We are thrilled to report that Global Exchange is taking the largest delegation from the U.S. to the 2006 World Social Forum. Please consider joining us in Venezuela on another delegation this year.

At the World Social Forum, five years of uniting the world's peoples' movements, indigenous communities, women's movements, human rights organizations, environmentalists, intellectuals, students, activists, and citizens of the North and South have led to the beginning of true alternative economic structures which prove that Another World is not only Possible, it is happening.

Nowhere is it happening more profoundly than Venezuela.

Venezuela, home to a peaceful revolutionary process that has brought education and healthcare to millions through the redistribution of oil profits, will act as the simultaneous host of the World Social Forum Americas Chapter and the 2nd Social Forum of the Americas in January, 2006.

Drawing on the model of regional integration and from the hope and lessons that may be learned from the process of grassroots social change in Venezuela, the World Social Forum will occur in simultaneous regional forums in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The regional focus initiates a profound attempt at strengthening local participation and regional ties between movements for social justice before moving the Forum to Africa in 2007.

Global Exchange's Tour to the World Social Forum in Venezuela

Arrival date in Caracas: January 23rd- orientation begins at 6pm Departure date from Caracas: Any time on February 4th

Because of the large number of participants we are expecting, we are offering 4 unique programs to choose from during the tour! Each group's itinerary centers around a major theme of interest that we have identified.

**All of the participants will join together in the World Social Forum events between January 24-29. Each group's participants will receive a suggested list of thematic events to attend during the forum, relating to their thematic focus.

**After the Social Forum, the tour will split up into 4 groups to travel to different parts of Venezuela. Each group will examine the issues most closely related to their theme and will meet with related communities and organizations.

Thematic Groups for the World Social Forum Tour to Venezuela (Please choose only 1 of the 4 possible groups and mark your choice on your application; then contact the appropriate coordinator)

1) Gender, Cultural Diversity, and New Political Spaces: Cosponsored by Code Pink
For more info, contact: Cristina Carrasquillo
This group will examine the realities of women, afro-venezuelans, indigenous communities, and how new political terrain is being created within Venezuela

* Find out about new social programs for women under the new constitution, and perspectives of indigenous peoples and people of African descent in Venezuela.
* Meet with representatives of BanMujer (the Womens' Bank), the Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Venezuela, the Afro-Venezuela Network, the AfroAmerica Foundation, the Ministry of Culture, and more
* Participate in afro-venezuelan music and dance with youth who are reclaiming and celebrating their African heritage

2) Oil, Natural Resources, and Sustainability
For more info, contact: Zach Hurwitz
This itinerary will focus on the role of oil in Venezuela, resource use, and the issues of land reform, agriculture, and ecology

* Learn about the oil industry- Venezuela's key source of national income; Venezuela's role in economic regionalization, meeting with high-level representatives; and conflicts with the US
* Talk with representatives of PDVSA- the national oil company; INTI- the land institute; and the new urban land reform groups
* Visit with ecologists and discuss the future of resource use in the region

3) Peoples' Development: Health, Education, and the Social Contract
For more info, contact: Jojo Farrell
This group's itinerary will center on the successes of broad social programs throughout the country and the development of local communities

* Meet with successful examples of the "social missions"- from literacy, high school, and university education, to Cuban doctors and eye health, to cultural heritage programs
* Travel to the western state of Lara to visit successful community-based agricultural cooperatives and learn about development "from within and from below"
* Learn more about programs of cooperation between Venezuela and other countries in the South

4) Youth Movements and Grassroots Leadership
For more info, contact: Zach Hurwitz
GX's youth contingent to the World Social Forum is open to ages 16-29, and will focus specifically on youth movements, neighborhood organizing, music, and education in Venezuela.

* Visit Barrio 23 de Enero in Caracas, a success story in urban grassroots organizing
* Learn how hip-hop and traditional Venezuelan music are intersecting with social justice to create new voices of leadership
* Meet with communities in the Barlovento region, Caracas, and elsewhere to visit independent media projects, youth organizations, and students involved in the political process

All group itineraries will include program related to Venezuelan history/background, social programs, regional integration, government and opposition representatives, and the 2002 coup. Some itineraries may overlap.

Why Venezuela?

In the past, Venezuela's oil wealth benefited a few. Today, it benefits a few million.

