Language and forms of development

There's something this government has understood really well: the use of symbols and language to support its political project. The systematic damage to public power's independence; the insults to the opposition; the economic policy of State control; the so-called laws of the people's power; government policy through missions; the messages to the national armed forces; in brief, behind government intervention in so many areas, there´s a political language used to justify all the arbitrary acts.

The Venezuelan greatest miseries have been widely used by the government in its favor and turned into a discourse full of resentment and social division. It's impossible to disentangle all the abuses from the discourse that justifies them and how it has permeated our collective ideals.

Something that proofs this is that we, as a society, have adopted –naturally or not– words like "stateless", "emaciated", "parasitic bourgeoisie", "Masburro", "chavistas full of s...", "bolivarian", "empire", "fulminant knockout"... and so on.

Today we face a turning point in Venezuela. There's no doubt about it. And one of the many challenges we, the ones that want a truly different country, must face is precisely to transform and create a new political language. It is impossible to understand Venezuelan development without promoting a governmental discourse which encourages institutionalism, respect for the law, composure, understanding, conciliation and dialogue. In other words: just like underdevelopment, development also has its language and forms.

Our generation has to and will face a highly troubled discourse, which has to be transformed into a positive one. Sooner or later, when this generation or the next ones take the political power, governmental action must be accompanied by a plain, neutral and inclusive language.

The underdevelopment language speaks of guilt and resentment; it holds onto a distant past; it acts with violence, divides, offends, excludes. Development, on the other hand, speaks of a whole, thinks about the future, it takes action, reconciles, tolerates, includes.

The language of development doesn't convince impatient societies like our so easily; it is not the tempting discourse of populist immediacy that points out those guilty and responsible. Just like patience: development is a tree of bitter roots and really sweet fruits.

...development has its language and forms.