By Frederick B. Mills and William Camacaro – Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Dec 11th 2013
Over the past two months, efforts to introduce a bill in the Venezuelan National Assembly that could have paved the way for the entrance of transgenic seeds into the country met stiff opposition from the agroecology and ecosocialist movements, stopping Monsanto and other GM firms from getting a foothold in the country.
By Tamara Pearson - Venezuelanalysis.com, Jul 25th 2013
Throughout history bullfighting has been an occasion where the most powerful come together. While Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution tries to create a new identity that is independent of Spanish imperialism, and based on socialist humanitarian ideals, bullfighting strangely continues to be a huge money making industry, attracting governmental opportunists and opposition alike.
Claudia Salerno, top negotiator for Venezuela at the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, said, "This is not an environmental process. This is a process that is going to have impact in economics, so that is why it is so difficult for developed countries to make the necessary changes in their economics."
A combination of government support and community food growing initiatives is changing the face of the Venezuela’s food sustainability. Miriam Ross shares a taste of the results.
By Tamara Pearson – Venezuelanalysis.com, Sep 19th 2012
Smack in the middle of tourist season, in little, tranquil, and stunningly beautiful Merida, with the giant green Andes hugging it on all sides, artisans in the plaza, beard trees in the parks, and tourists from Caracas standing in the doorways of pastel coloured posadas with their cameras –the opposition mayor decided to just stop collecting rubbish.
By Heidi Chow - World Development Movement, Aug 2nd 2012
Over the last 12 years, the socialist government of Hugo Chavez has been attempting to rebuild Venezuela’s agricultural sector and has included the radical concept of food sovereignty into the country's new constitution. Food sovereignty is a concept that originates in the global south and presents a positive alternative to our broken global food system which is dominated by the multinational food companies who grow food in a way that is unsustainable, leads to hunger and damages the environment.
By Tamara Pearson – Venezuelanalysis.com, May 18th 2012
Rather than Disneyland tourism, rather than humiliating “third word” selling itself to the rest tourism, in stunning Venezuela, tourism is taking a new turn towards community and state run exploration of history, culture, and biodiversity.
Environmentalists seem to realize that they have some stake in a fight such as the Ecuador-Chevron lawsuit...But what about fights between multinational oil giants and the governments of oil-producing states over control of resources?
Venezuela is using public investment, foreign direct investment, public education, and the law in order to craft a sustainable solution to the rapidly growing demand for electricity that has resulted from economic growth and poverty reduction.
By Mike Whitney - Centre for Research on Globalization, Jan 27th 2011
His enemies call him a tyrant and a dictator, but he is neither. Hugo Chavez is a tireless champion of the poor and a committed Christian socialist. The only difference between Chavez's type of Christianity and Barack Obama's, is that Chavez walks the walk.
By Bolivar and Zamora Revolutionary Current - CRBZ, Jan 5th 2011
Our stomach turns when we do a visual count of the damages caused by the merciless rains of recent days. It’s just that figures alone don’t allow for a full comprehension of the catastrophe’s characteristics – in figures there is a cold rational that isn’t understood until one sees concrete faces, the faces of little kids scared and searching for answers amongst such despair.
By Lisa MacDonald - Green Left Weekly, Dec 15th 2010
In October, Chavez called for the acceleration of the nationalisation of agricultural assets, to put more land and property owned by huge food corporations under public control. The land reforms undertaken as part of Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution have reduced hunger and poverty by allowing field hands to own the land they work.
After one week, the fate of negotiations at the U.N. Climate Change Conference remains uncertain. We speak to Venezuela’s lead climate change negotiator, Claudia Salerno.
