PRESS RELEASE

2005 – UN International Year of Micro Credit


Angélica Alvarez Promotor and Co-ordinator of Venezuela’s Women’s Development Bank (Banmujer) in Bolívar state, speaks at the Huston School of Film and Digital Media, National University of Ireland, Galway

Huston Film School: 7pm, Thursday 24 March 
(near Galway cathedral, opposite Irish Centre for Human Rights) 

with 
Nina Lopez, director of ‘Talking of Power’ – film to be premiered at the event – and an international co-ordinator of the Global Women’s Strike


and introduced by
Rod Stoneman, Director of the Huston Film School, former CEO of the Irish Film Board and former Deputy Commissioning Editor in Independent Film and Video at Channel 4 Television in the UK


hosted by
Women’s Studies Centre, NUI, Galway

To arrange interviews: Maggie Ronayne, Co-ordinator of the Strike in Ireland which together with the Strike in the UK and Spain has organised the first ever European tour by women of the Venezuelan revolution

Tel: +353 (0)87 7838688 Email: Ireland@allwomencount.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, President of Banmujer



WHO: Angélica Alvarez, from Chile, fled with her young children to Venezuela after the 1973 military coup against President Allende. As Banmujer’s first promoter-co-ordinator, she provides crucial direction to the Red Popular de Usuarias – the users’ autonomous network. In the UN 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.


WHERE: Ms Alvarez and Ms Castañeda, President of the Bank, came to Europe on a speaking tour of England, Ireland, Scotland and Spain. They have spoken at the General Council in Barcelona and several other cities in Spain and in the UK. At the LSE in London (14 March) they were joined by Richard Gott, author of In the Shadow of the Liberator and Cuba: A New history, and at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh by Rosie Kane MSP. They have met faith, community, women’s, Latin American, African and other groups working for social change. The event hosted by the Women’s Studies Centre, NUI Galway is the only Irish event on this busy tour. 


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 Frías to get the oil revenue back to tackle poverty. The Chavez-led movement wrote and passed a revolutionary constitution which includes Article 88 recognising that housewives create added value and must be compensated with social security. In 2002 the movement, spearheaded by women, defeated a US-backed coup and then an oil coup. In 2004, a referendum ratified Chavez in power by 59%-41% and won 20 out of 22 state governments. ‘Missions’ to promote literacy, education, healthcare, housing, land rights, food security . . . have leapt forward with mainly women’s participation. The users of Banmujer, housewives and mothers who form co-operatives and associations, have been key. Defying US attempts to intervene and discredit this ’participatory democracy’ based on grassroots self-activity, the Bolivarian revolution has lessons to share with people everywhere who demand an end to the twin terrors of poverty and war. 


VENEZUELA IN IRELAND: Inspired by what women won in Venezuela’s constitution, the Strike in Ireland has made a submission to the committee reviewing the Irish Constitution demanding changes to Article 41.2 along the lines of Venezuela’s Article 88 for the recognition of and payment for the contribution of caring work to society, beginning with women the chief carers everywhere, and the majority against 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 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, and increasingly throughout the year.


Also available: GWS Videos/DVDs “Venezuela - A 21st Century Revolution”, “The Bolivarian Revolution: Enter the Oil Workers” and “Talking of Power”, all featuring Ms. Castañeda, Banmujer President, and the last featuring Ms Alvarez, 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. Payday a network of men in the Strike have produced “Refusing to Kill – refuseniks around the world speaking out.” The latest film “Talking of power” is being premiered at this event in Galway.

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