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January 30, 2006
photos from venezuela
lake atitlan in venezuela
tracy from ireland. she came to the forum to speak about how shell oil is trying to ruin her town.
james, tracy and orion.
playa choroni
i'm so lucky.
this lady was so awesome. from the opening ceremonies parade
jacob, one of my new friends. someday he and i will travel in s. east asia, we decided.
this guy was cruising around everywhere.
i love this one
weird christian peace activists. there were also several different cults around, including the one in which the members hugged each other for like 2 hours, every morning.
i tried to get one of these posters, but everyone else stole them first.
this sloth walked through a discussion about bolivia, and half the people got up to go check it out instead. sloth!
super socialist orion (hehe)
james the journalist
the poor barrio we visited.
houses stacked on houses.
presidente hugo chavez speaking to the forum participants. he only spoke for 2 hours (normally it's 5 hours or more)
the campamento de los jovenes (the youth camp)
new friends
the guy with the sign kept getting into the background of the shot. the cameraman was quite annoyed.
the hotel ribot in caracas, complete with pharoah heads as part of the facade
capoeira demonstration.
antonio from SF.
orion bought many shirts, including this one in which che has the pallor of a vampire.
the social forum was really interesting, though i think i learned more by talking to people then by attending conferences. The inclusiveness of organizing and activism in the left, to the point in which it becomes unwieldly and at times ineffectual, was well illustrated this week. at the same time, i am inspired to do more when return to the u.s. (in april that is).
in the end, i came to have some affection for caracas and venezuela as a whole. though i find the city sprawling and ugly, the people were amazingly friendly, continually asking me what i thought of their city, and what america thought of their country. I feel like i've had a hundred discussions about the bolivarian revolution, what can be done to thwart the "imperialistas" from up north, and how to build a worldwide movement towards real democracy. It's gonna be a long, tough road.
for now though, i may stay in venezuela a day or 2 more, but then it's next stop, Bogota.
Posted by bendan at January 30, 2006 06:15 AM
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