----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">michael a. lebowitz
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 4:59 PM
Subject: [OPE-L:8691] Venezuela and workers

                *PLEASE CIRCULATE TO RELEVANT LISTS*

Dear Friends,
        For some time, there has been a lot of confusion outside Venezuela about what exactly has been happening there. How could progressives and trade unionists support the Venezuelan government despite its support of the poor through land reform and income redistribution and its attack on neo-liberalism and the FTAA---- given the dedicated opposition of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV)? How, when there was a general strike, could we side with the government rather than workers? For trade union organisations, the problem has been even more difficult--- given the support for the CTV by international labour organisations (including the ILO). Nevertheless, as the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) noted in the statement issued by Ken Georgetti on 18 April last year after the defeated coup, the role of the CTV in that coup against the democratically elected government of Hugo Chavez raised serious questions about the character of the CTV and its place in the crony capitalism and sham democracy that had left 80 % of the population in poverty in an oil-rich nation.
        Today, though, there should be no confusion. Because the CTV has been exposed as just an arm of the Fedecamaras, the Employers Association with which it has been allied-- in the coup and in the so-called general strike. A strange general strike, indeed. One in which workers in the oil industry (blue collar), electricity, transport, public sector, basic industries and the subway, among others, kept working. One in which workers were laid off by the conglomerates (the monopolies) and transnationals and told that they would get full pay for the period of the lock-outs--- only now to discover that this promissory note was dependent on the companies defeating the Chavez government. (They are being offered half-pay, loss of vacations, etc... and those that protest? They're in the queues at the Ministry of Labour filing complaints over their dismissals.)
        Make no mistake about it--- this so-called general strike was a capitalist offensive, supported by the US and its clients, against the Chavez government. Its immediate effect has been an enormous blow to the economy because of the loss of oil revenues for several months as the result of the sabotage (economic, technical and physical) of PDVSA, the national oil company, and also because of the tax revenue losses resulting from the lockouts and a tax strike by the companies. The resulting 'Opposition Deficit' will make this year a difficult one under any circumstances but particularly so in the attempt to meet the enormous needs of the Venezuelan people.
        Yet, a longer term effect of this offensive by Venezuela's oligarchy has been the increase in the consciousness of the poor  (most of them in the informal sector) and organised workers. There is a mood among workers of self-confidence-- one which emerged when the workers in PDVSA ran the company by themselves after the management and technicians abandoned it. In workplace after workplace, workers are talking about auto-gestion and co-gestion, about taking over and running their enterprises as cooperatives (as is occurring in the Sheraton Airport Hotel and was the subject of discussion among the workers in the hotel in Caracas where I was staying). PDVSA itself now has two representatives of its workers in its management, and an associated firm in petrochemicals is being run as a cooperative. In particular, the take-over of enterprises by workers is occurring when the owners threaten to shut down--- in one case occurring as the workers decided to prevent the removal of machinery. This process is just beginning, but it looks like capital has lost one of its major weapons, its ability to threaten a capital strike--- rather than giving in, Venezuelan workers are moving in.
        There is another significant aspect of this new consciousness among workers--- which is why there should be no longer any confusion about the CTV and its role in the Venezuelan working class. Yesterday (29 March), a new labour federation was formed--- the National Union of Workers (UNT), which has been described as a 'classist, national and revolutionary' union. This new federation has emerged as the result of a long process of discussion which began last July among the Bolivarian Workers Force (FBT), the workers movement fully aligned with the Chavez government and with the Bolivarian movement active among the poor in the Bolivarian Circles, and independent unions (both in and outside the CTV) that are not 'Chavist' but which support the general direction of the government. (This latter group includes in particular the steel workers, subway and petroleum workers.) At the core of these discussions was the question of how autonomous the new federation would be in relation to the government; now, after the last capitalist offensive, the matter has been resolved--- UNT ('unity') will be independent, class-oriented, democratic and revolutionary.
        This new federation begins with more workers than have been nominally represented by the CTV, which will lose any credibility it has had outside Venezuela as its member unions leave. (Indeed, the petroleum workers union from which Carlos Ortega, the current head of CTV, came is itself a key union in the formation of UNT.) Of course, capital does not give up so easily. Through the CIA and its various fronts such as the National Endowment for Democracy (which financed the American Center for International Labor Solidarity in its support for the CTV), the opponents of 'the process' in Venezuela will attempt to maintain their hold over the positions of labour federations such as the AFL-CIO, international labour federations like the ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) and the ILO.
        This is why it is especially important now for progressives and trade unionists to inform themselves of what is happening in Venezuela and in the Venezuelan workers movement. I'm including below a call from the organisers of the 'Bolivarian Forum'  which will be taking place in Caracas on the anniversary of the defeated coup. Take a look at those topics for discussion at the Forum, and you'll get the sense that something quite significant is happening in Venezuela and that this occasion to demonstrate international solidarity with this process which has been scrupulously democratic and constitutional will be quite unique. As you'll see near the bottom of this notice, too, during this period there will also be a conference for trade unionists organised by the Bolivarian Workers Force (FBT)--- the themes of these meetings will be worker solidarity and the struggle against globalisation and neoliberalism.
        No one in Venezuela thinks the struggle is over--- not when the stakes are so high. Caracas on 10-14 April offers an opportunity to show solidarity with the most significant movement happening right now in the Americas and to inform yourselves so you can battle effectively against the enemies of this process (who are the enemies of anything similar elsewhere).
        in solidarity,
        mike lebowitz
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A BOLIVARIAN FORUM OF THE AMERICAS
(April 10-14)


