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Excerpts of Letter to President Carter for Press The following is based on an Open Letter to President and Mrs. Carter regarding Venezuela that was sent in September. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Carter, as well as the intensification of the situation in Venezuela, makes the appeal that much more urgent. September, 2002 An Open Letter to President and Mrs. Carter regarding Venezuela: I recently returned from a women’s truth-finding mission to Venezuela. We learned not only about the goals of the economic and social reforms of their "peaceful and democratic revolution" and women’s involvement in it, but also about the tremendous efforts being made to undermine the government which was duly elected to carry out these reforms. While we were there, the US government announced its intention to open an "Office for Transition". This caused great alarm throughout the country as a thinly disguised attempt at transition to yet another US-orchestrated coup, the April 11 armed coup having been overwhelmingly rejected and reversed by the people there, especially women who were the first on the street. I am writing to urge you, whose Carter’s Center is active in Venezuela, to condemn this office and any such intervention -- subtle, covert or overt – aimed at defeating the will and the determined efforts of the great majority of the people there and the government they elected. But first, let me introduce myself. My father, John Jones, was Deputy Assistant Attorney General under Bobby Kennedy, and later with the law firm Covington and Burling. He was on your Lawyers Committee to Free the Hostages. Though we are white and lived in the then segregated State of Virginia, we were brought up to support the Civil Rights movement. I have long since married, had a child, moved to Philadelphia, and become involved in organizing with grassroots women In July, the Global Women's Strike (GWS) -- which calls for the world to "invest in caring not killing" and in which every March 8 women in over 60 countries take part -- was invited by the National Women’s Institute of Venezuela to an event aimed at forming an international support network to prevent further coups and violence. Three GWS coordinators, a Black woman from the Caribbean, an Indigenous woman from Peru, and myself, went to discover the truth as we saw it and report back. We learned that support for President Chavez comes from the 80% of the country who are poor (80%!!) and mainly people of color. The middle class and the wealthy who are generally "white" loathe the President who is the color of their servants. They work constantly to undermine "el proceso", the "peaceful and democratic" revolution the country has embarked on to eliminate poverty, although we met middle class families who are ardent supporters and working class people who are not. Trade union members told us that oil workers support the President, unlike what had been widely reported. It was the corrupt union managers, not workers, who supported the coup. They were thrilled with a letter we brought from union members in the US opposing the AFL-CIO support for the corrupt trade union. Women, the lowest paid and poorest of the poor, are the backbone of this revolution. In Venezuela 67% of households are headed by women. If this revolution succeeds, and if the women succeed with their agenda, it will be the first time that the issue of domestic violence is as prioritized as the economy. Women do most of the day-to-day work of the ‘Bolivarian Circles’ and "Puntos de Encuentro" and other structures that involve people in ‘el proceso’. It was mostly women who stood up to the armed soldiers involved in the coup and came out in the streets to demand the reinstatement of their government. We did not find President Chavez to be the demagogue he has been portrayed. We had dinner with him and heard him speak. He said he was most proud of the drop in the infant mortality rate, their free breakfast program, and the determination not to give in to violent provocation. We found him warm, charming, charismatic – and most importantly not corrupt. Security was very tight. His supporters fear that the next attack will be not a coup, but an assassination attempt. Everyone knows he is key to keeping people together on the path they have collectively chosen. But whatever we thought of him, the vast majority of the country elected him. They have regained national control over their oil industry and increased the tax on oil to finance the reforms. They are giving unused land to the landless. They have created a Women’s Bank so women can borrow money at no or low interest. Their new Constitution, printed as little blue books so people can have their rights in hand, among other things recognizes Indigenous people’s rights and the value of housework to society, proposing social security for housewives. We can sure use that here! So President Chavez, who was elected, in elections you monitored and concluded were a "true expression of democracy", and who has taken his agenda back for popular referendums three times, getting an even greater mandate (72% voted to approve the new Constitution), is the target of President Bush who got in without the popular vote and, many say, by stealing the election and who is threatening to invade Iraq and kill tens of thousands, possibly even millions, with no popular mandate at all. You see, my family knows about the Southern style of stealing elections. When my father ran for County Supervisor in Virginia, the satchel of votes from the Black district was mysteriously lost and he was defeated by eight votes. And we know about assassinations. As a ‘Kennedy Best and Brightest’, my Dad took the assassinations pretty hard. He left government and went into private law practice. Assassinations and coups are devastating for any democratic process anywhere. The women in our national and international network appeal to you to help prevent vested interests from interfering with this people and the destiny they’ve chosen. These dedicated, passionate, hopeful, hard-working people talk of love, peace, faith and hope. Yet those who oppose them have shown themselves ready to go to almost any extreme to hold onto their power and wealth – coups, assassinations, even death squads, funded with $billions from corporate owners, foreign investment, and of course from oil. The government’s energy and resources are being drained in constantly defending itself slowing the program of change. People can get demoralized and end their active participation in shaping their own lives. This would be the greatest tragedy, especially for women who have the most to gain. We make this appeal on behalf of women who are the carers, and whose tendency therefore is to protect those we bring into the world and nurture, who are always urging both fundamental change and an avoidance of violence wherever possible, even when men are not. What can you do to help? Yours sincerely, Phoebe Jones, on behalf of all the women in our national and international network and our women’s truth-finding mission Global Women’s Strike |