If anyone is in any doubt about the direction the European Union has been moving in the last say 30 years (or say 500 years) they should consider the recent recipient of the European Parliament’s “prestigious” [sic] Sakharov Freedom Prize: the Venezuelan “opposition”.
The European Parliament is the European Union’s (EU’s) only democratic body. If the will of the “European” people has an expression: this is it. The European Presidency, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (the EU’s agenda setters), in contrast, are strictly top-down organizations. For this reason the strengthening of the bottom-up Parliament is considered by many progressives to be the EU’s only hope.
So what’s there to hope for? Not much, judging by the latest Sakharov Freedom Prize. If the European Parliament has its way Europe and indeed the world is going to resemble Venezuela pre-Chavez. In other words – to put it very mildly – socialism in the 21st century is a nonstarter for the European Parliament.
By embracing the Venezuelan “opposition” – the European Parliament is embracing death. This is no exaggeration. Anyone familiar with the 500 year old Latin American oligarchy that has shaped everything in between Tijuana and Tierra del Fuego – knows the death we speak of. The social torture of the Native American and the African American, in particular, is the business of this oligarchy. And the Venezuelan “opposition” defends this business. And…