What’s up in Venezuela?
This summary by Latin Americanist James Petras is a good place to begin making sense…
Distribute this widely. The full court press is on to unseat Venezuela’s popular democracy, where relocalization of political power is now on tha agenda… and it has the ruling class of the whole hemisphere in a twist.
* * *
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
By JAMES PETRAS
Venezuela’s democratically elected Present Chavez faces the most serious threat since the April 11, 2002 military coup.
Violent street demonstrations by privileged middle and upper middle class university students have led to major street battles in and around the center of Caracas. More seriously, the former Minister of Defense, General Raul Isaias Baduel, who resigned in July, has made explicit calls for a military coup in a November 5 press conference which he convoked exclusively for the right and far-right mass media and political parties, while striking a posture as an ‘individual’ dissident.
The entire international and local private mass media has played up Baduel’s speeches, press conferences along with fabricated accounts of the oppositionist student rampages, presenting them as peaceful protests for democratic rights against the government referendum scheduled for December 2, 2007.
The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC News and the Washington Post have all primed their readers for years with stories of President Chavez’ ‘authoritarianism’. Faced with constitutional reforms which strengthen the prospects for far-reaching political-social democratization, the US, European and Latin American media have cast pro-coup ex-military officials as ‘democratic dissidents’, former Chavez supporters disillusioned with his resort to ‘dictatorial’ powers in the run-up to and beyond the December 2, 2007 vote in the referendum on constitutional reform. Not a single major newspaper has mentioned the democratic core of the proposed reforms–the devolution of public spending and decision to local neighborhood and community councils. Once again as in Chile in 1973, the US mass media is complicit in… FULL
zek:
… and please check out the El Libertario website (it has an english section) for a more nuanced critique, facts-on-the-ground stlye, which doesn’t get much airplay among the so-called left up here. the reality is far more complex than the various official discourses, pro & con.
16 November 2007, 12:43 pmJosiah:
Petras is right to point out that indefinite re-electability for the executive branch is hardly uknown. Most parliamentary democracies have this feature in theory; term limits are the exception rather than the rule. In Paraguay (where U.S. troops have conducted over a dozen joint excercises since 2005), the Colorado Party has been in power since 1947, but they hold sham elections, so it’s okay. The ARENA party has been running El Salvador since 1989, and President Saca was recently feted by Robert Gates…etc.
What’s more important is the proposed “devolution of public spending and decision to local neighborhood and community councils.” One of the reasons the 2002 coup failed was popular mobilization. The higher the degree of participation of people in everyday decision-making, the less vulnerable Venezuela will be to coup attempts.
17 November 2007, 12:51 amb real:
venezuelanalysis.com added an editorial note when they ran the petras piece about an error that doesn’t appear to have been corrected in the counterpunch version: “Baduel was defense minister from June 2006 to July 2007, most of the incidents the author refers to occurred while Badel was head of the Venezuelan Army, not Defense Minister.”
17 November 2007, 3:05 amb real:
this note applies to paragraph 24.
17 November 2007, 3:09 amStan:
…a point made over at IA about decentralizing our politics of resistance.
And the role of the state in this case — as suggested by our anarchist friends — is not as categorical and simple as their reactive opposition would have it. It is also simply not tactical (an in fact is likely suicidal). Let’s be very clear (and honest) about Venezuela and all of Latin America in its current left-shift. Confronting US power there is not an ideological project. It is practical, contingent, and extremely dangerous. The formulae of left ideologues — whether acolytes of Bakunin or Trotsky or whomsoever — are both inadequate and inappropriate to the real complexities of the situation there. Chavismo has already proven many leftists wrong on the categorical assumption that revolution can never be successfully advanced by elections… the Chavez government was elected, though as the final act in a grassroots upsurge. If this government is overthrown, it will not be the next step in the withering away of the Venezuelan state — ushering in some anarchist Utopia. It will result in the United States reasserting control over Venezuela. Period. There will be a Venezuelan state for the rest of our lives, and that is as close to inevitable as anything will get in this life. The question in real time and space (there and now) is, who will run it, and how sovereign can the people of Venezuela be in its operation… a principle and unavoidable mission of which is to defend itself from the United States. The choice right now is not between anarchism or marxism or Bolivarianismo or the white supremacists of COPEI… these are surface issues. It is a choice about who will determine Venequela’s future, and there is right now an (a) and a (b)… no (c): Venezuela or the Embassy of the United States of America.
