Venezuela & the New Latin America: Socialism in the 21st Century

Richard Gott, writer & author, Hugo Chavez & the Bolivarian Revolution
Francisco Dominguez, Centre for Latin American Studies, Middlesex University
… Pablo Navarrete, filmmaker, Inside the Revolution, A Journey Into the Heart of Venezuela
Catriona Goss, Student Friends of Venezuela & student at the Bolivarian University in Venezuela for a year
Recent years have seen much of Latin America transformed into a beacon for social progress, showing there is an alternative to the austerity agenda of cuts and privatisation.
Progressive governments have matched economic growth with social inclusion, showing free education and health for all is possible.
Venezuela has been at the forefront of this progressive change with its policies for ‘Socialism of the 21st Century.’ The government of Hugo Chavez has won more elections than nearly any other government in the world as a result of social policies to drastically reduce poverty and inequality by sharing the nation’s oil wealth. Women’s equality and anti-racism have also been at the centre of this change, in addition to a commitment to international justice, peace and solidarity.