Venezuela
from Below
A film by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler / 67 min., 2004
Mobiel
Projectbureau OpTrek had op 16 september 2004 de unieke kans de
nieuwe film “Venezuela from Below” van
Dario Azzellini en Oliver Ressler (Wenen) te tonen.
Aansluitend was er een discussie met de kunstenaar over diens
werk. Ressler is op dit moment bezig met het omvattende project “Alternative
Economics, Alternative Societies” waarin hij uiteenlopende
projecten documenteert die proberen op een ander manier naar
de maatschappij te kijken.
Beschrijving (in het Engels):
In Venezuela, a profound social transformation identified as
the Bolivarian process has been underway since Hugo Chávez's
governmental takeover in 1998. It concerns a broad process of
self organization, from which has developed a progressive constitution,
a labor law, new educational possibilities, and a number of further
reforms for the impoverished majority of the population of what
is potentially a wealthy state. The government's politics, which
take an open stance against neo-liberalism, have experienced
vehement rejection from Venezuela's major private industries
and from the U.S., expressed in two attempted coups and boycotts.
Nonetheless, Chávez and his government enjoy the trust
of the majority of the population. The society is heavily politicized;
many people who had never before thought of what they wanted
to change are now a part of a profound transformation taking
place in the country.
In the film "Venezuela from Below," the true actors
in the social process are able to speak: the grassroots. After
an introduction by philosopher Carlos Lazo, workers from the
oil company PDVSA in Puerto La Cruz report how in 2002/2003 they
protected the refinery from breaking down during the oil sabotage,
which was pawned off as a strike, and how they were able to reinstate
oil production. Several farmers from a newly founded cooperative
in Aragua report on their process of self organization, on the
literacy campaign, and how things should continue. A women's
bank project in Miranda and several loan recipients from Caracas'
disadvantaged district, 23 de Enero, present their projects.
Indígena community members near the Orinoco river in Bolívar
speak about how their demands and struggles are reflected in
the constitution and what has changed for them. Workers from
the occupied National Valve Company in Los Teques and the paper
production company Venepal in Carabobo - which was occupied by
350 workers after the owners drove it to bankruptcy, and which
now, after a partial agreement, is running production again -
speak about corrupt unions, labor control, and their struggles.
Protagonists in the revolutionary movement Tupamaro, the cultural
foundation Simón Bolívar, the leftist website www.23.net,
and the Bolivarian Circle Abrebrecha from 23 de Enero report
on their work and what has changed for them through the social
revolutions.
They are the people of the grassroots and they speak about what
they did and what they are doing, how they feel about the Bolivarian
process, about their expectations and ideas. They see themselves
as part of the process that is underway, but also problematize
numerous points. The search for a social and economic model beyond
neo-liberalism is no easy terrain; there are currently no successful,
tested alternatives. The protagonists in the Bolivarian process
have, however, set upon a path from which there is no return.
The film is available in Spanish, with English or with German
subtitles.
Concept, interviews, film editing, production: Dario Azzellini & Oliver
Ressler
Camera: Volkmar Geiblinger
Image editing and titles: Markus Koessl
Interviewees:
Titina Azuaje, Gustavo Borges, Stalin Pérez
Borges, Juan Brizuela, Bertha de Castillo, José Ramón
Castillo, Eduardo Daza, Arlenis Espinal, Freddy Farias, Juán
Fermín, José Flores, Randy García, Círe
y Guarán, Sandra Heredia de Goncalves, Juana Catalina
Guzman, María Elisa Irazabal de Píneda, Natalí Jaimes,
Carlos Lazo, Henry Mariño, Maritza Marquez, Esther de
Mena, Esteban Michelena, Argelia Naguanagua de Ramos, Emma Ortega,
Edgar Peña, Judith Sánchez, José Mercedes
Sifontes, Alfonso Tovar, Antolino Vasquez, Eduardo Yaguaracuto
Grants: Kunstsektion des BKA, Stiftung Umverteilen
Voor meer informatie: www.ressler.at
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