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Venezuela from Below
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 Script of Destabilization as Applied to Venezuela
These days the audience of Venezuela’s four most important private TV-channels must have the impression that there is a popular revolt against the Chávez government going on. Globovision is in a leading position with an uninterrupted live program. The local news-source for CNN is selling the idea of street fighting throughout the whole country. Even images of two burning litterbags or simply some rocks lying around are supported with dramatic music while aggressive politicians from the opposition talk about a supposed dictatorship and make calls for disobedience.
Disobbedienti
The video "Disobbedienti" thematizes the Disobbedienti's origins, political bases, and forms of direct action on the basis of conversations with seven members of the movement. The Disobbedienti emerged from the Tute Bianche during the demonstrations against the G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001. The "Tute Bianche" were the white-clad Italian activists who used their bodies - protected by foam rubber, tires, helmets, gas masks, and homemade shields - in direct acts and demonstrations as weapons of civil disobedience.
An interview with TUTE BIANCHE activists CHIARA CASSURINO and FEDERICO MARTELLONI on mobilizing after the G8 Summit in Genoa
Tute Bianche
Ever since the protests against the G8 Summit in Genoa, tute bianche (“white overalls”) have appeared again and again in the international press. As they have been for some time, they are now a public presence like hardly any other leftist radical group in Europe. They’re still on the offensive and have concrete plans for mobilization plans for the future. Tute bianche activists Chiara Cassurino from Genoa and Federico Martelloni from Bologna clarify the beginnings and background of this Italian form of activism.
