Venezuela Solidarity Brigade

What Resistance Stands For

2006-05-03T03:20:00.000-04:00

test

Chavez ´Go and repeat that imperialism is not invincible, go and repeat that we are in a time of offensive´

2005-08-21T11:28:00.000-04:00

Having spoken for over two hours on the siginificance of the
Boliviarian Revolution earlier that day, Hugo Chavez attended a
special discussion session with representatives of all the delegations at the WFYS. Federico Fuentes, Resistance member was able to attend representing Australia in this meeting of youth from around the world where he recorded the speech. Below are some excerpts of the intro and conclusion of the conversation with Chavez

I was remembering Karl Marx and Rosa Luxemburg and the phrase that each one of then, in their particular time and context put forward; the dilemma `socialism or barbarism´. Marx, the original author of this phrase, and of all the dilemmas contained in it, ´socialism or barbarism´, put forward that phrase looking towards a future horizon.
Afterwards, years after, Rosa Luxemburg also thought of this issue with the understanding that some day, at some moment in the not so immediate future, human beings would see ourselves in a future moment, confronted with a crossroad which would urge us to make a collective decision, a decision to change the social order to save life on this planet, to achieve survival, social progress and equality, and what is for many utopia, or on the contrary, confronted with this dilemma, this crossroad, not being capable of make real changes, we would allow the end of life on this planet, the actually survival of our species.
So, Karl Marx could reflect, think and write looking towards a distance future, a century, the same could be said of Rosa Luxemburg…..but for us it can’t. The circumstances have changed terribly. The situation today is radically different. We don’t have centuries in front of us, it could be decades at most that are left for the peoples of this planet to make a decision. Or we really change the social and economic order, we give real form, viability and outlet for socialism, we say now a new, renovated socialism of the 21st century, or we decide that life finishes on this planet. We no longer have the long time that Karl Marx had, or any other fighter of that era….
This reflection is something I feel deep in my heart because of my profound conviction that the planet is being degraded more and more everyday, and that life on this planet is under threat. Because of this today more that every the dilemma has return with much more force, socialism or barbarism.
I believe it is time that we take up with courage and clarity a political, social, collective and ideological offensive across the world. A real offensive that permits us to move progressively, over the next years, the next decades, leaving behind the perverse, destructive, destroyer, capitalist model and go forward in constructing the socialist model to avoid barbarism and beyond that the annihilation of life on this planet. I believe this idea has a strong connection with reality. I don’t think we have much time. Fidel Castro said in one of his speeches I read not so long ago, ´tomorrow could be too late, let’s do now what we need to do´. I don't believe that this is an exaggeration. The planet will disintegrate, society will disintegrate, the environment is suffering damage that could be irreversible, global warming, the greenhouse effect, the melting of the polar ice caps, the rising sea level, hurricanes, the terrible social occurrences that have shaken life on this planet.
Comrades, that is why I believe that in all the history of the World Festival of Youth and Students, which already has nearly 60 years, the World Federation of Democratic youth is 60 years old and the festival has 58 years. I believe that never before has it been necessary that the festival, this festival, our festival, does not finish the day of the closing ceremony, but rather that the festival is the beginning of a new stage of conformation, of impulsion of a powerful global movement, or of strengthening, because it already exists, giving it an overall orientation in each continent, region, subregion, bringing closer together the social movements, political movements, movements for transformation, revolutionary movements, workers, the working class, indigenous peoples, students, youth, women, thinkers, intellectuals, all of us to grow in strength…..
This same preoccupation, this same anguish, this same idea I transmitted last December during two significant events in Caracas….At the gathering of Artists and Intellectuals in Defence of Humanity I commented to my friends that we can not discuss for 100 years more, we can’t spend much time debating. The debate must be permanent, but action must also be permanent. Debate must be accompanied by action and that action as according to the dialectic, must permanently feed into the debate.
It is the moment of offensive, of the masses, of struggle, of battle. It is a new moment we have now and we don't know if we will have another moment later, we don’t know if we will have time. I believe there is not enough time to wait 50 years for another moment so advantageous like this one to advance in the global struggle against imperialism, against imperialist hegemony and for the creation of new paths, the opening of new paths.
I was also spoke at the other event to the friends of the Congress of the Bolivarian Peoples, where I propose the creation of a type of co-ordination, a commission, a group how every we want to call it that dedicates itself to articulating itself with movements of the whole world to initiate actions, design uniting schemes, strategies for the whole world. I have to say I am not happy with the results… yet this festival is a marvellous opportunity to insist on this point. At the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, I once again planted this idea, because I have felt that in these events there is debate and debate and debate, sometimes there aren't even conclusions. We spend 5 days, 8 days of much happiness, meetings, hugs, but this world is under threat! We can't spend 50 more years like this, there won't be a world in 50 years if we don't stop in some way the beast that is devouring the planet and life on it….
We don't have much time in front of us, we don't have time to lose, and hopefully something will come out from this encounter. I am at your service to help in whatever way we can in this direction, all of Venezuela is at your service to continue the process everyday, without rest, this process of discussion, ideas, proposals, struggle and of battle, and so as to not only see each other at festivals every four years or every time there is a meeting of the G8 in some place where some groups go to protest. That is not enough! We need to be at it everyday and every night…or we save the world or we allow the world to be uprooted……….

I remember that when I was in prison, I read an interview by Commandante Tomas Borge with Fidel Castro.. from 1989-90. In the midst of the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the midst of the collapse of the socialist camp… in this interview Fidel, in the middle of this darkness, it seems he could see a light and he said that soon there would be a new wave of the peoples. He referred to Latin America in particular but it is a wave across the world. And it is this precisely, that is another characteristic of the moment we are living. This characteristic, friends, comrades, could be a potential for change that we need to take advantage of….
We are faced with a new threat; we don't have time to lose. We need to arm ourselves from now with a spirit of the offensive, enough of being defensive, the best defence is attack! All the military strategies indicate that a war is never won on the defensive, you can pass to the defence to win time, this is valid in military wars, political wars and including in relationships this is valid…
Only on the offensive do you win the war, do you win the combat. What is necessary is to know how to utilize the moment, it is necessary to evaluate and create conditions. According to my criteria we are in a moment for an offensive, we need to unleash it at a world level. I believe it has been unleashed, we need to orientate it, co-ordinate it better and we will have much better results, hopefully more sooner than we expect….
I said earlier today in Teresa Carreno (theatre) you have to reproduce yourselves. No young person from any part of the world who has come…can get back and unpack their luggage and take up their particular lives, their study, their family. No, those that did that would be betraying the spirit of the festival. You have to get there to reproduce yourself, to grow and multiply…
Each one of you needs to be an importer of this (information), repeat it on the street corner and on the street, write it on the murals of the cities, on the walls of the towns and cities, repeat it in the universities, repeat it where you live, sleep, and work, in all parts, without any type of rest. Go and repeat that imperialism is not invincible, go and repeat that we are in a time of offensive, go and repeat that a new time is approaching, go and repeat in different areas that there is a threat that they need to see, hear. Go and fill them with illusions, hope and strength, the peoples you represent, that is one of the big tasks of every man and woman at this 16th festival. The success of this festival will not be measured here in Caracas, we will see tomorrow or the day after if this festival has been useful for something, or better said if it is successful, because it has been useful for many things. For this festival, from my point of view, to say that this festival was successful, tomorrow or the day after we need to prove that it was had an impact over there in the four winds of the five continents. An impact felt with the offensive of the youth, who battle for the future because the future, said Che, belongs to us. Today we have to say that it, the future, belongs to you.

