Inside The Revolution – A Journey Into The Heart Of Venezuela

Thanks to Jay Woolrich for this report of a meeting last night in Bristol. Last night over seventy people packed into a small lecture theatre at Bristol University to see Pablo Navarrete’s new film on Venezuela, ‘Inside the Revolution’, and to take part in a lively question and answer session with the film’s director and…

Liam

October 30, 2009

1–2 minutes

Thanks to Jay Woolrich for this report of a meeting last night in Bristol.

Last night over seventy people packed into a small lecture theatre at Bristol University to see Pablo Navarrete’s new film on Venezuela, ‘Inside the Revolution’, and to take part in a lively question and answer session with the film’s director and Derek Wall of the Green Party. The film combines an overview of events in Venezuela from the street fighting of 1989 through the election of Hugo Chavez in December 1998, and covers the achievements and frustrations of the first ten years of the Chavez administration. While there are interviews with political analysts, it is the voices of the ordinary people that are most striking. As one young activist says of his support for the Bolivarian revolution, “we have chosen not to be a colony – it’s as simple as that”.

Navarrete’s film ranges from the revolutionary rappers of down-town Caracas to the attempted coup in 2002, from discussions about the meaning of Chavez’s “socialism for the 21^st century” to analysis of the lies and distortions peddled by Fox News and Venezuela’s right-wing private TV stations. It outlines the shortcomings as well as the successes of the past ten years, and paints a fascinating portrait of Chavez’s own journey from radical army officer to outspoken critic of capitalism and imperialism. Navarrete reveals Venezuela as a country in transition, rejecting top-down models of socialism in favour of communal councils and cooperatives, working out its own destiny and exploring a new model of socialism in a process that is still fragile, fragmentary and of uncertain outcome. If the film has a core message, it’s that the Venezuelan people cannot and should not rely on Chavez or any other leader to make the revolution for them. In the past ten years the consciousness of the Venezuelan masses has been profoundly transformed. It is for them to take the struggle forward; it is for them to shape their own future.

6 responses to “Inside The Revolution – A Journey Into The Heart Of Venezuela”

Derek Wall

October 30, 2009 at 11:05 pm

Thanks for this, it was good chance to run into some of the people who want to do this stuff in the UK, like Katie and Nick from Green Left, Jerry Hicks and Jo and Oscar Blanco….there are some very good people in Bristol.

Pablo has put together a great film and there is a lot more for socialists to chew on than in most films on Venezuela.

The discussion in the film of why relations of production are crucial is pretty crucial in terms of debates around ecology, democratic socialism and notions of permanent revolution.

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Julia_1984

October 31, 2009 at 12:36 pm

By your description, the film sounds like a bit of propaganda, not to say naive. It doesn’t have any mention of the opposition and what do they have to say about the Bolivarian process. The conclussion of a possible revolution without Chavez is a another proof of how distant from the reality and how close to propaganda this film might be. The whole Revolution goes around Chavez and you would have to give only a couple of steps around Caracas – the city where I live – to notice how overwhelming the personality cult is. My advice is that if you want to discuss whats really going on in “the heard of Venezuela”, contrast the information this film gives you with other sources and an open mind. Regards

Julia

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Derek Wall

October 31, 2009 at 1:24 pm

Julia take a look at the film, I don’t think you can criticise it without watching it, its a bit of insult to the director to call it ‘propaganda’

The world’s media is full of criticism of Chavez.

Yes I have been to Caracas and talk to the opposition, I have met a lot of Venezuelans including a fair few who hate Chavez.

What do you think of people getting it together in the barrios and creating change?

The film has good footage of people criticising Chazez, they are from the barrios not the wealthy/middle class bits of Caracas.

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bristollf

November 3, 2009 at 6:30 am

Julia writes: “you would have to give only a couple of steps around Caracas – the city where I live – to notice how overwhelming the personality cult is”. And “a couple of steps” is probably about as much walking around the city as our friend Julia manages. The rest of the time one assumes that she is chauffered around the place in a nice comfy limo, to avoid having to mix with the unwashed masses. The opposition, as most readers of this blog are well aware, are for the most part a bunch of US sponsored reactionaries who wish for nothing more than the return of the old ruling oligarchy – preferably at the point of a bayonet.

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Julia1984

November 5, 2009 at 8:52 pm

This will be my last comment on this blog, unless you bring me something new. You guys think are so original because you accused me of never been inside a barrio and therefore not entitled to have an opinion of my own country. I’m not going to make a list of how many times I have entered a barrio or not. It is pointless. I’m a citizen just like any other and the mistake of people like you is to consider that only some people because of their social class have political rights. No one owns the history now, not the poor, not the rich, not the women… I’m ashamed of your deep sense of exclussion, of your obstinate defense of cause you barely know, of your constant uses of arguments that already expired. You guys are not living here, is not enough with a visit and a few talks with some people. You guys have not suffered any repression, any shortage, any limitation as a product of this Revolution. So if you are inviting me to take two steps in the country I have lived my whole life, I invite you to take one into your conscience.

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Liam

November 5, 2009 at 9:09 pm

Julia – the old Venezuelan ruling class had a century to make the country in its own image. It created a society where a tiny number of people live a rich European lifestyle and many more were obliged to live in squalor and poverty.

My view is that Chavez has not taken the revolution far enough. If there is still corruption, poverty and inequality that is entirely the fault of the previous rulers. The parties and press of the old order are still given a tremendous amount of freedom to make counter revolutionary propaganda – another mistake in my view – but for many of Chavez’s internal opponents his greatest crime is that he has taken the side of the poor. that’s also one of the reasons he keeps winning election.

For a good account of life on the ground in Venezuela you can do worse than check out http://gringadiary.blogspot.com/

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