On April 11th through 13th Venezuela will be celebrating the first anniversary of the people’s uprising that led to the disintegration of the right-wing coup d’Etat that had briefly ousted the legitimate government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Though the failed coup had tragic consequences  in particular, the killings of dozens of civilians during the dramatic incidents that led up to the coup and then, afterwards, during the initial repression of the uprising in the poor districts of Caracas  it also had some very positive effects, both in Venezuela and abroad. In Venezuela, the realization that the country’s overwhelmingly popular constitutional project could be hijacked by reactionary forces jolted legions of passive citizens into action. A fresh wave of Venezuelans began participating in the various experiments in participative democracy that have emerged in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998. Internationally, the coup and the people’s uprising generated a wave of concern and interest for what was happening in Venezuela. Ever since the coup, an international solidarity movement has been gradually taking form as an increasing number of progressives have come to the conclusion that there is a fragile people’s movement in Venezuela that faces major internal and external obstacles. And so, it seems fair to say that April 13th is about more than just a failed coup: it is about a national and international awakening that has greatly fortified “el Proceso”, the process of social, political and economic change in Venezuela.

To commemorate this awakening, the organizers of the first annual Bolivarian Forum of the Americas* will be holding a series of workshops and seminars focused on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, as well as other progressive movements underway in other parts of Latin America and the world. For four days (April 10th to 14th), grassroots activists, academics, alternative media journalists, elected officials, etc., from Venezuela and the rest of the world will be taking a close look at the “Proceso” and sharing their ideas and experiences. There will be a series of seminars featuring speakers from Venezuela (e.g., Luis Britto García, Alberto Müller Rojas, Samuel Moncada, Margerita Lopez Maya, Walter Martinez, Edgardo Lander, Javier Birardeau, etc.) and from around the world (e.g., Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Argentina), José Bové (France), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Armand Mattelart (Belgium), Walden Bello (Philippines), Perry Anderson(UK), Daniel Hertz (Brazil), Rafael Alegría (Honduras), etc.), and a series of workshops organized by both representatives of Venezuelan grassroots organizations and non-Venezuelan visitors. The workshops will be grouped around three main themes: the Bolivarian Revolution: accomplishments, shortcomings and future prospects; Venezuela and the emerging resistance to neoliberal globalization in Latin America; How to confront the conspiracy to subvert democratic people´s movements in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. Among the proposed workshop themes are the following:

- Simon Bolivar’s ideas in today’s Venezuela;

-       The elaboration and legacy of the Bolivarian Constitution;

- Putting participative democracy into practice;

- The April 11th Coup d’Etat
-       Impunity and Judicial Reform;

-       Economic Sabotage: the paralyzing of the oil industry and its consequences;

-       The civilian-military alliance;

-       The Venezuelan private media and the destabilization of democracy;

-       The renationalization of PDVSA (the national oil company);
 
- Land reform, the repopulation of rural areas and the development of agricultural self-sufficiency;

- Bolivarian schools and the creation of an active citizenry;

- Promoting indigenous and Afro-American cultures in Venezuela;

- Racism and the class divide in Venezuela;

- Creating ecological consciousness in an oil state;
- Building a democratic labor movement;
- The Bolivarian Constitution and the fight for women’s rights (with the participation of women’s organizations from Venezuela and other countries);

- Venezuela's’indigenous communities and the Bolivarian Constitution: repairing the crimes of history;

- The lessons of the April 11th coup;

- The Venezuelan private media and April 11th: a conspiracy to subvert democracy?;

- How to break the corporate media’s monopoly on information (with the participation of representatives of alternative and corporate media groups);

- The coup and the counter-coup within PDVSA (the national oil company): will the new PDVSA help the poor of Venezuela? (with representatives of the cooperativist movement within PDVSA);

- The Bolivarian Revolution and the armed forces: can the Venezuelan army play a progressive role in Venezuelan society?;

- Bolivarianism in Latin America: sovereignty, self-determination and Latin American economic and political integration;

- The Free Trade Area of the Americas and its alternatives;
- Bolivarianism and the challenges of the current geopolitical situation;

- Building an international Bolivarian solidarity movement (with the participation of representatives from solidarity movements worldwide).

