PEOPLE’S POWER IN VENEZUELA

PEOPLE’S POWER IN VENEZUELA: building a democratic socialist society 

María Páez Victor, M.A, Ph.D.

Talk given at the University of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

November 5, 2011

The first characteristic of a community is that it shares certain common features. It may share at least some history, a geographical space, it faces some common problems of living, shares some public services or lack of them, and, most importantly,  there is some significant level of communication between the members. When people do not share, they do not exist for the others, therefore, living, communicating, and sharing together to some extent, is the basis of any public political consciousness.

Since the Spanish conquest and colonization until 1998, that is, during almost 600 years,  of community cohesion has been discouraged at the political level in Latin America, because Latin America has been basically governed by elites for the elites. 

There have been many, many rebellions, uprisings, and attempts to change things, but now, a new dawn has come about, and the catalyst has been the Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution that believes itself to be creating the Socialism of the XXI Century. This socialism is not beholden to the European or Asian socialist models, but grounds itself in the historic communal living of Latin American indigenous peoples, in the doctrines of Simón Bolívar,  and the ideals of many other Latin American heroes of independence and sovereignty, and it takes the best of socialist thinking that has yet not been applied by any nation. The Socialism of the XXI Century is defined as an inclusive, pluralistic, profoundly democratic, and humanist socialism.

President Chávez famously said: “If we really want to eradicate poverty, let us give power to the poor.”¹ This is being done in Venezuela by a process of “popular decentralization”, devolving power to the grassroots in a true participatory democracy. And, the Communal Councils are one of the main vehicles of achieving this. They are constructing change from below, from the grass-roots, facilitating citizen participation and community organization.

Venezuela is attempting to build a participatory socialist democracy in which Communal Councils are not just an add-on, but a constitutionally recognized level of government. There are five Public Powers, the Executive, The Judicial, The Legislature, The Communal Councils are a Public Power, a fundamental principle of the Constitution and Government of the country. The laws that govern the CC are, the Constitution of 2000, the CC Law of 2006 and the updated law in 2009.

Instead of viewing its citizens as “a mass society” or just as individuals, the Bolivarian Governement want to see organized, self-aware communities that partake in political life. The CC are a venue for the participation and integration of the diverse community organizations, social groups and citizens that allows organized people to be directly involved in public policies and projects that aim to fill the real needs and aspirations of the community and thus build an equitable and socially just Venezuelan society.

The establishment of CC is a huge step for a people that has to go from passive political dependency and clientelism to a process of real political participation in the decision making that affects the everyday lives of the people. It involves education as well as activism because there is a need to awaken people’s sense of collective responsibilities and that is achieved by working together for common goals.

The Government, through its Ministry of Popular Participation and Social Development, provides technical help and encouragement to the CC so that they are able to carry out their functions, but it does not have the authority to order or overrule the CC.

As well, the CC are relatively independent of the Municipal Council, and their relationship is often rocky, but a mayor or governor opposes the CC at his-her own peril.

Communal Councils

The Communal Councils are People’s Assemblies. Local citizens are empowered and encouraged to form neighborhood councils that initiate and oversee projects related to the development of their community including cooperatives. The people of a community plan, carry out, control and evaluate public policies and projects related to their everyday lives.The Assembly has these functions: to make plans, to establish a budget, to execute it and to carry out Social Auditing.

Communal Councils have an elected Coordinating Collective that includes the Executive, the Financial Committee, and the Social Oversight Committee (anti-corruption).

Furthermore, the CC have series of working committees that coordinate among themselves, such as: water committee, land, health, energy, cultural, sports, education, Bolivarian Circles, food, grandparents committees, small businesses, cooperatives, security, transportation, and environment.

CC councils exist throughout the country, in dense cities, rural areas and indigenous areas. They have been wildly popular and today there are 30,179 registered CC in the country.

Funding and Resources

The Assembly of the CC decides what is needed in their neighborhoods, and then present a project along with its budget. They receive funding directly from the Federal government and can also receive money from the state or municipal governments. The Finance Committee administers funds, promotes cooperatives and is involved in establishing and approving the Municipal budget. The CC promotes and encourages voluntarism and thus preference is given to the use of the skills and resources in their community rather than private companies or government bureaucracy.

Out of a total national budget of $53 billion, the CC have received $1 billion. They have implemented thousands of projects and have established 300 Communal Banks that have received $70million for micro loans.

Establishing a Communal Council

CC in urban areas can have from 150 to 400 maximum families; in rural areas they may have 20 families and in indigenous areas 10.

The first step is to elect a Provisional Team that determines the geographic boundaries of the CC, carries out a census and organizes an election.

For the first election there must be 30% of the residents and subsequent Assemblies need 20% quorum to make a decision. Meetings can last from 2 to 6 hours and usually take place outside or in some public building, such as a school.

The great majority, 70%,  of the participants and elected spokespersons of the Communal Councils are women. A person from each CC is elected to liaise with the local mayor, particularly important function is to oversee that mayor’s budget includes the decisions of the CC. There is also a Commune, a Federation of Communal Councils, which is very significant because the CC should not be alone, but backed by other CC, a political alliance that strengthens each CC.

Relationships with other levels of government

The CC enfolds not against the Federal Governemnt, on the contrary, it is mandated to support the CC and in actual fact, encourages and spurs the neighborhoods to take control, as this is the only way out of the attitude of dependency. It is also the way out of the insidious corruption that was so prevalent in the way politics was made in the past. The government’s job is to increase the people’s skills and confidence in self-government.

There are Opposition governors and mayors who oppose the Bolivarian Government and these try of ignore or put obstacles in the path of the CC in their areas. But there are others who, while approving of the Chávez Government, still try to carry out their functions “in the old style”. There is a power struggle with many municipal governments, it is a struggle for the CC to achieve the authority that in law they have.

One of the functions of the CC is that its security committee should liaise with the Bolivarian Militia. The opposition has denounced this as an attempt to create attack forces, when in fact, they are a part of community policing. Many people in poor areas are victimized by crime and drug gangs and by Colombian paramilitary, and the CC needs to act to prevent crime and violence in their areas. (Ironically, the Opposition itself has carried out a national and international campaign denouncing crime in Venezuela and attributing it to the Government, yet it opposes the very measures needed to diminish it: community policing and prevention.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrés Mejía, La Participación Ciudadana, Biblioteca Básica Temática, Consejo Nacional de Cultura, 2004

Hugo Chávez Frías, El Poder Popular- extractos tomados del discurso presidencial, Fundación Fondo Editorial Simón Rodríguez, 2008

La Comuna de Caracas, Alcaldía de Caracas

Julio Chávez, Former mayor of Carora. Personal conversations.

Mercedes Páez de Corral, Member of the Communal Council in Puerto La Cruz, Council representative advising the mayor. Personal conversations.

Alba Rengifo, Glosario General de los Consejos Comunales, Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Comunicación y la Información. Octubre, 2011

Jim Mellroy, Venezuela: Building Popular Power through Communal Councils, Venezuelanalysis.com, 2007

Tamara Pearson, Venezuela’s reformed Communal Council Law: When Laws Aren’t Just for Lawyers and Power is Public, Venezuelanalysis.com, Dec. 2009

Michael Albert, Video: Venezueal’s People’s Power, www.zcommunicatins.org, 2009

1 Inauguration speech at the IV Summit of the Social Debt, 25 February 2005