Venezuela

Since watching "The Revolution will not be Televised" I have had an interest in this country, which seems from accounts by international observers, to be the best example of a democracy anywhere in the world today!

1. The Revolution will not be Televised - 75 mins
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was elected to the presidency in 1998. His platform called for a wholesale rejection of globalization and what he called the "savage project of neo-liberalism" - which had been embraced by President Carlos Andres Perez - to be replaced with a radical nationalism that appealed to the country's impoverished majority. So it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that a coup was engineered by supporters of past president Carlos Andres Perez. The good fortune of the Irish filmmakers who were in the country making a documentary on Chavez meant that the entire process, as recorded in interviews and footage from both sides (something the country's media wasnt adept at) gave a clear picture of how the coup was orchestrated.

2. The World Social Forum - 24 mins
Four short clips filmed at the recent World Social Forum in Caracas, describe both sides of the story, and sum up in an intelligent and insightful manner.

• For Chavez
• Against Chavez
• Into the Barrio (ghetto)
• Summing up