Global Health Challenges in Times of COVID-19 Webinar series

Supporting a right to health in Venezuela, November 19, 12 PM - 1:15 PM

Join Zoom Meeting: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92742039980?pwd=WDZNWjQzdlJiRVIxcDFDVUoyYm1LUT09

Meeting ID: 927 4203 9980

Password: 871943

 

Description

This webinar will address the struggle for a right to health in Venezuela in its geopolitical context, focusing on policy responses to COVID-19. Since the launch of the New World Order in WWII, the Afro-Caribbean nation of Venezuela was considered a model of Western-style liberal democracy, one that granted a right to vote yet in practice suppressed the economic, social, cultural, and even political participation of most Venezuelans in their own society. Since 1999, this majority has organized to voice and enact its will through a revolutionary Constitution, supporting a range of public policies that have translated into millions enjoying for the first time in the country’s history a right to health, education, food, housing, work, and leisure. Even with the challenges of COVID-19 and extremely hostile critics - local opposition, local and international media, and (so-called) international community, the struggle for dignity in Venezuela continues.

The speakers, experienced academics, policy analysts, media critics, and activists, will offer attendees a perspective that departs from that in the mainstream. This perspective should help attendees dig beneath the surface of calls to ‘restore democracy’ in Venezuela as well as to understand the relationship between the struggle for a right to health and justice in Venezuela and in Canada.

This is one in a series of webinars showcasing global health responses to COVID-19 in selected countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. It is sponsored by the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health.

 

Speakers’ bios

• Maria Paez Victor is a Venezuelan born sociologist living in Canada. She has twenty years of national and international experience in policy analysis with particular focus in the areas of health and energy.  She is an active member of the Canadian Latin American community.
• Justin Podur is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. In addition to his environmental research, Justin has developed an academic research program on political conflicts, focused on selected parts of the world, including Venezuela, where he worked as a journalist. He authored and contributed to books on Haiti, Rwanda, Congo, Palestine, and Afghanistan. His latest book is Extraordinary Threat, co-authored with Joe Emersberger.

Suggested readings and viewings

• Victor Paez, M. (2021). Do Canadians know? Counterpunch. October 2
• Podur, J., & Emersberger, J. (2021). Extraordinary Threat: The U.S. Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela. Monthly Review Press.
• Chaufan, C., & Paez Victor, M. (2020). The Violence of Non-Violence: Canadian Sanctions Policy in Times of Covid-19. Orinoco Tribune, May 1.

Further information

• Alliance for Global Justice https://afgj.org/
• Orinoco Tribune https://orinocotribune.com/

Contact the organizer Prof. Claudia Chaufan ([log in to unmask]) for further information on the Webinar Series and Dr. Lisa Endersby ([log in to unmask]) for pedagogical support and advice on including the series as part of your course as an opportunity for experiential education and internationalization.  

 

 

Kathy Thomas | Executive Assistant to the Dean | Tel. 416-736-5031 | Email. [log in to unmask] | York University 

 4700 Keele St. Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Office. 443 Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Bldg.

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