(Tropicalism has often helped the poor. ) It is not for me to give myself the benefit of the doubt, he said. What was most inspiring, he told me, was the political shift he saw in Venezuela, the big economy, where people are now having a say in their destiny — not just in politics, but the economic direction of the country right now. Many political reformers see social revolution as impossible in the face of climate change, even if one does not think of the country as the most dire of those facing extreme circumstances. But even without social and ecological transformations taking place, Chavez says, Venezuelan society can change. So does a country that in recent years has been the dominant cause of a series of mass civil disobedience actions by the so-called opposition. The People's Democratic Party is part Venezuelan. It is not afraid to hold events there. Its members have been demanding that the government stop imposing a heavy-handed tax on imports of oil from the central government — a government policy that has led to a wave of protests in the last couple of months. And the group recently announced that it will hold elections later in the year. In recent years it has often been an attractive place to go for social and environmental reform.