17 November 2007, 7:04 amChavez no champion of the poor:
Chavez is a capitalist still engaged in driving any people off land where there are resources to exploit. Whether they be non corporate fisherman, farmers or the last of indigenous populations living hunter gatherer lifestyles.
The essential beef the US has with him is he doesn’t want to let US banks handle his money. That would be committing the same affront that Saddam did when he threatened to back the Euro with his oil. Shifting “money” to another capitalist sphere of power doesn’t help the environment or indigenous people. Oppression doesn’t change and the world is still headed toward an ecological disaster.
Here is an excerpt of an interview from El Libertario:
Talking about the Venezuelan situation
[From an interview with La Rosa Negra – counterinfo from Mexico in January 2006]
- We can’t understand how that perception exists, anybody who’s followed our actions and our thinking will find that we have not been duped by the fallacious “you’re with Chavez or else you’re with Bush”, as we have clearly shown evidence to dismantle this farce. It hasn’t been easy to uphold this position that smashes the simplistic schemes that have led the Latin-American left from failure to failure for over 80 years, and multiplying our efforts to keep our position has been the order of the day, but our consistency begins to produce results, undoubtedly modest but full of hope that fall within the renewed activity and presence of anarchism in South America, still a minority political expression but one that has made advances between the decade of the 90’s and today that are, quantitatively and qualitatively speaking, very important compared to what happened during the five or six previous decades. The challenge is to transform this modest renaissance into the ability to make a significant mark on the process for positive social change sorely needed in our continent.
- The Kirchner-Chavez-Morales-Castro axis has several faces: it presents itself as the triumph of parliamentary democracy and conversely, as the standard of struggle against the empire, as mediator of popular social movements and consequently, as the catalyst for civil resistance. What defensive wall do the Venezuelan anarchists have?
19 November 2007, 4:19 pm- You’re asking us about our main proposal for action right now. Let’s quote a paragraph from our editorial of El Libertario #44: “We are not, nor do we want to be, contenders for the control of institutionalized power: we are anarchists and we aspire to the disappearance of state power and any other oppressive hierarchical structure. This is not just a profession of faith; our actions here and now mean assuming the commitment to promote and empower the autonomy of any social movement consistent with the ideal. Therefore, we are not interested in building ‘anarchist social movements’ that would prove as useless to collective progress as the Bolivarian circles or those opposition parties disguised as NGO’s. We bet on social movements that build the dynamics for independent action and organization, based on the widest participation on all levels that will allow the formation of different modes of direct action and self-management away from the state’s control or any other instance of oppression, it is the only way to consolidate spaces of freedom, equality and solidarity that will be the seed and support of the future we struggle for.
Stan:
Your veiwpoint is going up; but if you continue to engage in childish sectarian tactics like listing your contact as a polemical headline, I will zap you.
This says it all. Subtract the polemics, and what you have is infantile nonsense. How exactly do you plan to fight the US/COPEI? Are all 100 of you going to mount an armed insurrection?
19 November 2007, 5:47 pmLegume Sam:
Here’s a statement that might clarify things a bit: from p. 46 of Peter McLaren and Nathalia Jaramillo’s book Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire:
20 November 2007, 12:42 amLegume Sam:
and Stephen Lendman’s piece on Venezuela might help explain things a bit.
