Is Participatory Democracy the Solution to Venezuela’s Crisis?

1. I am not crazy in this. she is cute. her boobs are cute. she is adorable.

2. I fucking love this bird.

3. Apparently Venezuelans were more interested in free stuff over Freedom, back when they voted for Hugo. Chavez was clearly pro communist. I agree that it’s up to Venezuelans to fix their mistake.

4. All Maduro needs to do is to balance his budget, and create a currency – THAT IS REAL.

5. She keeps calling her working class, her 50% working poor, she keeps calling them the people." And in doing so, she falls pray to the same ingrate attitude as the more educated upper-half of society who have not the slightest gratitude for the laboring-class who do all the manual labor. For both Juan Guaido and President Maduro are dictators who fully intend to enslave the opposing half of society.

   Truth is, bus driver Maduro has not the education nor humility needed to rule over the upper-half of society, and Guaido has not the grateful humility needed to rule over the majority working poor. And so, watch out, for here comes a Civil War with expansion crazy USA in full control.

6. It is human nature. For how can a capitalist have a desire to hoard more wealth than needed for a comfortable life, without having a violent desire to kill anyone who takes their wealth. And when socialism makes it legal to nationalize hoarded wealth, capitalists above all things desire to kill socialists, and to do a genocide on the working poor.

7. Get the petro dollar and the CIA out of Venezuela.

8. This was so well explained that I had to watch it again and take notes.

9. A really informative interview. Thanks.

10. Go door to door in the poor neighborhoods . Let's see what the common people have to say. That would be the true measure.

11. Don't get lost in American propaganda. Venezuela already HAS a participatory democracy. Their problem with their democracy is the same problem we have, which is how to take power back from the elites and give it to the people. There is even plenty of food to eat. But our crippling "punitive" sanctions just make food in the stores unaffordable for many. American sanctions are the work of the devil, and we have killed millions of children with them.

12. I think the "venezuelan diet" they talk about as a symbol of the hard times is actually just less access to shitty processed foods. Watching the people walk about, they don't look starved, neither the children. But everyone in america is overweight and pumped full of stuffs that keep us fat and complacent. And the communal governance brings and even greater spark to the lives of the people.
    Thanks real news for showing us what MSM refuses to.

13. Democracy ok but America UK Saudi ISRAEL Germany France enter country not ok

14. Just the way America UK Israel Saudi France enter kill other countries people all this destroy family members must enter America UK Saudi ISRAEL kill them

15. Well that pretty well sums it up… after 20 years they've accomplished exactly nothing. Of course it's not their fault. They are currently making plans to do something which is certain to improve the situation although she can't expend on what that is or how it will help. They have a lot of meetings where nothing can be agreed upon and therefore nothing accomplished. The situation is becoming increasingly ungovernable so no help either from the central government who's role in this model is to dictate from above what is allowable to even be discussed at the grassroots level. She though seems to be doing okay as most communal administrators are. They seem to be able to skim enough off the top to see to their own needs even as the communes can't point to anything productive they've ever done for the people of Venezuela. Very well, carry on, business as usual in this "representative democracy"…

16. She laughs when asked if Maduro is a socialist dictator and says Veneuzeulans are fighting against a capitalist system that doesn't work. You won't hear her being interviewed on CNN.

17. You…you mean Democracy? Lord have mercy, is that what this is? Well, the US can't allow these ideas to catch on which might even catch on there. #VivaVenezuela

18. The Venezuelans already have Democracy; the Opposition pulled out of the last election.

19. A friend sent me a picture from the border of Venezuela 2 days ago. That picture showed the U.S. "aid" trucks surrounded by the American military well armed. Why Maduro is not accepting that "aid". He knows what will happen if they're let in..

20. Finally the US us being exposed for their greed and corruption, ordinary US people can see now what treachery and deceit their leaders are involved in, nobody is going to clean out the swamp for you, only the voters can do that, unless you dont care?

21. Exellent or great interview, and I wish Atenea and the others she works with in this activism great success. I wish I knew Spanish, but at least the subtitles worked well this time. I've been having problems with playing videos for a while now; f.e., people speaking and the audio is clear, but the mouths aren't moving, and subtitles have been lousily working. Neither of those problems happened this time, so this was a pleasant surprise. Viva la Venezuela!

22. Best interview I've seen that digs deep into the complexity of what is really going on in Venezuela.

23. Is funny they never interview any of the millions who had been forced to immigrate or any of the people opposed to the regime.

24. Thanks for the great coverage. Please interview common folk from the opposition. We need to hear their perspective too.

