March 24:from Venezuela to Chicago: Participatory Democracy & Community Councils

[stansfield smith]

Participatory Democracy and Community Councils In Venezuela Peoples’ Organization to Solve Community Problems: Venezuela and Chicago   Tuesday March 24, 7pm Salvation Army, Chicago Lawn 5950 S. Spaulding   Julio Chavez,  Lara State Representative, Lara, Venezuela Rafael Colmenarez,  community organizer, Lara, Venezuela Edgar Carrasco, current mayor of Carora, Venezuuela Jesus Rodriquez Espinoza, Consul General of Venezuela Consulate in Chicago Eric Hermosillo, Southwest Community Block Club Luis Ramirez, Salvation Army      Julio Chávez, former Mayor of the Torres Municipality in Venezuela and current Member of the Presidential Commission for Communal Power will be speaking about their experience of building a society from below in the new Venezuela.     In their Torres Municipality, the first one in Venezuela to successfully carry out a Municipal Constituent Assembly and transfer government power to the organized community. The people there now manage 100% of the municipal budget, decide how the budget is allocated, and for what purposes the public moneys is to be used. This Municipality is also a pioneer in the formation of popular communal assemblies     This  experience was recently collected in the book "Transferring Power to the People," by Martha Harnecker.   for more information: Building Popular Power In the Venezuelan Town of Carora http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2359 Politics in Venezuela: An Interview with Julio Chavez http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/18895