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	Venezuela looks to boost Social Spending by Jane Monahan BBC World News   Dec. 2005   Venezuela"s populist president, Hugo Chavez, is widely expected to spend more on his government"s social programmes, both at home and abroad.   The opportunity comes following his party"s landslide victory in parliamentary elections on December 4th, after opposition parties boycotted the elections and withdrew their candidates.   Just consider the government"s recently proposed 2006 budget, where a colossal 41% of total expenditure, or $16.6bn (£9.4bn), earmarked for social programmes, is now bound to sail through parliament unopposed.   Both Anna Lucia d"Emilio, the director of the United Nations Children"s Fund (Unicef) in Venezuela, and Ramon Mayorga, the representative of the Inter American Development Bank (IADB), all agree that the country"s social programmes are easily the biggest and most comprehensive in Latin America.   The target of the huge spending is Venezuela"s huge poverty problem, afflicting more than half the population, and the profound social and economic inequalities which cause it. It encompasses three domestic programmes, says Mr Mayorga, that "strike at the heart of exclusion and which are very successful and being done at a reasonable, sustainable cost".   One is Mision Robinson, a highly effective literacy campaign which began - along with most of the other social efforts - in 2003..   Another is Mercal, a discounted food-and- household- goods shopping project established in poor urban and rural areas where no supermarkets or general food stores existed before.   Thirdly, Mayorga says, there is Mision Barrio Adentro, which translates as "into the heart of the shanty-town" - a basic preventative medicine programme.   It was organised outside the bureacracy of the Health Ministry, and by 2005 was providing free primary health care and subsidised medicines to 60% of the population - or over 14 million people - who previously had no medical services at all.   That such a programme is popular is hardly surprising. Even surveys done by opponents of the Chavez government show almost 70% of the population considers this basic health care programme necessary, and the opposition admits it.   Critics have raised questions about the financial sustainability of Barrio Adentro, as well about the complications of integrating the country"s two parallel health services.   One key difference between the two, for instance, is that instead of using Venezuelan doctors - many of whom have little experience of dealing with the poor - Barrio Adentro is staffed by 14,000 Cuban medics who have experience working in developing countries.   However, Enrique Rodriguez, a high ranking official at the Ministry of Planning and Development, says rivalry between the health practitioners can be resolved. The government, he says, has started offering scholarships to train about 20,000 young Venezuelans in Cuba and Venezuela to replace the Cuban staff. It is also carrying out a simultaneous five-year reform of public hospital staff and services.   Co-operatives   But a more significant problem - both of integration and of financial sustainability - may be posed by Vuelvan Caras ("Turning Lives Around"), a social programme aimed at creating jobs and reducing unemployment.   It is "not so successful", admits the IADB"s Mr Mayorga. Co-operatives are a key part of the Chavez programme. Take a Vuelvan Caras centre built at an abandoned fuel depot in a poor western suburb of Caracas, where brightly painted murals of Venezuela"s independence war heroes near the entrance contrast with the drab low-rise cinder blocks and ramshackle structures of the city"s shanty town.   Here, a group of elderly people work in a vegetable co-operative; 220 unskilled women, many of them housewives who have never had a job before, work in a textile co-operative; and 139 men, many of whom have not had employment for a long time, work in a shoe co-operative.   The centre, now part of a huge network of 4,600 co-operatives of every size and activity throughout the country, is evidently providing temporary employment. But how long can the cooperatives last?   The question is an important one, critics of President Chavez say, the government has vowed the co-operatives must not be a burden on the State. But it has not yet made clear how the co-operatives, which have limited management and marketing skills and resources, will fit into a market economy and compete with private firms.   Still, the recovery of the economy following the ending of oil strikes in early 2003 means funding can come out of the traditional government budget - rather than, as was earlier the case, from the coffers of state oil firm PDVSA.   PDVSA had been the main funder during the pre-2003 recession. But even now it has contributed some $2bn in 2005 - about a quarter of its annual profits.   But for supporters of Venezuela"s far-reaching programmes, where the money comes from is only a small part of what is at stake. Rather, the key issue is what happens to the groups it serves.   "In the last analysis the sustainability of the programmes is not only about money," says Unicef"s Anna Lucia D"Emilio. "The government has resources. But it also depends on how empowered the disadvantaged groups become, how they view themselves and others."
