About 100,000 leftwing activists will arrive in Caracas for the World Social Forum next week. With numbers that great, there will be sane, thinking people among them, even if they are on the far left. And maybe, some will be in moderate and democratic left, it’s pretty sure. That’s why Venezuelan bloggers are doing their utmost to communicate with the attendees about the militarism they will see on the streets, some of which has given some of the WSF attendees cause for concern. As Iria explained to me on Global Voices the other day:

I really don????????t know whether or not military officers will take control of the WSF facilities. I doubt it would happen. Simply, social-minded people in Caracas are afraid militarization would happen due to the government tendency to militarize anything they handle, and that concern is enough to dissuade then from attending the event. You may know that lefty people and human rights activists do not like to be surrounded by military; bring bad memories. Anyway, I think that like the U.S. Embassy they are overreacting.

Miguel Octavio has a fascinating post out there as another sort of reply, explaining as a local can, the meaning of the militarism they will see in Caracas and the efforts that will be used to cover it up. He has little regard for militaries in general but makes a compelling case based primarily on the military’s recent deeds rather than his own views. His post, with lots of illustrative photos, is well worth reading here.

Also on the topic of the Venezuelan military and its growing militarism, I found this essay by John Sweeney at VCrisis here.

Francisco Toro, suspiciously leftist himself, has the same plan to address the World Social Forum participants but instead of militarism, focuses on the petrostate. He has two long but readable and informative posts about the bad impact of oil money here and here.

Daniel in Venezuela does the same thing as Francisco, but instead of oil, explains to the attendees the significance of the Human Rights Watch report. It’s well worth a click here.