Rosangela lives just outside of the city of Merida, and works at the language school I am attending. The following is what I leaned about corruption in Venezuela and and her community council.
Rosangela explained that corruption has allways been a huge problem in the Venezuelan government. She said that people giving jobs to their family members and friends, no matter if there are better qualified applicants, is part of the corruption. The government beaurocracies have allways been full of excess workers. She told me that there were two doormen in the government building where her mom worked, and for a door that was always kept open. This is a problem that Chavez is trying to solve with the community councils, by putting the recources and power into the hands of the community members so they can use the money for what they need. However, it will take time to decrease the amount of corruption in the country. One reason is that the same values of glottony are in many individuals on the local community council level as well.
Rosangela´s community council was given seventeen credits to distribute. The committee who´s job it was to decide who in the community needed the credits most, had one strong and popular man, and about six other people. Ten of the credits went to family members of the influencial man. This she said, is an example of corruption in community councils.
Another example she described, was that one of her cousins recieved an agricultural credit to grow berries. However, she used the credit to buy things for her house instead. Lack of oversight is a problem of the community council activities as well. However, these problems can be worked out. For example, one of her cousins has been upset abou the the unequal distribution of credits and so she is organizing people to solve the problem. The law allows anyone to propose a vote at any community council meeting, and vote out a comittee member. I can imagine social pressures causing hang-ups in rooting out corruption in small communitys. However, at least it is a smaller scale problem, and perhaps faster to solve than voting out a mayor.
Rosangela´s experience was valuable to hear, becasue I had been wondering about these issues while I was in the community council meetings in Montecarmelo, where the committee was in the process of deciding who would recieve how much money. Rosangela was positive about the community councils over all, and said that she thinks that her community will be able to vote out the corrupt committee member.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Saturday, June 2, 2007
June Journaling and Art Descriptions
My time here is coming to a close. I have two more weeks of language study, and then I will be flying home on the 23rd. I have learned and experienced much more than I had originally planned before I got to this country. My original hope was to spend perhaps a week or two with a women’s organization in Los Teques in winter quarter, and then spend spring quarter close to the beach and making art about what I had learned about women organizing in Venezuela. The original women’s organization did not work out because I could not get a hold of them, or the woman who gave me their contact info, but Winter quarter I went on a Global Exchange women’s delegation, and was able to see many organizations and make contact with the Coop of Moncar.
I have had many valuable experiences this quarter, visiting and speaking with people from a variety of places. My focus this quarter was on the work of women in community councils and cooperative businesses. My goals were to meet and learn from women working in their communities, and create a series of art pieces to process and share what I had leaned. This quarter I have visited community councils in the barrios of 23 de Enero. I have interviewed a young woman who has a community radio show that addresses women’s issues and current events. I interviewed a longtime community activist about her experiences working in her community, creating a community school, and about her work in her new community council.
My most valuable experiences this quarter were the week I spent with the CESOCESOLA Cooperative, and the two weeks with the rural salsa and jam Coop of Moncar. I learned about how CESOCESOLA operates and how they foster equality and community. My learning with them involved attending an international conference they hosted, attending their meetings, working in the grocery coop, and visiting many of their facilities and a few of their suppliers.
My time with the women of the Cooperative of Moncar was valuable because I was able to spend all day with the women as they worked, and attend their local community council meetings. This allowed me to understand the roles of women in this community, and the impacts they are making by working in coops and improving their community through organizing in the community councils. I was able to work alongside the women in the coop, and also create art pieces about their work, where they live, and the structure and values that they use in running their business collectively.
Saturday 6/2/06
This morning there are a few large marches and demonstrations planned, for both the opposition and the Chavistas. There will be two opposing demonstrations in two neiboring area, which will be very interesting and possibly could create conflict. The police have been very forceful, so perhapse the two demonstrations will stay separated.
Art Explanations
Cooperativismo Boats 1 and 2
The ideas for these paintings came from learning about cooperativ ism from CESOCESOLA and the Moncar Coop. My intention was to abstractly show movement of a group of bodies, progressing forward in a circle. I chose sail boats as the objects because they are simple, graceful vessels for movement. I chose the color palate based on the colors of the tropical fruit that the women work with, which think are very beautiful and work in a similar palate. I showed the sails as transparent, so that it could be seen that they are all in a circle, moving in an organized pattern, and are interconnected.
