The Nation, a weekly political magazine founded 1865, describes itself as the flagship of left-wing politics. It's editor and co-owner, Katrina vanden Heuvel, is both a long-standing, articulate, and steadfast advocate of leftist causes and a recipient of many of their highest accolades.

So what a surprise it was for me to see her magazine do something that many left-wing journalists have failed to do of late: criticize Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's shut down of a popular opposition-owned television station, one that he feels has unfairly criticized his rule:

Hugo Chávez has committed a grave error in closing down the opposition TV station, which has been on the air a half-century. Like it or not, this was not a frontal attack on the economic elite but rather a blow to the cultural identity of millions of Venezuelans--and it will have severe consequences for the government. Trying to replace popular soap operas and game shows watched by the poor with pathetic "revolutionary" programming is as bad as leaving them without food.

But as I continued to read, I realized that the criticism was not motivated by a desire to see a more participative democracy, freedom of speech, freer markets, and greater individual liberty. The real problem that The Nation has with Chavez' actions is made clear by the use of scare quotes around the word revolutionary. If I read the article correctly, the Nation's problem with Chavez is that he's a poseur:

Anticapitalist revolutions are fueled more by dictatorships than by poverty. In Venezuela there was no dictatorship, and poverty was not key to Chávez's ascent. Every revolution imposes austerity, and this is something to which Venezuelans on the right and left remain immune. Venezuela is not an industrial capitalist state but rather one of export and consumerism. Chávez is strengthening the economic role of the state, redistributing oil income and forming new economic elites, all mixed with doses of populism, corruption and business opportunities. All this is new--but it is not revolution and it is not socialism.

That last line is quite extraordinary because Chavez has proclaimed for some time that his mission is to advance "21st century socialism" in Venezuela. The Nation clearly doesn't see it that way. To them, Chavez is like the soap opera doctor turned cough-syrup pitch-man: "I am not socialist, I just play one on state-run TV."

Links: Carnival of the Insanities

See also: Policing Hate Speech