Micro Credit: Venezuela's Women's Development Bank comes to UK

PRESS RELEASE:

In 2005 – International Year of Micro Credit
President of Venezuela’s Women’s Development Bank 
speaks at the LSE & Scottish Parliament

London School of Economics: 8pm, Monday 14 March (New Theatre, E171, East Building)

Scottish Parliament: 1.30-2.30pm, Tuesday 15 March (Room T22, Holyrood)

To arrange interviews & pre-tour reception: Didi Rossi or Nina Lopez of the Global Women’s Strike which is hosting the first ever European Tour by Venezuelan women

Tel: 0207 482 2496 Email: womenstrike8m@server101.net   www.globalwomenstrike.net

“We believe that the economy must be at the service of human beings, not human beings at the service of the economy. And since 70% of those who live in conditions of poverty are women, economic change must start with women. Micro credit is an excuse to empower women. We want to create an economy based on co-operation and mutual support, a caring economy. We are not building a bank. We are building a different way of life". Nora Castañeda

WHO: Nora Castañeda, President of the Women’s Development Bank (Banmujer) in Venezuela. A renowned economist committed to grassroots women, she was appointed by President Chavez to head the Women’s Bank in response to women’s demands. Of African and Indigenous descent, and daughter of a low-income single mother, Ms. Castañeda is a remarkable spokeswoman for a revolution led largely by women. In the Year of Micro Credit, she will address how it is being used in Venezuela to eliminate poverty and create a caring economy by empowering grassroots women.

Angélica Alvarez, originally from Chile, fled to Venezuela after the 1973 military coup against President Allende. As Banmujer’s promoter-co-ordinator, she provides crucial support and direction to the Red Popular de Usuarias – the users’ autonomous organisation.

WHERE: Ms Castañeda and Ms Alvarez speak at the General Council in Barcelona and several other cities in Spain. At the LSE in London (14 March) they will be joined by Richard Gott, author of In the Shadow of the Liberator and Cuba: A New history, and by Rosie Kane MSP at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Other venues include: Leicester, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield. They will also meet faith, community, women’s, Latin American, African and other groups working for social change.

WHY VENEZUELA? The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the world’s 5th largest oil exporter, yet the majority of people, mainly people of colour, live in poverty. They elected President Hugo Chávez to get the oil revenue back to tackle poverty, and passed a revolutionary constitution which includes Article 88, which recognizes that housewives create added value and must be compensated with social security. In 2002 they defeated a US-backed coup and then an oil sabotage. In 2004, elections ratified Chavez in power and won 20 out of 22 states. Literacy, education, healthcare, housing, land rights, food security . . . have leapt forward. The users of Banmujer, housewives and mothers who form co-operatives and associations, have been key in every initiative. Defying US attempts to intervene and discredit this “participatory democracy” based on grassroots self-activity, the Bolivarian revolution is a beacon of hope for people everywhere who demand an end to the twin terrors of poverty and war.

The Global Women’s Strike demands a change in economic priorities and the
return of military budgets to the community, beginning with women the first
carers. Women in over 60 countries, and men who support our goal that
society Invest in Caring Not Killing, take Strike action on/around 8 March,
International Women’s Day.

Also available: GWS Videos “Venezuela - A 21st Century Revolution” and “Enter the oil workers” both featuring Ms. Castañeda aim to make visible the different sectors active in this revolution, and how grassroots leadership, starting with women and people of colour, works in practice. A new video “Talking of power” will be premiered on the tour.