Hollywood star of Lethal Weapon fame, DANNY GLOVER, has been a political activist since the 60s. In January he was invited to Venezuela as a Board member of TransAfrica Forum to celebrate Dr Martin Luther King's birthday. He was also in Haiti on the 200th anniversary of the slaves' revolution which won their freedom, and has been active in opposing the coup which removed the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"The face of Venezuela is a face where 60% of the country are Afro-descendents. We visited barrios, schools, cinemas . . . We were profoundly affected by our discussions with those who are part of unions, the literacy programme, the shanty town programme which provides medical services ... We were there to bear witness to a process, an extraordinary process, a passionate process, a process where real true participatory democracy exists and we were proud to be a part."

Andaiye (Guyana) and Margaret Prescod (Barbados/Los Angeles and host on Pacifica Radio) Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike will report on a women’s initiative in the Caribbean to support grassroots Haitian people.

A benefit appearance for the Global Women's Strike Bolivarian Circle.
Tel (020) 7482 2496, email:  womenstrike8m@server101.com www.globalwomenstrike.net

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The US kidnapped Haiti's elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide at gunpoint. Many people are concerned about attempts against another democratically elected president - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Danny Glover, who recently returned from visits to both countries, will give his view of what he saw.

The Global Women's Strike has been working with grassroots women in Haiti, Venezuela and other Caribbean countries, who are opposing the coup in Haiti and supporting, defending and spreading news of the achievements of the peaceful and democratic revolution in Venezuela and women's key involvement in it.

'The coup in Haiti is the latest action in the 200-year effort by the colonial powers, including the US, to defeat the struggle for freedom of Black people of Haiti and to prevent them from serving as an inspiration to others - which the colonial powers first acknowledged with the words of Napoleon: "The freedom of the Negroes, if recognized in St. Domingue [Haiti's name then] and legalised by France, would at all times be a rallying point for freedom-seekers of the New World." Napoleon sent in the largest force ever to cross the Atlantic up to then, but he was defeated. The Haitian people also inflicted military defeat on Britain and Spain.' Caribbean Women's statement in support of the Haitian people, 2 March 2004. (Full statement www.globalwomenstrike.net )

The GWS recently coordinated the six-city US speaking tour of Nora Castañeda, President of Venezuela's Women's Development Bank (Banmujer), who explained how they are "creating a caring economy, an economy at the service of human beings, not human beings at the service of the economy". Key to that process is Article 88 of the new Constitution which recognizes housework as economically productive, entitling housewives to social security - pensions, health care, land, decent housing, quality education, training. Danny Glover was a sponsor of that tour and spoke at the event in San Francisco.

Venezuela - A 21st Century Revolution, the documentary made by the GWS has clips of Nora Castañeda, grassroots co-operatives funded by Banmujer, the oil workers union and President Chavez. The President was returned to power after two days by the millions who took to the streets led by women from the poorest areas and who asked soldiers to stay loyal to their President.

The GWS has recently initiated Early Day Motion 854 tabled by MP John McDonnell in defence of the sovereignty of Venezuela which is transforming its society under the shadow of US intervention.