[A-List] Solidarity brigades to Venezuela

[glparramatta <glparramatta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[If you too want to be a "revolutionary tourist'' and ``join the wave of
backpackers, artists, academics and politicians on a mission to
discover if Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, really is forging a
radical alternative to neo-liberalism and capitalism" check out the
three solidarity brigades that the Australia Venezuela Solidarity
Network are organising this year including the first one for May Day
at http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/40]

Viva Chavez: Venezuela is the hip new socialist utopia

http://tinyurl.com/2yeg5a

Leftists are flocking to see a country being transformed, writes Rory
Carroll in Caracas

TO SCEPTICS, they are naive Westerners who would not recognise
communist tyranny if it expropriated their sandals.

"Malodorous, left-wing, US and European peace creeps armed with Mom's
credit card and brand new Birkenstocks," sneered the American Thinker,
a right-wing magazine.

To the Venezuelan Government, however, they are valued friends who are
witnessing first-hand the positive changes sweeping the slums and
countryside and who return home, a volunteer army of ambassadors, to
spread the good news.

Meet the revolutionary tourists, a wave of backpackers, artists,
academics and politicians on a mission to discover if Venezuela's
President, Hugo Chavez, really is forging a radical alternative to
neo-liberalism and capitalism.

> From a trickle, a few years ago, there are now thousands. They travel
individually and on package tours, exploring a purported left-wing
mecca, and their ranks are set to swell now Mr Chavez is accelerating
his self-styled revolution after last month's landslide re-election.
"Socialism or death - I swear it," he said last week, and declared
himself a communist.

"It's just amazing being here. There is so much vibe and passion,
there is truly a sense of revolution," gushed Lucy Dale, 20, a
university student from Chicago on a 17-day trip. "I want to return to
do volunteer work."

Global Exchange, a San Francisco group that doubles as a travel agent,
organised trips for almost 500 Americans last year, five times the
2003 figure, said Jojo Farrell, its Venezuela liaison worker.

> From Britain, the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign plans to send at least
six delegations this year, mostly trade unionists. "Interest is
growing significantly," said Andy Goodall, co-ordinator of the
Wolverhampton-based group.

Visitors tend to shun the Caribbean beaches in favour of tours to
agricultural co-operatives, shantytown medical clinics and adult
literacy programs.

"We saw healthy, happy, well-dressed children taught by well-qualified
teachers who get paid a decent salary. These are opportunities that
did not exist for poor people before Chavez," said Kate Young, who
travelled with the Rotary Foundation.

Others hail Caracas and its alliance with other left-wing governments
for loosening the US's traditional grip on the region.

"We need checks and balances to US unilateralism, and any good North
American would laud Chavez for doing that," said Clif Roberts, a
Californian writer who stayed on in Venezuela after attending a poetry
festival.

Visiting celebrities such as the actor Danny Glover, the singer Harry
Belafonte and the anti-Iraq war activist Cindy Sheehan, echo the
sentiment.

Many enthusiasts set up solidarity groups when they return home and
record their impressions in blogs, amplifying the message sent out by
Venezuela's embassies and information offices.

The aim is to correct alleged mainstream media distortion depicting Mr
Chavez as an autocratic megalomaniac.

"The UK media is very disappointing, always a negative slant," said
Rod Finlayson, 62, a British union official who was thrilled by the
nationalisations and cultural events. "Bach in the slums. Stuff you
could only dream about."

Dreaming, say some critics, is the problem. Instead of investigating
complexities, such as the corruption and mismanagement undermining
some social programs, visitors sleepwalk through government spin and
never hear allegations that Venezuela's oil bonanza is being wasted or
that democracy is being smothered.

Mr Finlayson said his delegation ignored such voices because the goal
was to express solidarity, not investigate. But the group did
encounter some Chavez critics: walking through a wealthy district of
Caracas, it was pelted with eggs.

Some groups, such as those travelling with Global Exchange, meet
opposition figures and hear claims that Mr Chavez is hoarding power by
collapsing his movement into a single socialist party, not renewing
the licence of an opposition-aligned TV station and plotting to
abolish limits on terms of office.

"I was encouraged by what I saw in Venezuela but the focus on one
person as the source of hope strikes me as unfortunate," said Sarah
Gelder, an editor of the Seattle-based magazine Yes!.

Another left-wing journalist, Monica Vera, hailed the country as a
progressive beacon but voiced unease: "I just hope it continues on
that track."

Last Saturday Mr Chavez vowed to replace municipal governments with
councils inspired by the Paris Commune, France's shortlived experiment
with radical socialism in 1871.

Guardian News & Media