00:00And we are joined now by Atul Chandra.
00:02He comes from India and is from the Tri-Continental Institute.
00:06So thank you for joining us in Telusur English.
00:09And I would like to start by asking, what is the relevance?
00:13What is the importance of this installment
00:16of the Social Movement Council that is happening today?
00:19And why come here to participate at this regional mechanism?
00:24Thanks to Telusur first.
00:26See, I mean, for me, it's a very interesting sort
00:29of mechanism, which they are talking about.
00:31I have seen people coming out of social movements,
00:35becoming leaders, becoming very successful politicians.
00:38And also, when I say this, I'm not
00:40saying that they have not set up, I would say,
00:43very inclusive social policies.
00:46But I never saw, I mean, this is when they became.
00:50They were part of the movement, then
00:52they become very successful politicians.
00:54But I've never seen a council where the social movements
00:58directly come and interact with the government.
01:00And for example, when these social movements directly
01:05come and talk, they are very well, if you look at it,
01:08they are the voices of the people on the ground.
01:10They are the voices of the larger masses
01:13and transcending boundaries.
01:15It's not only something which is, let's say,
01:18something of Venezuela, but something
01:20which is transcending boundaries in Latin America.
01:23And I think that's very, very interesting.
01:25That's what I think this experiment,
01:28I would really like to see in our part of the world,
01:31where people from the ground are part of that,
01:35I would say, mechanism, the democratic setup,
01:39where they are able to express their concerns
01:43with regard to anything, be it environment,
01:45be it labor movement, be it women movement,
01:49which affects their day-to-day life, health, education.
01:52And they are able to formulate policies directly
01:57by talking, by discussion, by interventions
01:59with the government.
02:01And I think this makes it very special.
02:03This experiment, I have never seen,
02:07and I've never heard about it before,
02:09but this is something which, for me, it's very interesting,
02:12where there is a space directly for the movements
02:15to be part of the, one of the part of the government
02:19where they are able to directly bring to the table
02:22their concerns, and I think that's interesting.
02:24I mean, we see in our part of the world,
02:26all the organizations,
02:29they have to come up with protest, with their movements,
02:33and then a delegation goes,
02:35and then they raise their demands.
02:37That's how we function.
02:38But have you ever thought where they are already part of it
02:43in the state machinery, in the government machinery,
02:47where they are heard not only when they are protesting,
02:50but also when the politics.
02:57They say that they formulate policies for the people,
03:01but they have to literally hear the people
03:04who are on the ground, people who are representing
03:06those large masses, I would say.
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