From Caracas, our correspondent Belen de los Santos talks exclusively with Atul Chandra, researcher of the Tricontinental Institute about the meeting of Social Movements that is taking place at the ALBA House prior to the ALBA Summit to be held tomorrow, Saturday 14th. teleSUR
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00:00And we are joined now by Atul Chandra.
00:02He comes from India and is from the Tri-Continental Institute.
00:06So thank you for joining us in Telusur English.
00:09And I would like to start by asking, what is the relevance?
00:13What is the importance of this installment
00:16of the Social Movement Council that is happening today?
00:19And why come here to participate at this regional mechanism?
00:24Thanks to Telusur first.
00:26See, I mean, for me, it's a very interesting sort
00:29of mechanism, which they are talking about.
00:31I have seen people coming out of social movements,
00:35becoming leaders, becoming very successful politicians.
00:38And also, when I say this, I'm not
00:40saying that they have not set up, I would say,
00:43very inclusive social policies.
00:46But I never saw, I mean, this is when they became.
00:50They were part of the movement, then
00:52they become very successful politicians.
00:54But I've never seen a council where the social movements
00:58directly come and interact with the government.
01:00And for example, when these social movements directly
01:05come and talk, they are very well, if you look at it,
01:08they are the voices of the people on the ground.
01:10They are the voices of the larger masses
01:13and transcending boundaries.
01:15It's not only something which is, let's say,
01:18something of Venezuela, but something
01:20which is transcending boundaries in Latin America.
01:23And I think that's very, very interesting.
01:25That's what I think this experiment,
01:28I would really like to see in our part of the world,
01:31where people from the ground are part of that,
01:35I would say, mechanism, the democratic setup,
01:39where they are able to express their concerns
01:43with regard to anything, be it environment,
01:45be it labor movement, be it women movement,
01:49which affects their day-to-day life, health, education.
01:52And they are able to formulate policies directly
01:57by talking, by discussion, by interventions
01:59with the government.
02:01And I think this makes it very special.
02:03This experiment, I have never seen,
02:07and I've never heard about it before,
02:09but this is something which, for me, it's very interesting,
02:12where there is a space directly for the movements
02:15to be part of the, one of the part of the government
02:19where they are able to directly bring to the table
02:22their concerns, and I think that's interesting.
02:24I mean, we see in our part of the world,
02:26all the organizations,
02:29they have to come up with protest, with their movements,
02:33and then a delegation goes,
02:35and then they raise their demands.
02:37That's how we function.
02:38But have you ever thought where they are already part of it
02:43in the state machinery, in the government machinery,
02:47where they are heard not only when they are protesting,
02:50but also when the politics.
02:57They say that they formulate policies for the people,
03:01but they have to literally hear the people
03:04who are on the ground, people who are representing
03:06those large masses, I would say.