A food sovereignty delegation from the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York visits La Vela de Coro, Falcón, Venezuela. Video by Diego Gerena-Quiñones. The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York invites you to join us in July for a 10-day trip to Venezuela examining advances in food sovereignty and other initiatives for social […]
Geography Archives: Venezuela
Ideas for the Struggle #3 To Be at the Service of Popular Movements, Not to Displace Them
This is the third in a series of articles on “Ideas for the Struggle” by Marta Harnecker. 1. We have said before that politics is the art of constructing a social and political force capable of changing the balance of forces in order to make possible tomorrow what appears impossible today. But, to be able […]
Ideas for the Struggle #2 Not to Impose But to Convince
This is the second in a series of articles on “Ideas for the Struggle” by Marta Harnecker. 1. Popular movements and, more generally, various social actors who are engaged in the struggle against neoliberal globalization today at the international level as well as in their own countries reject, with good reason, actions that aim to […]
The Many Faces of Humanitarianism
Humanism and Human Rights Who or what is the ‘human’ of human rights and the ‘humanity’ of humanitarianism? The question sounds naïve, silly even. Yet, important philosophical and ontological questions are involved. If rights are given to beings on account of their humanity, ‘human’ nature with its needs, characteristics and desires is the normative […]
Ideas for the Struggle #1 Insurrections or Revolutions? The Role of the Political Instrument
This is the first in a series of articles on “Ideas for the Struggle” by Marta Harnecker. 1. The recent popular uprisings at the turn of the 21st century that have rocked numerous countries such as Argentina and Bolivia — and, more generally, the history of the multiple social explosions that have occurred in […]
Troubled Assets: The IMF’s Latest Projections for Economic Growth in the Western Hemisphere
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published its latest projections for economic growth around the world.1 At first glance, the IMF projections for Latin America seem unlikely. The IMF has a lengthy record of biased projections of growth in the region2 and has been consistently underestimating growth in countries such as Argentina and Venezuela, which […]
Let’s Hope This Gift Keeps on Giving
Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, 25th anniversary edition (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1997). As Editorial Director of Monthly Review Press, I was delighted to learn that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez gave his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins […]
Eduardo Galeano’s Book Soars to No. 1 after Being Gifted to Obama by Chávez
The Best Seller in a Matter of Hours Open Veins of Latin America, a book by Eduardo Galeano, soared from No. 54,295 to No.1 once the Venezuelan leader gave a copy of it to his US counterpart at the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The Amazon.com sales rank of the English version of Las venas […]
Latin America Changes: Hunger Strikes in Bolivia, Summits in the Caribbean
After Bolivia beat the Argentine soccer team led by legendary Diego Maradona by 6 to 1, Maradona told reporters, “Every Bolivia goal was a stab in my heart.” Bolivia was expected to lose the April 1 match as Argentina is ranked as the 6th best soccer team in the world, and Maradona enjoys godlike status […]
21st Century Socialism on the Move — Reflections on “The Path for Human Development”
Within an otherwise bleak reality of capitalist crisis, Mike Lebowitz has provided us with an eloquent restatement of the case for socialism — The Path for Human Development: Capitalism or Socialism? This short text is now circulating widely in Venezuela, in Spanish, as a pocket-sized pamphlet, has been published in Monthly Review, and is […]
Cuba: Economic Restructuring, Recent Trends and Major Challenges*
Abstract The collapse of the European socialist block at the end of the 1980s caused a deep crisis in the Cuban economy. One of the distinctive features of the process of adjustment and reform of the Cuban economy carried out by the government was that even during the worst period of the crisis, the Revolution’s […]
Venezuela: The Coup of 11 April 2002, in Images
VTV’s “La Hojilla” program’s production team republished the images of the coup d’état of 11 April 2002, which kidnapped President Hugo Chávez and trampled on the Constitution and the rights of the Venezuelan people for 48 hours. After seven years, now that justice is beginning to be done in the cases of the massacre […]
Gringo: Reviewing a North American Anti-imperialist Student’s Experience of Latin America
Chesa Boudin, Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America, 240 pages, Scribner (April 2009). Chesa Boudin’s South American travel memoir and coming of age story Gringo is good and useful on several levels. It’s a poetically personal On the Road for a new generation and a vivid primer in the human cost of […]
Chávez: The Empire of the Dollar Is Coming to an End
Proposal for the Creation of the “Petro” Currency Should Not Be Seen in Isolation Caracas, 31 Mar (ABN) — The proposal of the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías, to create a new currency called the “Petro” should not be seen in isolation from what is happening in today’s global economy, said the governor of […]
The Iran-Venezuela Bi-national Bank Launched
The president of the new financial institution, Kurosh Parvizian, noted that this institution is a smart project in the face of the international economic crisis. The creation of a bi-national fund, which will have a capital of 1.2 billion dollars, will strengthen Venezuela’s strategic alliance with Iran and South-South cooperation. The president of Venezuela, Hugo […]
Chávez Proposes Creation of OPEC Bank to Cushion Impacts of Global Recession
During his speech, the Venezuelan head of state insisted that “the agreements not remain on paper” as in previous years. He condemned the arrest warrant on the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, issued by the International Criminal Court “by order of the United States” and stressed the need to create a currency to confront the […]
Chávez and Ahmadinejad Call for Breaking Free from Free Trade
The presidents of Venezuela and Iran met on Thursday at the presidential palace in Tehran, where they agreed on the need to make a systemic change that allows countries to break free from free trade and promote fair trade and complementary relations between countries. The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud […]
Beyond Elections in the Americas: An Interview with Michael Fox
Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas. Produced by Michael Fox and Sílvia Leindecker. Purchase from PM Press. The new documentary Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas proves that democracy can and should be more than casting a ballot every four years. This empowering film gives hopeful and concrete examples from around the Americas […]
Crime in Venezuela: Opposition Weapon or Serious Problem?
“Caracas: one of the most dangerous cities of the planet. . .” goes the blurb for the movie Express Kidnapping — the only Venezuelan film viewed internationally so far, and the top grossing movie here. Crime, according to the Latinobarometro 2008 report, is the biggest problem in Venezuela for 57% of its respondents. So it […]
What’s Next for Venezuela’s Opposition?
When Venezuelan voters approved a referendum allowing for indefinite re-election on all elected posts, commentary immediately turned to what the reform meant for chavistas — particularly, the prospect of having Hugo Chávez as president until 2019 or later. Far less attention was paid to what the defeat meant for the opposition or to its reaction. […]
