Hugo Chavez vs. Prince Charles

ChavezRepublished from

Which remarks were uttered by the heir to the British throne â€“ and which were delivered by Venezuelaâ€™s late president?

Following the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez earlier this week, posted a video recording â€“ as well as a transcript â€“ of Chavezâ€™s 15-minute â€œtiradeâ€ at the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009.

In July 2009, Prince Charles presented the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture.

Two well-known men. Two speeches delivered within six months of each other. Below are pairs of statements â€“ one uttered by Chavez, the other by Prince Charles. Can you guess who said which?

  • â€œCurrent human activity exceeds the threshold of sustainability, endangering life on the planetâ€
  • â€œthe sustainability of the entire harmonious system is collapsingâ€
  • â€œreduce global material consumptionâ€¦Consume lessâ€
  • â€œour consumerist society comes at an enormous cost to the Earth and we must face up to the fact that the Earth cannot afford to support itâ€
  • â€œwherever you care to look our industrial economic model is operating on the same damaging, diminishing returnâ€
  • â€œCapitalism is a destructive development modelâ€
  • â€œWhy do we tip the balance of the Earthâ€™s delicate systems with yet more destructionâ€
  • â€œthe world continues its destructive marchâ€
  • â€œWe cannot continue like thisâ€¦Letâ€™s change courseâ€
  • â€œcarrying on as we are will lead to a depleted and divided planetâ€
  • â€œletâ€™s not wait idly by for the death of humanityâ€
  • â€œif we fail the Earth, we fail Humanity.â€
  • â€œletâ€™s stop environmental degradation and avoid the great catastrophe of climate changeâ€
  • â€œDefeat in this instance, Ladies and Gentlemen, would be catastrophic.â€

To see Chavezâ€™s remarks colour-coded in red click here.

Despite the fact that recent decades have been An Amazing Global Success Story in terms of improved human health and wealth, both of these men believe the prevailing economic system should be swept away.

Prince Charles insists that our current economic model has â€œenormous shortcomingsâ€ â€“ without acknowledging that every economic model has shortcomings. Surely the critical issue is: Which model has a demonstrated track record of improving the lives of millions of people â€“ and which models have a track record of murder and misery?

It is Chavez who declares outright that: â€œCapitalism is the road to hell, to the destruction of the world.â€ But at the end of the day, thereâ€™s little meaningful difference between his views and Prince Charlesâ€™ repeated denunciations of â€œour rush to pursue unlimited economic growth and material wealth.â€

None of this is meant to suggest that, if Prince Charles were in charge, heâ€™d be anything like the tyrant Chavez was. But itâ€™s worth reflecting on the fact that, based on the contents of these two speeches, these men share a virtually identical worldview.

Prince Charlesâ€™ speech is backed up here

Chavezâ€™s remarks are backed up here

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  • jerry

    Jillian, who are you directing your comments to? Libertarians are neither left or right on the political spectrum. Harper's conservatives, the Liberals or NDP don't speak the libertarian language.

  • Jillian

    Your hatred for Chavez is aggressive and over the top. It's a huge blow to the Latin communities and it seems once again the US has won.(even if it was by defaulted illness) They only tried to assassinate him how many times? Oh and that Pat Robertson quote of saying just to kill him and the US wouldn't have problems with Venezuela's vast oil reserves. And that was supposedly a man of god, advocating murder in the name of oil. Your tone is smug, suggesting the left is the problem. Do right wingers never look themselves in the mirror and tell the truth? What's so wrong about just admitting your greedy and want it all no matter at whose expense? The right can never get any respect until they do. Their rants will continue to be Ann Coulter-esque, and that's the last thing anyone needs. I'm especially glad after reading your blog that the so-cons and "libertarians" (so-cons that hide under another label, but oh yeah, hate war… sure) are the fringe in Canada and will never be anything else, even if Harper is not much different to a dictator. But I think that's a lesson to us all. The man does what he wants and will be out of politics and not have to suffer the consequences that his party will have to; for all his incompetence and outright lies(to the left and right) But you do realise he campaigned from the centre. So-cons do not have much of a base outside Alberta. They don't run major cities outside Alberta. So, the "libertarian" dream will have to be lived in the states Im afraid..And FYI – unless you are poor (and your not) and living in a third world country, or countries, as is Latin America, you don't get to tell them that they are wrong for ELECTING a president that, (shock and surprise!) wanted to spread the wealth. Capitalism is the bane of our existence, and the greed of people on the right is shocking. It would be nice, just for once to see a right winger give a damn about someone other than them and theirs. Maybe you should try to lighten up a bit and enjoy your life more. Smell the roses.. they won't be there long….

  • Jerry

    What about Bush I, Bush II, Obummer, and oh yeah Clinton not to mention previous leaders around the globe that needlessly invaded countries or were resonsible for millions of deaths? Chavez may have been horrible and be gone from the scene but at least he didn't invade other countries and have access to atomic weapons and drones indiscriminately killing innocents. There is a blood on a lot of hands and much of it is right here in our so called democratic societies.

  • Charlie Harper

    I'm glad Chavez is gone. I prefer a democracy over a dictatorship, or quasi Communism and SoZialism. The world already has enough crazies between the guy in North Korean and the nut bar in Iran.

  • tiretroll

    They believe in UN agenda 21

  • @TheSilverWatch1

    WOW, sounds like they are Blood Brothers with the same Attitudes. I bet Stephen Harper (Canada's Fuhrer) is shitting his pants over these similar remarks by Prince Charles and Chavez. Especially since Canada's irresponsible Government was sooo disrespectful upon Chavez's Death.