I don’t like “attacking” people and prefer to keep discussions to ideas. It’s part of a program I try to practice of “principles before personalities” and my dear life partner and wife, Marcy Rein, has helped me in that process immensely. It’s particularly painful to me to go after someone who I’ve once respected and…
(traducido por Guillermo Useche del artículo en inglés, “Your Friend Trump.”) Imaginen mi sorpresa al escuchar que a los padres de mi amigo venezolano les gusta Trump. Yo supongo que “la distancia hace crecer el cariño” pues por muchos años Chávez tuvo el mismo efecto en mí. Y ya que estamos en aforismos trillados pero…
(La traducción al español, hecho por Guillermo Useche, sigue después de la versión en inglés) https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/in-2016-republicans-called-democrats-sore-losers-after-election-95846469523 Take a look at the difference between the Democrats and Republicans… For four years now I resisted the temptation (not always successfully) to add in this blog to the clamor against Donald J. Trump, knowing that he already was…
Michelle Goldberg’s “Four Wasted Years Thinking about Donald Trump” was published today at the New York Times (yeah, they have a paywall you might not be able to jump; but, as consolation, do you REALLY want to read another piece on that shitpile DJT?). After listing all the casualties of 45’s presidency, Goldberg concludes that…
This essay (vea al español original después de la traducción) came to my attention well over a year ago and I found it so powerful that I decided to translate it. Luz Varela teaches history at the University of the Andes in Mérida, Venezuela. Like so many thoughtful academics, she’s worked to refute the simplistic…
I decided well over a year ago that Joe Biden would be the best candidate to run against the current occupant of the White House. I’ve based this understanding on what I’ve learned about populism through in-depth study and a close analysis of Venezuela. I couldn’t support anyone who advocates for “socialism” without even recognizing…
At long last Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his mafia have been indicted in the US for cocaine trafficking. Back in November 2015 when the First Lady’s nephews, Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, were busted for attempting to smuggle 800 kilos (that’s roughly one ton) of cocaine into the US it…
(This is a revised version of a piece first published at Caracas Chronicles. I think that piece lacked nuance, so I’ve worked it over here) Imagine my surprise to hear that my Venezuelan friend’s parents “like” Trump. I suppose that “distance makes the heart grow fonder” since for many years it had the same…
My post was “Editor’s Pick” at Caracas Chronicles this week. Thanks. Go figure. I spend hours on some articles that no one seems to notice, and other posts, like this one, take about an hour out of a morning. I clearly don’t understand the secret to “success.” If I did, I might have the misfortune…
Naky Soto has an excellent, spunky piece up at Caracas Chronicles on the January 5th Chavista golpe de estado. Read it. She talks about the Bolivarian government’s attempted overthrow of the last independent, democratically-elected power of Venezuela, the National Assembly (NA). Of course, the NA take-over was as sloppy as all their other mischief, including…
Think “reactionary” only comes in a right wing flavor? Take a look at the Bolivarian solidarity movement and think again. Find the link to the article in my blog.
An incisive and urgently needed political critique that can only be ignored at great cost.
A great job! (Readers) will appreciate your critical insights and the story you’re telling.
Clifton Ross is the author, translator and/or editor of a dozen or so books of fiction, poetry, interviews, and political thought, particularly from Latin America, where he has traveled extensively. He has written and directed one feature-length film and a number of shorts. In 2005 Ross represented the U.S. in the World Poetry Festival of Venezuela. Four years later he publishedTranslations from Silence, which won the 2010 Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence from Oakland PEN. His most recent book is Home from the Dark Side of Utopia, a political memoir released in July 2016 by AK Press.