25. Seems like the US goal is to destroy any democracy builder around!

26. I saw a latina and a bald guy and for a minute I thought I was in the wrong page

27. Thank you, TRNN, for your continued fair coverage of this very serious situation. We need you right now!

28. This is a great interview. Much appreciated. Atenea Jimenez clearly outlines the very deep challenges any state and society overseeing an underdeveloped economy in the Global South will have to deal with while attempting to break the stranglehold of imperialism and dependency. Let's keep it real, even the best historical attempt at a radical socialist solution under the Bolsheviks between 1918-1924 had to function and persist through very similar challenges e.g how to build a socialized (worker and peasant controlled) democracy while overseeing a weak, capital-shy and war-shattered economy, plus fight off considerably aggressive internal and external threats. That's what the Russian civil war was about. The very pressing need for the Bolshevik state to build its armed defences ultimately took resources away from socializing society and economy in the most ideal democratic way. What the tension between Lenin and Alexander Kollantai was about. What the compromise – the New Economic Policy – forced on the Bolsheviks was all about. Give it to the Maduro government. They're handling it as well as any seriously besieged social reform or revolutionary government in the so-called "Third World" could possibly do. I come from a society, South Africa, where the legitimate authority of the ANC was established in compromise and almost absolute obeisance to the ruling white elite and their global peers, a compromise forced on it by the threat of civil war. Basically, nothing came of the ANC's capitulation to the ruling elite for the black majority except any economy out of which capital is extracted and off-shored in banks in the global North. No doubt, the Chavistas, Maduro included, continue to resist the total capitulation forced on South Africa or its neighbour Zimbabwe from its very beginning between anti-colonial war and compromise for that matter. As the Maduro government strives to resist, it is inevitable in the best of all possible worlds, that the kind of tensions and contradictions and ongoing class struggles Atenea Jimenez thoughtfully outlines, will build up and intensify as Venezuela attempts to pursue alternatives in a world where real effective power is with parasitical oligarchs whose political mandate comes from their principals in the corporations and governments in the powerful and wealthy North.

29. Sometimes somebody gotta get wacked (Guaidó)

30. Ah, another piece of the puzzle clicks in for me. The only thing the imperialist, capitalist western (top down, hierarchical, authoritarian, tyrannical etc.) powers hate more than state socialism (which is also authoritarian, top-down) is bottom-up, grass roots, egalitarian, socialist organisation of the economy by the people for the people. If that got established there'd be no exploitative rich pickings for the corporations and their super-wealthy owners and they can't have that.

    In fact, that's how the Russian revolution started, with bottom-up organisation of the economy and decisions made through committees (literally, soviets). Imperialist powers invaded, joined by some internal forces, to try and put a stop it then too but were defeated. Unfortunately, the system was lost as Stalin took over, imposing state control of the economy.

31. It's scary how the MSM in US and Europe was against russia so called meddling but are supporting trump himself in literally a open coup

32. America will not give up until it controls Venezuelan OIL.

33. "No socialism" let that process into the minds of the ignorant please.

34. The Juan Guado opposition is a complete sham and misrepresents other actual concrete opposition groups.

35. This woman works for Maduro and you can belive anything she says. Children are starving and dying becouse their arent any medications. People in venezuela are making 6 dolars a month and after a few youtubers show the empty shelves in the supermarkets the goverment began to stock up again but no one can buy anything becouse two toilet paper rolls for example are three dollars thats half of what they make in a month. Also Maduro and his politicians are trafficking drugs and have been for many years they are mineing the gold and selling it for their own profit. Anyone who speaks out against Maduro is put in prison. He has jailed many jurnalists and oposition leaders so if he won the elections its becouse he put everyone with a large following in prison. If you are really giving the news tell it all from all sides your in Venezuela go to the hospitals speak to all types of people. Maduros army is starving they get fed boild pasta plain boild pasta and the are beaten and killed if they dont agree their familys are harrased and they are being servaled by cuban intelegence and Maduros intelegence. The mass of venezuelans are hungry dessperate affraid sick and dying. So show all the facts we have had as much as we can take of Maduros lying employees and that is what this woman is. Why dont you talk to all of the family members that have had someone gunned down and killed in the street just for protesting show them theres thousands im sure that you can find them. Again show all the facts or dont show anything at all.

36. Hell yeah. They're talking worker co-ops, means of production, all that stuff. That's so damn awesome 😍✊

37. Like America, solely depending on a democracy will not absolve the corruption inflicted on the government by corporations. It seems like the woman is describing setting up a form of social democracy (NOT DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM!!!!). More power to them if they can achieve it as long as power remains out of the hands of the very few. Thank you Real News for this very informative, boots on the ground, form of journalism.

38. Such non-sense. The woman is a politcal appointee of a system of government owned enterprises…if she is so qualified, how come there are millions of refugees accross South America all claiming to have been starving in the country? I guess that ten percent of the countries people don't count because they wanted food? I guess those millions of people are all lying…such fucking rats you guys are.

39. So they are persuing a more progressive model of production and consumption. That's what we have to support, not this "international aid" which divide and destruct the country.

40. I don't get it. Those citizens seem to be well fed and happy. I guess Maduro's goons must have cleared the street of the starving and shipped in well-fed people from other countries and forced them at gunpoint to pretend to be happy.
    Seriously though, this situation is proving to me that the US government and the mainstream media are so much more evil than even I thought.

41. Excellent job! Cleared up a lot of muck & helped me understand what's really at stake for them

42. Viva Maduro 👍👍👍

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