Photo essay: Venezuela's Comuna 'Renacer del Sur' -- people's power in practice

Faces from the Comuna ‘Renacer del Sur'. Photos by Peter Boyle.

By Peter Boyle

August 20, 2009 – At the base of the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela are some 30,000 communal councils. These are pictures of some of the people active in communal councils in poor barrios (neighbourhoods) in the south of the city of Valencia. They were taken in November 2008 when members of the Australian-Venezuela Solidarity Netwok brigade were hosted by the Comuna “Renacer del Sur'' (Rebith of the South Commune).

Daniel Sanchez, a leader of the Rebirth of the South Commune, and Yoly Fernandez, a community organiser in Mission Mercal, Venezuela’s subsidised food program, are touring Australia in August and September to explain how “people’s power” is transforming their country and creating a new socialism of the 21st century.

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Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network presents: People’s power speaking tour with DANIEL SANCHEZ & YOLY FERNANDEZ from VENEZUELA

Daniel Sanchez, a leader of the Rebirth of the South Commune in Venezuela, and Yoly Fernandez, a community organiser in Mission Mercal, Venezuela’s subsidised food program, are touring Australia in August and September to explain how “people’s power” is transforming their country and creating a new socialism of the 21st century.

Both are passionate and experienced advocates of grassroots democracy. Daniel, a municipal councillor in South Valencia, heads a project to coordinate the work of 18 “communal councils”, the backbone of Venezuela’s new model of participatory government. Both are members of the President Hugo Chavez’s new United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

MELBOURNE: Sat, Aug 29, 9am-6pm, at the Latin America Solidarity Conference, Victoria Trades Hall. Visit www.solidarityconference2009.org for conference details.
GEELONG: Monday, Aug 31, 6.30pm. Geelong Trades Hall, 127 Myers St, Geelong. Ph 0458 747 726.
ADELAIDE: Wednesday, Sept 2, 7pm. AMWU office, 229 Greenhill Rd, Dulwich. Ph 0403 679 742.
BRISBANE: Friday Sept 4, 7pm. Qld Council of Unions Auditorium, 2nd fl, 16 Peel St, South Brisbane. Ph 0439 411 330, 0438 162 597.
CANBERRA: Tuesday Sept 8, 6pm. Civic Library, Mezzanine Lvl, Civic Sq, London Circuit, Civic. Ph 0423 779 018, 0433 336 951.
NEWCASTLE: Thursday Sept 10, 7pm. Suspension Café, Beaumont St, Hamilton. Ph 0409 878 485.
SYDNEY: Saturday Sept 12, 2pm. Activist Centre, 23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale. Ph 9690 1997 or 0413 310 452.

For more info, email info@venezuelasolidarity.org or phone 0423 741 734.

More details at http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/393.