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Features: Social Movements

“Afro-Venezuelans Deserve Reparations that go Beyond the Symbolic”

Afro-descendent rights activist and Executive Director of the Institute of African Diaspora Studies (IEA), Francisco Tovar. (cou

On the 163rd anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Venezuela, Francisco Tovar, Executive Director of the Institute of African Diaspora Studies (IEA) talks to VA about systemic racism, the challenges facing the Afro-Venezuelan population today, and his new book on comparative abolitionist processes in Venezuela, Colombia and the US. 

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Venezuela’s Decolonial School: Rethinking Revolutionary Horizons Beyond Modernity

Dr. José Losacco Romero (AVN/Rosalia Bareto).

In this exclusive interview, the coordinator of Venezuela's first Decolonial School, Dr. José Losacco Romero, elaborates on the need to transcend the civilisational project inherent in 20th Century Socialism and explains how that space is being opened up from within the ranks of critical Chavismo.  

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Steve Ellner Part II: Is the Bolivarian Revolution a Populist Failure?

Steve Ellner addresses a forum in 2014 on Chavismo in Caracas, Venezuela. (Archive)

Universidad de Oriente Professor Steve Ellner discusses a range of key issues in Venezuela, including the efficacy of state social programs such as the CLAPs, the Maduro government’s controversial Mining Arc, and the role of international solidarity. 

 

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“We Will Defend the Revolutionary Process”: Afro-Venezuelan Youth and Today's Struggle for Freedom

Afro-Venezuelan children practice traditional music at a cultural center in Barlovento, Miranda State. (Jeanette Charles)

VA’s Jeanette Charles speaks with one youth organizer about his movement's commitment to continue the revolutionary legacy of the Afro-Venezuelan people.

 

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The Fight for Justice, Truth and Peace in Venezuela

Photo caption: Luis Durán shares his personal testimony with the guarimbas that took his son's life. (Paola Martucci)

The Committee of Victims of the Guarimba and Ongoing Coup internationally denounces the Venezuelan opposition’s terror campaign and attempts to silence victims’ families through the Amnesty Law.

 

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A Bolivarian Bernie? The Latin American Roots of Sanders’ Social Democratic Populism

Bernie Sanders at a rally held by National Nurses United in support of his candidacy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

VA's Lucas Koerner argues that the emergent movement surrounding Bernie Sander's presidential bid in the US is more at home in Caracas than Copenhagen– despite Sander's statements to the contrary.

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Facing Opposition Onslaught, Chavismo Must Return to Roots

"Create popular power, transition to the Communal State" (Photo: Rachael Boothroyd, venezuelanalysis.com)

Sunday's landslide PSUV defeat affords the Venezuelan right an historic opportunity to roll back the gains of the Bolivarian Revolution, but will they succeed? Only a revitalized Chavismo, rerooted among the Venezuelan masses, can stop them. 

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#LATE: A “People’s Campaign” for the Commune and Chavismo’s Revolutionary Rebirth

The Commune (#LATE)

#LATE, “Every heartbeat counts”. The provocative slogan is flooding Venezuelan social media in recent weeks, appearing in vibrantly colored artwork, videos, and other multimedia. Much more than a passing hashtag, the campaign is the work of an army of revolutionary artists and grassroots media activists seeking to reinvent the aesthetic narrative of the Bolivarian Revolution, overcome "the exhaustion of the image of Chávez" and situate the commune at its “symbolic center”.

 

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“Venezuela Must Raise the Flags of Campesinos Across the Globe against the Privatisation of Food”

VA's Rachael Boothroyd Rojas talks with activist Manuel Suarez of the Venezuelan collective Homo et Natura about the monumental Anti-Transgenic and Anti-Patent Seed Law currently in debate in the country’s National Assembly.

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An Oral History of Grassroots Venezuelans in the Midst of the Economic War

A woman shows her constitution and support for President Maduro at Plaza Bolivar on January 21. (Cory Fischer-Hoffman)

While the shortages and long-lines are creating serious inconveniences and undeniable burdens on most Venezuelans, beyond the frustration, the voices of grassroots Venezuelans are getting lost beneath negative predictions of macroeconomic collapse. In this oral history collage, members of the Venezuelan grassroots and popular movements speak for themselves about the roots of the economic war, their strategies in the face of it, and the solutions that they propose.

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Venezuelan Foreign Minister Demands Action from Developed Countries at UN Climate Talks

While the general agreed upon “danger point” would be a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius, many members

VA.com’s Cory Fischer Hoffman writes a special report from the United Nations climate talks in Lima, Peru, describing the reactions of the Venezuelan government and social movements to the attempt to reach a consensus over how to address global warming.

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Revolutionary Muralists Fill Venezuela’s Andean Capital with Color and History (+ PHOTOS)

Fuga was created just days after Chavez’s death, when Rodrigo met two other artists and kindred spirits among the millions waiting in line to pay their respects at the socialist leader’s wake in Caracas. It was a time of disbelief and heartache for the majority of Venezuelans- but many, like Rodrigo, hit the ground running, channeling grief into action.

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"Change the System, Not the Climate!" Voices from the Social PreCOP

Members of civil society insisted that a transition be made from fossil fuels to community controlled renewable energy sources (

A warm ocean breeze rolled across the picturesque beach on Venezuela's Caribbean island of Margarita.

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For the Barrios, the Difference Between Repression and Revolution Depends on National Security

The National Guard and police presence is on the rise as checkpoints and operatives are set up along public transportation route

Early last month, five men were shot dead in a high-rise building at the center of Caracas during an early morning standoff between special intelligence police (CICPC) and armed members of revolutionary collectives. While the circumstances leading up to the event are still unclear, the so-called Quinta Crespo Massacre created a ripple effect within the Venezuelan left that quickly highlighted a growing rift between the revolutionary left and the Bolivarian government.

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Planting the People's Seed Law in Venezuela

Anti-GMO Stencil on a building in Bellas Artes, Caracas. (Photo: Cory Fischer-Hoffman for Venezuelanalysis.com)

The battle against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is central in the ongoing fight between transnational corporations and the health and sovereignty of the people of Venezuela.

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