Points of departure for a constructive critique of the Bolivarian Revolution Naomi Schiller Published online: 25 August 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract From what Left position, both intellectually and politically, does one formulate a critique of the Cha ´vez-led Bolivarian Revolution without aligning with a right-wing opposition? For starters, we need reliable evidence of the achievements, problems, and mistakes of the Bolivarian project. At the same time, any engagement with social change in Venezuela necessitates attention to one’s positionality as well as scholarly and activist categories of analysis and practice. Keywords Venezuela Á Bolivarian Revolution Á The state Á Community media Á Anthropology of politics Á Hugo Cha ´vez ‘‘With Venezuela, don’t even think about it, Mr. Obama,’’ Venezuelan President Hugo Cha ´vez warned in the days following the start of the March 2011 US-led, UN- endorsed bombing in Libya. Labeling the newest war as a symptom of ‘‘imperial madness,’’ Cha ´vez emphasized that the US military intervention in the name of democracy held an ominous warning for Venezuelans. His condemnation of military intervention and commitment to sovereignty was echoed by other Latin American leaders in Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Yet prominent global news outlets paid more attention to a speech that Cha ´vez made the next day for World Water Day, in which he claimed that capitalism may have been responsible for the destruction of life on Mars. But for many who pay close attention to Venezuelan politics, Cha ´vez’s defense of Muammar al-Qaddafi added the latest layer of complexity to questions about how to assess Cha ´vez’s presidency and his commitment to democracy. N. Schiller (&) Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA e-mail: naomi.schiller@temple.edu 123 Dialect Anthropol (2011) 35:255–260 DOI 10.1007/s10624-011-9240-z