In August, more than 20 Resistance members travelled to Venezuela with dozens of others in the first ever Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Brigade. Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes stayed on to help establish the Green Left Weekly bureau in Caracas. Below, they provide a glimpse of the exciting revolutionary process underway.
Having been inspired by reading about the Bolivarian revolution, we knew we had to experience it firsthand. However, nothing prepared us for what Venezuelans refer to as their "beautiful revolution".
From the moment we arrived it was clear that a profound political radicalisation had taken place. Driving from the airport to Caracas we could see revolutionary graffiti covering the entire city, and government advertisements declaring Venezuela "Ahora Para Todos"! (Now is for everyone!)
Everywhere we went people wanted to talk about how the Bolivarian revolution has touched their lives. They would group around stalls selling copies of the latest laws, discussing and debating the Venezuelan Constitution — the key weapon in their struggle for a dignified life — of the kind that many in Venezuela are realising is possible through socialism.
This is a country where, historically, the corrupt elites have siphoned off Venezuela's oil wealth, leaving 80% of the people in poverty. Take, for example, the barrios that line the hills surrounding Caracas, where millions try to eke out an existence, building houses wherever they can, sometimes almost on top of each other. These people have had to struggle all their lives for the things we take for granted — running water, electricity and a local doctor, to name a few.
No wonder they are making a revolution.
Now, however, under the revolutionary government led by President Hugo Chavez, the oil wealth is being used to benefit the poor. The government-funded healthcare program Barrio Adentro can be found in every neighbourhood, providing many Venezuelans with their first ever visit to a doctor.
In these neighbourhoods the people, organised in local assemblies, debate the ways to take control over decisions affecting their daily lives. We visited the amazing Bolivarian University, previously the headquarters for the state oil company bureaucrats, where students receive free education, and the sign over the entrance says: "Viva Socialismo".
We visited factories under workers' co-management and saw a 1000-strong workers' assembly at the state-owned aluminium plant ALCASA, discussing how the factory should be run
We stayed the night in an occupied petrochemical factory, where workers are fighting for their rights and jobs.
We met some of the 1.5 million adults who had been given a second chance in life, learning to read and write through the government-funded Mission Robinson over the last two years.
We met young people, just like us, fighting to change the world, and winning.
This truly is what a revolution looks like.
We went to a welcome back rally for Chavez after he returned in September from the UN General Assembly meeting where he stole the show for denouncing the UN as a tool of US imperialism. With only a few hours' notice, tens of thousands of Venezuelans mobilised to show their solidarity. All night people kept asking where we were from and thanking us for being there. They know, just as we do, that their battle for a better world is a global one and that the socialism of the 21st century is nothing if it is not international.
Our experience, just as it was for others on the solidarity brigade, is something we will never forget. Venezuela shows that revolution is alive and well today, and this is why Resistance is helping to organise more solidarity brigades in 2006, and helping keep Green Left Weekly, Australia's best source of news on Venezuela, afloat.
We have to admit that over the last few months, we have wondered how we could ever leave this amazing place. But ultimately, the most important act of solidarity we can give the Venezuelan people is to make revolution a reality in Australia. Young people will have to take the struggle for social justice forward, in Venezuela and Australia. We have the same enemy — a cruel system that puts the greed of a few before the needs of many — and that just as the Venezuelan people are showing, the only alternative is socialism.
[For more information about or to join one of the three upcoming Australian brigades to Venezuela, go to <http://www.venezuelasolidarity.com>.]
From Green Left Weekly, December 7, 2005.
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