Australians on official WFDY website!

2005-08-13T13:21:00.000-04:00

Venezuela Solidarity Brigade

A comrades back in Australia found this photo of Australian revoplutionaries at the world federation of democratic youth festival, it is from the day of the openning ceremony.

http://www.festivalmundial2005.org.ve/modules/xcgal/displayimage.php?pid=140&album=7&pos=45

My first time in the back of a divvy van

2005-08-11T13:50:00.000-04:00

Hola compañeros y compañeras,
just thought I`d sneak a few hours in the press centre here at the Festival to let you all know how things are going. I would have written sooner, but the last week or so has been so chaotic that it´s been impossible to get to a computer.

Anyhow, things here continue to be exciting. We finished our brigade nearly a week ago out at a paper factory thát´s been taken over by it´s workers. Apparently the old owners weren´t finding it profitable enough, so they closed it down, but the staff occupied it and applied to the government to make it into a cooperative (the new constitution here has a section in it that gives workers in closed industry the right to a process whereby they can take over the facilities in cooperation with the government - I`m not sure how the nuts and bolts work, but it´s the staff out at INVERPAL thought it was a fantastic thing). Apparently the whole thing is nominally majority owned by the government, but the majority of people on the management committee are elected from among the staff.

They appear to be doing great things with it - they´re using the money that they´re making to fund a new medical clinic, a free canteen for all the workers and their families, a new cinema, some social and cultural programs, and they´re even buying new equipment so that they can employ an extra 200 people.

Prior to that, we met up with some people at the headquarters of the Frente de Francisco Miranda, which seems to be a kind of bridge between the government and the people who run the various health, nutricion and education programs. Again, I´m not sure how the nuts and bolts of it work, but it seems to be a way for the top levels of the government to make sure they can bypass a lot of the old public servants (many of whom are anti-Chavistas, and who sometimes seek to block the workings of a lot of programs).

We also spent an afternoon in the Barrio de 23 Enero, which is considered to be the most militant and politically advanced area of Caracas. The locals there were lovely, but they´re very hard core dudes - apparently they´ve managed to kick out the drug gangs, and the more or less control the streets. They´re even considering forming their own police force (President Chavez is considering disbanding one of the police forces - there are 6 in Caracas - because they´re so corrupt and violent). While we were there, they put on a bit of a show of force by gathering some locals for some chanting and waving their guns in the air. (There´s a few comrades wandering around with souvenired spent cases after one of them fired a whole clip into the air in the excitement.)

After our brigade wound up, then the chaos has really started. We´re into the fifth day of the 16th World Festival and Youth and Students (the slogan for which is `Por la paz y la solidarad luchemos contra imperialismo y la guerre` - for peace and solidarity we struggle against imperialism and war. I helped record one of the TV ads, so I heard it over and over and over again.)

The festival is a huge, sprawling, exciting and utterly chaotic affair. I´m not sure how people are here, but I´ve heard estimates as high as twenty two thousand. This is a bit of problem for the organisers, who were expecting thirteen thousand, and who have been somewhat overwhelmed by the numbers. There´s people here from over one hundred countries, and the contingents range from four people (New Zealand) to fifty people (us) to thousands of people (Cuba, Argentina, Colombia). At most venues you can barely move for all the people.

We´re being billeted out at a new government funded housing estate in Miranda state, which is about an hour from Caracas. There´s thousands of people out there - Angolans, Colombians, Germans, a dozen Finns and a few lonely looking Brits) mixing it with the locals who already live there. I´m not sure what the locals make of a town full of backpackers, but they´ve been very friendly and very helpful so far. I just wish I spoke more Spanish so I could understand them....

The festival opened with a big opening ceremony that was a little bit like a stripped down opening ceremony at the Olympics. We all marched into this parade ground out at the main military base called Tiuna el Feurte (past the presidential stand with Chavez and a group of government ministers), and were led to the middle to hear the opening speeches. The march lasted a lot longer than people had planned, and the Chavez didn´t take to the microphone until nearly midnight, but everyone was on their feet in anticipation nonetheless. He gave quite a fiery speech that would have been even more exciting for me if I had enough Spanish to understand more of what he was saying, but I got the gist of it, and the crowd went absolutely nuts over it.

It seems that while Chavez is either unknown or distrusted in Australia, he´s become a real hero for Latin Americans in particular (no wonder the US loath him). It´s also been really interesting seeing just how enthusiastic the Latins are about Cuba as well - there´s been heaps of chants about `Viva Cuba` and `Fidel, Fidel...`

Unfortunately, the bigger than expected turn out has stretched a lot of the organisation of the festival, and we´ve had some problems getting the stuff we need. We only managed to get our accreditation yesterday (I´m accredited as a journalist, so I´m in the media centre pretending to write an article - shhhhh!), we got pillow slips but no pillows, there´s often no translation of the sessions, and sometimes no food. (We had to get some of the local cops in Miranda to take us out of the estate to go get some Chinese on the first night because we were all starving. It´s embarassing to admit, but after nearly 8 years on the far left, I had never been in the back of a paddy wagon until then - but hey, how many Australian activists can claim that there first ride in the back of a divvy van was in Venezuela?)

Last night, the army even closed the street bars they´d been running, and we had to make to with buying black market beer from the Colombians.

Nonetheless, we´ve managed to maintain our popularity with most of the organisers - not only do we keep the whingeing to a bare minimum, but we get the dancing started at the parties. (I have a feeling that the locals kind of feel sorry for us because of our complete lack of salsa skill, and they join in to give us a hand and show us how it´s done.)

Anywho, I´ll stop being your ears (or your eyes), `cos I´m off to the next session on Western Sahara. I went to one yesterday, and I´m not sure what was said (again, the lack of translators), but it was certainly interesting - there was a group of Moroccans and Algerians showed up and got into a series of arguments).

Have fun y`all, stay safe, and I´ll speak to you again soon, ST

A personal account of Barrio Adentro - or socialism does make you feel better

2005-08-07T16:40:00.000-04:00

Venezuela Solidarity Brigade

A Personal Account of Barrio Adentro...or it is true, socialism does
make you feel better!

Coming to Venezuela to witness the revolution and the social missions at its heart, I have ended up having a closer view of one of the most important missions - Barrio Adentro (Into the Neighbourhood) - than I might have hoped. Or cared for, for that matter.

Barrio Adentro was established around two years ago as a way to bring free, quality health care to the poor majority, in whose
neighbourhoods doctors in the past have mostly shunned and who can often not afford the fees charged. In order to get Barrio Adentro off the ground, the government invited Cuban medical volunteers to help staff the clinics established in the poor areas, whilst Cuban doctors (sociailst Cuba has a world renowned health care system and an internationalist approach, with more doctors volunteering abroad than the WHO) teach courses in the free Bolivarian University in order to create a new generation on Venezuelan doctors to replace them. There are currently more than 20 000 Cuban medical personal in the country.

