Venezuela at Huston School of Film, NUI, Galway with Global Women's Strike

by Global Women's Strike Fri Mar 18, 2005 08:42

A Global Women’s Strike event for International Women’s Week




Venezuela: Creating a caring economy





Nora Castañeda



President of the Women’s

Development Bank

(Banmujer)


“To eliminate poverty we must give power to the poor.” President Hugo Chavez

“We believe that the economy must be at the service of human beings, not human beings at the service of the economy. And since 70% of those who live in conditions of poverty are women, economic change must start with women.

“Micro credit is an excuse to empower women. We want to create an economy based on co-operation and mutual support, a caring economy. We are not building a bank. We are building a different way of life.

“We women won our rights in the constitution. We won Article 88, which recognizes that housewives create added value and must be compensated with social security.” Nora Castañeda


Angélica Álvarez



Promoter

Co-ordinator for Banmujer in

Bolívar state


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2005 – UN Year of Micro Credit
Nora Castañeda and Angélica Álvarez European Tour March 2005








Monday 14 March, 8pm
London School of Economics


New Theatre, E171, East Building, Houghton Street, WC2


With Richard Gott, author In the Shadow of the Liberator and Cuba: A New History

Chaired by Selma James, Global Women’s Strike co-ordinator

Sponsored by LSE Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! Society





UK tour sponsors so far: Latin America Bureau; Leicester Social Forum; NATFHE (University and College Lecturers' Union); South London Cuba Solidarity Campaign; Sheffield Cuba Solidarity; Peace and Human Rights Trust; David Raby (Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool).

Please let us know if you would like to sponsor this tour.

All proceeds will go to grassroots women in Venezuela working with Banmujer.

Tour contact: 020 7482 2496 [email protected]


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Other cities . . .

Tuesday 15 – Edinburgh

1.30-2.30 pm Scottish Parliament, Room T22, Holyrood

Hosted by Rosie Kane MSP

5pm Napier University, Merchiston Campus, Room B2

Hosted by Napier University United Left Society



Wednesday 16 – Manchester

7.30pm University of Manchester, Students' Union Building, MR1 (meeting room 1), Oxford Road, near Royal Infirmary.

Hosted by University of Manchester Students' Union, Women's Collective, Latin American Society



Thursday 17 – Leeds
1pm meeting at University of Leeds, Students Union building

Hosted by University of Leeds Students’ Union



Thursday 17 – Sheffield

7.30pm St Matthew’s Church Rooms, Carver Street

Co-sponsored by Sheffield Cuba Solidarity Campaign, South Yorkshire Women’s Development Trust, Sheffield Women’s Forum


Friday 18 – Leicester

7.30pm, The Secular Hall, Humberton Gate (opposite Sainsbury's)

Sponsored by Leicester Social Forum



Monday 21st - Nottingham

details to be confirmed



Thursday 24th - Galway

7.30pm, The Huston School of Film and Digital Media, National University of Ireland, Galway (opposite Cathedral behind Irish Centre for Human Rights)

Hosted by Women's Studies Centre, NUI, Galway


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The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the world’s 5th largest oil exporter, yet the majority of people, mainly people of colour, live in poverty. They elected President Hugo Chávez to get the oil revenue back to tackle poverty, and passed a revolutionary constitution. In 2002 they defeated a US-backed coup and then an oil sabotage. In 2004, elections ratified Chavez in power and won 20 out of 22 states. Literacy, education, healthcare, housing, land rights, food security . . . have leapt forward. The users of Banmujer, housewives and mothers who form co-operatives and associations, have been key in every initiative.
Defying US attempts to intervene and discredit this “participatory democracy” based on grassroots self-activity, the Bolivarian revolution is a beacon of hope for people everywhere who demand an end to the twin terrors of poverty and war.



Nora Castañeda, an economist committed to grassroots women, was appointed by President Chávez to head Banmujer in response to women’s demands.

Of African and Indigenous descent, and daughter of a low-income single mother, Ms. Castañeda is a remarkable spokeswoman for a revolution led largely by women.
Angélica Alvarez, originally from Chile, fled to Venezuela after the 1973 military coup against President Allende. As Banmujer’s promoter-co-ordinator, she provides crucial support and direction to the Red Popular de Usuarias – the users’ autonomous organisation.

