Nygaard series on Venezuela

[eridani]

Nygaard Notes
Independent Periodic News and Analysis
Number 398, January 23, 2008

On the Web at http://www.nygaardnotes.org/

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This Week: Venezuela Part IV -- The Series Concludes

1. “Quote” of the Week
2. The Venezuela Series Concludes: What To Do?
3. Socialism of the 21st Century
4. Further Reading on Venezuela Today


Building a Participatory Economy

American University economist Robin Hahnel, in an excellent piece called “Venezuela: Not What You Think,” published last November in Monthly Review, explains a little bit about the difference between what is going on in Venezuela today and what has gone on before—anywhere.

Following two visits to Venezuela, Hahnel commented that “practically nobody in the United States ever hears anything about truly newsworthy stories in Venezuela.” And there are many, including...

THE GROWTH OF COOPERATIVES: Not only has the number of co-ops increased dramatically under Chávez (fewer than 800 co-ops with roughly 20,000 members in 1998; over 100,000 co-ops with over 1.5 million members by 2006), but they are supported by the Ministry for the Communal Economy, which, in addition to technical assistance “also teaches participants about cooperative principles, economic justice, and social responsibility.”

PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING: “Participatory budgeting is a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, in which ordinary city residents decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget.” In Venezuela, says Hahnel, “the President and Congress are now fully supportive of participatory budgeting and busy building complementary components of a full-scale ‘social economy.’ In Venezuela, participatory budgeting is viewed by many not merely as a better way to make decisions about local public goods, but as part of a process to democratize all aspects of economic life.”

COMMUNAL COUNCILS: Venezuela also has a “Ministry of Participation and Social Development,” or MINPADES, and a “Ministry for the Communal Economy”, or MINEC. These two ministries are in charge of supporting “communal councils in every neighborhood” that have been kept very small so as “to ensure that every family, even in rural areas where small villages are often distant from one another, would have a real chance to participate in the most fundamental political decisions that affect them.” Hahnel gives several examples of what sorts of things these councils do, from building housing to starting a chicken farm to repairing roads.

[DCKit]

1. Seems more like Democracy on Steroids.

And an enviable model, at that.

A fusion of Christian beliefs, participatory Democracy with a side of Socialism in all the right places.

No wonder Chavez drives the fundies crazy - he's practicing what they preach but would never, ever do.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Wow! Looking foward to reading the past articles, and just subscribed.

Now this looks like something that could REALLY help out a lot.

What is available through the narrow window of hard spun propaganda just leaves you sick! Who can't see through that crap? My God! You'd have to be brain damaged not to notice!

Thank you, eridani, for steering people to something so useful.