The Venezuelan government invited the Cubans in after first
attempting to recruit Venezuelan doctors to the cause. However only around 50 Venezuelan doctors raised their hands, most - a product of the old system based on using their careers to make themselves more comfortable - declining the governments offer of a US$600 monthly stipend to bring health-care to the poor. The Cubans, who accepted $200 per month, have taken to their roles and proven a big hit with the community. Not being in it for the money, but out of genuine humanitarian concerns, they treat their patients with genuine consideration and respect and have only their best interests at heart.

The Venezuelan revolution is creating new ideals in people, however, and thousands are studying in the Bolivarian university to take the Cubans place. It is a requirement of this free course, which requires only a year 12 certificate to enter, that those who graduate work in the poor areas, rather than take their skills to set up private practices to get rich.

I got to see the Cuban doctors in action, and get a comparision with their private counter-parts, while in the state of Bolivar as part of the first Australian-Venezuelan solidarity brigade. I was lucky enough to become one of the 1% of victims of travellers diahrear to be hospitalised. While out travelling on a bus with a 10 other participants and a handful of Venezuelan comrades, I was struck down with a particularly bad bug. I started getting sick on Saturday, but the usual anti-biotic treatments wasn´t working and I was just getting worse. It became impossible to even take medication because I was throwing what ever I ate back up.

By Monday arvo, I was sick enough that the comrades decided to take me to a health clinic to get treatment. There was no Barrio Adentro clinic near where we were in Porto Ordaz, so they took me to the nearest private clinic. The first thing they asked when we walked in was could we pay. The short answer is, without travel insurance, no way. I didn´t have the money available myself, but another comrades was able to cover the costs on the basis of being re-imbursed through travel insurance later.

The doctor came and did a few basic tests, such as hit my stomach and take my blood pressure, and asked me some questions. The doctor then diagnosed me as having e-coli, which turned out to be wrong, and wrote some prescriptions. I was so dehydrated by this stage I was hooked up to a drip to rehydrate. This took two hours max, for which I was charged 250 000 bolivars, or a bit under $200 Australian dollars. On top of this, the anti-biotics I was prescribed, which turned out to be wrong anyway, cost 64 000 bolivars, or over $40.

We had gotten back to Cuidad Bolivar where we were based, but I was getting sicker still, and wasn´t able to hold down the anti-biotics prescribed. The comrades, seeing how sick I was, took me to the nearest available hospital, a private hospital that took me in,
hooked my up to the drip and gave me anti-biotics that way. At this hospital, I had a large, private room with a tv and a bed for my
partner to stay in. The room was undoutedly very nice, but the
treatment was simply not working. They pumped me full of a number of anti-biotics while I failed to get better. The costs involved were enormous, the day and half I was there cost over $1000, way beyond my payment means, but again another comrade was genorous enought to cover the costs until travel insurance could cover it.

After a day and a half of not getting any better, the Venezuelan
comrades were determined to take me to Barrio Adentro to be treated by the Cubans. The Cubans, looking over the treatement records, were extremely cynical about the private hospital, beleiving they were merely pumping full of drugs and charging me money, regardless of whether or not I was getting better. They were shocked by the records of what I had been given, claiming it was not the right treatment for what I had. Their explantion seemed too cynical to me, it struck me as probably more a question of culture of treatment, with the private hostpial stuck in a ´pump them full of drugs´mentatlity, which isn´t always the most effective, rather than being consciously negligent.

But one example brought home vividly what is wrong with how they
operate. It had become clear than one anti-biotic in particular was
making me throw up. When it was put on in the middle of the night,
with nothing in my stomach, it had caused my to throw up bile. The
next day (just before I was moved to Barrio Adentro), my friends
visiting explained repeatedly and with increasing urgency to the
nurse who was about to put this drug on the drip that I had a violent reaction to it. But the nurse had her orders from the doctor and that was what she was going to do. Eventually however, she was persuaded to go and talk to the doctor. She came back shortly and said the doctor had told her to put the drug on the drip regardless. She put it on. I instantly threw up. I threw up the food, and most importantly, the pills I had just swallowed. It was clear I wasn´t going to get better very quickly with this sort of treatment, for which I was being charged an arm and a leg.

I left this hospital no better than I entered it and was driven to
the Barrio Adentro clinic staffed by the Cubans. It is a new clinic,
only built three months ago, part of the extension of the mission
through Barrio Adentro II. It is a modern, clean building staffed by
30 doctors with 8 - 10 nurses. There are three hospital beds, one of which I got, plus two beds for intensive care. The main function is for the doctors, as well as looking after those patients staying
there, to see people who visit the clinic in the mornings and to go
out on trips around the communities in the afternoons.

The doctors set me up with a much simpler drug regime, avoiding the drug that I had the reaction to - which they said was wrong anyway. I didn´t have a private room and tv, instead I shared the room with two other patients. It was definately not as luxurious as the private hospital, but it was definately functional and I hadn´t come for a holiday, but to get better.

The treatment I recieved from the Cuban doctors was very effective, and I started to feel better by the next morning. I continued to get much better quickly and, although still weak from the illness, I was able to leave in under two days, sooner than they had expected, to continue anti-biotic treatment myself.

While I was there, despite language barriers, I was able to observe
how the Cuban doctors operated and related to the patients. The
doctors are extremely friendly, warm and genuinely compassionate.
They clearly have real feeling for their patients and have personal
investment in them getting better. Without financial incentive, there is no other explantion for why they do what they do, and why they clearly put so much into it. The doctors treat their patients, not just with respect, but informally as equals. The formality that surrounds most doctor-patient relations didn´t exist from what I could see with how they related with the Venezuelan patients. Genuine affection and friendship was shown between them.

The other thing that struck me was the way the Cuban doctors operated collectively. You could see them regurlay have collective discussions amongst themselves about the patients and treatment. When there is a change of shift, one of the doctors who has been on takes all of those coming on shift to each patient one by one explaining what the situation is. The treatment of a patient is not the responsibility of an individual doctor, but is taken collectively. When I was told I could go, the doctor informed me that they had had a discussion about me, and decided I was well enough to go.

One other noticeable thing, compared to pretty much everywhere else I have been in Venezuela, is the absence of political material inside the clinic. This is a country where revolutionary graffiti, beautiful murals or political posters are everywhere and dominate in the revolutionary instutions. But it is missing inside Barrio Adentro. The reason is quite simple - health care is for people, regardless of politics. Anyone who needs treatment is made to feel welcome. The opposition claim the Cubans are here to indoctrinate the Venezuelan people, but I didn´t see any evidence whatsoever. They didn´t strap me to the bed and read Lenin´s State and Revolution, or start on those four-hour long Fidel Castro speeches. Their only propaganda is the propaganda of the deed.

And, of course, all of the treatment was completely free. I was not
charged a cent. Not for the bed I slept it, not for the food they fed
me, not for the drugs in the drip. When I left, they didn´t give me a
script for anti-biotics to go fill out at my own cost at a pharmacy.
They handed me the anti-biotics I needed for free.