The Global Women’s Strike demands a change in economic priorities and the return of military budgets to the community, beginning with women the first carers. Women in over 60 countries, and men who support our goal that society Invest in Caring Not Killing, take Strike action on/around 8 March, International Women’s Day.







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For other times, venues and videos “Venezuela - A 21st Century Revolution” and “Enter the oil workers” both featuring Ms. Castañeda: [email protected] and www.globalwomenstrike.net Tel: 0207-482 2496

The Strike videos aim to make visible the different sectors active in this revolution, and how grassroots leadership, starting with women and people of colour, works in practice. A new video “Talking of power” will be premiered on the tour.

by Global Women's Strike Fri Mar 18, 2005 08:44

Letters


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Women support Chavez

Friday February 25, 2005
The Guardian

It is appropriate for women to comment on plots against Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, since women have most to lose from his assassination (Bush is plotting to kill me, says Chavez, February 22).

Behind the elected military man there is a women's revolution. Women are the majority, as users and service providers, in all government social programmes to tackle poverty - literacy, education, health, water, housing, and land rights.

Venezuela's crime is its refusal to privatise oil and hand it over to US corporations. Behind this refusal are economic priorities diametrically opposed to those of the would-be US assassins.

["The economy must be at the service of human beings, not human beings at the service of the economy. And since 70% of those who live in conditions of poverty are women, economic change must start with women," explains Nora Castañeda head of Venezuela’s Women’s Development Bank*.]

Women are least likely to accept defeat when loved ones are kidnapped, murdered and disappeared - we have been the hidden majority in human rights organisations everywhere. Women were the majority to come out demanding the return of Chavez, which reversed the 2002 coup. They have been the majority in the electoral battle units which ensured his victory in the 2004 referendum and regional elections that followed.

Latin America will go up in flames if Chavez is killed. And Europe? Will it allow the US government to get away with preaching democracy while assassinating popular elected governments?

Nina Lopez
Global Women's Strike
Cristina Navarrete
Sara de Witt
Latin American Group for Venezuela
Maggie Ronayne
Lecturer, National University of Ireland, Galway



The sentence in [ ] was in the original letter but cut from the published version.

* Nora Castañeda and Angelica Alvarez, Banmujer's promoter co-ordinator, will be speaking at the London School of Economics on Monday 14 March at 8pm and in a number of other cities as part of the European tour organised by the Global Women's Strike.

by Aleksander Boyd - Proveo Sun Mar 20, 2005 15:06 alek.boyd at gmail dot com

A picture says more than a thousand words. Here's one depicting the sort of support towards women found in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.

http://www.scrivi.com/image.pl?file=im_106115.gif

by R. Isible Mon Mar 21, 2005 01:15

The picture shows some soldiers doing something. I don't know who took it, what date it's supposed to have been taken on, who the soldiers are, who the woman is, what happened to her etc. I read your biography on your site and am interested in your experience, but your post above doesn't convince me of much.

by Aleksander Boyd Mon Mar 21, 2005 01:44 alek.boyd at gmail dot com

Is Elinor Montes. She was vicioulsy beaten by the Venezuelan National Guard at the end of February last year. I do not pretend that you take my comments at face value; do your own research, visit Amnesty International's website and see for yourself.

by ZXBarcalow Mon Mar 21, 2005 03:26

Any violence that occurs in Venezuela should be condemned, especially if it is violence by the Venezuelan government. However, given the turbulent political situation in the country, and the angry divisions in Venezuelan society it is unrealistic to expect that there will be no violence at all. Even police in rich western democracies often use excessive force in putting down civil unrest. Even the most progressive and democratic of developing country governments cannot exert 100% control over the police during violent upheaval (let us not forget that the opposition violently overthrew the government in 2002 and then briefly installed a dictatorship that killed many Venezuelans).

Anyone with respect for democracy should support the Venezuelan people's right to have their elected government see out its term without interference. However nobody should be uncritically supportive of the Chavez government. There are legitimate criticisms that Chavez has not exerted proper control over his supporters who have often violently attacked members of the opposition, and that suspects have been ill-treated while in state custody. If it is proven that there is a systematic repression of opposition members then progressives who support Chavez should withdraw this support or risk making the same mistake as many leftists did in the past, and many right-wingers do now -supporting undemocratic and repressive governments.