I first sketched my idea and painted a wash of water color to plan my painting. The Boat painting I did in acrylic, #1, did not end up as abstract as I had hoped, but I am still satisfied with it because in the process I decided to make the sails appear more transparent, which I had not originally planned on.
The second boat painting is in watercolors, which is a challenging medium for me. However, I wanted to paint this image a second time to see if I could improve it by creating pastel and transparent shapes. I ended up making the colors much darker than I had planned, which was the result of experimenting with a layering technique that made the shapes more interesting. Perhaps if I had started with the layering technique in beginning I could have achieved both the pastel shades and the layers.
Woman in Barrios
My intention for this painting was to show the very steep and crowded poor neighborhoods that make up a huge part of Caracas, and to show that women are at the center of these communities. I learned that women are the heads of the 60% of the households, and that they make up the majority in most community councils. The women in this painting comes from a photo I took of a woman who works in one of the government initiated factories. The government of Venezuela understands that women’s work is key to building a stronger economy, and so they are providing many programs for education and support for forming businesses.
This painting was challenging because I wanted to show the entire body of the woman, but the result was that she was small and therefore hard to paint. I would have been much more satisfied with the painting if the canvas had been three times as big and allowed me to paint the woman in a more stylistic manner, but traveling with canvases limits size.
Spring Quarter Art Descriptions
#1
Woman and Granddaughter in Mission Ribas
This painting comes from a photo I took of a woman who was attending classes in one of the government education missions. She is shown in the classroom, which is a lower school classroom during the week. I learned that the girl sitting with her was her granddaughter, who attends every class with her grandmother, even though the classes are high school level and the girl attends lower school.
I did not stray very far from what the photo provided. I used similar colors, and just tried to add more movement with interesting brush strokes. I felt that the woman's face was the most essential part, so I tried to show the warmth, kindness and openness that I felt when I met this woman, and that could be seen in the photo. The woman in the painting does not look as old as it should, I think it would have been more effective if I could have better represented her age, because it impressed me that she was coming back to study with so much enthusiasm after so much time.
#2
Coop of Moncar Circles
The process of this painting began when I arrived at the Coop of Moncar, a jam and salsa making business in the tiny agricultural town of Montecarmelo. I participated in peeling and cutting fruit with the women of the coop, and at other times I would sketch the women working and the foods they were preparing. The interlocking circles in this painting represent the non hierarchical structure of the cooperative, and how the different people and parts come together harmoniously and create something in the big cooking pot. I attended a conference on cooperatives put on by CESOCESOLA in Barquisimeto the week before visiting Moncar. In the power point presentations they used interlocking circles to show many different aspects of their cooperative structure, from the internal processes of the individual workers, to the various areas of production that cooperate and participate in CESOCESOLA.
#3
Candied peaches
In my first days at Moncar I helped with peeling and cooking little peaches for dulce de durazno, which is a popular creole sweet treat. The background is a view of the edge of the town, right before the road becomes dirt and starts to climb a steep hill. I painted this in watercolor, which worked for the peaches, but I was disappointed with the background.
I have had many valuable experiences this quarter, visiting and speaking with people from a variety of places. My focus this quarter was on the work of women in community councils and cooperative businesses. My goals were to meet and learn from women working in their communities, and create a series of art pieces to process and share what I had leaned. This quarter I have visited community councils in the barrios of 23 de Enero. I have interviewed a young woman who has a community radio show that addresses women’s issues and current events. I interviewed a longtime community activist about her experiences working in her community, creating a community school, and about her work in her new community council.
My most valuable experiences this quarter were the week I spent with the CESOCESOLA Cooperative, and the two weeks with the rural salsa and jam Coop of Moncar. I learned about how CESOCESOLA operates and how they foster equality and community. My learning with them involved attending an international conference they hosted, attending their meetings, working in the grocery coop, and visiting many of their facilities and a few of their suppliers.
My time with the women of the Cooperative of Moncar was valuable because I was able to spend all day with the women as they worked, and attend their local community council meetings. This allowed me to understand the roles of women in this community, and the impacts they are making by working in coops and improving their community through organizing in the community councils. I was able to work alongside the women in the coop, and also create art pieces about their work, where they live, and the structure and values that they use in running their business collectively.
