This piece was written for the July 2024 edition of Postscripts, Shamillah Wilson’s monthly round-up of what’s been happening in feminist circles, her work, and some recommended reading suggestions.
Participatory Democracy
Venezuelan feminists, Mónica M., Anggie H. and Yolimar M, are activists fighting for campesina, farmworker, Indigenous and black recognition and rights. They joined a conversation on Deepening a Revolution while under Sanctions hosted by Code Pink DSA and the Simon Bolivar Institute in Caracas in 2022. Mónica, Anggie and Yolimar spoke about how Venezuela was building a participatory and protagonist democracy, about the fight by communities against the economic war and how “millions of Venezuelans are resisting a hybrid war to build a better world”.
Venezuela’s food sovereignty
The drying up of revenue from oil exports prevented access to capital for gas or diesel, and the lack of access to technologies from international firms presented a huge blow to Venezuela’s agricultural industrial economy as it became impossible to transport, produce and run machinery. But Venezuelans responded with a project to localise food growing, say the women, “establishing new chains for food sovereignty, rescuing our seeds, and setting up production brigades across national geographies, and production increasing on a national level. The brave workers in the industry put in hours of work to push forward the sector despite sanctions.” The result is growing food sovereignty and a move away from an economy based on oil extraction. But the attacks from the West and attempts at regime change have not stopped. If mainstream media is to be believed, Maduro is a strongman and his government a regime.