However the Venezuelan government should not bare the full blame for all violent conflict that takes place in the country. There are undemocratic elements that have already used violence to overthrow the popular and democratically elected government and they have been active since then in creating disturbances.

by R. Isible Mon Mar 21, 2005 04:49

Thanks for the response and the extra information. My point wasn't to try and discredit or belittle you, it was simply asking for more information. Contrary to your assertion that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, it's sometimes vastly inferior, especially on its own. I take all accusations of human rights abuses and undemocratic behaviour very seriously, for the reasons that ZXBaraclow lays out much more eloquently above.

I'd encourage you to supply information instead of just saying "do your own research": after all if you know a lot about the subject then you're going to convince a lot more people about the problem if you supply evidence. Hence I'd assume the reason for the existence of your site.

by Aleksander Boyd Mon Mar 21, 2005 12:23 alek.boyd at gmail dot com

www.venezuelatoday.net (Most comprehensive directory of news, forums, regular citizen’s blogs and more).
• Amnesty International:
Venezuela. Human Rights under Threat. http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR530052004
Venezuela: Further information on Death threats/fear for safety. http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR530092004
Online documentation archive: http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-ven/index
• Human Rights Watch about Venezuela: http://hrw.org/doc/?t=americas&c=venezu
• IFEX: International Freedom of Expression eXchange: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/139/
• Commitee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/attacks04/americas04/ven.html
• Reporters sans frontier: Promulgation of law on social responsibility (Dec. 2004) http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=11954
Reporters sans frontier’s annual report on Venezuela for 2004: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10240
• Inter-American Press Association condemns Chávez’ government for curtailing freedoms http://www.sipiapa.org/pressreleases/chronologicaldetail.cfm?PressReleaseID=1336
• Venezuelan analyst bloggers:
http://daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com
http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/
http://caracaschronicles.blogspot.com/ (archives- not to date but worth reading)
http://vcrisis.com. “List of missing persons and political prisoners in Venezuela” http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200403020624

by Aleksander Boyd Mon Mar 21, 2005 12:34 alek.boyd at gmail dot com

"Anyone with respect for democracy should support the Venezuelan people's right to have their elected government see out its term without interference".

Please pass that message along to Hugo Chavez himself for let us not forget that he led a coup against a democratically elected president in February 1992 and his companions led another one in November 1992. What's more that president (Carlos Andres Perez) got more votes in 1988 than what Chavez got in 1998. Hence chavista accusations regarding respect for democracy and its institutions ring hollow.

Re the coup, for all chavista attempts to rewrite history, the plenary of the Supreme Court ruled that there wasn't such a coup but a vacuum of power generated by Chavez's resignation, which, needs be stressed, was announced to the country by the highest military officer Gen. Lucas Rincon Romero, who became, upon Hugo Chavez return to power, Venezuela's Minister of Interior.

Care to explain that bit?

by Ceti Sun Jul 31, 2005 19:44 silfani at gmail dot com

Before Chavez, there were disappearances and torture carried out on a regular basis, but with little if no civil society outcry. Why? There was the Caracazo, where thousands were killed, and never counted.

One cannot expect the guard units and security forces to clean up their act, and make a 100% u-turn, especially when their role in the past was repression on behalf of the oligarchy. However, under Chavez they have made remarkable progress, to the point of breaking off contact with the School of the Americas where many were trained before. And security forces that do take a heavy hand under enormous provocation and sabotage by the opposition are being prosecuted, which is a lot more than can be said of what happened before, when the military had a free hand to liquidate guerillas and suspected guerilla sympathizers.

Incidentally, during the coup, the metropolitan police, controlled by the opposition mayor of Caracas shot to death 50 people. This in two days! Imagine what would happen if they returned to power!

And what's more, the oligarchs are carrying out the majority of atrocities, which tells you a lot that they are outpacing the government and all its policing machinery. Many peasants are still being killed by hired goons of the landed elite as they try to carry out the government's own program, but where is the outcry there?