Look at the UK today, an increasingly right wing
conservative minority government narrowly clenches onto to power due to an
alliance with the DUP who got less than 1% of the overall vote. For Britain to
be called a democracy would be laughable. If we look to Latin America and more
specifically Venezuela we can see a real example of people powered democracy in
the form of the Constituent Assembly election.
The one major thing that is lacking within politics today
is proper representation - at the heart of democracy people’s views must be
properly represented. It means that those who are experiencing hardship and the
problems of society can share their experiences and shake things up. However
after the recent General Election in the UK only 32% of the total number of
MP’s are female compared to women making up 52% of the population, it’s the
same story with the BME community and a shocking amount of people who attended
private schools. It’s clear Westminster is completely out of touch with Britain
today and the working class majority is pushed out.
Many would argue reforming the voting system would solve
this, however I believe we need to simply go beyond calls for a PR system -
Venezuela is paving the way for this. Venezuelans will vote on July 30 to elect
representatives for the National Constituent Assembly, an initiative from
President Nicolas Maduro which was announced on May Day to further develop the
country's democracy and to help ease tensions with the opposition. Also to help
build much of the progress that was achieved with equality and workplace unions
under Hugo Chavez. But this election is different to what I have ever seen
before compared to western style ‘democracy’. The election gives different
sectors of society the chance to choose their own representatives which will
guarantee fair representation from society as a whole and to argue for their
specific interests.
This includes: eight representatives for indigenous
peoples, the disabled five representatives, students twenty-four representatives,
pensioners twenty-eight representatives and workers seventy-nine
representatives divided among nine different areas of employment among more
sectors. This shows that Venezuela is giving a direct voice to groups within
society that would often suffer from the effects of politics are now becoming a
part of it. Imagine if this was done in Britain today, instead of a burden of
debt students would have actual representation to tackle issues that affect
them.
The right wing opposition in Venezuela which we hear
about so much on the mainstream media calls this unconstitutional and
undemocratic. But their vocal objection shows that they have very little
support among Venezuela’s working class and more support among businesses that
rightly lack influence in this style of election. The opposition has even
called for violent rebellion against this election and has refused to take part
- what they are really doing is fighting any proposals for peace on the street
and a chance for direct democracy. The media shows the right wing opposition as
fighting for their right to protest but in reality they are more focused on
blocking the streets, stopping public transportation and preventing people
reaching vital services such as hospitals. News services such as the BBC and the New York Times for example have constantly shown Venezuela in a
negative light. A few weeks ago people voted throughout the whole day for a
poll leading up to the Constituent Assembly but no mainstream media outlet
reported on it; instead they reported on an opposition informal plebiscite in
which only opposition supporters voted in. The press flurried to say that this
is ‘’weakened Mr. Maduro’s plan to appoint an assembly of handpicked
supporters’’. Not only was this not recognised at all and had no constitutional
status and that millions of working class Venezuelan’s supported the calls for
this assembly in which as stated above different sectors of society got to pick
representatives, hardly ‘’handed picked supporters’’. So called progressive
news services such as The Guardian
and Al Jazeera didn't cover it any
better. Additionally, none of the mainstream media said that only 37% of people
voted against the assembly despite it being pictured as the people of Venezuela
opposing their government - quite the opposite if you look into things. All of
the media also managed to ignore the millions of working class people who
turned out to support the idea of this assembly.
Compare Nicolas Maduro, a former bus driver and working
class born Hugo Chávez with Theresa May, David Cameron or the majority of
privately educated millionaires who make up the political elite and you will
see the great divide between democracy in Venezuela and the UK.
Jay Sutherland | @jay_sutherland_
Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly shines a beacon for real Democracy | Jay Sutherland
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