
> a
> world of peace based on the fundamental principles of the United Nations,
> but a
> renewed United Nations.
>
> And maybe we have to change location. Maybe we have to put the United
> Nations somewhere else; maybe a city of the south. We've proposed
> Venezuela.
>
> You know that my personal doctor had to stay in the plane. The chief of
> security had to be left in a locked plane. Neither of these gentlemen was
> allowed
> to arrive and attend the U.N. meeting. This is another abuse and another
> abuse
> of power on the part of the Devil. It smells of sulfur here, but God is
> with
> us and I embrace you all.
>
> May God bless us all. Good day to you.
>
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