Santiago Mayor speaks to Venezuelan sociologist Reinaldo Iturriza about the political significance of Venezuela’s communes and where they stand today.
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Key to Venezuela's success to date in quashing the coronavirus have been the existing community organisations that permeate Venezuelan society. To get a sense of how the local communities are coping with the pandemic, Green Left’s Federico Fuentes spoke to Altos de Lidice Commune spokesperson Gsus Garcia.
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The women’s cooperative village of Jinwar was built by women on ecologically sustainable principles as a refuge for women fleeing war and patriarchy. However, since Turkey launched its invasion of Rojava on October 9, the sounds of war have become dangerously close and Jinwar is under serious threat.
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Within hours of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó calling for street mobilisations to back his attempted military coup against President Nicolás Maduro on April 30, Guaidó’s supporters had looted and set fire to the headquarters of the Indio Caricuao Commune in south-west Caracas, writes Federico Fuentes.
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Incumbent presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro prioritised visits to dissatisfied campesino communities over April 28-29 as part of a campaign strategy aimed at shoring up support in rural communities that have traditionally voted overwhelmingly for both ex-president Hugo Chavez and Maduro.
The countryside represents a critical constituency for the government in the upcoming May 20 election.
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In view of the December 10 municipal elections, communards and revolutionary activists closely associated with some of the most important initiatives in communal organisation in the country have been put forward as candidates for mayor.
Although we cannot say this is a mass phenomenon, it is undoubtedly a deeply significant event for various reasons.
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Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly (ANC) has denied permission to one of its grassroots delegates to stand as a mayoral candidate in the upcoming December 10 municipal elections.
Angel Prado was elected to the ANC on July 30 as a territorial delegate for his municipality of Simon Planas. Prado is also a leading member of the El Maizal commune in Lara state.
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One of the most important aspects of Venezuela’s pro-poor Bolivarian Revolution has been its promotion of women's empowerment through community organisation.
To get a sense of how this grassroots process of community organising is developing and the role women are playing in the process, we visited the Ataroa and Lomas de Leon communes as part of the Venezuela Analysis international solidarity delegation in late August.
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Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas on May 9 to rally in support of the country’s commune movement.
Socialist revolutionaries from across the country joined the march, calling on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to endorse a proposal to provide constitutional recognition of communes.
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