[WCUSP] Fw: Hugo Chavez's Address to the United Nations: Rise Up Against the Empire

[Libby or Mort Frank]

If you haven't read it, do it now.

Libby

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Subject: Hugo Chavez's Address to the United Nations: Rise Up Against the 
Empire


> Address to the United Nations
>
> Rise Up Against the Empire
>
> By HUGO CHAVEZ
> Counterpunch
> September 20, 2006
> http://www.counterpunch.org/
>
> 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 Silvio 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?
>
> 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 Nonaligned, 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 threat. 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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