And Then There Was 1

Julian left Saturday morning. His going away party the night before was interesting, we actually had a member of the Nacional Gaurdia there. I was pretty apprehensive about the whole situation, because the Gaurdia was still armed with his pistol. Wisdom has taught me that guns + people + alcohol do not make a good mix. But the guy was actually pretty cool and smart enough to only drink beers and refused liqour. He did trip me out when he pulled out his gun, popped the clip, and unchambered the round (I swear I thought the gun was going to go off accidentally until this point) and used the empty chamber to open beers for everyone. We had an interesting discussion of race politics, his experience in Miami, his military experiences, and the troubles with Colombia. The most important things seemed to be the high level of societal desegration of ´races´, and the amount of freedom afforded to people after the revolution. He was shocked at the level of ´race politics´ that exist in Canada, that in Canada he wouldnt be considered ´white´, but ´hispanic, even though he has blue eyes.

With everyone gone, and me in Venezuela on my own I thought that my pace would be a bit slower, but rather the opposite. Saturday was a full day with the Women´s collective doing a vaccination clinic/political rally in the middle of La Vega. I swear Venezuelan´s know how to do politics, mid way through the rally it turned into a salsa block party with everyone dancing and singing. Also went into the clinic where the local Barrio Adentro Doctors were working. Tried to use one of their portable phones to make a call to Canada but it wouldn´t connect for some reason.

After lunch met up with Antoin´s Youth group and went up to the barrio Brisas Del Paraiso for a concert. It was amazing in that Urban Flow, the organizers, just set up a stage in one lane of the road and did a show for 3 hours. It was pretty guerilla style. I got to jump on stage with Familia Negra and tape their set - Amazing! The concert made me realize how much easier it would be to do community organizing if we could do things without needing thousands of permits and having to deal with all the red tape in Toronto. Imagine a community centre that could actually be used anytime by the community without having to get permission from the ´state´ or having to pay for it? I mean who actually is the highest authority in Canada, the people or the state? The obvious answer would be Canada is a democracy and thus the power lies with the people; but in reality, the power lies with the state because to even use ´public space´ or a ´park´, a citizen needs to get the approval and consent of the government. But why does a citizen need to get the approval of the state to use ´public´space, it´s not government space, its public space, a part of the public commons. My final question is why should the government have authority above the people on the peoples space? What is a government without it´s citizens? And why the hell does the public have to pay to use public space? Those kind of regulations and fees only advantage the rich while hurting your average working class citizen!

After that Familia Negra had a show at a club so we got cleaned up and went to that. The club was in a pretty secluded place but the music was amazing. Several people wore kefiyeh´s in soladarity with the Palestinian people. The music was pretty eclectic as well: a mix of techno, salsa, reggae, hiphop, and everything in between. We ended up leaving the club at 5 in the morning. With no buses and not being able to catch a taxi we had to walk half way down a mountain. I sure miss Toronto´s transit system, it really is one of the world´s best.

Sunday has been a day of recovery and preparing for my meeting with the International Women´s front tomorrow.

In Solidarity,
Pio

p.s. Just tried some ´sopa de pies de pollo´, chickent feet soup, I have a strong stomach and even I felt a little queasy after that. The broth was tasty though!
No Mas Pad A Pollo!

Mural Done, Church, and Nuevo Circo.

Last night was an interesting night. We watched Max Manus, a movie about Urban Geurrillas fighting the Nazi occupation of Finland. Mid-movie we heard several gunshots in La Vega, a stark reminder of the violence (political/drug related) that plagues Caracas. Julian finished designing the Tattoo for me, looks amazing.


Got up early ate and went out to the Madres de Barrio office with Julian and finished up the Mural. Looks amazing, I´ll take a picture of it and post it tomorrow. On the way back we stopped by a Catholic church we saw, it was pretty quiet but there was a statue of Christ during the ´Stations of the Cross´ but in regal attire which was amazing, took my breath away. I´ll try to go back and get some pictures of it as well.

Afterwards we went by Nuevo Circo(Aerial view on top) and checked out the art work there. Nuevo Circo was an old abandoned bull ring which was illegally occupied by local youth and returned to the commons as free public cultural /artistic /recreational /musical space. It´s singularily amazing. Probably one of the most unique and ´revolutionary´ processes of popular organization I have ever seen. A must see for any student of revolutionary process. The largest single wall of graffiti in South America is located there too. I´m gonna return there and take a lot of pictures to upload. Hopefully I´ll get to attend one of the cultural events and maybe even hang out there for a bit.

In Solidarity,
Borracho

And Then There Was 2

So almost everyone in the original group has left Venezuela, and it´s only me (Pio), and Julian. It´s interesting to be in Venezuela without a set plan or program. We are starting to get a feel for how the locales live in the Barrio.

Javier (Mirleny´s son) bought a bollywood movie called ´Mission Istaanbul´ under the mistaken impression that it might be a movie with a serious political context. I felt bad to tell him that the movie was a pretty silly action movie. We watched it today and I was suprised to see that even a silly Indian action movie could carry across cultures. Mirleny´s youngest kids seemed to be entranced by the action oriented ´spectacle´. It´s not all about the political revolutionary process, sometimes people just need to sit back and enjoy a dumb movie for entertainment.

Afterwards we went to the ´Mothers of the Barrio´ office to work on the mural. It was interesting watching Julian work, I would really like to organize more political murals in Toronto. I was so exhausted I fell asleep at the desk as Julian worked. We came back and were taken by Mariela and the girl´s for free beers at a local spot in La Vega. It was nice sitting around with the locals in the La Vega equivelent of a patio.

In Solidarity,
Pio