Something remarkable is happening in Venezuela. The lives of millions of Venezuelans are improving as historic wrongs are being righted. The world's fifth-largest oil producer, Venezuela has long been a country of contrasts: despite its great wealth, 80% of Venezuelans live in poverty. Now, for the first time, millions of Venezuelans have access to education, job training, housing, land, clean water, health care, and something maybe even more precious: dignity.

The August 15, 2004 referendum on Hugo Chávez's presidential mandate reaffirmed the support of the Venezuelan people for the government's social justice agenda. With a strong social base and a commitment to participatory democracy, the government, working together with social movements, is launching a wide range of innovative programs to fulfill the strong human rights agenda of the new popularly-approved Constitution.

Community-based preventative health care missions are making health care a tangible human right, causing infant mortality to plummet. Educational missions are putting millions more children into thousands of new schools, while high school and college scholarship programs keep kids reaching for new horizons. At the same time, Venezuelan elders are imbuing their citizenship with new meaning as over one million of them learn to read and write for the first time in the Literacy campaign. Women, Indigenous peoples, and Afro-Venezuelans are gaining power and rights, while a high-profile land reform campaign is sweeping the nation, giving poor farmers access to land and opportunities.

Venezuela is fast becoming a leader in regional integration in the hemisphere, particularly in the promotion of viable alternatives to corporate globalization and the "free trade" model. The proposed Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) would prioritize endogenous development, bilateral trade, and regional cooperation as a way to strengthen national economies. Venezuela is also working to create the first Latin American news channel, TeleSur, to offer an alternative to foreign corporate media, and the establishment of PetroAmérica— the first fully integrated, Latin American oil company.

These ambitious programs have distinguished Venezuela as one of the most progressive democracies in the world. Nonetheless, the Bush Administration -- which endorsed the coup d'etat against Venezuelan democracy in 2002 - continues in its efforts to discredit the government's legitimacy both at home and abroad. Likewise, political polarization has racked the country for years. What are the opposition's complaints, and what is their agenda in the post-Referendum period?

We invite you to travel to Venezuela with Global Exchange to participate in the World Social Forum Americas Chapter/2nd Social Forum of the Americas. Dig past the headlines and explore the changes occurring in Venezuela, Latin America and the hemisphere as a whole. Meet with human rights activists, rural agricultural workers, labor unions, community activists, journalists, and government as well as opposition figures, and see for yourself the unprecedented social change that is occurring at this historic time in Venezuela and the region. At the crossroads of the Andean mountains, the Caribbean coast, the Amazon rainforest, and the Amacuro River Delta, Venezuela's wondrous natural diversity and beauty combined with its visionary social justice agenda guarantee an exciting -- and unforgettable -- experience.

Program Highlights:

• Participate in the World Social Forum between January 24-29
• Connect and strategize with movements, communities, and leaders from across the hemisphere to build ties of solidarity with your own community at home.
• Learn about the successful models being created in Latin America to counter corporate globalization- hear from representatives of cooperatives, indigenous movements, farmers, women's movements, workers' movements, and more.
• Attend conferences, roundtables, testimonials, and workshops hosted by human rights organizations and activists.
• March together with tens of thousands from all over the world against empire, war, neoliberalism, and privatization- and for the creation of Another World.
• Travel to Venezuela's educational and health care social programs (the "missions") in urban areas and dialogue with participants and community leaders.
• Learn about the oil industry --Venezuela's key source of national income -- and Venezuela's role in economic regionalization, meeting with high-level representatives.
• Dialogue with religious leaders, opposition groups, labor leaders, women's organizations, human rights groups and Bolivarian circles.
• Find out about new programs for women under the new constitution, and perspectives of indigenous peoples and people of African descent in Venezuela.
• Discuss land reform with farmers in agricultural cooperatives who are developing according to their own needs, not the needs of the IMF and World Bank.

Cost: $1350

Price Includes:

• Double-room hotel accommodations; two meals per day; transportation to and from all programmed activities including possible domestic flight; guides
• and translators; a qualified trip leader; all program activities; reading materials; and honoraria to all host speakers, organizations and communities.
• NOT INCLUDED: International airfare, lunches, airport departure taxes, tips, and personal expenses are not included. Single rooms are available for an additional $200.

How to Register:

Please choose only 1 of the 4 possible thematic groups you wish to join, and mark your choice on your application; then contact the appropriate coordinator.

This trip will be as diverse as possible in terms of race, age and life experiences. We strongly urge people of color to apply. In some cases, a limited number of partial scholarships are available for low-income applicants.

Make your reservation online now!

Contact Zach with any questions about this trip, or call toll-free 1-800-497-1994 .