If you or your organization would like to participate in the organization of one of these workshops or would like to propose other workshop themes that you think you could co-host with one or more Venezuelan organizations, please let us know as soon as possible at [log in to unmask]. Contact us at this same e-mail address for any other information concerning the forum or for practical information such as accommodation possibilities (some free accommodation will be available courtesy of various Caracas-based community organizations), visa requirements, contact information for participating organizations, etc.

Finally, a number of other events will be taking place at the same time as this forum. The events of April 2002 were truly magical: millions of Venezuelans took to the streets and saved their Constitution and their President. All over Venezuela, people will be celebrating this anniversary, one way or another. Here is a partial list of some of the other events that will be taking place:

- “El Foro Popular”, the forum of Caracas’ barrios (April 11th-14th), in which community organizations from Caracas and other Venezuelan cities will be celebrating the great awakening of April with numerous community meetings, workshops dealing with themes that directly concern Venezuela’s poor communities (e.g., participative democracy projects), theatre, mural projects, concerts, film projections, exhibits of art produced in the barrios. These events will be taking place in schools, theatres, squares and public gardens all over the barrios of Caracas.

- A “Trial of the Venezuelan media” (April 11th) organized by the Comité de Usuarios de los medios de communicación (Committee of media users). At this year’s Porto Alegre World Social Forum there was a “Hearing on the Venezuelan media” and, at this event, supplementary evidence and testimony will be submitted to a group of “jurors” made up of media specialists and free speech activists from all over the world. The “accused”, i.e., a cluster of Venezuelan media outlets, will have the opportunity to defend themselves against accusations of unethical practices (producing political propaganda, using subliminal images, promoting violence, lying, presenting rumours as facts, and, last but not least, helping a group of putschists carry out a coup d’Etat).

- A “Gran Fiesta Popular” (big community street party) with musical groups from Venezuela (Madera, Cecilia Todd) and elsewhere (Manu Chao, Afro-Cuban All Stars) on Caracas’ Avenida Bolívar (April 13th).

- A Mass for the Victims of April 2002 (April 11th).

- An exhibit: “Reviving the Historical Memory of the Venezuelan People in their Struggle for Liberty”: An exhibit that will, with documents and video archives, retrace the history of popular struggles in Venezuela since the arrival of the first slaves to the region (starts April 10th).
- An "international revolutionary labour movement conference" (April 11th-14th) organized by the Fuerza Bolivariana de Trabajadores (the Bolivarian Workers' Force). This event will bring together union leaders from Latin America, North America and Europe to discuss issues such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas and neoliberal globalization, and to develop strategies for building international solidarity for the Fuerza Bolivariana de Trabajadores (a labour movement that is opposed to the leadership of Venezuela's main labour confederation, the CTV).

If you’d like any more information on these events let us know at [log in to unmask] and we’ll try to direct your requests to the appropriate organizations.


*(Bolivarian Forum of the Americas (FBA) is a recently created foundation based in Caracas, Venezuela and dedicated to organizing and coordinating an annual forum that will bring together activists from around the world to discuss topics linked to the future of Latin America and its peoples. The FBA is administrated by a commission made up of representatives of Venezuelan organizations that include ATCC (Artists and Cultural Workers for the Constitution), the campesino organization Coordinadora Ezequiel Zamora, Profesores por la Paz (Professors for Peace), ATTAC-Venezuela (the Venezuelan chapter of the association for a tax for citizens), Universitarios por la Equidad (Academics for Equity), la Coordinación Nacional de los Circulos Bolivarianos (National coordination of Bolivarian Circles), and the indigenous movement CONEVI. In the coming weeks, more organizations are expected to join this list). 




        
        
        
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Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Cuba. Can be reached via:

Michael Lebowitz
c/o MEPLA
Calle 13 No. 504 ent. D y E, Vedado, La Habana, Cuba
Codigo Postal 10 4000
(537) 33 30 75 or 832  21 54
telefax: (537) 33 30 75