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Bulletins and News Discussion from July 24th to July 30th, 2023 - Venezuela's 4,600,000th House

The Great Housing Mission of Venezuela, launched in 2011 by Hugo Chavez, is the most ambitious housing project in the country's history. This week, the 4,600,000th house was built, with a goal for 5 million homes by 2024 and beyond. The program has built 1,255 residential complexes on a total of 9,837 hectares, an area equivalent to six times the Swiss city of Geneva.

The program additionally provides social infrastructure like schools, subsidized food markets, and recreational and green spaces. Over 70% of constructions are self-managed by communities, with financial and logistics support from the government. Communities also provide each other with materials - from each according to their supplies, to each according to their needs. Russian, Chinese, and Belarusian companies have helped supply the program over the years.

In Antímano Parish in southwestern Caracas, a group of predominantly women came together in 2015 and trained in construction, cleared land, and then built apartments while under the pressure of food and materials shortages and electricity blackouts due to the United States' sanctions campaign.

Claudia Tisoy, a mother and self-trained plumber, said “This goes beyond building homes for our families, we are also building the future of our country, with women leading the way. This is what the socialist horizon is all about.”VA


Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.

This week's first update is here in the comments.

This week's second update is here in the comments.

This week's third update is here in the comments.

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719 comments
  • Mines are fucking terrifying

    • For a while I worked with a Sudanese guy via a refugee org, who'd lost all of one leg and most of the other to one. He told me about it over coffee about six weeks into getting to know him. It was legit horrifying, but in the moment you're just trying to focus on listening, being supportive etc. The worst bit though was him explaining that he was "lucky" because (CW: Gore) ::: spoiler spoiler it was his friend right next to him that detonated it. A second later he was on the ground, dazed, covered in blood and worse all over his body and face. He hadn't realised he'd lost a leg yet, but thought he got the full blast because of all the blood. But it was mostly what was left of his friend. :::

      I had pretty regular nightmares for about two months after that conversation.

      • On the latest Radio War Nerd episode, they were talking about mines and they quoted something about the American Civil War that was basically the men would charge into musket fire with no worry, but would be terrified in a minefield.

        Your story made me further realize how Ukraine is going to have to deal with that for decades. Russia at very least help remove these mines (yes NATO should help, but Russia knows where they are). I have to ask, is that Sudanese guy doing alright now?

        • I haven't listened to that one yet, in part because stuff about mines has always had a pretty visceral effect on me since being told that experience in particular. I'll get around to it when I'm not sick (got flu, maybe Covid at the moment and a bit sorry for myself).

          I'm not in touch with the guy anymore. We got him through the hellish asylum process though, a small flat, part time job etc. Last I heard from him was a phone call a year or two later saying thanks and that he was moving down the country to live with someone he knew from home who had recently come over on a student visa. So I hope he's still doing well.

          I can't say for sure though as it was probably ten years ago when I was doing that one-to-one support stuff with refugees. I eventually had to take a step back partly due to work commitments and partly for my own mental health, plus they got some more qualified staff (my only training for anything like that was the two week course from when I volunteered for Samaritans, a UK suicide hotline effectively). I still help them out when I can in other ways though.

    • The floor is lava 5kg of TNT

    • I used to work in a mine ama

719 comments