20 November 2007, 3:30 pmJason Kennedy:
“We are not, nor do we want to be, contenders for the control of institutionalized power: we are anarchists and we aspire to the disappearance of state power and any other oppressive hierarchical structure. This is not just a profession of faith; our actions here and now mean assuming the commitment to promote and empower the autonomy of any social movement consistent with the ideal.”
Rhetoric has its uses, but this just made me laugh out loud - it is perfectly vacuous.
Is there a politics that requires no compromise that I missed the announcement of? You will remain an idealist because your proposed methods render your goals unattainable.
Could you cite an example of a culture where there is no oppressive hierarchical structure that you are using as a model for your ideal society.
I doubt it, but please do. It could be a historical example, if you so wish.
21 November 2007, 1:36 amJonny:
Hello All,
I am writing in response to zek’s and ananomous’s El Libertario citing..there was what I’d call a fairly well-researched and decently sourced hashing out of what El Libertario is in the Venezuelan context on an anarchist blog here:
http://libcom.org/forums/thought/the-cra-el-libertario-in-venezuela-as-black-propaganda-for-the-us-state-department
21 November 2007, 3:17 amJonny:
I share Stan’s analysis on the utility of self-important ideological sects at this juncture in Venezuelan history (0). For those undecided, here are the…
Official El Libertario site (in english):
http://www.nodo50.org/ellibertario/english.html
Flashy new anti-Bolivarian revolution “insurgent” site by same folks:
http://www.insurgentes.org.ve
The latter is something like the Insurgent American site, as seen through a cold-war dystopian funhouse mirror.
22 November 2007, 5:45 amStan:
The libcom link wasn;t working, but here’s another that seems to… and addresses the El Libertario drivel.
http://libcom.org/forums/thought/qoutations-from-the-el-libertario-website
23 November 2007, 11:02 amLegume Sam:
I would like to know more about how the Venezuelan college students are being recruited to fight the government. I’ve said plenty about how education in the US context verges on pointlessness; I’d like to know what it’s like in Venezuela.
23 November 2007, 1:57 pmJim:
Brazil: A New Petroleum Power?
Petrobras recently announced it has discovered between five and eight billion barrels of light oil offshore in the sub-salt layers at a depth of some 5,000 to 8,000 metres (16,000 to 26,000 ft). Petrobras stated it was the first company, “to have drilled, tested and evaluated pre-salt rocks.” I believe the company was referring to the South Atlantic since this has been done in other parts of the world. For instance, there has been sub-salt production in the Gulf of Mexico since the mid nineties. However, it is certainly a feather in Petrobras’s cap and they must be congratulated on their new find.
The problem with producing oil at these depths is one of cost but, with $100 per barrel oil, the operation is profitable, and will become more profitable as the technology improves. I am a great believer in the maxim “Necessity is the mother of invention” and am confident our scientists and engineers will come up with greatly improved drilling and production methods.
[Continued at: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7392
23 November 2007, 5:17 pmJim:
Above article also at: http://www.petroleumworld.com/Ed07112101.htm
Oliver L Campbell:
23 November 2007, 5:20 pmBrazil’s new and notable oil discovery
Stan:
Sorry for posting this whole text from Counterpunch today, but the link is not working. When it is, I’ll cut and link. This is important, because it exposes an active operation by the American Embassy in Venezuela, and it needs very wide distribution. Petras is unfamiliar with government acronyms, and the reference to HUMINT means a source or agent is human, as opposed to electronic… not a “unit.” -SG
Counterattack as Fateful Referendum Looms
CIA Venezuela Destabilization Memo Surfaces
By JAMES PETRAS
On November 26, 2007 the Venezuelan government broadcast and circulated a confidential memo from the US embassy to the CIA which is devastatingly revealing of US clandestine operations and which will influence the referendum this Sunday, December 2, 2007.