Saturday 6/2/06
This morning there are a few large marches and demonstrations planned, for both the opposition and the Chavistas. There will be two opposing demonstrations in two neiboring area, which will be very interesting and possibly could create conflict. The police have been very forceful, so perhapse the two demonstrations will stay separated.
Art Explanations
Cooperativismo Boats 1 and 2
The ideas for these paintings came from learning about cooperativ ism from CESOCESOLA and the Moncar Coop. My intention was to abstractly show movement of a group of bodies, progressing forward in a circle. I chose sail boats as the objects because they are simple, graceful vessels for movement. I chose the color palate based on the colors of the tropical fruit that the women work with, which think are very beautiful and work in a similar palate. I showed the sails as transparent, so that it could be seen that they are all in a circle, moving in an organized pattern, and are interconnected.
I first sketched my idea and painted a wash of water color to plan my painting. The Boat painting I did in acrylic, #1, did not end up as abstract as I had hoped, but I am still satisfied with it because in the process I decided to make the sails appear more transparent, which I had not originally planned on.
The second boat painting is in watercolors, which is a challenging medium for me. However, I wanted to paint this image a second time to see if I could improve it by creating pastel and transparent shapes. I ended up making the colors much darker than I had planned, which was the result of experimenting with a layering technique that made the shapes more interesting. Perhaps if I had started with the layering technique in beginning I could have achieved both the pastel shades and the layers.
Woman in Barrios
My intention for this painting was to show the very steep and crowded poor neighborhoods that make up a huge part of Caracas, and to show that women are at the center of these communities. I learned that women are the heads of the 60% of the households, and that they make up the majority in most community councils. The women in this painting comes from a photo I took of a woman who works in one of the government initiated factories. The government of Venezuela understands that women’s work is key to building a stronger economy, and so they are providing many programs for education and support for forming businesses.
This painting was challenging because I wanted to show the entire body of the woman, but the result was that she was small and therefore hard to paint. I would have been much more satisfied with the painting if the canvas had been three times as big and allowed me to paint the woman in a more stylistic manner, but traveling with canvases limits size.
Spring Quarter Art Descriptions
#1
Woman and Granddaughter in Mission Ribas
This painting comes from a photo I took of a woman who was attending classes in one of the government education missions. She is shown in the classroom, which is a lower school classroom during the week. I learned that the girl sitting with her was her granddaughter, who attends every class with her grandmother, even though the classes are high school level and the girl attends lower school.
I did not stray very far from what the photo provided. I used similar colors, and just tried to add more movement with interesting brush strokes. I felt that the woman's face was the most essential part, so I tried to show the warmth, kindness and openness that I felt when I met this woman, and that could be seen in the photo. The woman in the painting does not look as old as it should, I think it would have been more effective if I could have better represented her age, because it impressed me that she was coming back to study with so much enthusiasm after so much time.
#2
Coop of Moncar Circles
The process of this painting began when I arrived at the Coop of Moncar, a jam and salsa making business in the tiny agricultural town of Montecarmelo. I participated in peeling and cutting fruit with the women of the coop, and at other times I would sketch the women working and the foods they were preparing. The interlocking circles in this painting represent the non hierarchical structure of the cooperative, and how the different people and parts come together harmoniously and create something in the big cooking pot. I attended a conference on cooperatives put on by CESOCESOLA in Barquisimeto the week before visiting Moncar. In the power point presentations they used interlocking circles to show many different aspects of their cooperative structure, from the internal processes of the individual workers, to the various areas of production that cooperate and participate in CESOCESOLA.
#3
Candied peaches
In my first days at Moncar I helped with peeling and cooking little peaches for dulce de durazno, which is a popular creole sweet treat. The background is a view of the edge of the town, right before the road becomes dirt and starts to climb a steep hill. I painted this in watercolor, which worked for the peaches, but I was disappointed with the background.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Late May Jurnaling
Wed. May 23rd
I spent today, in Los Teques, with Marlo and Juan Pablo, an economics student from the Central University and his friend Wilmer, who works at a library and attends mission Sucre. Juan Pablo is pat of a group that describes itself as leftist opposition. He explained that he is even farther left than communists. There are only about 10 people in his group, 3 of whom are women. They contribute to an alternative independent newspaper. He thinks it is very important that there be a leftist opposition, to push the Chavez government to end capitalism. I had a really hard time understanding him, because he used complicated language, but I had a really good conversation with his mom in their kitchen. She is blind, and spends a lot of time at home, but she is well informed through the radio and other means. We talked about the closing of RSTV this weekend. She was nervous that there might be unrest and problems. We also talked about US politics, women in Venezuelan politics, the position of my family on various subjects such as Venezuela and the Iraq war. I didn’t understand everything she said, but she was patient and repeated things, and made sure that I understood what she was saying.
