Analysis: Participation

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council: Supporting the Venezuelan Opposition Primary Elections

By Venezuela en Noticias / MINCI, Feb 10th 2012

This article explores how over the past decade Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has transformed Venezuela’s electoral system to the point where the opposition who spent years trying to discredit the country’s national electoral body now ask it to organize their own internal elections.

The People, Programmes and the “Meritocrats”

By Reinaldo Iturriza López - Saber y Poder, Jan 25th 2012

A GPP regional assembly in Merida on Monday (Tamara Pearson/Venezuelanalysis.com)

One of the principle tasks for the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), which is still under construction, is the development of what could be called the People’s Programme, which would serve as the fundamental programmatic component for the government and which would be presented by Commander Chavez to the country during the upcoming electoral campaign.

Why Latin America Calls on Philosophers

By Santiago Zabala - Al Jazeera, Jan 10th 2012

At the sixth International Forum of Philosophy in Maracaibo, Venezuela,philosophers from four continents were invited to discuss "State, Revolution and the Construction of Hegemony". What is interesting is the institutional significance that is given to philosophy in the region.

Alba TV: Community Television Goes International

By Rich Potter, Dec 2nd 2011

Albatv (Albatv.org)

In July of 2009, when Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup, journalists and film crews from around the world descended on Tegucigalpa to cover the dramatic aftermath. Among them were two reporters from a fledgling Venezuela-based collective called Alba TV.

Praxis, Learning, and New Cooperativism in Venezuela: An Initial Look at Venezuela’s Socialist Production Units

By Manuel Larrabure, Nov 11th 2011

In this paper, I address the question as to the extent to which the participatory and democratic processes taking place as part of Venezuela's new cooperative movement can be said to be a component for the building of social relations that challenge those of capitalism.

A Progressive Dialogue: The Renewal of the Statist Left? The Contradictions of Venezuela

By Thomas Ponniah, Nov 7th 2011

Over the past generation, progressives have witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and the decline of neoliberalism. As in all periods of collapse, the smoke and fury of the falling debris has, to some degree, concealed the possibilities that produced, accompanied and emerged from the breakdown. The most exciting progressive alternatives to emerge have come from the resurgence of the left in Latin America.

Independent Study: Venezuelans Support Participatory Democracy, Despite Image Abroad

By Correo del Orinoco International, Nov 6th 2011

Venezuelan citizens ranked democracy at 7.3 in the country, one of the highest scores in the region (psuv.org.ve)

The results of an annual study conducted by Chilean NGO Latinobarometer suggest that domestic support for the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and its socialist policies is much stronger than is understood outside of the country.

Gustavo Pereira: “Bureaucracy is the Enemy of Poetry”

By Heberto Hernández, Correo del Orinoco, Sep 20th 2011

Gustavo Pereira (Miguel Romero/Cdo)

Venezuelan poet and writer of the preamble to the 1999 Consitution, Gustavo Pereira, discusses bureaucracy, the role of the people, and the nature of poetry in Venezuela.

Communes in Caracas: Communal Organization Includes the City

By Karla Ron - Ciudad CCS, Sep 16th 2011

Among the aims of community organization is that of building the communal State, where power is exercised directly by the people, through self-government, with an economic model of social property and endogenous development.

Panel 3: “Cooperatives” Questions and Answers

By Prout Research Institute of Venezuela (PRIVEN), Sep 2nd 2011

A translation of the questions and answers session from the panel: “Cooperatives: Diagnosis and Solutions in Building Economic Democracy," held at the first global PROUT conference in Caracas at the end of July.

The Ideological Map of the Revolution

By Neftali Reyes - Debate Socialista, Sep 1st 2011

These last twelve years have been in preparation for the “critical point” that inevitably approaches. It is a time that defines society’s direction. Everything done up to this point has been building towards this historic moment.

Diagnosis and Perspectives of the Social and Solidarity Economy of Venezuela

By Elvy Monzant, Aug 25th 2011

A discussion by Venezuela's Elvy Monzant, Dean of the School of Communication at the University Cecilio Acosta de Maracaibo and active member of the Gestión Participativa Cooperative. Monzant spoke during the First Global Prout Conference in Venezuela, "Building a Solidarity Economy based on Ethics and Ecology" (July 2011).

Venezuela: Chavismo without Chávez?

By Julia Buxton - The Morning Express, Aug 2nd 2011

Hugo Chávez’s leadership of Venezuela has survived many challenges during his twelve years in power. Now, a cancer diagnosis poses grave doubts over his political future as well as his health. Julia Buxton assesses a delicate phase in the Bolivarian revolution.

Remembering Injustice: Venezuelan Activist Jorge Rodriguez Assassinated by Government Forces in 1976

By Correo del Orinoco International, Jul 29th 2011

Jorge Rodriguez helped establish Venezuela's Socialist League in 1973 (Archive).

This week Venezuelans commemorated the life and legacy of Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, the popular socialist leader brutally murdered on 25 July 1976 by forces loyal to then president Carlos Andres Perez (Democratic Action, or AD).

Venezuela: A Tense Democracy

By Armando Chaguaceda - Havana Times, Leonardo Bracamonte, Jul 12th 2011

Leonardo Bracamonte, center (Havana Times)

In this interview Leonardo Bracamonte discusses the dynamics leading to Chavez's election in 1998, the extent to which the government is meeting the expectations people had at the time, and the project of 21st century socialism.