The memo sent by an embassy official, Michael Middleton Steere, was addressed to the Director of Central Intelligence, Michael Hayden. The memo was entitled ‘Advancing to the Last Phase of Operation Pincer’ and updates the activity by a CIA unit with the acronym ‘HUMINT’ (Human Intelligence) which is engaged in clandestine action to destabilize the forth-coming referendum and coordinate the civil military overthrow of the elected Chavez government. The Embassy-CIA’s polls concede that 57 per cent of the voters approved of the constitutional amendments proposed by Chavez but also predicted a 60 per cent abstention.
The US operatives emphasized their capacity to recruit former Chavez supporters among the social democrats (PODEMOS) and the former Minister of Defense Baduel, claiming to have reduced the ‘yes’ vote by 6 per cent from its original margin. Nevertheless the Embassy operatives concede that they have reached their ceiling, recognizing they cannot defeat the amendments via the electoral route.
The memo then recommends that Operation Pincer (OP) [Operación Tenaza] be operationalized. OP involves a two-pronged strategy of impeding the referendum, rejecting the outcome at the same time as calling for a ‘no’ vote. The run up to the referendum includes running phony polls, attacking electoral officials and running propaganda through the private media accusing the government of fraud and calling for a ‘no’ vote. Contradictions, the report emphasizes, are of no matter.
The CIA-Embassy reports internal division and recriminations among the opponents of the amendments including several defections from their ‘umbrella group’. The key and most dangerous threats to democracy raised by the Embassy memo point to their success in mobilizing the private university students (backed by top administrators) to attack key government buildings including the Presidential Palace, Supreme Court and the National Electoral Council. The Embassy is especially full of praise for the ex-Maoist ‘Red Flag’ group for its violent street fighting activity. Ironically, small Trotskyist sects and their trade unionists join the ex-Maoists in opposing the constitutional amendments. The Embassy, while discarding their ‘Marxist rhetoric’, perceives their opposition as fitting in with their overall strategy.
The ultimate objective of ‘Operation Pincer’ is to seize a territorial or institutional base with the ‘massive support’ of the defeated electoral minority within three or four days (presumably after the elections though this is not clear. JP) backed by an uprising by oppositionist military officers principally in the National Guard. The Embassy operative concede that the military plotters have run into serous problems as key intelligence operatives were detected, stores of arms were decommissioned and several plotters are under tight surveillance.
Apart from the deep involvement of the US, the primary organization of the Venezuelan business elite (FEDECAMARAS), as well as all the major private television, radio and newspaper outlets have been engaged in a campaign of fear and intimidation campaign. Food producers, wholesale and retail distributors have created artificial shortages of basic food items and have provoked large scale capital flight to sow chaos in the hopes of reaping a ‘no’ vote.
President Chavez Counter-Attacks
In a speech to pro-Chavez, pro-amendment nationalist business-people (Entrepreneurs for Venezuela EMPREVEN) Chavez warned the President of FEDECAMARAS that if he continues to threaten the government with a coup, he would nationalize all their business affiliates. With the exception of the Trotskyists and other sects, the vast majority of organized workers, peasants, small farmers, poor neighborhood councils, informal self-employed and public school students have mobilized and demonstrated in favor of the constitutional amendments.
The reason for the popular majority is found in a few of the key amendments: One article expedites land expropriation facilitating re-distribution to the landless and small producers. Chavez has already settled over 150,000 landless workers on 2 million acres of land. Another amendment provides universal social security coverage for the entire informal sector (street sellers, domestic workers, self-employed) amounting to 40 per cent of the labor force. Organized and unorganized workers’ workweek will be reduced from 40 to 36 hours a week (Monday to Friday noon) with no reduction in pay. Open admission and universal free higher education will open greater educational opportunities for lower class students. Amendments will allow the government to by-pass current bureaucratic blockage of the socialization of strategic industries, thus creating greater employment and lower utility costs. Most important, an amendment will increase the power and budget of neighborhood councils to legislate and invest in their communities.
