- Paul Mason
- 15 May 06, 05:11 PM
President Chavez has promised to speak for only 15 minutes. He is giving a eulogy to the various Latin American freedom fighters of the Bolivar era, and to the enlightenment tradition of the House of Commons going back to William Pitt. "We are all in danger...capitalism has degenerated into an empire," he says. The Labour Campaign Group of MPs is here in force, though nobody has yet proposed running Chavez as a stalking horse in the leadership row.
"There is no time to lose" he says, "tomorrow the White House could give the order to attack Iran, or Venezuela...even the UK if sentiment grows vs Bush."
"I don鈥檛 want to meddle in Labour Party but the Third way is impossible, capitalism cannot be given a human face鈥 (Huge round of applause...)
- Paul Mason
- 15 May 06, 04:44 PM
I'm at a House of Commons reception for the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Filing this from my phone... more on Chavez as it happens...
- Paul Mason
- 15 May 06, 10:41 AM
In December last year I reported from Varanasi, Inda, on the plight of silk weavers in Varanasi. (You can also watch a selection of my reports from the on the right of this page.) To recap, they are being driven out of business by imported Chinese silk which is, as one admitted, cheaper and more colourfast. Since thousands poor peasants had flooded into handloom weaving because of problems making a living off the land this is a problem. At its worst it is leading to starvation and suicide among the weavers. It seems that my report, which was screened on 大象传媒 World, has prompted an inquiry and campaign headed by the Crafts Council of India aimed at trying to save the weaving craft by marketing it in the developed world and protecting its intellectual property....
Continue reading "A craft survives against the odds..."
