To vote or not to vote?
That is the question.
Yes, despite what most of the opposition refuses to accept,
all paths to an election in Venezuela have been closed.
Why can’t they just accept it?
It seems like they have forgotten about all the abuses committed by the National Elections Council.
They’re like Dory.
What are a couple of little parties like you still doing in Venezuela?
Nothing, nothing, we weren’t here…
Good, then you should come to a reunion in the electoral cards.
Like an election day?
Yeah, yeah, that. Election Day.
Oh, I love Election Days!
Venezuelan elections are a very controversial topic in the public. Plenty of myths have been built around it.
Myths they’re all contained in this box.
That’s why we will present you an unboxing of the National Election Myths Box.
UNBOXING THE NATIONAL ELECTIONS MYTHS BOX
First myth is: “Dictatorships fall through voting”.
Yeah, but only when the conditions are fair and the rules of the game are respected.
Remember what they did to Andrés Velázquez in the state of Bolivar.
He won by a slight difference, but the Nacional Election Council refused to publish the results and in the next days,
allowed votes to be tr afficked from non-supervised election centers.
How do they add illegitimate votes, you say?
Well, a person votes many times,
because the fingerprint scanner is activated with fingerprin ts and one happens to have many of them.
This is a fingerprint, this is another.
So next time you’re on the subway and people grope you, you can say.
“They made a fingerprint scanner out of my body”.
Bottom line is, with no fair conditions, not even the most beloved character, a platonic candidate for both chavismo and opposition,
a hybrid mutant of Lorenzo Mendoza, with Leopoldo López, María Corina Machado and even Hugo Chávez put together,
not even Lorenzopoldo Machavez could win.
Let’s continue with our second myth, which is:
“If we have elections, we have democracy”.
Ahhh this is an all-time favorite for chavistas.
If only some countries that gloat about democracy,
could run elections the way we do here in Venezuela...
This is our 25th, right? Yeah, 25th.
We usually associate elections with democracy, but there are some countries that run elections
like Cuba or North Korea, and: is there any democracy in those countries?
That’s a rhetorical question, that’s like me asking, can you hire Merentes as headmaster of a high school?
Nooo.
Democracy is much more than voting.
There is democracy only when there's also separation of powers, if there is freedom of media coverage, if you have free elections,
but Venezuela's democracy is like a girlfriend that doesn't love you, that never replies back.
And on top of that, she keeps seeing other people like the Chinese, and the Russians and the Belorussians.
Dude, she is not your girlfriend, she's a whore. Let her go and find a better one.
Not a better whore, a better girlfriend, one that truly loves you.
There is one last myth related to elections which is
"People are wise”.
Okay let's see, people are wise. Therefore, most people are always right, right?
But most people drove Hitler to power, most people drove Kim Kardashian to extreme popularity.
If people were truly wise, before voting they would ask for our curriculums but what do they ask for instead?
Our ID, because deep down, the only thing that matters is your age.
People are not wise because most of individuals are not wise.
If you as an individual are asked for example, if you are pro or anti... let's say, food price control.
You would probably vote "pro" because is in your interest to have affordable food and eat it,
but that wouldn't solve the problem, on the contrary, it would make it worse.
There are some decisions that neither you or I would be able to make
And that's why we choose political representatives who know how to take these measures for us,
because they are just so much smarter.
like president Maduro.
So now that we have opened our election myths box
let's talk with someone who probably knows how to get rid of the tyranny, or at least has thought about it.
Professor Erik Del Bufalo.
THE WARM CHAIR
We’re here with Erik Del Bufalo, he’s a philosopher, photographer, philosophy and photography professor,
he’s highly critical of the opposition political management and we have plenty of questions to ask him,
however I’ll start with the one you all have in your head. Erik...
I’m not your father.
You’re not my father... Are we related?
Yes, we’re family... not that distant.
Not that distant.
We’re cousin-brothers.
We’re cousin-brothers, my dad is brother of your dad.
Exactly.
Welcome, Erik, to The Warm Chair.
Thank you.
How are you?
Very well. How are you?
How are you handling the dictatorship?
The dictatorship is handling us and taking us wherever it wants, actually.
And I see ourselves to be quite comfy, which is the saddest thing.
And where is it leading us to?
It will lead us to the worst of the worst, wherever it wants,
if we keep playing along with its truths, its stances in such a passive way, so sadly passive as we’ve done so far. And also, as has done, not people,
who has acted and resisted, and even escaped, but our line of political representatives, which is absolutely mediocre and sad in most cases.
How does the opposition play along with the Government?
It assumes its premises as true, you see, right there… Assumes what they say is real:
“We have elections, we have elections, they’re the government, they’re the government, there’s a quite troubled democracy, but there is democracy”, they accept it.
What they put on the table is accepted right away. Right there, you’ve already lost the game.
So…
There’s no resistance, in fact we shouldn’t talk about opposition anymore, but instead about resistance (to an oppressive regime).
Because there’s only opposition in a competitive democratic system.
But when there isn’t, there’s no opposition, what you should have instead, is resistance.
So the opposition, what we call the opposition, hasn’t resisted enough to it.
Who do you think has resisted enough in our line of political reps?
Only a few and, well… they’re incarcerated or disabled or banished.
