VENEZUELA  REPORT-BACK

OIL WORKERS, the GRASSROOTS and the HISTORIC REFERENDUM

International Election Observers Selma James and Nina Lَopez (with video clips)

and

Documentary Premiere: The Bolivarian Revolution: ENTER THE OIL WORKERS!

Contribution from Identidad Bolivariana, The Netherlands

Saturday 18 September 3-6 pm

Trinity United Reform Church, Buck St, London NW1

Camden Town Tube Level entrance, accessible toilet nearby
Entrance: £3 waged; £1.50 unwaged

Followed by celebration of the referendum victory with music and refreshments.

While British MPs resort to medieval legislation to try to impeach the prime minister for misleading the country into war, the people of Venezuela have an updated tool: their 1999 constitution uniquely gives the electorate the power to recall any elected official halfway through their term.  Venezuelans used it on 15 August to reaffirm Hugo Chavez as president by 59% to 41%. 

Selma James and Nina Lَopez were among over 100 international observers who visited polling stations and confirmed the election result.  They will report on this unique event: the 10 million voters who queued peacefully for up to 14 hours despite fears of violence; the system that was adopted to prevent fraud; the extraordinary grassroots movement that ensured Chavez’s landslide result, and his extraordinary leadership now intent on “deepening the revolution”, strengthening our movement wherever we are.

The Bolivarian Revolution ENTER THE OIL WORKERS!

Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter, yet 80% of its population (mainly people of African and Indigenous descent) live in poverty.  Since Hugo Chavez was elected to use the oil revenue to eliminate poverty, there have been many attempts by the white elite and their Washington friends to overthrow his government. 

In these unique interviews, oil workers – women and men – tell how and why they saved their industry from a CIA-backed coup, how they see their struggle in relation to other working class people in the world, and how they are organising with the community and the military to “put the oil industry at the service of humanity”.

Available for sale at £5 each: The Bolivarian Revolution: Enter the Oil Workers! (34 mins) and Venezuela: A 21st Century Revolution (57 mins) by the Global Women’s Strike Bolivarian Circle