[ssf] Venezuela events Leeds, Manchester & Sheffield

[Global Women's Strike]

Dear Friends, We wondered if you could add the information attached to your local listings for Leeds, Manchester & Sheffield please?  Please let us know if this is OK.  Our contact details are listed below. 

Thanks, 

Anne Lamming for GWS press group

A Global Women's Strike tour for International Women's Week


Venezuela: Creating a caring economy
 



     "To eliminate poverty we must give power to the poor." President Hugo Chavez 

      "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.

      "We women won our rights in the constitution. We won Article 88, which recognizes that housewives create added value and must be compensated with social security."  Nora Castañeda
     
     
       

      Nora Castañeda

       

      President of the Women's

      Development Bank

      (Banmujer)

       

       
      

      Angélica Álvarez

       

      Promoter

      Co-ordinator for Banmujer in

      Bolívar state

       
     



 

 
our sponsors so far: Latin America Bureau; Leicester Social Forum; NATFHE (University and College Lecturers' Union); South London Cuba Solidarity Campaign; Sheffield Cuba Solidarity, Peace and Human Rights Trust; David Raby (Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool).
 

Tuesday 15 - Edinburgh  

1.30-2.30 pm  Scottish Parliament, Room T22, Holyrood 

Hosted by Rosie Kane MSP

5pm  Napier University, Merchiston Campus, Room B2

Hosted by Napier University United Left Society

 

Wednesday 16 - Manchester

7.30pm  University of Manchester, Students' Union Building, MR1 (meeting room 1), Oxford Road, near Royal Infirmary.

Hosted by University of Manchester Students' Union, Women's Collective, 

Latin American Society

 

Thursday 17 - Leeds
1pm meeting at University of Leeds, Students Union building 

Hosted by University of Leeds Students' Union

 

Thursday 17 - Sheffield 

7.30pm  St Matthew's Church Rooms, Carver Street

Co-sponsored by Sheffield Cuba Solidarity Campaign, South Yorkshire Women's Development Trust, Sheffield Women's Forum

 

Friday 18 - Leicester

Sponsored by Leicester Social Forum  (time and venue to be confirmed)

 


 

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. 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. 

Nora Castañeda, an economist committed to grassroots women, was appointed by President Chávez to head Banmujer 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. 

 

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. 

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.



 

 


 

For other times, venues and videos "Venezuela - A 21st Century Revolution" and "Enter the oil workers" both featuring Ms. Castañeda: womenstrike8m at server101.com and www.globalwomenstrike.net   Tel: 0207-482 2496

The Strike videos 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.
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