	Bring back the politics of race harmony by Allan Patience, Michelle Grattan The Age Australia   Dec. 2005   "Howard got it wrong on racism, poll finds", by Jason Koutsoukis,   Voters have delivered a rebuff to Australian Prime Minister John Howard over his response to the Sydney riots, with three-quarters of people disagreeing with his claim that there is no underlying racism in Australia.   After a week of racially charged civil unrest in the Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla, 59 per cent of voters said the violence would harm Australia"s international reputation, and 75 per cent agreed there was underlying racism in Australia -challenging Mr Howard"s view that the unrest was essentially a law-and-order issue. Despite the majority of voters agreeing there was underlying racism, the poll also found that 81 per cent of voters supported the policy of multiculturalism.   Dec. 2005   "Bring back the politics of race harmony", by Allan Patience.   An intelligent response to the Sydney events would be the revival of one of Australia"s greatest achievements - multiculturalism.   The multiculturalism that began unfolding from the late 1960s was about people coming from different cultural backgrounds and learning to share their stories, to understand each other"s points of view, to sympathise with the hardships they faced in coming to Australia, and to discover the advantages of living in harmony.   This revolved around a clear obligation for everyone born here, or choosing to live here, to respect certain core Australian values. These include allegiance to the practices of democratic government and the rule of law, believing in a fair go, just recognition for essential and voluntary work, a wonderfully irreverent sense of humour, security within and outside the country, a preference for egalitarianism, and a commitment to the right of everyone to fair access to education, health, employment, and housing.   These core values were the foundations on which all sound multicultural policies were built in the 1970s and 1980s. This was especially true of government initiatives on ethnic welfare services, education, SBS radio and television, and the sadly defunct Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs.   At their best, these policies made Australia a world leader. For a time, Australia"s rates of inter-ethnic violence were among the lowest in the world and ethnic out-marriage rates were relatively high, leading to human links across cultural boundaries. The country was widely admired for its multicultural achievements.   What we failed to do was to establish how and why these achievements were so successful. Good multicultural researchers were hung out to dry by successive governments. A lot of excellent policy knowledge and experience was lost.   What multi-culturalists do understand is that cultural change, if it"s managed well, can be enriching as cultures rub up against each other. If people really want to be positive Australian citizens they must understand that all living cultures are always changing. Ethnic and religious leaders sometimes have to accept the responsibility to advocate positive change in their own communities.   It is also important to remind ourselves of what multiculturalism is not. It is not a defence of ethnic narcissism. Ethnic groups that believe they possess exclusive and unchanging identities superior to other cultures have no place in Australian society. Multiculturalism has never been an apology for patriarchy or for limiting human rights. It has nothing in common with mob violence, sexual predators, payback killings, religious intolerance, racial bigotry or acts of terrorism.   The architects of Australian multiculturalism warned against ethnic minorities being excluded from mainstream society because of economic, educational, language or cultural barriers.   If policies are not in place to stop this happening, people in the minority groups will soon be over-represented in poverty, unemployment, crime, and similar statistics.   Policies to counter structural inequality include the provision of English language and skills training programs, accessible translations and interpreting services, and well-targeted community welfare programs. They also require effective public education programs for the wider community so that mainstream citizens understand the problems minorities face and what to do to alleviate these problems.   The past decade has seen a sustained and deliberate white-anting of Australia"s multicultural achievements. The campaign has been fostered by neo-conservative elements in the Federal Government and inflamed by shock-jocks on talkback radio. The ugly consequences of these opportunistic politics are evident in the riots in Sydney"s south and west. If unchecked, the disturbances will spread.   There is a crimson thread of racism still running through Australia"s hard culture. There is no point in denying this. Our racism has to be confronted intelligently, through wise education programs, sensitive legislation, and a bill of rights. And it will never be dealt with until an acceptable apology for the stolen generation is offered and a treaty with Aborigines is finally signed and sealed.   What more needs to be done?   First, political parties must abandon electoral strategies that promote fear and loathing. Second, research has to be conducted into flawed and failed social policies that are aggravating the shutting out of ethnic minorities from mainstream Australian society, and new policies - some of which will need to be quite radical - will have to be implemented.   Third, a new Institute of Multicultural Affairs needs to be established, to conduct cogent public education programs about our multicultural achievements and how they can be sustained and progressed. Rather than be made to stand alone, it should be placed in a university that has the resources and community connections to ensure its survival.   