Namaskar.

The Prout Research Institute of Venezuela is offering an intensive course three times in December and January, called, "Venezuelan Reality and Tools to Change the World". The dates are:
December 6-19 2009
December 25 - Jan. 3 2010
January 9-24 2010

Revolutionary changes are underway in Venezuelan society. As Noam Chomsky has written: "During the past decade, Latin America has become the most exciting region of the world. The dynamic has very largely flowed from Caracas, with the election of a leftist president dedicated to using Venezuela's rich resources for the benefit of the population rather than for wealthy and privileged at home and abroad..."

President Hugo Chávez is calling for a Socialism for the 21st Century, but he admits he doesn't know what that means. Universal health care, subsidized food, free university education, houses for the homeless, participatory planning councils and 66,000 functioning cooperatives are suddenly transforming the country. Yet crime, corruption, pollution, and greed are eating away at social progress and feeding the opposition's accusations of dictatorship and ruin.

The Prout Research Institute of Venezuela announces this course to see and experience the remarkable changes underway and listen to both sides of the debate. We will visit projects in the city and countryside, meet with leaders and analyze government responses to social problems that plague the entire world. Using the Progressive Utilization Theory (Prout), which its founder, P:R. Sarkar, called "Progressive Socialism," we will compare ideal policies that can practically solve these problems.

Of course the challenge is not just to understand the world, but to change it. We offer a wide array of techniques and skills for social change, including startling discussion questions, cooperative games, street theater, community listening and interviewing, how to use the media and create eye-catching images, slogans, thought exhibitions and posters to impact large numbers of people.

To change the world, we also have to change ourselves. We have to be the change we want to see, "to walk our talk." Prout lifestyle including meditation, yoga and vegetarian diet give tremendous clarity of mind and strength of will that all activists need.

Of course the climate year-round is tropical. For more information and to see photos of past training courses, see: http://www.priven.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=168

Immediately following each Prout course there will be an optional 4-day Work camp at Centro Madre Master Unit on sustainable agriculture, Afro-Venezuelan culture and community service:
Dec. 20-23 2009
Jan. 3-6 2010
Jan. 24-28 2010

Centro Madre in San Jose de Barlovento is a 2-hour drive from Caracas. The governmental agricultural institute(CIARA) recently inspected the project and rated it excellent, a national model of small scale sustainable agriculture, and described it as one of the best projects that they have visited. Groups come every week to to see and learn from this Master Unit enterprise. The farm, which is still in the beginning stages, has vegetables, root crops, flowers, medicinal plants, fruits, compost, a seed bank, nursery, bee-keeping, fish ponds, egg-laying hens and several cottage industries including honey extraction, medicinal herb processing, fruit drying and packaging. Participants will see and learn about each part, and contribute with their work.

Barlovento, where Centro Madre is located, is the heart of the Afro-Venezuelan people and culture. The group will visit a traditional cacao plantation and hear rich oral stories of how the people survived and resisted slavery and racism, and how their music, dance and art have helped strengthen them.

For 10 years Centro Madre has been serving five nearby villages with educational and cultural programs and women's empowerment projets. During the camps, the group can visit the villages if we can positively contribute to the communities. Depending on your creative talents, abilities and skills, we can do simple workshops that could include, for example, reading a story (in Spanish), handicrafts, singing, theater, games, magic tricks, dance, arts, juggling, or even a cooking class. Your contribution to such an "educational talent show" can enrich the lives of both children and adults who have very little contact with outsiders.

Baseball is the national sport of Venezuela. Children and adults love to play, but very few people in the villages have gloves, a bat or other equipment. If you can bring some gloves or a bat that you could donate, we could also hold an international baseball game for fun. We also have a popular Children's Reading Program and lending library, so we also request donations of childrens books in Spanish.

The Caribbean Sea is just 15 minutes away from Centrol Madre, by car, and we plan on taking you there for an afternoon, so bring your swimsuit!

For more information, see: http://www.priven.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=169

We will continue to offer this course at other times next year, so contact us if you are interested in a later time.

Internships and staff positions at the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela are also available. See www.priven.org for more information.

Brotherly.
Dada Maheshvarananda
Instituto Venezolano de Investigación de Prout
Prout Research Institute of Venezuela
www.ve.prout.org
www.aftercapitalism.org
Tel. (58)-212-886-2323, 238-8665,
cel. (58)-416-321-1217
Skype: dadamaheshvarananda

Founding meeting of Hljomalind cooperative will be held on Sunday,
Sept. 27th, at 20:00 in Kaffi Hljómalind, Laugavegi 23. Open to all
those who want to be founding members and work for the prosperity of
the coop.

Stofnfundur Samvinnufélagsins Hljómalind verður haldinn sunudaginn 27.
september kl. 20:00 á Kaffi Hljómalind, Laugavegi 23. Fundurinn er
opinn öllum sem vilja vera stofnmeðlimir og vinna að framgangi
félagsins.
 

Namaskar
Staðsetning hugleiðsluhelgarinnar hefur verið færð yfir á stærri og betri stað. Sá staður heitir Vindáshlíð og er í innan við 30 mínútna akstursfjarlægð frá borginni.

Namaskar
The location of the meditation weekend has been moved to a bigger and better housing. It will be at Vindáshlíð which is around 30 minutes drive from Reykjavík.