My experience with Barrio Adentro was extremely limited. I didn´t see a large part of their work that involves both preventative and
diagnostic work with the community. But my experience was extremely impressive. It isn´t hard to see why the program is so popular with the people, especially when the costs involved in private treatment are considered. What would the poor do without Barrio Adentro?

I am deeply grateful for the treatment I was provided. The Cuban
doctors are the product of a socialist revolution, and Barrio Adentro
is a key program in the struggle in Venezuela to build a ´new
socialism of the 21st century´´. I can testify first hand that
sociailsm does make you feel better!

You can read this article from Venezuela Analysis
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1510
about a Barrio Adentro II clinic in Caracas similar to the Cuidad
Bolivar one I was in.

Stuart Munckton

Australia Venezuela Indigenous Exchange

2005-08-04T15:50:00.000-04:00

On August 3, Brigada Primera ventured out early from our lodgings at the Sports Complex to visit 16 young Indigenous students at the National Experimental University in Ciudad Bolivar.

A veteran Indigenous leader was addressing them on the need to become leaders as we arrived. They had come from many universities but most studied at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV), an institution created by the revolution.

These students came from the Karina, Permon, Wanay, and Mopoya indigenous communities and were studying law, social communication, integrated education, environment, economics and information studies at university, two were high school students.

We introduced ourselves and briefly explained the horrible treatment and condition Aboriginal people in Australia have suffered as a result of colonisation. They too had been treated this way in Venezuela before the revolution began, now they are back on the rise.

These young indigenous students propossed that an exchange with Aboriginal people in Australia be organised. Reyna and Raul, both students at the UBV volunteered to help coordinate such an effort. Margaret Gleeson from the Australian brigade also volunteered to propose the project to an indigenous college in Australia.

Venezuelan military on a mission

2005-08-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

First, an apology for tardiness in reporting. We´ve been on the run from place to place, and internet has been hard to get hold of.
Secondly, a big cheers from the industrial heartland of the revolution, replete with extreme conditions and mad drivers.

On Tuesday afternoon (August 2), braving the dust, heat and humidity, Brigada Primera (minus some casualties who were preparing to make an in-depth, undercover, investigation of Barrio Adentro) made it´s way to the least likely place- the barracks of the 5th Infantry Division at the military base in Ciudad Bolivar- to find out what role the military is playing in the Bolivarian process. After the ususal protocols, we eventually sat down to interview Major Ricardo Manzana (Jungle Infantry) about the army and the revolution.

Manzana admitted early on that he had in fact taken part in military training 2 years ago in the US (NOT in the School of the Americas), but that any military co-operation between the two countries had now ceased (late last year I think). Originally from Maracaibo, Manzana has been in the military for over two decades, in periods when the army had played a less than helpful role in society. Nevertheless, he seemed astounded to discover that the army in Australia was not a progressive force in society, as it is in Venezuela within the Bolivarian Revolution.

According to Manzana, members of the army are in charge of each of the missions, assisting with the administration of the services provided- from the literacy campaign of Mision Robinson to the medical help of Barrio Adentro, as well as Mision Milagro, the campaign to restore eyesight to those with treatable impairment by treatment in Cuba. About 50 percent of the military´s time is spent working in the missions.

In contrast to the military in Australia, the Venezuelan army is playing a supportive role in the process of profound social change, but Manzana also made it clear that the army is an apolitical organisation. Soldiers have no right to organise or argue politically within the army, run in elections or to be members of political parties (they can, of course, vote). This means that while almost all soldiers support Chavez, it is difficult to gauge how many don´t.
Also, while this limitation is to ensure the neutrality of the armed wing of the state, making it an effective tool at this stage of the revolution, it also means that should a counter-revolutionary force enter power in the future, the army would be bound to follow orders, even to the detriment of the people. Fortunately, given the support Chavez and the revolution have within the army, and within society in general, this is not a likely circumstance.

There is, however, an alternative force taking shape within society, in the form of the Reserve and people´s militias. These are sections of the population (target is approximately 2 million at the moment) that are given regular military training on weekends by the army, and, unlike the soldiers, are allowed to be involved in the politicial process as outright protagonists. Most importantly, they are recruited by the army through their work in the social missions.

The fact that defence training is being given to some of the most active and political participants in the political process is reassuring, as it is a step towards the full empowerment of the working class. Despite the fact that they have no immediate access to government arms (1 in 4 Venezuelans are armed anyway), these people are being well trained to protect the revolution- first-and-foremostly by deepening the Bolivarian Revolution in their mission work in the barrios; secondly by being able to defend the process against it´s critics- in what Cuba´s Fidel Castro calls the "Battle of Ideas"; and thirdly by being trained to defend it in the unfortunate, and hopefully unlikely, case of a violent attack.

This training is part of Chavez´ longterm strategy- that of creating a "people under arms", where the army and people are more or less one and the same, and are equally capable of defending their collective dignity, justice and social rights. Recently, some parts of the police forces in Venezuela have come under heavy criticism for supporting the opposition, acts of violence (including murdering students) and other criminal behaviour. Chavez´ response was that if the police cannot reform, they should be dissolved and the people could take their place. From some people´s experience in Caracas in particular, this could not come too soon.

Major Manzana finally offered us 2 hours of training in the evening, but (un)fortunately most of the Brigadistas became distracted by the Mision Milagro participants who were waiting to be flown to Cuba for treatment. Perhaps another time, or another place...

hasta siempre

Tirofijo.

Action Update by EWAN

2005-08-04T15:12:00.000-04:00

The Primera Brigadistas had dinner the other night with comrade Ronny Astudillo,who had been on the wrong end of the law and had spent some time at ElDorado,the low-security prison which has been implementing Mision Vuelvan Caras or'About Face', Venezuela´s employment mission. Ronny had been through the programand gave it full credit for getting him where he is today. With the missionVuelvan Caras, the Bolivarian government is calling on Venezuelans to turnaround and face the enemy of unemployment. Prison life at ElDorado has beenrevolutionised through the missions which have brought training as well as sportinto the prison. It was inspiring to see Ronny now fully participating in therevolution.Ewan S

Mission Miraglo in Cuidad Bolivar

2005-08-04T15:06:00.000-04:00

On August 3, Brigada Primera met Carlos Alling Putuy, a Cuban doctor working in Mission Miraglo at the 5th Jungle Infantry Division military base in Ciudad Bolivar.

With a proud stance and a broad smile he tells us of arriving in Venezuela 18 months ago for his first international mission. He joined Mission Miraglo four months ago, this social mission brings Venezuelans to Cuba for free eye surgery.

Sitting relieved at the military base is a family of eight whose grandmother is joining the two week round trip to have her cataracts removed, something they never dreamed of being able to do says Yamilka, a family member.

Yamilka´s mother will travel a companion of her choice throughout the two week trip. The whole group, which is accompanied by a team of doctors, will travel by bus to Caracas, the capital, then by plane to Cuba for treatment and then back again to Ciudad Bolivar for absolutely no cost to them or their families.

Next is the expansion of this program to 100 000 Latin Americans and poor people in the United States, announced by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on July 31 on his weekly TV program ´Alo Presidente´. The expansion is another component of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a cooperative trade plan put forward Venezuela and Cuba in opposition to Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), pushed by the US government.

