"This is a victory of love, peace and hope"

Below is a very quick rundown on the excellent solidarity brigade that we participated in here in Venezuela over the last few weeks. We'd recommend to any person interested in learning about, and building solidarity with, the revolution in Venezuela to get in touch with the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network to register for the next brigade. Check out www.venezuelasolidarity.org for more information.

The brigade included 38 people. Most participants were from Australia but there was also a big contingent of New Zealanders along with 2 Germans and a Scot.

Before the official brigade even began we were lucky enough to be able accompany workers from the national oil company PDVSA on a visit to a public school in the poor suburb of Petare in eastern Caracas. All PDVSA workers are encouraged to help out with the various social programs tht PDVSA finances. In this case every school child is being given a free lunch along with a backpack filled with books, pens and other school necessities. Every school in Venezuela will be visited by PDVSA workers with these supplies.

Free and accessible education and health care are one of the most important gains of the revolution thus far. During the brigade we managed to visit the amazing Bolivarian university located in the plush former executive offices of the old PDVSA. Since Chavez's election in 1999 illiteracy has been eradicated (benefiting over 1 million people), a million adults have completed high school and further 600,000 have either completed tertiary education or have been education in a trade.

Other highlights of the brigade included:
1) a visit to the 'Catia Endogenous Zone' in eastern Caracas where the local economy has been transformed through the setting up of various cooperatives with the support of the Chavez goverment.
2) meeting with the head of the Civil-Military Bolivarian Front - an organisation devoted to organising collaboration and solidrity between civilian and military sectors in order to strengthen the revolution and ward off the kind of US inspired military coups that have been used in other Latin American countries throughout the 20th century.
3) meeting with the INAMUJER - one of the primary organisations in Venezuela fighting for the rights of Women.
4) visiting the workers occupied and managed factories of Invepal and Inveval. both factories have been nationalised by the government and are now run under the control of the employees.
5) having the opportunity to speak with activisits organised in the newly formed community councils - a terrific example of grassroots democracy in action.

On top of all this the two most inspiring events would have to be our particiapation in the 2.5 million person Chavista march on Nov 26 and the Dec election victory of Chavez. Some of us (including Ruth and Simon) managed to see Chavez give his electrifying acceptance speech from the 'peoples balcony' of the presidential palace. The pouring rain and late hour couldnt deter thousands and thousands of people dancing and celebrating in the street into the night.

Chavez in Caracas

We marched, danced, shouted and chanted for hours through streets filled with people dressed in red. We thought what we´d seen so far had already been a pretty big rally but then we looked down on Avenida Bolivar and the next street across which were both absolutely chokkas. Chavez addressed the crowds in the blazing sun for a couple of hours. The crowds were incredible diverse, I saw queer contingents, indigenous contingents, and every sector of society from sportspeople to finance workers for Chavez. I stood watching everything and laughing at how much the CIA and State Dept reps, who I´m sure would have been there, must have been freaking out. It was eerie though, looking around at all high rise building and noticing that on each was stationed a sniper - necessary defence when the world´s biggest war machine doesn´t agree with the democratic decision of a nation. Coming from a country where parliamentary politics is always such a sham and the idea of a president driving through adoring crowds seems somewhere between impossible and naff, its hard to describe just how electric and festive the whole atmosphere was. After Chavez drove past, turning just in time to see the Australia Venezuela Solidarity banner and smiling AT US!!!, there was an absolute wave of people following the truck, chanting and singing. We saw the big man again on the night of the elections, making his speech from the people´s balcony at Miraflores, really amazing seeing history happen. More accounts of the brigade coming soon.

Images from the 2 million strong Chavez election rally



Venezuela fighting the devil
















They´re still dancing












This banner got us so much support, smiles, and cries of "Bienvenidos a Venezuela" (welcome to Venezuela). Venezulans know that the imperialist media is telling lies internationally about the revolutionary changes they are making and they are so happy that people come to see with their own eyes and support their struggle.











Rojo, rojito!

English language assignments on display at the Bolivarian University.

School boy in Petare after receiving backpacks and schoolbooks from PDVSA