The electorate supporting the constitutional amendments is voting in favor of their socio-economic and class interests; the issue of extended re-election of the President is not high on their priorities: And that is the issue that the Right has focused on in calling Chavez a ‘dictator’ and the referendum a ‘coup’.
The Opposition
With strong financial backing from the US Embassy ($8 million dollars in propaganda alone according to the Embassy memo) and the business elite and ‘free time’ by the right-wing media, the Right has organized a majority of the upper middle class students from the private universities, backed by the Catholic Church hierarchy, large swaths of the affluent middle class neighborhoods, entire sectors of the commercial, real estate and financial middle classes and apparently sectors of the military, especially officials in the National Guard. While the Right has control over the major private media, public television and radio back the constitutional reforms. While the Right has its followers among some generals and the National Guard, Chavez has the backing of the paratroops and legions of middle-rank officers and most other generals.
The outcome of the Referendum of December 2 is a major historical event first and foremost for Venezuela but also for the rest of the Americas. A positive vote (Vota ‘Sí’) will provide the legal framework for the democratization of the political system, the socialization of strategic economic sectors, empower the poor and provide the basis for a self-managed factory system. A negative vote (or a successful US-backed civil-military uprising) would reverse the most promising living experience of popular self-rule, of advanced social welfare and democratically based socialism. A reversal, especially a military dictated outcome, would lead to a blood bath, such as we have not seen since the days of the Indonesian Generals’ Coup of 1966, which killed over a million workers and peasants or the Argentine Coup of 1976 in which over 30,000 Argentines were murdered by the US- backed Generals.
A decisive vote for ‘Sí’ will not end US military and political destabilization campaigns but it will certainly undermine and demoralize their collaborators. On December 2, 2007 the Venezuelans have a rendezvous with history.
James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser to the landless and jobless in brazil and argentina and is co-author of Globalization Unmasked (Zed). His new book with Henry Veltmeyer, Social Movements and the State: Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina, will be published in October 2005. He can be reached at: jpetras@binghamton.edu
28 November 2007, 5:33 pmLegume Sam:
Stan –
next time you crosspost this onto DailyKos.com , please participate in the comments section! The rank-and-file there is rather large, and they have some significant misconceptions about Chavez and about Venezuela that need to be further informed… it’s a real opportunity…
28 November 2007, 9:56 pmStan:
I had to go to bed. Insomnia the night before; and I was exhausted. Hopefully, some will use the link to The Rev Will Not Be Televised. Gotta go to work now. If you know any folks who are up on Venezuela and C havismo, please deirect them over to perform a pedagogical mission. (: Thanks.
29 November 2007, 7:22 amLegume Sam:
You probably could strike up a conversation (or at least respond to the 112 comments that have so far graced your diary) if you did so now… DailyKos.com diaries tend to have only a 24-hour shelf-life; they are programmed for high turnover.
29 November 2007, 10:39 amStan:
NEWS FROM THE GLOBAL WOMEN’S STRIKE IN VENEZUELA
WHICH IS CAMPAIGNING FOR THE YES TO CONSTITUTIONAL
REFORMS ON 2 DECEMBER
ON SUNDAY THE PEOPLE OF VENEZUELA WILL VOTE ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM,
AMID RENEWED MEDIA ATTACKS AND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS AGAINST
PRESIDENT CHáVEZ - a laser point which could have been from a gun was
seen on his chest and head, and for some seconds CNN had a clip of
Chávez with a title saying “Who killed him?” The media, and the
UScorporate and political interests they represent, claim that Chávez
is using Venezuela’s oil revenue to manipulate the poor in order to
stay in power for life. Extensive reports of clashes between
students have accused the government of heavy handed repression,
while saying little of the violence against pro-reform students whose
union offices were set ablaze risking the lives of those who were
trapped inside.
