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All Change for Women |
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WOMEN are some of the biggest winners under the administration of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. That's Juanita Romero's message and, as a leading activist for women's rights in Venezuela, she's in a far better position to judge the impact of the country's Bolivarian revolution than any external commentator.
"Chavez has entrusted women with a social and political role," she explains. "Women are rebuilding the country."
While the legacy of centuries of patriarchal rule will take years to combat, the popularisation of politics in Venezuela has given women input into the running of their country like never before.
Women's activists mobilised after Chavez's election to make sure that their demands were included in the revolutionary 1999 constitution, which enshrined the new rights of Venezuelan people.
Their efforts ensured that women were given equal rights and special recognition. Article 88 of the consitution recognised women's important social role as mothers and in the home, as well as pledging that "housewives are entitled to social security in accordance with the law."
However, with so many competing revolutionary priorities, it still took a while to get action taken.
"Once Article 88 was written, people mobilised to get it implemented," adds grass-roots activist Gaston Murat, Romero's partner in a speaking tour organised by the Global Women's Strike.
"There were three to four years of campaigning before the decree was announced," says Romero. When it was, it sparked huge celebration.
By the standards of Western social democracies, the hardship benefit, which is paid to the poorest women in the country for six months, may fall short of revolutionary.
But it needs to be seen within the context of other developments in oil-rich Venezuela, where 80 per cent of the people have been forced to live below the poverty line due to the greed and corruption of past governments.
Murat says: "There are two histories of Venezuela - before and after Chavez."
In the old Venezuela, women and the poor were not just sidelined politically but they also did not receiving the most basic services, he explains.
The six months of payment creates a breathing space when women can get involved in the "missions," government-backed initiatives in areas such health and education. "People can learn things like carpentry, shoemaking and electrical work," says Romero, who co-ordinates the Neighbourhood Mothers Mission administering the payments.
Also revolutionary is the Women's Development Bank, which is run by women but has been packed by the government. It recently pumped in $50 million.
Romero explains how the bank gives microcredits to people carrying out manual work or who make things at home. Each time they pay back a loan, they can borrow more. Women are also encouraged to attend workshops on subjects such as self-esteem and economics, she says.
The bank plays a key role in the development of local economies, what Murat describes as "a caring economy," which works for the needs of the community rather than global capital.
Venezuela is four times the size of Britain, but 80 per cent of its 25 million population now lives in the cities. The countryside was left depopulated during the 1970s oil boom, which has left a legacy of inadequate housing and slums.
Murat believes that the answer lies in the participatory politics of the new Venezuela.
"The amount of popular organising that is going on is incredible. Venezuela is like an ant's nest," he says.
Local committees are being set up to address issues such as health, energy and water. "They are organising to get what the state hasn't given them," says Murat.
"During the process of representative democracy, people went to the cities because power was concentrated there.
"Now, the opposite is happening. The cities are slowly shrinking because power is being concentrated in local areas. If you have all the things that you need at home, why be elsewhere?"
Women's activists were, however, dismayed earlier in the year when the supreme court overturned legislation that saw men accused of domestic violence, a common problem in Latin America, immediately detained for 72 hours to allow women to seek help and an escape route. The campaign by women continues.
But the battle against domestic violence will not be won immediately, says Murat. "We are facing a cultural problem. The fundamental difference is that, before, women would not report violence because they felt that nothing would be done. The state didn't belong to them.
"Now, women are being listened to. Even though this problem has not been eradicated, things are changing," he says.
Some feminists have also pointed out that women are under-represented in the national assembly - only around 10 per cent of members are women - but Murat believes that it is important to take into account the high level of participation by women at the grass roots.
"It's not just about representation in parliament, but the strong participation in community organising.
"We propose solutions, but don't just sit wait for the state to give us what we need."
But he says that getting Chavez re-elected in December is now a key focus for activists.
"People are getting home very late, because they are organising the electoral campaign. Politics is not the property of politicians, but of the people in general. Power is in the hands of the people, as the constitution says."
What of the role of the president?
"Leaders are fundamental in the process - they express people's ideas. In chess, if a queen falls, you lose the game. Now, Chavez is our leader. It is better that they capture any other person."
However, Murat believes that it wouldn't be an easy task to topple the democratic government. "People would be out in the streets now if anything happened to Chavez. People would continue fighting for their rights."
And he has a message for those who try to depict Chavez as a tyrant ruling over an unwilling Venezuelan people. "Chavez doesn't just represent himself, he represents Venezuela. There is no separation. People say that the imperialists have a problem with Venezuela, not Chavez."
Romero adds: "We are ready for anything that the opposition, which is very small, might try to do."
She says that 70 per cent of the military reserve are women, most of whom are involved in grass-roots activities.
"The revolution is a creation of the people of Venezuela. Before Chavez, there was 40 years of a country without hope economically, in terms of health and culturally.
"The president, in seven years, has given hope to the people."
• Juanita Romero and Gaston Murat will be speaking in London at City Hall on Wednesday October 18, the last stop on a tour which has taken them to Venice, Galway, Dublin and Glasgow. Contact david.morris@london.gov.uk
Talkin’ bout the revolution
Venezuelan activists visit Glasgow
to talk wages for housework and why communities lie at the heart of
grassroots resistance
Scottish Socialist Voice October 2006
Two organisers from Venezuela on tour in Europe during October 2006 As the revolutionary movement seeks re-election for President Hugo Chávez in December, US dollars flow into Venezuela to try and get him out. Find out why he is so popular from two activists at the grassroots who have been organising to change our world.