For comprehenisve information on Venezuela´s social missions visit the Venezuelan goverment site www.gobiernoenlinea.gob.ve.

ALCASA: The Revolution inside the revolution.

2005-08-04T13:42:00.000-04:00

Rowan Stewart, Ciudad Bolivar.

This is a brief report on meetings and discussions with Union leaders on site at the ALCASA plant on 29/7/05 in Ciudad Guyana, State of Bolivar.

Up until Chavez was elected in 1998, the neoliberals were pushing for privatisation of the Aluminium industry. Chavez stopped the privatisation process and created a new ministry of energy.

Under control of the opposition management, ALCASA has been an inneficient plant, with severe process problems. The bosses blamed the workers, but the real cause was the corrupt management who sold the product at a deflated price to their mates in backhand deals.

Management was also using money from the plant to fund their political campaigns.

In December 2004 the opposition management sabotaged the plant by shutting down key furnaces that would lead to the whole plant closing.

The police were brought in to protect this sabotage.

The military then came in to protect the plant against this sabotage. They were supported by mass mobilisations of the community and workers families, who came onto the site on Dec 24 to support the workers and keep the plant running.

The Left and revoultionary workers at the plant formed a group and challenged in an election and won the leadership of the workers. They earn the same as workers on the floor.
They are not aligned with any political party.

The new union leadership went to the Govenor of the state of Bolivar for help with their plan of workers control, their ideas were rejected. They then went to National government and received much greater support.

In March 2005, a top bureaucrat either from Alcasa or the State govt of Bolivar??? tried to sack the new union leadership. Chavez opposed this and sacked the bureacrat. This bureacrat was an old comrade of Chavez.

Recently Carlos Lance has become president (plant manager) at ALCASA. He has been a guerilla fighter and while in jail spent his time studying marx and others. He is a hero in Venezuela. On July 29, 2005, his new book "Socialism in the 21st Century" was launched. Lance came up with the ideology of co management.

Previously Managers and Ministers were inaccessible to the workers, seperated in their offices with security. Now they are accessible.

In June 05, Chavez introduced a new social production policy - "Cogestion" connecting business, production and the people. Lance announced on July 28 the program of "Negro Primera"??? Which is an institution of social and political formation. "Cogestion" is starting at ALCASA, and the plan is to spread this through the whole aluminium industry as example of how to achieve workers control. Mission Vuelvan Caras is the mission behind this.

Co-management has started over the last 4 months, the workers have had to work out production amounts, prices to sell to customers, production and process problems etc etc.

Their are fortnightly mass meetings to discuss and resolve production problems.

Part of "Cogestion" is establishing communication between the workers and people in the community. On the 4th of August, the workers will be going to the local Plaza to meet with the community to discuss this new process and to initiate discussion so the peole can present their concerns. This is the first meeting of this kind.

The current collective agreement is expiring soon. A new agreement is being written up to fit in with "Cogestion".

Mission Ribas and Sucre operate on site at ALCASA.

There is a workers militia starting up. The workers are discussing the situation in Iraq and how they will defend their revolution if the same thing happens in Venezuela.

In the January/March "Cogestion" broadsheet. The main slogans are, The power belongs to the workers, workers control, Fraternity, Mutual support, Dialog of Knowledge, Participate in going forward.

"The most important thing is to be human" Slogan of the ALCASA workers.

Analysis of PROVIDA

2005-08-04T13:41:00.000-04:00

Hey Comrades.

On August first, Brigada primera visited a street kids project that had been operating in the slums of Peurto Ordaz for the past 11 years. Basically it is an organisation independant of the government which works with street kids in order to "humanise their environment and insert them into society".

PROVIDA (PROyecto VIDAs or Protecting Life) is run by liberation theologists and employs teachers, psychiatrists, graphic designers and administrative staff, relying on donations to survive. It is currently trying to get government funding and we have been told that the federal government has expressed interest in incorporating it with mission Adentro.

From what I understand, with the limited resources they have, PROVIDA currently engages street children with a mobile school that was donated to them from a Belgian benefactor, helping them to accomplish acheivable tasks to raise their self esteem in a larger plan to eventually insert them into society.

There are about 10 000 street children in the area and PROVIDA has contact with 35-40 of them. The program isn´t about teaching them to read, write or understand their situation, but aims to make them feel as though they can achieve something and improve their self esteem. The ultimate aim is to eventually insert these children into society though they didn´t explain how this had been acheived or the specific mechanism through which to achieve this. They did have a drop in centre at one stage but financial crisis meant that this had to be abandoned.

The organisation can be described as a liberal charity. It is isolated in one city and there is little community involvement in its implementation. They themselves described the project as non political and expressed preference to working independantly to the government. It´s basically a similar set up to a non government aide organisation that you might find in any third world country.

The people of PROVIDA are dedicated to helping these children, many of whom are drug addicts, prostitutes, beggars and subject to domestic and sexual violence and in the process of revolution, these issues need to be addressed. However the lack of mass community involvement and the nonpolitical NGO stance isolates this organisation from the massive endogenous revolutionary machinery sweeping across Venezuela. Until PROVIDA can be incorporated into the Bolivarian Revolution nationally, perhaps in conjunction with missions Robinson and Adentro, it remains a liberal construct with limited application in the bigger scheme of the revolution.

Indigenous communities taking control

2005-08-04T13:39:00.000-04:00

Report from Brigada Primera - covering Ciudad Bolivar and Guyana two cities to the west of Venezuela in Bolivar State.

One of the major features of this brigade was the opportunities that we have had to meet with the indigenous communities here. Throughout this area in the states of Bolivar and Amazonas there are quite a number of indigenous communities. In the state of Bolivar alone there is 19 different indigenous nations and there are 32 altogether in Venezuela.

On our fourth day we were lucky enough to meet with one of the Pemon indigenous communities, known as San Francisco de Yuruani (Pemon name is Cumara Cupay) about 70km north of the Brazilian border in the region known as the Gran Sabana. The Gran Sabana is basically a huge savannah which is famous for it´s flat-topped mountains (tepuis) and beautiful waterfalls, including Angel Falls the highest waterfall in the world.

We wanted to speak to the SanFrancisco de Yuruani community about the Vuelvan Caras mission that they have been implementing in their community. The name `Vuelvan Caras` comes from a heroic story from the Independence War, of a small group of independence fighters facing a much stronger enemy and winning. The mission itself doesn´t actually have very much to do with fighting, but is actually aimed at encourging `endogenous development`, basically creating economic development for the people and by the people based on a co-operatives. A co-operative functions through a collective process of decision-making, production and control of profits. Vuelvan Caras covers all kinds of economic activity, from the massive ALCASA aluminium factory employing 3,500 people to tiny chocolate factories of 10 people.