Sunday May 27th
We have been hearing about the plans to close RSTV, one of the oldest private TV stations on the free public channels, for at least six months now. The station will be cut off the air tonight, and at many people have been marching together in Caracas for the last two weekends. I was just watching today’s march from the third story of a shopping mall in Chacaito. It was a steady flow of people, walking quickly, as Venezuelans do in marches. They appeared to be coming from Altamira, and are marching to Los Mercedes, another wealthy area. As I stood and watched to march, an older woman came to watch beside me. I asked her what she thought. She said it was “solamente disorden” (only disorder).
This closure is all over the news. It has been condemned by the US Congress, and some European Union members. Chavez is holding firm on his decision to close the station, and has said that the resistance and protests against the closure will strengthen the revolutionary process. Chavez vowed to close the station after the attempted coup, because the RSTV played a part in the coup plot and execution. The station helped by spreading anti government propaganda, and showing news broadcastings describing shootings, which had been recorded the day before. The protests that closing RSTV violates rights of freedom of speech will doubtfully win in courts, because Venezuela has laws about what can be shown on public airwaves, similar to the US, which were clearly broken. Additionally, technically it is not a closure, because the RSTV station is not getting shut down, but rather it’s license to broadcast on the free public airwaves is not getting renewed.
Although the station deserves to be taken off the air, I think that the closure is a poor political decision for a few reasons. First, it opens Chavez up to much criticism both internationally and locally. The majority of Venezuelans, although many still support Chavez, do not support the closure. Venezuelan’s watch a lot of TV, and many, many people are very attached to their telenovelas. Additionally, it is only the poor who are going to be deprived of their TV shows, because after today RSTV will become a cable channel.
Monday 28th
RSTV Protests
Last night the pot banging was much bigger and louder. I stood on my balcony and looking up at the apartments around me, seeing silhouettes of people banging pots on their balconies. Then the sound dramatically increased, as a person on the floor above me and to the left, stood on his balcony and hammered a spoon on a pot. I went to bed, and by the time I fell asleep the noise had stopped
This afternoon a large student protest occurred two blocks away from my apartment. As I painted, I could hear screaming and at times a little chanting, and at times rounds of rubber bullets echoing through the streets. Justin was taking pictures, and when he returned he told me that the police were firing rubber bullets, shooting a water cannon, and spraying tear gas in efforts to disperse the protest, which was in a main intersection and trying to march onto the freeway. The mayor of Chacao, showed up with his police, to talk people into going back into the plaza. The protesters were mostly college students, and watching from my balcony I saw a few small groups of students run down the street, away from the protest. One of them slipped and got back up and kept running. Seconds later came a police water cannon truck chasing the students, but not spraying water. Later it began to rain, and now, even though it is dark, I still hear commotion. The pot banging has started again, very lowed. More students are running by, yelling and chanting. The police are chasing them home.
Painting
Today I finished the barrio painting and painted the sailboat painting a third time, hoping that it would look better in watercolor. It didn’t. I made the colors too dark, and didn’t make enough new improvements. I think that perhaps the main problem is the shape of the objects. I still like the idea, but can’t make it look pleasing, the sails are awkward, even though I am trying to make them abstract and transparent.
6/1/07
By Wednesday and Thursday the RSTV protests were getting smaller and calmer. There are some today as well, but I think the energy is slowly leaving. I have been following the international coverage of the protests, and it has been a popular story. The US and conservative members of the European union have condemned the closure, although some European progressives supported it, as well as some South American countries. It is hard to know whether the protests will pick up again this weekend, and what type of consequences they will create.
