|
|
Blog Feeds
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland
Lockdown Skeptics
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international edition
|
Venezuela and Colombia: Two brother peoples that are resisting the imperialist offensive together national |
miscellaneous |
news report
 Wednesday December 18, 2002 16:45 by Eduardo Farfan
 We are faced with the great challenge of becoming a country that advances toward socialism. If Simon Bolivar had to struggle against the monarchy to establish the liberal republic, we have to fight against that liberal republic to build our own model that fits our Latin American homeland's yearnings for freedom. Venezuela and Colombia: Two brother peoples that are resisting the imperialist offensive together Eduardo Farfan The US has drawn up an expansionist, war-mongering plan for South America embodied in the FTAA. One of its elements, Plan Colombia, places special emphasis on Venezuela and Colombia as countries of the Andean region that constitute an important obstacle to the imposition of its hegemony over the continent. That explains the direct intervention of the CIA and ambassador Shapiro in the furtive coup d’etat of last April 11, in which the alliance of Fedecamaras (business association), Primero Justicia, the ill-named Civil society, the bureaucratic and opportunist leadership of the CTV (Venezuelan Workers’ Central) and the most reactionary sector of the military forces imposed a fascist dictatorship for 48 hours. Thanks to the reaction of the patriotic sector, the military forces and the Bolivarian people, President Hugo Chavez Frias, who was elected with the largest number of votes ever in the last decades, was restored to power. Nevertheless, the conspiracy continues and preparations are underway to launch another coup or to go with an assassination, as they attempt to find an institutional way out, such as the referendum or resignation of the President. The decision of the US and the Creole oligarchy is to get rid of the government of Chavez since it disturbs their interests to have the presidential tribunal used to impregnate the people’s spirit with the ideas of Simon Bolivar and to call upon them to exercise their full sovereignty. On the other hand, let us not forget that Venezuela supplies the US with the petroleum needed for its development and is the leader of OPEC, so they need to have this vital resource secured in the hands of the bourgeois class, the guardian of their interests. We Venezuelans have been obliged to play a decisive role in the current phase of the imperialist expansion because we possess such rich petroleum deposits, invaluable bioenergetic resources in the Amazonia, are the neighbors of Colombia and Cuba, and have a Constitution that prohibits the installation of foreign bases in our territory or use of our airspace for military actions and declares our territory a zone of peace. This of course forbids any possibility of an attack being launched, legally, from our soil against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) or the National Liberation Army (ELN) or Cuba, which impedes the smooth application of Plan Colombia that the empire needs. As Simon Bolivar said, “Our homeland is America” and “the US seems to be destined by Providence to plague America, in the name of freedom, with hunger and misery.” In the popular movement we are clear that only a political alliance of those who have always been excluded, armed with a program, a plan of struggle and our own, autonomous political project, will be capable of defeating the counterrevolution. This is what we strive for in our daily work with the communities that are organized. While the working class remains held hostage by the CTV clique, the popular movement in the cities and the campesinos are on the offensive, and it is there that the enemy has his eyes fixed in the present juncture, particularly on the Bolivarian Circles which are multiple, diverse and various expressions of the people that in every neighborhood are for the defence and deepening of this process of democratic changes. After the events of April 11, we have proof of what awaits us if the right returns to power. Our people were assassinated in the streets of Caracas, the leaders of the popular movement were persecuted, harassed, some were taken prisoner, others tortured, and a big wave of police raids was unleashed all around the city. We have learned the lesson. We have revolutionary reserves for a long resistance because the problem is not if Chavez goes or if he stays; the problem is that the entire poor, marginalized, excluded people who in a short time have raised their level of political consciousness and are prepared to stake their lives because there is no turning back. The president must feel very alone. He was betrayed by the military men who had his closest confidence, his Fifth Republic Movement, with a few exceptions, were caught in Miquelena’s nets, his directors are repeating the bureaucratic, patronage-based and corrupt practices of Puntofijismo, and have separated themselves completely from the people and their interests. If Chavez does not break through that cloud which keeps him from seeing and hearing the people, and really get into sync with them, he will be lost. The ones closet to him are opportunists who will jump ship when the situation gets complicated and will be the first to negotiate his head. We believe the hour has arrived for the Latin American peoples and particularly the people of Venezuela, because what happens to us here will be critical for the brother Colombian people, and what happens there will also have repercussions here; there is no other alternative but to develop joint plans and programs, convert our borders into zones of revolutionary Bolivarianism. And what is more, it is already clear that in order to hit Cuba, that strategic alliance of evil will first have to bring down Venezuela and the insurgent forces of Colombia. It is essential to rescue the spirit of popular rebellion and build the foundations of a true popular power with a sense of political and geographic territoriality, where the alternative communications media are the fundamental instrument for the organization and education of the people. Even if from the 11th to the 14th of last April our people threw themselves spontaneously and multitudinously into the streets without anything happening to them since their intervention led to the coup being overturned, we know that the next time the fascists are going to shoot and we want to avoid as many losses as we can. The hope of the Bolivarian revolution is not in the parties that are with the President, nor in the patriotic sector of the armed forces, which are without a doubt important. The real actor is the organized people where there exists true leadership that is for structural changes, those for which the Bolivarian Constitution is not an end but an instrument for deepening this process of democratic change which, until April 11 had been peaceful. We are faced with the great challenge of becoming a country that advances toward socialism. If Simon Bolivar had to struggle against the monarchy to establish the liberal republic, we have to fight against that liberal republic to build our own model that fits our Latin American homeland's yearnings for freedom. As never before there is a space in Venezuela for freedom; no one is persecuted for publicly expressing their views. The enemy has taken it upon himself to accelerate the contradictions. Our great weakness is that there does not exist clear leadership other than that of President Chavez and the endeavors at unity in the bosom of the people are still very fragile. We are sure that those new leaders will appear in the midst of the struggle to guide our ship to a secure port. Little by little we will build the necessary instruments.