The San Francisco de Yuruani community was instrumental in launching one of the first of these endogenous development projects when they started one year ago. Their project was to create an agricultural development which would not only be able to help feed their own community (of 800 people) but also to provide for the needs of the municipality, another 38 indigenous communities across the whole of the Gran Sabana. 41 people in the community did the formal training required to set up a co-operative and have followed all the rules and regulations set out by the government for a co-operative. One of these is that the co-operative attempts to use all Venezuelan inputs to increase economic development in the country and decrease reliance on imports. Very soon the community will be planting their first crop of yuca, basically the Venezuelan equivalent of the potato, covering 40 hectares which is about 400,000 square metres, as well as finalising the financial requirements for a co-operative. In the future they hope to be able to cultivate bananas as well. Another aspect of this project for the community is also to develop tourism to their village, mainly in the form of handicrafts. The communities work is one part of the process of creating food sovereignty for Venezuela, a project for the whole country, turning around a long legacy of dependence of importing up to 70% of their food.

The community has also been involved in the three education missions. Mission Robinson, which is aimed at eradicating illiteracy, has already been completed in the community although in the past the majority were illiterate. Now they are moving on to Mission Ribas, aimed at increasing the number of people who have completed high school certificates and Mission Sucre, higher education. The young people of the community who have been to university teach the classes, so new knowledge and skills are spread around equally. Daisy Hernandez spoke about the fact the majority of the community were previously illiterate and that they`d solved this problem in only two years. Another of the community leaders spoke about the fact that the community continues to "exceed the government`s plans for our development and every time we achieve something the young people want more (challenges)". He also said he is "very grateful (to the Chavez government), because governments before didn´t take our needs into consideration".

The community still faces difficulties, mainly a lack of resources. For example, all four missions are organised and conducted in one small room and there is a real problem with scheduling time for competing demands. Also the community doesn´t have any computers and this makes the flow of information very difficult. They also cited a concern that there weren´t enough visits from the municipal bodies and that they would really like more face-to-face meetings with mission supevisors.

Overall, though, it was hard to ignore the sense of happiness and pride that the people of the community showed throughout our time there and they are keen to move forward more rapidly with education and development. When the community gets access to information technology this process will be speeded up even more.

Zoe

The workers taking power, and the revolucionary students

2005-07-30T18:48:00.000-04:00

Hi all, this hopefully follows on from my previous email...unfortunately, with so much going on, and the overwhelming desire not to miss any moment of the revolution, its hard to keep up the diary as often as id like, but hopefully this will take it forward...

The workers taking power, revolucionary students

Thursday July 28 (Continued) - returning from the mountains (if your going to miss an occupation, a beautiful trip through the Andes is not a bad way to do it!), we entered the offices of the UNT (Naitonal Union of WOrkers), the new revolutionary union that has quickly superceded the old conservative union structures.

The offices are spartan, with a huge banner proclaiming support for the revolution and workers control.
Immediately we are inspired by a very different type of unionism outlined by Benito - a unionism far removed from any limitation to ¨merely bread and butter worker issues¨ - instead we deal with the rich, integrated cake of the revolution. Benito is in the teachers union, and explains the revolutionising of education...

...from the Simonsitos that promote care and education and challenge violence in pre'school, and care for children all day. Before Chavez, parents could only leave children at school EITHER in mon or arvo, which made it extremely difficult if you were working. And there were few pre'school places ' that has all changed.

...through to the Bolivarian schools for 6-13 year olds, promoting overall education, from 8am-4pm, and like Simonsitos, IS COMPLETELY FREE AND EVERY MEAL IS FREE (this program is called free food for all). Activities are broad, such as watching over a plantation and how it develops, a range of recreation and activities.

....through to high school, where previously would by division b-w education gained by those going to uni (a broader world edcuation) and those going to work. Now united for a rounded education, every person getting understnading of the world...and more creativity, emphasis on out of class room teaching. Part of this is Endogenous development - learning to use what is in the community for greatest dvelopment for the people.

There are more staying at school now, and its not considered an insitution but part of the community

And all that is BEFORE the missions, which in brief are....
* Mission Robinson 1 and 2 ' giving literacy, especially for the aged, using the Cuban method of young teaching the elderly illiterate. Around Oct, Venezuela will be declared ILLITERACY FREE!
* Mission RIvas ' for those who were excluded from, or who left early from, high school education ' so all have this fundamental education.
* Mission Sucre ' helping to get tens of thousands into university.

At this poin in time, APPROXIMATELY HALF THE POPULATION OF VENEZUELA IS INVOLVED IN SOME FORM OF STUDY - schools, unis, tech colelges, pre'school, missions, etc ' probably the HIGHEST in the world!
THis is the base of the Bolivarian revolution, that is changing society fundamentally. Of course, it is ALL totally free.

Soon it was on to Hugo, the regional president of the UNT, who described how Venezuela is a govt of the working people, with the UNT involved in drafting laws and so on (compare that to Australia!). The UNT leadership is a much more youthful leadership.

Another union leader told us how they want their resources to be used not jut for Venezuelans, but for across the world. ....

Then it was off to see in practice the effects of the situation for workers....

Packing a dozen of us into a taxi meant for 8, we drive to a construction site at the foot of the Andes, a massiv eoperation building several sporting complexes, for the upcoming Andes games and Latin America wide COPA football cup.....we were greeted by worker delegates and rank and file workers who outlined the gains in occupational heatlh and safety, wage rises of some 60%, and the weekly workplace meetings they engaged in to involve everyone in decisions. We couldn{t help but think how we never generally have such a possibility as this in Australia.....

THen late in the arvo we are dropped at Merida{s Plaza Bolivar, where we swap stories with Left groups campaigning in the upcoming council elections, then off to dinner to celebrate the first day of the brigade in Merida plus the brithday of COmandante Presidente Hugo Rafael CHavez Frias.

But revolution doesn{t even escape us when Aaron and i slip into a late night web cafe....the guy running it is a chavista, and is eager to tell us of the fantastic state TV, and the new Latin AMerica wide television network Telesur, which is set to challenge the CNN and Co control of America Latina. We have a great political exchange before bed! Viva

Friday July 29 ' Youth and students, the future of Venezuela
While we{ve had some amazing days, this would have to have been the most stuffed with revolutionary ideas and passion, as we end up engaging in discussion and ideas with some 15-20 student and youth revolutionary organisations, until after 8pm at night!

The range of groups we hear from reflects the flowering of ideas and organisation throughout the revolution. In the morning we meet at the offices of the Frente Fransisco de Miranda (FFM), a place decked out with beautiful banners, posters and murals, from Che to CHavez, Bolivar, Marx and many more Venezuelan and Latin American reovlutionary heroes. Socialist, communist, libertarian, barrio'organising, social missions, and many more activists slip in and out of the offices, and recount to us their ideas and devleopment.

There are plenty of differences and divisions, but overall there is great camaraderie, and all are united behind the revolution and its undisputed leader in Chavez. However, most have criticisms of the government as a whole, and many of the parties including Chavez party the MVR, for bureaucracy and corruption, a feeling that many are simply joining behind CHavez to get positions, not to further the revolutionary process.

We finish in the FFM offices with a very moving sessions from the young FFM activists themselves, who give us one of the most powerful chants ive ever heard about che, chavez, revolution, bolivar and fighting imperialism....before giving us all gifts of posters, books and more, while 3 of us (including me!) were lucky enough to win a beautiful chavez t'shirt....this sort of giving is very common in the revolution, everyone wants to give you a little, or is eager to tell you their story. It is a teary moment for some of us as the FFM give an official gift to our translator Fred, getting him to read a quote from a book on Mission Milagro (where 20000 venezuelans have travelled to cuba for important surgery), which is about a man who couldnt see his childr, nor the sun rise or set, until he went to cuba as part of the mission - now his sight is restored. THIS is the revolution, it is humanity.

