The Venezuelan President met with London Mayor "Red" Ken Livingstone in Camden yesterday.
Livingstone has a reputaion, just like Galloway, for being an admirer of the world's tyrannical regimes.
The Times May 15, 2006
Hugo Chávez's is watched by Ken Livingstone as he speaks
Chávez fails to paint the town red in Camden
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
HUGO CHÁVEZ’S Latin American bandwagon descended on London yesterday, briefly enlivening a dull Sunday in Camden with the sound of drums, the cries of revolution and the waving of banners.
At the start of his controversial two-day visit to London, the Venezuelan President succeeded in attracting an eclectic group of supporters ranging from elderly CND activists to young anti-globalisation campaigners, members of the Socialist Workers’ Party and even the the odd Palestinian protester.
In case there was any doubt about the significance of the “private visit”, as Downing Street has described his very public tour of the capital, Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, told an audience of some 900 supporters that the short, dapper Venezuelan strongman before them was the main figure on the world stage today capable of taking on what he called “the gangster regime” in Washington.
“Those who a decade ago said that socialism was dead, see it now very much alive in Venezuela,” Mr Livingstone said, adding that the march against capitalism was now too strong for America to resist.
“When they predicted the death of socialism they could not have predicted what was to come,” he said. “It is not that socialism failed, it is that socialism has not come.”
Señor Chávez certainly looked the part. Wearing his trademark scarlet tie he exuded confidence before his foreign audience, which included the model-turned activist Bianca Jagger and Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North, and millions more back home who were being treated to live coverage of the proceedings on Venezuelan state television.
But the content appeared to lack something of the revolutionary fervour that his audience had wanted. There was no mention of Tony Blair or the British Government, who he is deliberately snubbing during his visit.
Instead, the crowd listened bemused as the President practised his rusty schoolboy English, shared with them a Mother’s Day greeting back home and then gave a rambling narrative that ranged from the history of revolution in Latin America to the sausages he had for dinner in Vienna the night before.
This was not the table-thumping call to arms against the Yankees that some in the audience had expected. But if they were disappointed, they did not show it. “Chávez is helping the region to find its voice. It is an incredibly exciting time,” Ellie Kuper-Thomas, a student who plans to take her gap year in Venezuela, said. “There has been so much in the press, both negative and positive, that I wanted to see him for myself.”
George Anthony, a retired engineer, said that he had decided to come to show his support for the Venezuelan leader. “I think Chávez is doing a great job for the people of Venezuela,” he said. “He is showing that socialism works in Latin America and the rest of the world.”
As for the Venezuelan Head of State, he retired to the Savoy and prepared for his whirlwind tour of London today. He will be the guest of honour at City Hall, visit the House of Commons and deliver a speech in Whitehall before departing for Libya to meet his fellow revolutionary, Colonel Gaddafi.
thetimesonline.co.uk
Livingstone has a reputaion, just like Galloway, for being an admirer of the world's tyrannical regimes.
The Times May 15, 2006
Hugo Chávez's is watched by Ken Livingstone as he speaks
Chávez fails to paint the town red in Camden
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
HUGO CHÁVEZ’S Latin American bandwagon descended on London yesterday, briefly enlivening a dull Sunday in Camden with the sound of drums, the cries of revolution and the waving of banners.
At the start of his controversial two-day visit to London, the Venezuelan President succeeded in attracting an eclectic group of supporters ranging from elderly CND activists to young anti-globalisation campaigners, members of the Socialist Workers’ Party and even the the odd Palestinian protester.
In case there was any doubt about the significance of the “private visit”, as Downing Street has described his very public tour of the capital, Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, told an audience of some 900 supporters that the short, dapper Venezuelan strongman before them was the main figure on the world stage today capable of taking on what he called “the gangster regime” in Washington.
“Those who a decade ago said that socialism was dead, see it now very much alive in Venezuela,” Mr Livingstone said, adding that the march against capitalism was now too strong for America to resist.
“When they predicted the death of socialism they could not have predicted what was to come,” he said. “It is not that socialism failed, it is that socialism has not come.”
Señor Chávez certainly looked the part. Wearing his trademark scarlet tie he exuded confidence before his foreign audience, which included the model-turned activist Bianca Jagger and Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North, and millions more back home who were being treated to live coverage of the proceedings on Venezuelan state television.
But the content appeared to lack something of the revolutionary fervour that his audience had wanted. There was no mention of Tony Blair or the British Government, who he is deliberately snubbing during his visit.
Instead, the crowd listened bemused as the President practised his rusty schoolboy English, shared with them a Mother’s Day greeting back home and then gave a rambling narrative that ranged from the history of revolution in Latin America to the sausages he had for dinner in Vienna the night before.
This was not the table-thumping call to arms against the Yankees that some in the audience had expected. But if they were disappointed, they did not show it. “Chávez is helping the region to find its voice. It is an incredibly exciting time,” Ellie Kuper-Thomas, a student who plans to take her gap year in Venezuela, said. “There has been so much in the press, both negative and positive, that I wanted to see him for myself.”
George Anthony, a retired engineer, said that he had decided to come to show his support for the Venezuelan leader. “I think Chávez is doing a great job for the people of Venezuela,” he said. “He is showing that socialism works in Latin America and the rest of the world.”
As for the Venezuelan Head of State, he retired to the Savoy and prepared for his whirlwind tour of London today. He will be the guest of honour at City Hall, visit the House of Commons and deliver a speech in Whitehall before departing for Libya to meet his fellow revolutionary, Colonel Gaddafi.
thetimesonline.co.uk
