In Defense of Humanity

by Amiri Baraka, San Francisco Bay View

We are always Full of
Hope, Hopeful
We never believe what we believe
Is Impossible
& even if it was
it is necessary
& do/able

- 12/08/04 Venezuela to San Juan

My wife Amina and I were invited to an International Conference of Artists and Intellectuals. The invitation was sent from Caracas, Venezuela. The theme , “In Defense of Humanity”!

Do we know what that means? We haven’t got to that yet. Civilization is still a daring concept — humanity a vaguely romantic ideal!

And why, if we vouchsafe we know what “humanity” is … why does it need to be defended? And those who answer the call to defend it, who were they, where did they come from and what did they think about all of it. And what did the people of Venezuela think?

Education for social beings

Interview with Education Minister Aristóbulo Isturiz
By Sarah Wagner and Gregory Wilpert

Co-responsibility means that the State is not a paternalistic state, but instead that the people have duties as well as rights. It is necessary to take on the big job of creating this consciousness in people of their duties, in order that together they can have the capacity to resolve, not only to complain that they have problems but also that they have to participate in the solution and the search for the solution of the problem. Due to this, the democracy that we are constructing is a participatory democracy.

Good Things Happening in Venezuela

By Michael Parenti

Millions of his compatriots widely and correctly perceive him as being the only president who has ever paid attention to the nation's poorest areas. No wonder he is the target of calumny and coup from the upper echelons in his own country and from ruling circles up north.