Jul 28

Jul 28 Venezuelan Election

Chicago, Demonstrations, Festivals, Musicians, Performance, Protest, Public Declarations

“Calling out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer’s here and the time is right
For dancing in the street
They’re dancing in Chicago (Dancing in the street)”

— Dancing In the Streets, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas from Dance Party (1964)

As of late June, some 42,000 Venezuelan migrants had arrived in Chicago, thanks in large part to Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Chicago officials worry that up to 25,000 more could be shipped to Chicago before the Democratic National Convention as part of a Republican effort to embarrass presumptive presidential nominee Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Over the past two years, the City of Chicago has incurred over $400 million in housing and other costs as part of its efforts to settle the Venezuelans. The average Chicagoan sees and reads about the details in the local media. Many also have had firsthand encounters with the migrants who often ride CTA buses in large numbers, sit in the doorways of vacant retail establishments on Michigan Avenue, as well as in Chicago’s neighborhoods, and hang out in the street near the shelters that house them. Mothers often have two or three children in tow, as they hold corrugated DIY signs proclaiming their plight and asking for anything that passersby might contribute.

Some enterprising migrants have adopted what might be called the “New York” model, selling Sprees, Skittles, M & M’s, and Trident Gum on the streets and on public transit. Some of the inventory is purchased each day wholesale. The cynics believe some of the goods have been shoplifted.

Many in the community are upset about the migrants, believing the government funds spent on the migrants could be better spent on providing social services to longtime Chicagoans. Decisions by City of Chicago officials to house migrants in public schools and community centers have been particularly contentious, bringing out angry constituents to town hall meetings.

While many are sympathetic to the plight of the Venezuelans, most are tired of seeing them sitting and lying on city streets. There do not seem to be good or permanent solutions.

To date, there may have been one or two small demonstrations, with Venezuelans and their advocates demanding ready access to work permits, but by and large, the Venezuelans have not acted in concert, staging demonstrations like other ‘heritage’ groups regularly do. Hence, I was very much surprised to find a group of them demonstrating in the plaza walkway (the Plaza of the Americas) just north of the Wrigley Building.

There may be some logic behind the migrant’s choice to demonstrate in this location. The plaza houses a 16-foot statue of Benito Juárez, the President of Mexico from 1858 until 1872, who advocated civil liberties, equality before the law, and citizen control of the military, all positions that would appeal to Venezuelan migrants fleeing a repressive strongman and passing through Mexico before arriving in the United States.

While I was attending the demonstration, I had no idea what the Venezuelans were celebrating. The speeches were all in Spanish and most of the event centered on music and dancing, thereby creating a party atmosphere.

Tonight, I learned that the demonstration was most likely sparked by the election taking place in Venezuela. It pits Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro against Edmundo González, a stand-in for María Corina Machado, the highly popular opposition leader who was disqualified from running.

Whatever the reason for the rally, I was pleased to see the Venezuelans in a new light: happy rather than dour; standing rather than sitting; and dancing rather than pleading for money. Just maybe we will see them on the street making demands sometime soon.

And there was a clear message in the demonstration for the many Americans passing by. The people dancing were hopeful that an autocrat who most likely would steal the election would be defeated. Sound familiar? What happened in Venezuela can happen here, particularly when former President Donald J. Trump told an audience of Christians on Saturday that if they voted in this election, there would be no need to vote again. Trump was going to fix it, whatever ‘It’ might be. Like in Venezuela, danger lurks in the United States—the loss of our freedoms that far too many have taken for granted, and quick to toss to the wind in the incorrect belief that a wanna-be autocrat can provide them with security against change and the Other.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]