Venez: Building Solidarity at 2006 World Social Forum
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Venez: Building Solidarity at 2006 World Social Forum
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
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Hands Off Venezuela - Jan 20, 2006
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/2006_world_social_forum.htm
Hands Off Venezuela:
Building London-Caracas Solidarity at the 2006 World Social Forum
By Charley Allan
>>From 23rd January the Venezuelan people will be hosting a huge celebration
of democracy, with a national demonstration starting off a week of
grassroots participatory internationalism, the World Social Forum. Monday's
annual mega-demo, which in recent years has evolved into a carnival of
"Bolivarian" (Venezuela's mass movement) liberation, commemorates the 1958
overthrow of Perez Jimenez, who is often incorrectly referred to as the
country's last dictator. (Venezuela's last dictator was 2002 coup-leader
Pedro Carmona, although his reign was quite brief.)
The rest of the week will be a unique opportunity to participate in
Venezuela's peaceful and democratic revolution, and experience how "another
world is possible". The World Social Forum is a massive meeting of minds as
autonomous, non-hierarchical, horizontally-organised groups and individuals
come together and build open space to share experiences and strategies in
the fight-back against corporate imperialism and neo-colonialism. Many
activists from the global Peace and Justice movements, including Londoners
from international solidarity campaign Hands Off Venezuela, will be visiting
this beautiful country for the first time, with over 100,000 participants
expected during the week.
Caracas is the perfect city from which to start this revolutionary journey:
a lush, tropical metropolis, where a valley of skyscrapers is surrounded by
richly colourful mountains, many of which are covered with house after house
stacked precariously on top of one another - poor neighbourhoods known as
barrios. Until recently, these humble communities were starved of resources
and run by gangsters; now the government is helping the people by rebuilding
homes and roads and providing new schools, clinics, cheap supermarkets and
funding for local cooperatives, as well as free internet access and communal
kitchens.
La Vega is a case in point. A sprawling barrio in the southwest of the
capital, the steep streets are alive with culture, activity and
anticipation. Freshly repaired and repainted houses sit atop busy stores
selling locally-produced goods. Crime has gone down although so has police
presence. People are friendly and organised; they've had to defend their
democracy on several occasions and are prepared to do so again. At the peak
of the mountain is the community Las Casitas - in some ways a showcase model
of regeneration. Everything is where it should be: the Bolivarian school,
the "Barrio Adentro" health clinic, the Mercal supermarket, the Infocentre,
a new bakery, organic garden, etc, all surrounding a busy basketball court.
Quite apart from the stunning views the air is far cleaner than the
smog-filled middle-class valley below.
This neighbourhood is the home to media cooperative Calle y Media, makers of
both "Venezuela Bolivariana: People & Struggle of the 4th World War" and
more recently "The Old Man & Jesus: Prophets of Rebellion." The co-op's
latest project is a Media School, which teaches local children about
filmaking, theatre, internet and radio, as well as traditional print-press.
They are "building the communication skills necessary to defend and deepen
our revolution," according the Marcelo Andrade, director of both
documentaries, who was recently in London. Hands Off Venezuela has helped
raise money for this school and co-op, mainly through screening and
distributing their films. During the WSF, the co-op and community will be
developing an "organic" programme to complement the other activities,
similar to their alternative youth camp during August's World Festival of
Youth & Students event.
Solidarity campaigners from London, who visited the community in August and
discussed the grassroots activities they too were involved in back home,
will return in January to be part of the movement there again. They are
organising a workshop on "Hands Off Venezuela: Building International
Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution" within the official forum, but
much of that solidarity work will take place outside of the conference-room
as campaigners meet and share experiences with Bolivarians on the ground.
Other international activists will be able to take advantage of the contacts
and knowledge the group has built up, which may prove especially useful to
newcomers who only speak English. Hands Off Venezuela will also have a stall
in the Hilton Hotel (which is now run as a co-op) alongside many other
groups from around the world. The geographical focus for many participants,
however, will be the "global youth" camp in the stunning Parque del Este.
For a modest fee ($12 for people from rich countries, $7 others) delegates
will be able to pitch a tent, share a communal kitchen or buy meals prepared
by local co-ops, and participate in a wide range of cultural and political
activities including concerts, plays and films. Although situated in the
more affluent east of the city, the park is a simple bus or metro journey
(and even within walking distance) to the main central festival venues,
clustered around the Teresa Carreño Theatre and Hilton co-op in the Parque
Central district, a largely pedestrianised zone also home to the festival
offices.
To the west of this complex is the presidential palace Miraflores, and
beyond that the "January 23rd" borough, a barrio which has been reclaimed by
the community for many years and which has lead the way for urban renewal.
This is also one of the locations of the "troll party," a hi/lo-tek
celebration of open-source or "free" software, jointly-organised by
international programmers and the SAPI ministry of the Venezuelan
government. From the beginning of this year, all government agencies have to
migrate to open-source within two years, and although SAPI is technically
concerned with "Intellectual Property" the director-general has said that it
should instead be promoting "Intellectual Prosperity". Property or
prosperity? It's clear which is more important to the Venezuelan people and
their government, as well as those coming to the WSF. Another world really
is possible - and in Venezuela they're making it a reality.
WSF survival guide:
http://redpepper.blogs.com/venezuela/2006/01/world_social_fo.html
Maps: http://www.thenewagenda.org/venezuela/jpgs/caracaswsf1.jpg and
http://www.thenewagenda.org/venezuela/jpgs/caracaswsf2.jpg
Official forum site: http://www.forosocialmundial.org.ve
*
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