Venezuela: ALBA social movements gather in Caracas

teleSUR English

We go to Caracas, Venezuela, in the framework of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Alba-TCP. The vice minister for North America and president of the Simon bolivar center, Carlos Ron, offered an exclusive interview to our correspondent Belen de Los Santos.

Transcript

00:00And we go to Caracas, Venezuela, where in the framework of the celebration of the 20th

00:05anniversary of Advertisement, other social movements, councils met to boost social changes

00:10and integration strategies.

00:13In this context, the Vice Minister of North America and President of the Simon Bolivar

00:17Center, Carlos Ron, have offered an exclusive interview to our correspondent, Belen De Los

00:22Santos.

00:23Let's listen.

00:24Hello, studios.

00:28We continue here in Caracas, in the House of ALBA, where the Social Movement Council

00:33of ALBA is being relaunched.

00:36It's being reboosted.

00:37And this is very significant.

00:39We have been saying this throughout the day.

00:41ALBA is a mechanism that was envisioned to coordinate both at a government, a state level,

00:47and also at a social movement level.

00:50And that opens a whole window of possibilities, because there are leaders from social organizations,

00:56from different political organizations, not only from the ALBA countries and not only

01:00from the regional countries, but also from around the world.

01:03And the idea is that it's the people's organization that come here together to discuss their own

01:09challenges, also that bring their own proposals to the table, and that this Social Movement

01:16Council of ALBA can then bring these proposals to the presidential council of ALBA that is

01:23gathering the heads of state and government.

01:26Let's recall that tomorrow is the heads of state and government summit, the 24th summit,

01:31also on the day that ALBA turns 20 years.

01:35So we are here with the foreign vice minister of Venezuela for North America, Carlos Ron.

01:42Carlos, thank you for joining us in TELUS for English.

01:44And I would like to begin by asking you, what is the relevance of this relaunching?

01:50What is the relevance of the Social Movement Council for ALBA?

01:54Well, first of all, the most important thing is that ALBA is the only space within multilateral

02:02institutions, is the only integration block that actually has a Social Movement Council

02:08as part, as an integral part of its structure.

02:11So this is an innovation that took place in 2007 by the vision of President Hugo Chavez,

02:18also inspired by Fidel Castro and the group that at that time composed ALBA.

02:25And it said that, you know, the logic is that ALBA responds differently.

02:31ALBA is a structure that is tied directly to the peoples.

02:35So in order for that to be fulfilled and for that to take place, you have to have a space

02:40where social movements could interact with the governments, could counsel, could raise

02:46ideas, raise problems, have an exchange.

02:50And that's the way you guarantee that you actually have the participation of social

02:54movements in the whole structure and decision-making process.

02:58So what we're doing now is relaunching this space.

03:02We're crafting a proposal.

03:04We've been working for several months now with different social movements and platforms

03:10with the idea that the council turns into real concrete actions, not a space only to

03:16debate, not a space only to make proposals, but a space that actually, you know, establishes

03:22complete work, concrete work.

03:25For example, there's a proposal for a reforestation brigade.

03:29Social movements would get involved in putting the volunteers to take part in this.

03:37And then it would be considered that the governments could support this action.

03:42So that is sort of the spirit of what we're proposing.

03:46But it's important that we have concrete actions that show the world that, from ALBA, the spirit

03:53of cooperation and solidarity has concrete actions and, you know, the people manifest

04:00themselves through concrete actions that improve the life and the dignity of the life of people.

04:07So in the inauguration of this council meeting, Secretary-General Jorge Reaza was also talking

04:13about the importance of the actions of social movements in every country, not only in ALBA

04:20countries and maybe specifically not in ALBA countries, the way they can pressure the governments

04:26and bring the people's demands and also move forward the ALBA agenda in other spaces, for

04:32example, in states that are not integrated in the ALBA bloc.

04:36What do you think of this relevance, this importance?

04:39How can social movements act in accordance with ALBA, even if it's not an ALBA state?

04:45Well, the importance is that this is a space for discussions, a space for exchange of ideas

04:49as well as the concrete actions.

04:52ALBA is not confined to Latin America or to the 10 countries that today compose it.

04:57Because the spirit, we live in a, you know, in a pluripolar world.

05:01We have a, it's a changing world where everything is interconnected.

05:04So a lot of the issues that are of concern for different social movements, labor movements,

05:10feminist movements, food sovereignty movements, are issues that really touch on everyone's

05:17lives.

05:18So the idea is that the council offers a space where these items can be discussed, where

05:22they can be brought up in the proposals, and where things can be enacted in order to, you

05:27know, to change the world and to, you know, to try to shift into the direction that is

05:32more respectful of humanity than what we're seeing in other trends.

05:38What's important about this is, this is of course done within the range of actions that

05:44social movements have.

05:46It's also done with complete respect to the sovereignty of states.

05:51It's not something that imposes itself, but rather that serves as a place of dialogue,

05:57as a place of understanding ideas, to have an understanding of what the current global

06:02crisis is, and to offer solutions that can be implemented to those that are willing to

06:07implement changes.

06:08Excellent.

06:09And just one more question.

06:11You were talking before about the importance of going into action.

06:16This is not just a space for debate and for gathering.

06:20So how does this social movement council continue after today, after this council and after

06:26this ALBA summit?

06:27Well, we're making the proposal, we're going to discuss in a few minutes some ideas that

06:33were already proposed by different movements, specific ideas in terms of education, communications,

06:40things that we can put into practice if accorded with the governments of ALBA.

06:46Now the second part is, of course, this will be presented, this is going to be raised to

06:50the governments, they have to analyze, they have to make decisions, and whatever is agreed

06:54to between the governments and the movements that will be implemented.

07:00It's important, however, to keep in mind that we have to move into actions.

07:06The times we're living are not times where we can just come out and denounce and make

07:11declarations or statements.

07:13We have to provide actions that reassure people that the revolutionary governments that take

07:19part of ALBA and that the social movements that accompany are willing to do things that

07:24really transform society and improve people's lives.

07:26And that is what it's about.

07:28Going to action, not only declaration, but actually concrete proof that things can be

07:35different, that another world is possible.

07:37We definitely hope so and we'll be looking for that coordination and that action.

07:42Thank you Carlos for joining us here in Tell Us Your English.

07:45It's been a pleasure.

07:46So that was Carlos Ron, he is the Foreign Vice Minister in Venezuela for North America

07:53and we were just sharing some of the key aspects of what it means for the Social Movement Council

07:59of ALBA to be relaunched just one day before the ALBA mechanism turns 20 years after its

08:06foundation by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez-Frias.

08:09We'll continue bringing all the information from here, from the House of ALBA.

08:13We go back to you now.

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