My time here is coming to a close. I have two more weeks of language study, and then I will be flying home on the 23rd. I have learned and experienced much more than I had originally planned before I got to this country. My original hope was to spend maybe a week or two with a women’s organization in Los Teques in winter quarter, and then spend spring quarter close to the beach, creating art about what I had learned. I am very pleased tht I have gotten more out of this experience than I imagined possible, and have created the art pieces that i had planned on making to process and share what I have learned. The original women’s organization did not work out because I could not get a hold of them, or the woman who gave me their contact info, but Winter quarter I went on a Global Exchange women’s delegation, and was able to see many organizations and make contact with the Coop of Moncar.
I have had many valuable experiences this quarter, visiting and speaking with many hardworking people. This quarter I have visited community councils in the barrios of 23 de Enero. I have interviewed a young woman who has a community radio show that addresses women’s issues and current events. I have Interviewed a longtime community activist about her experiences working in her community, building community assets, and about her work in her new community council.
My most valuable experiences were the week I spent with the CESOCESOLA Cooperative, and the two weeks with the rural salsa and jam Coop of Moncar. To be continued…
I spent today, in Los Teques, with Marlo and Juan Pablo, an economics student from the Central University and his friend Wilmer, who works at a library and attends mission Sucre. Juan Pablo is pat of a group that describes itself as leftist opposition. He explained that he is even farther left than communists. There are only about 10 people in his group, 3 of whom are women. They contribute to an alternative independent newspaper. He thinks it is very important that there be a leftist opposition, to push the Chavez government to end capitalism. I had a really hard time understanding him, because he used complicated language, but I had a really good conversation with his mom in their kitchen. She is blind, and spends a lot of time at home, but she is well informed through the radio and other means. We talked about the closing of RSTV this weekend. She was nervous that there might be unrest and problems. We also talked about US politics, women in Venezuelan politics, the position of my family on various subjects such as Venezuela and the Iraq war. I didn’t understand everything she said, but she was patient and repeated things, and made sure that I understood what she was saying.
Sunday May 27th
We have been hearing about the plans to close RSTV, one of the oldest private TV stations on the free public channels, for at least six months now. The station will be cut off the air tonight, and at many people have been marching together in Caracas for the last two weekends. I was just watching today’s march from the third story of a shopping mall in Chacaito. It was a steady flow of people, walking quickly, as Venezuelans do in marches. They appeared to be coming from Altamira, and are marching to Los Mercedes, another wealthy area. As I stood and watched to march, an older woman came to watch beside me. I asked her what she thought. She said it was “solamente disorden” (only disorder).
This closure is all over the news. It has been condemned by the US Congress, and some European Union members. Chavez is holding firm on his decision to close the station, and has said that the resistance and protests against the closure will strengthen the revolutionary process. Chavez vowed to close the station after the attempted coup, because the RSTV played a part in the coup plot and execution. The station helped by spreading anti government propaganda, and showing news broadcastings describing shootings, which had been recorded the day before. The protests that closing RSTV violates rights of freedom of speech will doubtfully win in courts, because Venezuela has laws about what can be shown on public airwaves, similar to the US, which were clearly broken. Additionally, technically it is not a closure, because the RSTV station is not getting shut down, but rather it’s license to broadcast on the free public airwaves is not getting renewed.
Although the station deserves to be taken off the air, I think that the closure is a poor political decision for a few reasons. First, it opens Chavez up to much criticism both internationally and locally. The majority of Venezuelans, although many still support Chavez, do not support the closure. Venezuelan’s watch a lot of TV, and many, many people are very attached to their telenovelas. Additionally, it is only the poor who are going to be deprived of their TV shows, because after today RSTV will become a cable channel.
Monday 28th
RSTV Protests
Last night the pot banging was much bigger and louder. I stood on my balcony and looking up at the apartments around me, seeing silhouettes of people banging pots on their balconies. Then the sound dramatically increased, as a person on the floor above me and to the left, stood on his balcony and hammered a spoon on a pot. I went to bed, and by the time I fell asleep the noise had stopped
This afternoon a large student protest occurred two blocks away from my apartment. As I painted, I could hear screaming and at times a little chanting, and at times rounds of rubber bullets echoing through the streets. Justin was taking pictures, and when he returned he told me that the police were firing rubber bullets, shooting a water cannon, and spraying tear gas in efforts to disperse the protest, which was in a main intersection and trying to march onto the freeway. The mayor of Chacao, showed up with his police, to talk people into going back into the plaza. The protesters were mostly college students, and watching from my balcony I saw a few small groups of students run down the street, away from the protest. One of them slipped and got back up and kept running. Seconds later came a police water cannon truck chasing the students, but not spraying water. Later it began to rain, and now, even though it is dark, I still hear commotion. The pot banging has started again, very lowed. More students are running by, yelling and chanting. The police are chasing them home.
