By Maria Elena Salinas. NorthJersey.com, September 30, 2007.
There have been plenty of signs that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is
poised to take over as the anti-imperialist leader of the Americas, a
position until now held unofficially by ailing Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro. It is now evident that Chavez is no longer trying to take baby
steps toward an authoritarian regime, but rather huge leaps, diving into
the socialist pool headfirst.
With the new school year this fall came Chavez's latest bomb. He warned
private schools that they either introduce a new curriculum developed by
the Ministry of Education that includes the new concepts of "Bolivarian
socialism" -- or, as he likes to call it, "socialism of the 21st
century" -- or face being shut down.
If you don't know what socialism of the 21st century means, you are not
alone. Everyone else -- probably including members of Chavez's inner
circle -- is still trying to figure it out. As far as how he wants to
implement his governing style in the country's education system, there
are hints of it on the Education Ministry's Web site.
Bolivarian education is described as "developing a creative potential,
valuing work ethic and active participation, consciousness and
solidarity with the social transformation process." Those are the
pillars of the new system, according to Chavez.
But for the nongovernmental agency Education Assembly, which claims to
have had access to a draft of the new education plan, the document will
attempt to indoctrinate the new generation by, among other things,
presenting a new vision of Venezuela's history, one that excludes or
reinterprets what transpired from 1830 to 1998, before Chavez came into
power, describing it as an era that created an underdeveloped capitalist
country.
Olga Ramos, head researcher and president of Education Assembly, told
the BBC in an interview that the new curriculum will try to justify in
the students' eyes the revolutionary changes in the country beginning in
1999. She claims that when referring to world history, the new
curriculum only refers to liberating revolutions as those that were of a
socialist or communist nature. When referring to ideological movements,
textbooks will describe Marxism, Leninism and Chavez's socialism of the
21st century, and will refer to capitalism as the dominating mechanisms
of the "Empire."
Another document accessed by the media shows that pre-med education will
include speeches by Fidel Castro as recommended reading and will
describe people like Argentine revolutionary leader Che Guevara and the
head of Colombia's main rebel group FARC, Manuel Marulanda, as being
among Latin America's most important thinkers.
Chavez's critics are accusing him of politicizing education, but the
Venezuelan president defends his new plan, condemning the existing
education system as "repressive." "The old education is a repressive
tool that promotes consumerism and hatred for others," said Chavez in
one of his recent television programs. He added that education based on
capitalist ideology has corrupted the values of the children.
In warning private schools of their imminent closure should they not
comply with the new curriculum, Chavez claimed that even though their
existence is contemplated in the new constitutional reform, they must
respect and adopt the new educational system.
"If necessary we will close schools, intervene, nationalize them and
assume responsibility for those children," he claimed.
There was no such warning after the triumph of the Cuban revolution in
1959. Within a year and a half, Cuban private schools had been
nationalized and a new curriculum had been set in place that linked the
entire history of the island to Fidel Castro's insurrection against
right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista. Cuban children were forced to
stand watch over symbols of the revolution in apparent "solidarity with
the social transformation process." Small nuances seem to be what marks
the difference between Cuban communism of the early '60s and Venezuelan
socialism of the 21st century.
Maria Elena Salinas is a syndicated columnist. Reach her at
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