Last week riots erupted in several cities on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. According
to the Jamaican newspaper Jamaica Gleaner, the riots began after the island’s national electricity
provider announced a rise in electricity tariffs. However, the protests were
also directed against decaying public infrastructure such as roads and sewage,
low wages, and the increasing violence on the island.
Hurricane Katrina will be remembered for years to come as an important turning point in the USA. Thousands, tens of thousands of poor people have been left to fend for themselves, many dying dehydrated, in what is the richest country in the world. People are noting that the Bush administration, very quick to mobilize a huge army to invade Iraq, has been painfully slow in helping the people of New Orleans. The class question is emerging clearly and this will have profound effects on the whole of US society.
Venezuela was the first country to offer help to the United States in dealing with the effects of Hurricane
Katrina. Chavez has offered money and personnel to help in the relief
operations. The answer of an unnamed "senior State official" was that
“unsolicited offers can be counterproductive." They would rather some of
their own people died than have the people of the USA see Venezuela for what it is, a country where its people are
challenging the very capitalist system upon which so much poverty and
devastation is based.
Venezuela was the first country to offer help to the United States in dealing with the effects of Hurricane
Katrina. Chavez has offered money and personnel to help in the relief
operations. The answer of an unnamed "senior State official" was that
“unsolicited offers can be counterproductive." They would rather some of
their own people died than have the people of the USA see Venezuela for what it is, a country where its people are
challenging the very capitalist system upon which so much poverty and
devastation is based.
A comment on the
glaring class contradictions that Hurricane Katrina has thrown up. While the
poor are accused of looting, the rich loot legally by profiting even from this
disaster.