So, what you are criticizing about the “Democratic Unity Roundtable” (MUD) party are those who’re still very soft about it…
I criticize from the MUD, those who have always had a similar stance to that of Falcón.
Which, in fact, I believe to be the most coherent, even being as blatant as he is. He has kept the same speech since…
since he got in the MUD, all the time: “this is a competitive democracy, with issues in its terms and conditions…”
with the fallacy that the real problem were non-favorable conditions and some dirty tricks performed by Tibisay Lucena, just that.
And it still remains being his speech.
So what’s the problem with the elections?
That they are not real elections. This is not an election. In order for us to have elections, the vote not only has to be submitted, but also respected.
Look, in the first place it is highly doubtful that the votes are at all respected.
And then they won't be recognized because we have a Constitutional National Assembly that disables our votes as soon as it turns into constitutional mode.
I mean, it legitimizes the power, but not the citizen's choice. And then later, it becomes sovereign power.
So, even if you vote for Falcon and he wins, he's still subjected to a Constitutional National Assembly.
Therefore, only the latter remains sovereign.
So there's the fraud: it happens before voting, and also during, in a questionable election
full of inconsistencies, handled by a tainted system we don't know at all.
And then again, when Tibisay Lucena commits fraud.
And later, a third time, when the Constitutional National Assembly rejects your vote
like it happened with Guanipa in Zulia, like It happened with everyone.
Well, Erik, anything else you might wanna add.
Well, yeah. I’d like to add that getting out of this is going to be hard .
There is no easy way out and it will be painful no matter what, in fact, it already is.
But there’s hope…
There’s hope, but more than hope, I prefer expectations.
Ok.
More than faith, there’s expectation because the international board is showing activity.
If we are not planning to do anything, then let’s not get in the way.
Let’s allow the occidental forces, or civilizing forces, if you will, to end this shameful system
and not play along with farces or shows like Falcon’s, that instead lead us elsewhere.
Thank you for coming, Erik.
Thank you.
UNPOPULAR
DO NOT CROSS
Regardless of not having any electoral guarantees nowadays in Venezuela,
I wonder, when will we stop voting against chavismo to start voting for the opposition?
Because opposition, in its own fight against chavismo, has gotten so far as to vote for Arias Cardenas, who was chavista himself...
That’s like fighting obesity with a patacon and chicha.
Maybe we will voluntarily vote for the opposition the day they show us a nationwide government plan.
When they stop telling us "here, the way out of the dictatorship is over here". Okay, but
what is behind that way out? What's beyond that? What's beyond chavismo?
Is there an inclusive country with rights for everyone? Are there buses with built-in wi-fi where you can take out your phone and not get mugged?
Will there be trap festivals even in Altagracia de Orituco? With Bad Bunny, Bryant Mayers, “Bryant Mayers”.
Damn, I love Bryant Mayers.
But we can't just blame our leaders for not proposing anything solid.
We also need to blame ourselves, it's your fault, it's my fault. Yours and mine.
Because when we go to vote, what do we want? When we are protesting, what are we asking for?
Who are we? Venezuela! 
What do we want? Freedom!
THAT LITTLE WORD
Freedom holds many definitions according to several political ideologies.
Liberals believe that freedom of the individual is the most important thing for a whole, fulfilling life
and socialists often say what's most important is the freedom of the people, which implies being free from the oppressor or the Empire.
For Emmanuel Kant, Freedom equals the autonomy of will.
For Hannah Arendt, freedom is the purpose behind political action.
And for Lilian Tintori, Freedom is her favorite clothing brand.
So I wonder, the day that freedom is finally here, will we be prepared for it?
Will we be prepared to be responsible of our own actions and others being just as free, even if they don't think like we do?
Let's imagine what would happen if democracy finally arrives to this country.
WHAT IF…
DEMOCRACY ARRIVED
No way.
Oh dear, democracy has won!
Yeah!
Finally, those bastards are long gone! They’ll never come back!
Well, I wouldn’t take it that far, Doña Del Bufetal, because truth is, they still have plenty of people.
No, no, no, no, no. They’re already neutralized like the Nazi party in Germany. I got a chain-message via Whatsapp.
That’s not true, they could regroup into a new party, and what if they win another election?
Over my dead body!
Well, it ain’t very long for that, either...
I’m sorry, I apologize for ruining the democratic party, but that is democracy
Free elections, political parties not being prosecuted, free press, gay marriage, legal abortion…
And maybe you ask: “What? gay marriage, legal abortion?”
Yes, because democracy includes some other side-dishes you may not particularly enjoy, such as coleslaw salad or
steamed cauliflowers.
One might imagine democracy as Disneyland, “where all dreams come true”.
So when we get into a democracy, we’re welcomed with a giant banner that states:
“Welcome to Democracyland, where all dreams come true…
but not only your dreams”.
So don´t be afraid, because that day will come,
and it is going to run over us.
If you liked the video hit like, share on your social media, subscribe to my channel on YouTube, down here, subscribe.
Comment what ideas have you got, besides an election-based way-out of the venezuelan crisis.
Do all those things, don’t make me beg you, because for begging so much,
is why we are the way we are.
The MUD and I
We share a complicated history
Of past victory and tears
Of worn out rage and euphoria
The MUD and I
She’s my woman and I’m her man
She talks to others but is faithful to me
They always fuck but they’re just friends.
