A-Infos (en) Venezuela: International Call for Help

[Nelson Mendez <mendezn@camelot.rect.ucv.ve>]

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Comisión de Relaciones Anarquistas (CRA) is a collective in
Caracas, Venezuela that has been active for since 1995 and
is very committed to teaching others about the anarchist
perspective and spreading a message of self organization,
truly direct democracy and mutual aid. They consider
themselves to basically be a media collective that
specializes in disseminating information in an attempt to
strengthen the movement. They do this mainly through the
newspaper, El Libertario, which they publish every two
months. 

Over the years they have held different actions and directly
supported the indigenous Pemón people when they took
action and knocked down electrical towers that were being
constructed on their land. They are now in the process of
setting up different networks including an anti-military
network and one of leftist groups, who do not support
Chávez, to do a wider range of anti-capitalist and
anti-authoritarian organizing. Their largest project right now
is setting up a permanent space to be used for a social
library, bookstore and community space for meetings and
free workshops. 

However because of the current political and economic
situation, CRA is struggling. For the first time in seven years
they fear for the future of their journal. Due to inflation
rates the cost of printing has gone up by fifty percent. To
make matters harder, CRA no longer has some of the same
support that they once enjoyed. They consider themselves to
be an anarchist collective and are therefore fundamentally
opposed to supporting the authoritarian government even if
Chávez is president. This stance however has severely hurt
their working relationships with some of the leftist groups
that they used to work with. Many people here are very
focused on supporting one side or the other which makes it
very difficult for a group that supports neither.

Because of this CRA is calling on the international
community for help and solidarity. They are calling on all
anti-authoritarians and anarchists who can appreciate their
refusal to side with a government simply because it claims
to be left. They are asking for any type of support that
people can give. Anything people can do, anything from
ordering an issue El Libertario to holding a benefit show to
simply sending a message of solidarity. This is not an easy
request to make, in fact there was much discussion on
whether there were other options and the best way to go
about this. However the situation here is difficult and in the
end it was decided that a call for support to the
international community was indeed necessary. CRA
understands that many people may not have much and may
choose to send it elsewhere which is why they are not asking
to get something for nothing. CRA is very committed to
spreading information based around the anarchist
perspective and strengthening the 
 movement locally and simply put they are asking for your
help.

Contact (preferably in Spanish):
e-mail: ellibertario@nodo50.org
P.O. Box: Emilio Tesoro, Apartado Postal 6303, Carmelitas,
Caracas, Venezuela

Our web site (in Spanish & English) is:
http://www.nodo50.org/ellibertario 

"Llevamos un mundo nuevo en nuestros corazones: ese
mundo está creciendo en este instante"

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