A Conversation with Venezuelan Feminists: Deepening a Revolution while under Sanctions

Mónica M., Anggie H. and Yolimar M. are active protagonists in Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, having worked for years in the struggles for educational, cultural, Indigenous, Black and women's rights. Join them for their testimony of how U.S. sanctions disproportionately affect Venezuelan women and children. They will also discuss how organized communities are fighting back against the economic war.

Photo Credit: MIDIA NINJA

Speakers:

Mónica M., Venezuela

Mónica M. is a professor, arts administrator, editor, writer and student of Afro-Venezuelan drumming traditions. She is a professor of literature and culture at the National Experimental Arts University (Unearte) and writes a regular column for online magazines EpaleCCS (Hey Caracas) and Ciudad Caracas (Caracas City). Mónica also manages Herencia, a drumming group that seeks to preserve Afro-Venezuelan musical traditions through research, workshops and performances. She is currently pursuing specializations in Cultural Economy at Unearte and in Black Studies at the Latin American Council for Social Sciences (Clacso).

Anggie H., Venezuela

Anggie H. is an Indigenous Wayuu feminist and activist. She is the administrator and treasurer of the Woumain Waneesia civil association. which gives workshops on indigenous rights in areas at risk of coal mining. Previously she was the vice president of Municipal Institute for Women and Gender Equality of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city. She is currently studying political science and is an active member of the Cimarrón Feminist Harvest Collective and the Todas Nosotras Violeta social movement, which offers workshops on sexual and reproductive rights.

Yolimar M., Venezuela

Yolimar M. is an industrial engineer, a member of the internationalist brigade of Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Venezuela, and part of the Todas Nosotras Violeta movement. She has worked at PDVSA, Petrocaribe and as a teacher at the National Institute for Socialist Training and Education, as well as at Misión Sucre, a social mission that provides free higher education to adults.

Leonardo Flores, Moderator

Leonardo Flores is a Latin America campaign coordinator of CODEPINK. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Maryland and dropped out of a master’s program to work as an analyst on U.S.-Venezuela relations at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC. Leonardo was born in Venezuela and maintains close ties to social movements that have transformed the country over the past twenty-three years.

Thumbnail photo: Midia Ninja