Friday, February 28, 2014

Tom Hayden and the 'Spiritual Progressives' Defend Murder in Venezuela



Tom Hayden and the 'Spiritual Progressives' Defend Murder in Venezuela

by Joel B. Pollak 28 Feb 2014, 6:14 AM PDT
I received an email yesterday from "The Network of Spiritual Progressives," a group run by the left-wing Rabbi Michael Lerner and devoted to spreading love a peace throughout the world. The Spiritual Progressives can be counted on to join anti-war demonstrations and to criticize almost anything Israel does to protect its citizens from Palestinian terror. This particular email was concerned with the raging political crisis in Venezuela.

The email contained an essay on Venezuela by Tom Hayden, one of the most important activists of the 1960s. Hayden drafted the Port Huron Statement in 1962, which launched the New Left and inspired a generation whose politics were stamped by the civil rights and anti-war movements, and who embraced utopian ideals like "participatory democracy." They are today's Democratic Party leaders and mainstream media gatekeepers.

Hayden, like many of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, became more and more radical, visiting North Vietnam and the like. But Hayden never quite left mainstream politics, and became an important leader among California's Democrats, serving in both houses of the state legislature over nearly two decades. He was married to Jane Fonda and remains a progressive icon. His views both reflect and inspire others' on the left.

Rabbi Lerner introduced Hayden's comments on Venezuela as "an important perspective on the current conflict in Venezuela that you won't get from NPR or most of the media." (Evidently taxpayer-and-donor-funded NPR is as bad as the corporate-owned media, you see.) The gist of Hayden's argument was that a shadowy government, beyond the control of President Barack Obama, wants Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez's successor, overthrown.

Hayden shows no concern whatsoever for the erosion of democracy under Chávez and Maduro, no compassion for unarmed demonstrators murdered in the streets, no shock at the Venezuelan's utter destruction of the oil-rich economy. This icon of "participatory democracy" shows no outrage at the arrest of Leopoldo Lopez, the leader of the opposition, no concern about widely-reported torture of demonstrators in Venezuelan prisons.

He is concerned, Hayden writes, that U.S. foreign policy is being run by a "state within a state," dating back to "the CIA's operations against Cuba." He is not concerned in the slightest that Cuba itself is running a "state within a state" in Venezuela, openly assisting the Maduro regime in suppressing opposition and protest as millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil are shipped to Cuba to prop up the brutally tenacious Castro brothers.

Hayden gives Obama the benefit of the doubt: after all, "a friendly Obama shook the hand of Hugo Chavez [in 2009] before Obama's top adviser tried to sabotage the warming of relations," after all. Yet he is worried that Obama's friendship towards Venezuela's government will be undermined by "a secret network that works tirelessly to undermine any Latin American threat to the dominance of American capital and military power."

It is not shocking that a 1960s radical would believe such stuff. It is, however, rather surprising that a group that prides itself on its embrace of non-violence would circulate Hayden's views with approval, shamelessly excusing any and all violence and tyranny by the Venezuelan state. The next time you hear these progressive Democrats complain about the U.S. military or about Israeli occupation, remember their support for murder in Venezuela.

Tom Hayden
Tom Hayden was a co-founder for the Students for a Democratic Society, married to Jane Fonda, and is an editorial board member for The Nation.

Note: Jane Fonda A.K.A Hanoi Jane was married to Tom Hayden, and married to Ted Turner.
Jane Fonda A.K.A. Hanoi Jane
Ted Turner was married to Jane Fonda, and is a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a board member for the International Crisis Group, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)
Moises Naim was a senior associate, International Economics Program minister of trade and industry for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), was a board member for the International Crisis Group, and the minister of trade and industry for Venezuela.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Center for American Progress.
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a board member for the International Crisis Group, was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Center for American Progress, Media Matters, the New America Foundation, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Climate Reality Project.
Eric Alterman is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a columnist for The Nation, and was a senior fellow at Media Matters.
Christopher Hayes is an editor at large for The Nation, and was a fellow at the New America Foundation.
Katrina vanden Heuvel is an editor & publisher for The Nation, a director at the Roosevelt Institute, and was a governor for the Roosevelt Institute.
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. was a co-chairman for the Roosevelt Institute, and a co-founder for the Americans for Democratic Action.
Richard Parker was the president of the Americans for Democratic Action, a co-founder for Mother Jones, and is an editorial board member for The Nation.
Mother Jones: Study Shows Global Warming May Cause More Rape
by William Bigelow 27 Feb 2014
Laura Delano Roosevelt is a governor for the Roosevelt Institute, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s granddaughter.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Laura Delano Roosevelt’s grandfather, and Theodore Roosevelt’s fifth cousin.
Theodore Roosevelt was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fifth cousin, and his great-grandson is Theodore Roosevelt IV.
Theodore Roosevelt IV is Theodore Roosevelt’s great grandfather, and a director at the Climate Reality Project.
Albert A. Gore Jr. is the chairman for the Climate Reality Project.

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