Painting
Today I finished the barrio painting and painted the sailboat painting a third time, hoping that it would look better in watercolor. It didn’t. I made the colors too dark, and didn’t make enough new improvements. I think that perhaps the main problem is the shape of the objects. I still like the idea, but can’t make it look pleasing, the sails are awkward, even though I am trying to make them abstract and transparent.
6/1/07
By Wednesday and Thursday the RSTV protests were getting smaller and calmer. There are some today as well, but I think the energy is slowly leaving. I have been following the international coverage of the protests, and it has been a popular story. The US and conservative members of the European union have condemned the closure, although some European progressives supported it, as well as some South American countries. It is hard to know whether the protests will pick up again this weekend, and what type of consequences they will create.
My time here is coming to a close. I have two more weeks of language study, and then I will be flying home on the 23rd. I have learned and experienced much more than I had originally planned before I got to this country. My original hope was to spend maybe a week or two with a women’s organization in Los Teques in winter quarter, and then spend spring quarter close to the beach, creating art about what I had learned. I am very pleased tht I have gotten more out of this experience than I imagined possible, and have created the art pieces that i had planned on making to process and share what I have learned. The original women’s organization did not work out because I could not get a hold of them, or the woman who gave me their contact info, but Winter quarter I went on a Global Exchange women’s delegation, and was able to see many organizations and make contact with the Coop of Moncar.
I have had many valuable experiences this quarter, visiting and speaking with many hardworking people. This quarter I have visited community councils in the barrios of 23 de Enero. I have interviewed a young woman who has a community radio show that addresses women’s issues and current events. I have Interviewed a longtime community activist about her experiences working in her community, building community assets, and about her work in her new community council.
My most valuable experiences were the week I spent with the CESOCESOLA Cooperative, and the two weeks with the rural salsa and jam Coop of Moncar. To be continued…
Notes from CESOCESOLA conference
CESOCESOLA Conference Notes
The conference opened with a presentation by a professor from a University in Central Mexico. His talk was titled, How to Change the World Without Taking Power?
I have a packet that covers all of the points in the talk, so I am not going to write it up.
Discussion #1
The state should help independent organizations through laws.
Each group has it’s own way, they need to be able to do what they want.
Main Questions
1.) What can be done to defend ourselves while we are growing our crack in capitalism?
2.) What is our relationship to the market?
Discussion 1
The socialization of the economy is through relationships. Emphasizing solidarity. It’s important to expand, multiply, but not having absolute truths. Through concrete actions we change our attitudes.
Discussion 2
The relation between the market and the coop.
We don’t use the market, we use world integration. We help each other, and they (our suppliers) produce for us for years.
With some producers it’s just sale and purchase.
Producers also go through a process of change sometimes, because our interactions provide educational opportunities.
We don’t let the market impose prices. Some times, when there is a plague and ½ the crop is lost, the feria won’t necessarily raise the price for the customers. We decide as a collective how to manage and leave the price as normal.
There is a planning process, with the producers based on communal needs. We try to maintain and explain to the community this relationship and the price.
The important thing is to work based on the needs that arise.
There will always be a relationship/ need with the market, but it should always have respect. It is always important to try to fill the spaces where we feel that this relationship of respect is lacking.
In the past, people have talked about having a market plan for our coop. Selling and promoting what we have here. That sounds like we are trying to sell an idea as the truth, or as preaching. At this point we can’t do that. We are people that had a project that worked, not owners of a project.
However, it is important to show our experience. But it is important not to sell it.
This experience can not be reproduced. It’s not the structure, it’s about personal change. We organized this way and it worked. We worked to change our internal relationships. For others trying to use this structure, maybe the structure wouldn’t change the other coops internal relations.
What’s important: Analysis and reflection
Let’s say we send someone to talk to capitalist producers and someone gets corrupted by that outside pressure. We would then analyze it as a group, not as “what did the person do wrong” but “what did the Feria do wrong?”. We apply it to all of us, and handle it as a group, because each of us could act in the same way. When we do this, we try to understand the behavior of others (that act differently) and even if we can’t, we at least respect the difference. Even if the person does not share the coop way, we’ll see those people within their analysis learn from them or allow them to learn.