THE ADVANCES WHICH ARE BEING PUT FORWARD AND THE PROCESS THEY COME
OUT OF HAVE BEEN ENTIRELY HIDDEN BY THE MEDIA. President Chávez
proposed 33 changes to the 1999 Constitution to be discussed by the
grassroots nationally; and the National Assembly. Consultation has
been massive. The National Assembly says that between 16 August and
7 October, 10 million copies of the proposed reforms were
distributed, some 9,020 public events were held throughout the
country, and a special hotline took over 80,000 phone calls. 77.8
percent of the Venezuelan people report having read and been informed
about the proposed changes. (Compare this to the European constitution
which was never taken to a referendum in the UK and most people knew
hardly anything about, was rejected by voters in France and The
Netherlands, and is now being recycled in a shorter version to be
adopted without a vote.)
Following these consultations, 25 additional reforms and 11 smaller
changes have been put forward - altogether A TOTAL OF 69 PROPOSED
REFORMS. People will vote on them in two separate blocks, A (46
articles) & B (24), on 2 December.
The constitutional reforms are promoting a SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY, an
economy that is “diversified and independent” based on “human values
of co-operation and the preponderance of the general interest.”
We have spoken to the Global Women’s Strike in Venezuela,which is
mobilizing for the reforms and told us that despite media claims to
the contrary, the support for the Sí/Yes is massive. These are the
proposed reforms they most want people to know about.
ARTICLE 21 FORBIDS DISCRIMINATION -SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND HEALTH HAVE
BEEN ADDED.
ARTICLE 36 SPELLS OUT THE PRESIDENT’S NEW POWERS. Elections will be
held every seven years rather than six, and there will be no limit to
how many times a candidate can stand. The proposal has the support of
the majority of the population as people feel that the revolutionary
changes they are working on stand a better chance of success against
coup, assassination and destabilization attempts by the racist elite
and their UScounterparts, if Chávez is in power. It takes decades of
organizing to produce a revolutionary leader like Chávez - why would
you want to replace him when he is doing such good work? Those who
criticize Chávez do not mention that people in Venezuela can revoke
their elected officials through a referendum (Chávez won such a
referendum by a huge majority in 2004), a choice other democracies do
not provide. Also other democratic governments have the right to
re-elect their president or prime minister -the US had no time limit
until the law was changed after Roosevelt was elected four times,
Britain still has no limit and Tony Blair was elected three times on a
vote which was nowhere near that of Chávez. The proposal has to be
seen in context. IN VENEZUELA WHERE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY
WOMEN, ARE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS OF CHANGE AND WANT CHáVEZ
TO STAY IN POWER, WHILE THE US AND THE RACIST VENEZUELAN ELITE WANT
HIM OUT AND EVEN DEAD, ARTICLE 36 SIGNALS A DETERMINATION TO PROTECT
OUR LEADERSHIP SO WE CAN MOVE THE REVOLUTION FORWARD. In Peru,when
ex-president Fujimori, who is now being tried for human rights
violations, wanted unlimited re-election, it signaled increased
exploitation, repression, torture and disappearances - the US and
their media did not object.
ARTICLE 87 ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF THE SELF-EMPLOYED, ENTITLES
HOUSEWIVES, DOMESTIC WORKERS, STREET VENDORS, taxi drivers, transport
and motorcycle workers, artisans, barbers and hairdressers, farmers,
small-mine workers,fisher people, seasonal workers, cultural
workers… TO SOCIAL SECURITY, PENSION, HOLIDAYS AND MATERNITY LEAVE
through the creation of a Social Stability Fund for Self Employed
Workers to which the State, employers and workers will contribute.
ARTICLE 90 INTRODUCES THE 6-HOUR DAY. The working day is being
shortened from 8 to 6 hours so that workers can have more free time
to spend with their families, on their own self-development and on
community activities. Workers in 24-hour industries such as oil will
work four 6-hour shifts rather than three 8-hour shifts; more people
will have access to employment. Full text:
Español:
A objeto de que los trabajadores y trabajadoras dispongan de
tiempo suficiente para su desarrollo integral, la jornada de trabajo
diurna no excederá de seis horas diarias o de treinta y seis horas
semanales, igualmente, la nocturna no excederá de seis horas diarias
o de treinta y cuatro horas semanales.
