Subject: The World Social Forum in Venezuela

Subject: The World Social Forum in Venezuela


The Venezuela Experience was very inspiring...I learned first hand what the
problems of a developing country are, and how very complicated and costly our
US infrastructure is that provides us with the comforts we are accustomed to,
such as hot water, lettuce, out of season produce, and washing machines. Gray
Panther Bea Howard and I went to the World Social Forum in Venezuela with a
group of 200 from Global Exchange. We were the largest U.S. delegation.

The community development efforts of Hugo Chavez were impressive.
Participatory democracy is encouraged from the grass roots upwards. In the poor
barrios, if 100 to 200 families can join together and form a health committee, they
can get a clinic staffed by Cuban doctors. What a difference it makes to
have a social policy coming from the top devoted to helping the poor! Chavez
uses tried and true community development principles to empower the
poor--helping them organize, having them express their needs, andempowering them to
fulfill them. If only we in the United States had the political will to change our
society for the better.

We met with people in programs that were aimed at improving the education of
the labor force--beginning with Mission Robertson, to improve literacy,
Mission Ribas to provide high school educations, Mission Sucre to do job training
and prepare for the University. The participants were universally
enthusiastic and dedicated to education and Chavez. These programs, along with the
development of agricultural and women's cooperatives, really improve people's
lives.

It is clear that developing countries must have different standards for
allocating resources. Here in the US, we can have multiple programs going on
simultaneously--for example, in public health maternal and child health, adult
education, immunization, nutrition, protective services, etc etc. Developing
countries often use campaigns--in Venezuela called Missions--to accomplish vast
goals by concentrating the country's resources to a campaign over a limited
time. That is how the literacy campaign was used this way to reduce illiteracy
to 1%. The education of the labor force, the improvement of agriculture and
industry and other goals are accomplished through these time-limited
campaigns, and seem to be successful.

Four ideas impressed me in particular: "Neoliberalism" was a frequently used
term by Chavez, by panelists--I felt like I was from another planet, was not
familiar with it.. It refers to the free trade philosophy of the World Trade
Organization and the International Monetary Fund, and the Republican agenda.

"The Washington Consensus"--another concept not familiar to me from my
readings in the US. It is the Republican agenda since Reagan.

"ALBA"--the South American alternative to the FTAA--Free Trade Agreement of
the Americas. Tried to learn more about it, found it on Venezuelanalysis.org.
It promotes trade agreements based on social improvement, not only profit.

And then a man from the Carribbean spoke from the audience about a new GENDER
isssue. This was at a Labor Seminar, where many spoke on the need to
recognize women, bring their wages up to par, equal rights, etc. He spoke on a
gender issue where young MEN from ages 11 to 21 were dropping out of school, not
getting job training and not entering the labor force. We, of course, here is
California have the same thing going on at Castlemont and McClymonds High
Schools, but do not recognize it as a GENDER issue, perhaps qualifying for programs
under Title IX?

It was really great meeting people from all over the world devoted to
improving the lives of people. I just wish we could bring these programs home to the
US. The last time we did anything like this here was during the War on
Poverty in the 1960s. It just shows that we all must get to work on improving the
lives of the poor here, and creating the political will at the top to do it.

On our return, we see the beginnings of a Washington campaign to discredit
Hugo Chavez, the elected president of Venezuela. We must combat our country's
aggression--it is again about oil. We who went to Venezuela can speak to it's
progress and the support of the people for this progressive government.

Margot Smith