Over the past decade there has been too much making scapegoats of minorities for cheap electoral advantage and macho political point-scoring. It has serious long-term implications for Australia"s survival as a coherent and decent society. The warning signals must be heeded.   (Professor Allan Patience is a visiting fellow in the research school of Pacific and Asian studies, Australian National University, Canberra).   Dec. 2005   "The terror of racism", by Michelle Grattan. (The Age)   The unfolding racial violence in Sydney has links to the fight against terrorism and complicates that challenge.   While debate has been going on for months about how to fight terrorism, this extraordinary and frightening racial rioting has crept up on the Australian community. Worried about the Muslim community harbouring terrorists, we"re suddenly reminded that both the Lebanese and wider Australian communities contain lawless and aggressive thugs who can terrorise ordinary citizens.   This must be seen as the latest blow in what has been a bad year for multiculturalism, a term John Howard recently admitted he didn"t particularly like. Howard, anxious to avoid highlighting the glaringly obvious central role of race in the riots, has sounded off-key in trying to explain the most ugly scenes in Australia for years.   "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country," he said on Monday.   Most Australians are not racist. But anyone denying the strands of racism that can be — and in this case have been —tapped into is rejecting history and current reality.   Malcolm Thomas, president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, believes Howard is trying to perpetuate a "myth". An element of racism is always there, Thomas says: it bubbles up periodically— "the maturity of the society is to be able to handle it".   One of the most shocking and startling images was of the Anglos wrapped in the Australian flag — a confrontingly nationalistic response to ethnic violence.   Yet Howard, always preoccupied with the Australian symbols, was not galvanised by this sinister side. Rather the opposite. "Look, I would never condemn people for being proud of the Australian flag," he said. It was a totally inappropriate comment on what had been a traducing of the flag, although he did go on to condemn "loutish behaviour, criminal behaviour".   Howard has several reasons for not wanting to get drawn on the race aspect. The race issue has haunted his political life. The Government"s border control policy exploited it. On some occasions, on the other hand, he"s been burned by it. In the late 1980s, his comment that Asian immigration should be slowed a little got himinto huge trouble. His abhorrence of political correctness and a desire not to alienate a section of voters made him slow to attack Pauline Hanson.   The riots also come at an embarrassing time internationally for Howard who, as he left yesterday to attend the East Asian summit, was anxious to play down the implications for Australia"s reputation. "Every country has incidents that don"t play well overseas," he said. It sounded almost as if he hadn"t come to grips with the seriousness of what"s happening.   Opposition leader, Kim Beazley also kept away from the race side when he insisted on Monday, "This is simply criminal behaviour, and that"s all there is to it."   What seemed a blinkered response drew a sharp comment from Labor backbencher Harry Quick, who observed that despite Australia espousing multiculturalism, "deep down we have this fear of people who are different from us". Yesterday Beazley"s spokesman said Beazley had no doubt that "hard-core racism was part of the equation" including neo-Nazi elements.   The Cronulla violence is not only about race. The clash between beach boys and those from Sydney"s west stretches back a long time. But the introduction of race to an old conflict is especially dangerous when fears about terrorism are putting new strains on relations between ethnic-religious communities and the wider community.   The riots should be a wake-up call to politicians, ethnic leaders, the community, and perhaps to the security organisations. ASIO is watching and listening to terrorist suspects, but what information is it getting about the far-right groups who seemed able to mobilise so many people so quickly?   The immediate reaction has been predictable: the NSW Government has already foreshadowed tougher police powers.   In the longer term, attempted solutions must involve parents, young people, community groups and their leaders and the question of how to promote desirable values and ensure acceptable behaviour.   There are challenges in particular for the leaders of the Lebanese community but questions over how much they can do. Labor federal MP Daryl Melham, of Lebanese extraction, believes the leaders don"t speak for youth and it"s necessary to drill down to encourage the young people themselves to look to positive role models and throw up good leaders from among their own ranks.   Despite being reluctant to concede overtly what a big part race has played in the riots, Howard has brought race into it when talking about the way forward.   We must, he said, reaffirm the non-discriminatory character of Australia"s immigration policy. We also needed to reaffirm our respect for freedom of religion in Australia but also "place greater emphasis on integration of people into the broader community and the avoidance of tribalism within our midst".   Yet much of what has been done this year in the name of the fight against terrorism has made minority communities feel more besieged and isolated, and has not contributed to a better feeling of belonging.   Terrorism doesn"t just blow up people and buildings; it destroys tolerance. The riots are not acts of terrorists but to the extent they blow away trust within the community, they have aided its cause..
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