Ningún patrono o patrona podrá obligar a los trabajadores o
trabajadoras a laborar horas o tiempo extraordinario. El Estado
promoverá los mecanismos para la mejor utilización del tiempo libre
en beneficio de la educación, formación integral, desarrollo humano,
físico, espiritual, moral,cultural y técnico de los trabajadores y
trabajadoras, de acuerdo con la ley respectiva.
Los trabajadores y trabajadoras tienen derecho al descanso semanal y
vacaciones remuneradas en las mismas condiciones que las jornadas
efectivamente laboradas.
English:
In order for workers to have enough time for their full
development, the working day-shift will not exceed six hours a day or
36 hours a week, and the night-shift will not exceed six hours a day
or 34 hours a week.
No employer will be able to force workers to work overtime. The State
will promote mechanisms for a better use of free time to benefit
education, training and human, physical, spiritual, moral, cultural
and technical development of the workers.
Workers will be entitled to remunerated weekly time off and holidays
under the same conditions as the days worked.
ARTICLE 109 WOULD GIVE EQUAL VOTE TO STUDENTS, PROFESSORS AND STAFF
IN THE ELECTION OF UNIVERSITY AUTHORITIES. At the moment staff have
no voting rights and professors’ votes count far more than those of
the students.
ARTICLE 115 INTRODUCES DIFFERENT FORMS OF COLLECTIVE PROPERTY so that
people can have a stronger claim on land and industry through
co-operatives and other community organizations.
· Public: Fully owned and managed by the government.
· Social: Owned by the Venezuelan people and either managed by
the government or by communities or other institutions.
· Collective: Owned and managed by groups of individuals for
their particular uses.
· Mixed: A combination of ownership and management.
People’s involvement at every level and their power to make decisions
about resources are being massively encouraged through communal
councils and communes.
ARTICLE 184 PROMOTES CO-OPERATIVES AND WORKERS’ PARTICIPATION IN THE
MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC COMPANIES.
ARTICLE 305 FORBIDS BIG LAND ESTATES IN FAVOUR OF AGRICULTURAL
WORKERS’ CO-OPERATIVES.
ARTICLE 307 PROMOTES COMMUNAL LAND AND RESOURCES FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT.
- - - - - - - - - -
FROM VENEZUELANALYSIS WEBSITE, ADDITIONAL POINTS ON THE PROPOSED
REFORMS:
· ARTICLE 64 would lower the voting age to 16, following the
lead of Austria,Nicaragua and Brazil.
· ARTICLE 82 would codify the right to adequate housing for
all Venezuelans and prohibit the State from taking any home as part
of a judicial sanction.
· ARTICLE 98 would protect the creation and communication of
cultural goods.
· ARTICLE 100 would formally recognize and protect
Afro-Venezuelan heritage and culture.
· ARTICLE 103 would articulate the right to education for all
Venezuelans, and mandate that all public education through university
be free of charge.
· ARTICLE 272 would establish that the Venezuelan penitentiary
system direct its efforts towards the full rehabilitation of prisoners
and respect their human rights during incarceration.
ARTICLE 337 calls for the limitation of certain rights during a
national emergency, a number of rights would remain,including the
right to life and personal integrity, the right to a defense, the
right to a fair trial, and the right not to be tortured, disappeared
or held incommunicado. This ensures that Venezuela remains consistent with -or in some cases exceeds - its international obligations.
- - - - - - - - - -
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO SEND STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT
FOR THE SI / YES
EMAIL: WOMENSTRIKE8M@SERVER101.COM
29 November 2007, 4:06 pmLegume Sam:
Also see James Petras on Democracy Now:
30 November 2007, 12:45 pm