PHOTOS: Venezuelan Women March for Peace in Caracas

[polly7]

The day before the march, Andreína Tarazón, Minister of Women's Affairs and Gender Equality in Venezuela, invited women to join the demonstration:

"We march to demand an end to vandalism and violence, and [to demand] respect for the Constitution."

You can see more photos, reports and opinions under the hashtags #MujeresPorLaPaz (Women for peace) and #MujeresContraElFacismo (Women against fascism)

Protesters who oppose the government also denounced violence during demonstrations held that same day. You can read more about the opposing marches under the hashtag #22F.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/02/25/photos-venezuelan-women-march-for-peace-in-caracas/

[Judi Lynn]

1. These images are excellent. Thanks for sharing these with DU'ers. n/t

[sabrina 1]

2. Chavez did so much for the women of Venezuela. I remember seeing a wonderful

documentary about his goals and his accomplishments for his country. Women were asked why they had become involved in politics when apparently, they had not done so before. Several responded that they had not thought they were important enough to be able to understand or have any effect on politics. But Chavez, they said, had encouraged them to learn about their government. He had made it possible for them, many older who were illiterate, to learn to read and that once they began reading, they had learned so much.

He was wise to focus on education, not just on the young, but on those who had never had a chance to even learn to read. He understood that it would be much more difficult to return to the past where a wealthy few owned everything and kept them in poverty if they had confidence in their own worth as citizens.

I hope he had time to do enough to save Venezuela from the Right Wing oligarchs who are always in the wings, waiting to grab it all again with the help of their Western backers.

These photos give me hope that he did. Beautiful, it may be the women of Venezuela who save it.

[polly7]

3. Yes, they really loved him, didn't they.

They were included from the start as a loud and important voice. I hate to even imagine how much they'd lose with a right-wing repressive gov't bent on turning back time.

But we've seen just how far backwards women's rights have gone in Iraq and so many other places. People (and gov'ts) need to leave the democratic process in Venezuela ALONE and give policies meant to improve the lives of everyone a chance. Of course, if those policies work, right-wing oligarchs and corporate monsters lose.

[sabrina 1]

4. You are correct, just look at Iraq or Libya eg, to see how women's rights fare once these coups

take place. They lose more than the civil rights they had, the rapes and murders are an outrage, yet these Western Imperialists who often USE women's rights to justify their 'interventions', (remember Bush on the women of Afghanistan eg) seem to have no problem seeing them reduced to zero as women AFTER they accomplish their goals.