The afternoon took us to Uni of the Andes, again a site full of inspiring murals and activity, with the meetings going deep into the night, the constant coming and going of student and youth revolutionaries reflecting a fluid revolution. We heard from youth who had assassination attempts on them, while others told of those who were killed near where we met.....another clear theme of the revolution is that it is built on a solid base of struggle, its not something completely new.

That night we are fried ' dead tired, brains frazzled, completely drained....but i think i speak fror all the brigadistas when i say we wouldn{t have missed it for anything (except maybe an Australian revolution!)

One of the youth leaders told of a quote they had during the times of repression ¨They say youth are the future, but they kill us in the present¨. Now we can say. these people ARE the future, and they are killing the barbarous capitalist world in the present! All power to them!

revolutionary love to all
Paul

PS - tomorrow, Sunday, is our day off, and hopefully we will hit the highs of the Andes in the teleferico, the highest in the world!

Celebrating revolution while in a revolution!

2005-07-30T18:46:00.000-04:00

Tuesday July 26 - Viva la Cubana y Venezuela revolucions!

Our first full day in Venezuela, and the anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution (July 26 attack on Moncada Barracks, 1953) - a potent combination, reflected in an amazingly revolutionary experience.
it was ¨supposed¨ to be our only ¨sightseeing¨ day before the brigade begins - it WAS that, but in a revolution, everything takes on the flavour of change and possibility. As one placard read at a pro-revolution demonstration we stumbled across, urging the revolution forward ¨inventamos o erramos¨ - ¨we invent or we err¨ - and Venezuelans are certainly inventing, on a daily basis.

Starting with pleasant brekky in the Gran Cafe near our hotel, we ended up inviting 2 locals too our table. They had wanted to clean our shoes, but instead we shared brekky and discussions with them, and they told us of the improvements under Chavez, and the problems of the police (many of whom are corrupt and anti-revolution, coming from the old order).

First we got the obligatory shot of comrades in front of pro-Chavez graffiti - one of seemingly squillions around the city...then Aaron and I metroed to the area around Plaza Bolivar, which pays tribute to the great independence leader whose inspiration pumps through the Bolivarian revolution.

Arriving near the Plaza, we ducked into a library for a quick peek, came across a woman and her daughter and baby, wearing a Youth festival shirt - speaking to her it turned out she was helping organise the festival, and insisted that she be our guide a for time, showing us a nearby church, where we met a pro-revolution nun! We came across huge Bolivar statues and signs, masses of pro-Chavez posters ¨Mr Bush, if you are against Chavez you are against the people¨, before Susan left us to do some festival organising.

Before long, we stumbled upon a protest at the national assembly, with Chavez supporters urging the end to police killings and corruption (the police is one of the biggest problems of the revolution, mostly old order and very corrupt - several of our comrades have been robbed by police. Chavez govt is considering abolishing the current police and setting up popular militias, or other measures, to combat the problem).

The protest was led by women, many of whom had loved ones killed by the cops, and carried photos and names and details of those the police killed, plus a long list of those killed in recent years, over 100 people, including students and campesinos (some striking photos of this). Placards read ¨Bolivar against corruption¨. Here Aaron held conversation with several of the women, with protesters thoroughly excited that Australian lefties were here supporting the revolution.

Here i met an amazing guy named Donatello, about 50 years old, who saw my Che shirt, and more or less adopted me. For his part, he wore a shirt with the Cuban and Venezuelan flags and Chavez and Fidel, which read ¨Our America changing for ever¨ - he even got me to put on his shirt for a photo, and then gave me 2 Venezuelan cigars, one of which was later smoked in honour of the Cuban revolution! We also met a great woman named Jessica who invited Aaron and i to visit in Maracay, about 1 hour from Caracas, and see the work they are doing there. Another guy there who was filming, was a pro-Chavez member of the military. The protesters made it clear that the military are on side with the reovlution, but the police needs drastic changing.

Leaving the protest and walking up plaza Bolivar, we come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - according to lonely planet, closed to the public....but the revolution changes things....we were invited inside, and ended up meeting the director of forreign affairs, who told us in english how the revolution is very democratic, and is opneing up to the people ¨this place used to be for the elite only, now we want the people here.¨ As a striking black man, he noted that before Chavez there was no way someone black could get his position. We say lush rooms and paintings of bolivar, before continuing.....

Only a few minutes away we came across an exhibition that was half Japanese art, and half a tribute to assassinated socialist leader Jorge Rodriguez, who founded the Liga socialista, and was killed in 1976(?) It was an amazing exhibiiton which showed how the government is clearly trying to promote socialist ideas and appreciation of socialist history...the shot of ROdriguez´son, all of about 6, leading a protest rally after his death with a face full of determination, was particularly striking...

After grabbing lunch, it was getting late so we decided to head for Miaflores Palace, the presidential residence where the dramatic events of the coup took place....yet on our way there, we stumbled across a guy painting a mural that turned out to be for a newish organisation called the national foundation of those without roofs - Chavez has given the organisation buildings that are not being used, and this organisation, very conscious of capitalism´s misuse or nonuse of resources, is turning the situation on its head and making use of unused buildings. Inside the place was a hive of activity, and the leaders eagerly tolked to us about there project....we ended up having 2 of the leaders, Bryan and his wife, come along to our dinner and drinks that night! Outside the building they had a street stall with fantastic Che bandanas and headbands, and the side of their building had beautful revolutionary murals (see photos).

Pushing on, we reached the bridge just before Miaflores that is shown in the film ¨The revolution will not be televised¨, which has masses of murals and tributes to those that fell during that right wing orchestrated coup.....forward to Miaflores, and into our second protest of our day of ¨sightseeing¨! Mission Sucre, which coordinates the Bolivarian University, was urging greater importance and priority on education - they had a letter to Chavez, agreeing weith the push toward socialism and greater battle of ideas, and noting educations important role in this, in particular the need for more/better teachers, and cleaning out of the beuacracy. Its clear that Chavez and the masses are together in seeing the need to push forward, clean out the bureaucracy, police etc - the people are playing there role in actively showing their support for the revolution but not relaxing with the gains to date.

At the demo the colour was amazing, venezuelan flags, chavez and che shirts, berets and plenty of pאssion (see photos)... i met a guy in a beret from the MVR (movement for the 5th republic, chavez´party) who ended up giving me a regalo (gift) of a Chavez badge - my second gift received for the day, as if the re volutionary experience was not enough! Again, the people were amazingly friendly when they heard we were Con Chavez (with Chavez) and were going to the youth festival.

Finally we got back to our hotel area around 6:30, grabbed an amazing and desperately needed heladero (ice cream) returned briefly to the hotel, before joining comrades for a celebratory dinner and drinks for the cuban revolution. We ended up with perhaps 60-80 people, mostly brigadistas but also Alvaro and others from the youth institute, plus comrades we had met during the day....a few drinks, a quick salsa attempt, a good feed, and back to the hotel for a serious nights sleep.....