How we can try to overcome the laws of the market:
The coop is allowed to do this because of the volume it buys and sells in three days each week, and it is a service to the community.
There are laws of the market we are trying to overcome, some are:
The relationship to providers who exploit their workers, when the pay for the work is not enough.
Government laws are impeding the development of autonomy, for example, the accounting and auditing laws for coops. And when the government tequires a structure, like a board of directors.
The Zapatistas say “if the law does not serve us, we don’t pay attention to it.
If you are just waiting for economic results, the coop model would not make sense.
Day #2
Not having an objective (for growth and sales), allows for freedom to make mistakes and work through them. However, the funeral coop is now the largest in the state.
Traditional cooperative method has not proven efficient.
Capitalism does not address the problems of the environment, labor etc.
CESOCESOLA is a model that is working. Economics are essential for life, everything surrounds the economy. You can’t buy a better world with state money.
Distribution of wealth/money is an illusion we have to leave behind.
Riches can’t be divided like a cake.
To distribute riches we have to distribute knowledge, relationships, creativity, technology. But these things can’t be distributed through money.
What you share is distributed through work and learning relationships.
Talk by a Chilean professor of solidarity economics
We are living in Latin America, the civilization is in crisis.
Our lifestyle is made up of three pillars-
Cultural- scientific, certain conceptions
Economic
Political- the state
Latin America is in crisis because capitalism is not producing solutions, and richness is becoming more concentrated. More people can’t find work. People outside say it is the governments fault. Science has not offered solutions. All the pillars are falling.
What does crisis look like?
There are 3 dynamics.
The dominant sectors in the 3 pillars defend and close themselves off. They resort to barbaric behavior, people get violent.
Seeds of new civilizations come up. New ideas, concepts. People in the marginalized places come up with the new ideas.
It is difficult because we have to develop, but at the same time defend ourselves.
Delinquency is big, violence is everywhere.
At the same time you have to re integrate into these pillars. It is essential that you over come the treats, and that your economic part is strong.
The way to produce, consume, share, has to be defended.
This is solidarity economics.
Can capitalism be humanized?
It is important to know why developed countries are developed and why we are “underdeveloped”.
The most recent aspect of conquest was funding the US and Europe through our debts.
If the capital wasn’t leaving, we would have enough.
The environmental part-
The Kyoto protocal, the US decided not to participate.
Because making money is most important, with capitalism, there is not enough change about the environment.
The roots of radicalism start with recuperating the capacity to think for ourselves.
Revolution-
Change in power relations, production.
We need a revolution of everyday life to build another society, and world.
The utility principle= I do what I am doing because it brings me pleasure.
Giving without getting is a lie.
The relationship of what people are getting out of things to what they are doing, and what they will stick with.
Solidarity vs. competition.
We can relate either way.
The idea of scarcity is that there has to be a price.
Capitalism would not work in a place of abundance. That’s where ther needs to be property rights on ideas.
300 people in the world have more wealth than ½ the people in the world together.
The law of Coops in Venezuela was created in part by the coop movement.
In 2007, 200,00 coops were legalized.
It is an answer to the need to create jobs.
The conference opened with a presentation by a professor from a University in Central Mexico. His talk was titled, How to Change the World Without Taking Power?
I have a packet that covers all of the points in the talk, so I am not going to write it up.
Discussion #1
The state should help independent organizations through laws.
Each group has it’s own way, they need to be able to do what they want.
Main Questions
1.) What can be done to defend ourselves while we are growing our crack in capitalism?
2.) What is our relationship to the market?
Discussion 1
The socialization of the economy is through relationships. Emphasizing solidarity. It’s important to expand, multiply, but not having absolute truths. Through concrete actions we change our attitudes.
Discussion 2
The relation between the market and the coop.
We don’t use the market, we use world integration. We help each other, and they (our suppliers) produce for us for years.
With some producers it’s just sale and purchase.
Producers also go through a process of change sometimes, because our interactions provide educational opportunities.
We don’t let the market impose prices. Some times, when there is a plague and ½ the crop is lost, the feria won’t necessarily raise the price for the customers. We decide as a collective how to manage and leave the price as normal.
