So now I understand more clearly why there is so much anti-Chavez press. And it reminds me of the propaganda war against Nicaragua in the 1980s. Then as now it's the threat of a good example, the worry that an entirely different approach to development might actually be proved successful - and be replicated in other countries. But the threat of Venezuela is rather more serious - because unlike Nicaragua and Cuba, Venezuela has such abundant natural resources (more...)
As Cesar Aponte from the Venezuelan Ministry of Popular Planning for the Environment, keynote speaker at the workshop on Oil, equity and biospheres, explained: Venezuela has the largest oil reserve in the world. And, as a key government strategy, they are transforming oil into social development. This includes funding literacy programmes (the country was declared illiteracy free by UNESCO in 2006) free eye surgery for those that need it, easy access to a range of reading material for all and free internet in remote areas. Other strategies include an increase in renewable energy sources (70% of energy consumed is hydro-electric). The international target (MDG) for access to clean drinking water was achieved in 2003.
These activities are good for women but in addition oil revenue funds the Women's Development Bank Banmujer. Clearly something different is going on here. It's what Nora Castaneda, who heads up Banmujer calls "the caring economy."
Before going to the festival I did a little research on this. As Owen Logan writes in Variant:
"Nora describes herself as a marxist-feminist. Of course it's difficult to imagine those two words coming together to describe the director of any other bank, and Nora has the capacity to confuse and surprise many of her adversaries. Asked by a representative of the World Bank what was the point of a woman's bank, she replied simply that "men have controlled all the other banks in the world".
According to Julia Buxton on oD, Chavez' popularity is not to do with oil rent distribution, but with political empowerment. I see both aspects are good for women and, in fact, related. As Nora Castaneda and colleague Angelica Alvarez pointed out on their European tour in 2005, Chavez has the support of 70% of the poor population and 70% of those who live in conditions of poverty are women. "Women were the majority to come out demanding the return of Chavez, which reversed the 2002 coup. They have been the majority in the electoral battle units which ensured his victory in the 2004 referendum and in the regional elections that followed." Also important to note is that the 1999 constitution which makes explicit equal rights for women (as well as ensuring protection of the environment and the rights of indigenous peoples) was developed through consultation with civil society lobbying groups - it is not a document written by Chavez on his own.
Therefore it's appropriate that "economic change must start with women." The Women's Development Bank Banmujer was set up in 2001 to provide women with the support to develop their own livelihoods. Nora's book ‘Creating a caring economy' which explains the approach, was published in 2006.
Her approach is not the World Bank's micro-credit model which sets high interest rates and often traps women (as well as governments) in a spiral of debt. Banmujer provides a comprehensive support and development package, with training and on-going advice to ensure that women's enterprise is successful. Loans are recovered because the bank also promotes repayment with the direct supply of goods to public sector bodies like schools, universities or health projects, and it's through the expansion of these and other non-monetary interchanges that a solidarity economy is conceived. Another fundamental aspect is that it is based on participation, working with women's cooperative ventures as a means of both social and economic progress. Banmujer's policies aim to change how women are viewed in society and how they view themselves.
A new initiative announced last month, involves a three-way partnership between Banmujer the public-private oil company Petrocumarebo and the national organisation Fundacion des Madres del Barrio has been set up to promote women in non-traditional areas of work as electricians, builders, carpenters and computer technicians. After a trial with 100 women, chosen by the community, the project will up-scaled on a national level.
In an interview with New Internationalist in 2005 Nora explained: "Since 2001, 96 per cent of monies lent by the bank have gone to women and 4 per cent to men. Borrowers receive loans averaging between $260 and $520, with a total of around one billion Bolivares ($520,000) already lent in the first quarter of this year. People ask how my government can afford this. The answer is: because we have oil! In most countries, aid simply helps women administer poverty, whereas our programme helps them climb out of it."
Bartering oil to her neighbours in exchange for technical expertise is also very much to women's benefit. For example, Cuba assists with Venezuela's healthcare and literacy programs in exchange for preferential oil prices. Cuba receives over 53,000 barrels of oil daily, while almost two thousand Venezuelans are currently studying medicine in the Latin American School for Medicine in Havana. As women are still the primary carers for the family, developments in health and education services are crucial both for their children and themselves.
At the end of an extensive (well worth reading) interview with InMotion Magazine, Nora concludes: "This is a part of a utopia, a dream, and the dreams haven't ended yet, nor history..." At the end of the workshop in Machynlleth, Cesar Aponte and others felt that "the dream is on." In other words, it's working. Venezuela's approach to developing an environmentally sustainable future, which aims to tackle poverty and inequality at the same time, stands in opposition to the neo-liberal approach: invasion of other countries' resources, greasing the wheels of greed.