All i can say is that im truly honoured to get the chance to experience such a process, and as i keep telling people ¨queremos la revolucion en Australia y por todos en el mundo¨ - we want the revolution in australia and for everyone in the world!

hast la victoria siempre
Pablo

Welcome to the revolucion!

2005-07-30T18:44:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the revolucion!

Caracas greets you as amazing mountains running intoa sprawling mass of housing and barrios, buildings, and then quickly to thegorgeous Carribean sea - this is the route we flew into Venezuela on. That was about 5:30pm here, Mon arvo, having spent the day testing our spanishwith a lovely taxi driver who is pro-Chavez and belongs to an Argentinian leftgroup, then flying to Bolivia then on over the Amazon forest and mighty river,some glimpses of the edge of the Andes, then to Caracas....

We were met at the airport by companeros from the world youth festival - several from Venezuela (one thankfully with great english) and one from brasil and onefrom CUba - there were photos and soon we met up with about 20 other comradeswho had arrived in the last couple of hours at the airpעrt....

Even the trip from the airport was breathtaking - a bus with 25-30 AUstralaincomrades, with our venezuelan hosts, blaring Latina pop musica, frighteningdisplays of driving, amazing scenes of the barrios, some stacked 6, 7, 8, 9 high(75% of Carcan´s live in these) - its very clear the revlution has hugechallenges in front of it, but that makes it all the more inspiring - itsdisgusting that a country so rich with oil has been run in a way that condems somany to such an existance....

And all through it, revolutionary messages on hugebillboards, masses of grafiti saying ¨Vota No¨(to the recall referendum againstChavez) ¨Viva Chavez¨¨Chavez no se va¨(Chavez, he wont go!), liberator SimonBolivar´s image - unfotunately camera baterry ran out so missed this jjourney,but HEAPs of other photos.A few delays and we were at our Hotel Cristal, and i ended up sharing withbrother Aaron and John from Adelaide. All the comrades - now about 40 - dine onpizza, pasta and many Polar Beers at a nearby haunt, all very cheap...even whenhome at 11:30, have we escaped the revolution? No! We turn on the tv andimmediately can make out the words ¨socialista¨, ¨revolucion¨and even try todecipher some of what a progressive priest says on a show called ¨Sermon porpaz¨(for peace)This morning (its 9:30am) we are off sightseeing, doing the Bolivar walk,gardens, miaflores palace (where the coup took place) and hopefully much more,in 33 deg heat! Tomorrow the brigade starts at the bolivarian university, beforeour group heads overnight ot merida.....

viva la revolucion
love to all
Pablo

Frenetic activity

2005-07-29T16:24:00.000-04:00

Hello all, we finished our itinerary early today, so I thought I´d drop in and write you all a quick note to let you know what´s going on before it gets too dark (things round here get a little scary after dark - remind me to tell you the story about our drunken bodyguard and the starter´s pistol over a beer some time).

We´ve been having an absolute blast since we arrived. On the second day, we got taken up to one of the barrios (poor semi-squatting neighbourhoods) that ring Caracas on all sides. We met some of the local leaders of the coalitions of groups that support the government and organise all the new government programs - fantastic people. We also sat in on our guides English lesson - James is a English teacher at the British consulate, but he also volunteers on his days off to teach at one of the Mission schools.

The missions have been set up using oil revenues reclaimed from the old corrupt public servants (Venezuela´s oil has been nominally nationalised for years, but until Chavez, most of the money mysteriously kept ending up in private accounts - no wonder the rich locals can´t stand him). I keep getting the names confused, but there´s Missions to teach mature age people to read up to primary school level, then another mission to help them get to a high school level, and there´s a new set of missions giving people university level, and the mission to teach people English.

It was quite exciting sitting in on something that new, even if both we and the students had to sort of stumble around our complete lack of Spanish - but we think that we taught them something new. We hope. We think that they´ll forgive us in any case, because the women in the class were all madly in love with James, and flirt with him outrageously.

I´ve visited two community radio stations, and the offices of a community TV station and some locally produced papers. The local commercial media here is apparently worse than the Australian media (no, I didn´t think it was possible either), and there´s been a concerted attempt by a lot of people to get a good community media section going for some years.
We´ve also been to two new health clinics and an older clinic for HIV positive people. The HIV clinic has been around for a while - apparently even the last president was prepared to subsidise anti-retroviral medications, but the two other clinics were brand new, again, financed using reclaimed oil revenues. One of them is staffed by Cuban volunteers, although they were too busy to meet us in person.

Today, we also visited a house that feeds the poor - another new program set up by the government. People in the barrios use their houses to cook food for some of the local poor, and use it as a sort of registration centre, so that they can find people with drug or health problems and try to get them in contact with the relevant missions and programs. The food and small subsidies for electricity and water come courtesy of oil revenues (canny readers will spot a theme developing), but the people in the kitchens seemed to be mostly volunteers. We sat down to lunch with some of the locals, and distributed little koalas to the kids.

Last night, our guide took us out to a hip-hop concert, being held out at a local performance space on the edge of the city. We met the organisers, who said that they´d been given the space by the local Chavista mayor, and were trying to turn it into a kind of autonomous cultural area, for art, music and social programs. We watched a few performances from some break dancers (very cool), and listened to some music from some of the local rappers. I didn´t understand most of it (being in Spanish and all), but the little bits that were translated for me were very intense - there was lots of lyrics angry about being mistreated by the police, having people they know being killed by cops, poverty, and so forth.

The area it was in was a bit rough (our guide kept telling us to walk fast), but once we were inside it was fantastic. The locals all wanted to say hello and look after us, and even though the dresscode and surrounds reminded me of scenes from Boyz in the Hood, we felt very welcome and safe.

And that´s probably been the thing that´s struck me the most here - it´s a scary place from time to time, but we´ve found literally dozens of people who´ve welcomed us and wanted to look after us. Despite the scariness of the city, I´m feeling really lucky to be here and to see a part of it all.

But after all that, I´ve got to go and do some mundane things like eat (love the locals, but their food is mostly fairly bland stuff) and buy some shaving tackle (some bugger from the brigade has nicked mine - and there I was expecting to get robbed by the local constabulary), so I´ll sign off and write again soon.

Have fun, y´all,
ST

PS Actually did manage to bring a transfer cable this time, but the computers are set up so that you can attach the files onto hotmail emails. Photos will be forth coming soon, I promise!

Welcome aboard the Venezuela Solidarity Brigade 2005!

2005-07-26T14:52:00.000-04:00

From this website you can take your very own front row seat to witness the first ever Solidarity Brigade to Venezuela. Join us here to read first-hand reports daily, direct to you from the streets of Venezuela.

On these pages, you can keep up to date on all the action - as it happens - in Caracas and throughought Venezuela, as the International Solidarity Brigade 2005 tours extensively through Venezuela's neighbourhoods, streets, institutions, and households.

We will be spending 10 days visiting workplaces, schools, social missions, barrios (neighbourhoods), cities, remote villages, and agricultural communities.

Return daily to this website to learn from the Solidarity Brigade 2005 Brigadistas about life in revolutionary Venezuela.