There is a planning process, with the producers based on communal needs. We try to maintain and explain to the community this relationship and the price.
The important thing is to work based on the needs that arise.
There will always be a relationship/ need with the market, but it should always have respect. It is always important to try to fill the spaces where we feel that this relationship of respect is lacking.
In the past, people have talked about having a market plan for our coop. Selling and promoting what we have here. That sounds like we are trying to sell an idea as the truth, or as preaching. At this point we can’t do that. We are people that had a project that worked, not owners of a project.
However, it is important to show our experience. But it is important not to sell it.
This experience can not be reproduced. It’s not the structure, it’s about personal change. We organized this way and it worked. We worked to change our internal relationships. For others trying to use this structure, maybe the structure wouldn’t change the other coops internal relations.
What’s important: Analysis and reflection
Let’s say we send someone to talk to capitalist producers and someone gets corrupted by that outside pressure. We would then analyze it as a group, not as “what did the person do wrong” but “what did the Feria do wrong?”. We apply it to all of us, and handle it as a group, because each of us could act in the same way. When we do this, we try to understand the behavior of others (that act differently) and even if we can’t, we at least respect the difference. Even if the person does not share the coop way, we’ll see those people within their analysis learn from them or allow them to learn.
How we can try to overcome the laws of the market:
The coop is allowed to do this because of the volume it buys and sells in three days each week, and it is a service to the community.
There are laws of the market we are trying to overcome, some are:
The relationship to providers who exploit their workers, when the pay for the work is not enough.
Government laws are impeding the development of autonomy, for example, the accounting and auditing laws for coops. And when the government tequires a structure, like a board of directors.
The Zapatistas say “if the law does not serve us, we don’t pay attention to it.
If you are just waiting for economic results, the coop model would not make sense.
Day #2
Not having an objective (for growth and sales), allows for freedom to make mistakes and work through them. However, the funeral coop is now the largest in the state.
Traditional cooperative method has not proven efficient.
Capitalism does not address the problems of the environment, labor etc.
CESOCESOLA is a model that is working. Economics are essential for life, everything surrounds the economy. You can’t buy a better world with state money.
Distribution of wealth/money is an illusion we have to leave behind.
Riches can’t be divided like a cake.
To distribute riches we have to distribute knowledge, relationships, creativity, technology. But these things can’t be distributed through money.
What you share is distributed through work and learning relationships.
Talk by a Chilean professor of solidarity economics
We are living in Latin America, the civilization is in crisis.
Our lifestyle is made up of three pillars-
Cultural- scientific, certain conceptions
Economic
Political- the state
Latin America is in crisis because capitalism is not producing solutions, and richness is becoming more concentrated. More people can’t find work. People outside say it is the governments fault. Science has not offered solutions. All the pillars are falling.
What does crisis look like?
There are 3 dynamics.
The dominant sectors in the 3 pillars defend and close themselves off. They resort to barbaric behavior, people get violent.
Seeds of new civilizations come up. New ideas, concepts. People in the marginalized places come up with the new ideas.
It is difficult because we have to develop, but at the same time defend ourselves.
Delinquency is big, violence is everywhere.
At the same time you have to re integrate into these pillars. It is essential that you over come the treats, and that your economic part is strong.
The way to produce, consume, share, has to be defended.
This is solidarity economics.
Can capitalism be humanized?
It is important to know why developed countries are developed and why we are “underdeveloped”.
The most recent aspect of conquest was funding the US and Europe through our debts.
If the capital wasn’t leaving, we would have enough.
The environmental part-
The Kyoto protocal, the US decided not to participate.
Because making money is most important, with capitalism, there is not enough change about the environment.
The roots of radicalism start with recuperating the capacity to think for ourselves.
Revolution-
Change in power relations, production.
We need a revolution of everyday life to build another society, and world.
The utility principle= I do what I am doing because it brings me pleasure.
Giving without getting is a lie.
The relationship of what people are getting out of things to what they are doing, and what they will stick with.
Solidarity vs. competition.
We can relate either way.
The idea of scarcity is that there has to be a price.
Capitalism would not work in a place of abundance. That’s where ther needs to be property rights on ideas.
300 people in the world have more wealth than ½ the people in the world together.
The law of Coops in Venezuela was created in part by the coop movement.
In 2007, 200,00 coops were legalized.
It is an answer to the need to create jobs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)