|
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (13 of 13)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13http://www.espacioautogestionario.com/
aporrea.org have been giving us feed they are now offline.
they produced the feed of activists attempting to protect the TV buildings from attack on the 6th day of the General Strike.
Anarchist internet free radio is still working.
Globavision has moved hq.
bad TV anyway.
The FARC are just narco terrorists and are not related to to the organised Working Class. They are no different from the right wingers or the Army.
Chavez is just another smart talking Capitalist. Hes had a falling out with some. But its just a battle between different gangs of thieves. The Trade Unions are acting to defend their members. Chavez has only the support of the Lumpen elements.
In both countries only a mass Workers Party based on the unions and opposed to terrorism can offer a solution.
I think to classify Chavez as 'another thief' would be wrong. We should have no illusions in him whatsoever, he is tied to capitalism and is a reformist unable to solve the contradictions in capitalism. He was however elected by people expecting great things from him and has been pushed to the left to a certain extent. But ultimatly he has been unwilling to break with capitalism and does show the need for a mass party of workers and oppressed that would be armed with a socialist programme. These populist leaders that have been elected all over latin america will in all likelihood sell out eventually, but they are likely to mobilise workers so are not just another bunch of gangsters.
delete the mindless rant by this Joffee character who is pissing on the poor of South America and makes everybody on this board look bad.
tomorrow and the next day, millions of Venezuelans will ponder what to do if the coup d´etat goes more overt and succeeds.
They know they are at the centre of an Oil dispute and control of cashcrop Drug production.
I´m not sure if they know they are the lumpen proleteriat. The argenitine trade unionist I had dinner with last week, said "I´m a red, a red till the day I die, but YoMango [the anarchists] did more immediately to help put food in mouths".
So go on worrying about the eternal souls of the lumpen proleteriat, and go on re-reading Marx to Engels 133 years ago, this year, then try and explain in Español to populations of over 100 million people how wrong they are to try and feed themselves and their children in small groups co-operating in a revisionist petty bourgois misled lumpen proleterain way.
Poor bastards how we anarchists mislead them.
don´t they know we cheat them of their place in Marxist utopia?
explain to them who is narco-terrorist and there are many and who are true revolutionary brethren?
I´ll gladly give you a few contact addresses if you like.
It's a sad world these days. The US foreign policy is a disaster. But elsewhere it's bad too.
Although I think Chavez might have meant well, his incompetence and inability to work with others has put ruined his chance to acomplish any change. If Chavez really cared about the fate of his country, he would call for new elections.
Furthermore, all of the militias in Colombia are bad whether it is AUC, Army, ELN, or FARC. However to defend the FARC is incomprehensible. They are in the business of developing anarchy, not socialism.
Also, most Colombians I know wouldn't call Venezuelans their brothers. Last time I checked their seems to be a fair amount of animosity between the two countries. Especially since Chavez gives tacit support to the FARC.
What is needed are realistic policies that will improve the standard of living for all. This is not an overnight process and I think it's irresponsible of populist leaders to tell their constituents that they can right all the wrongs of the past. Everytime this has been tried it has made matters worse. The world needs more center left governments that care about economic growth while developing opportunities for the working classes.
The point isn't if you like Chavez or not but if you are happy to see him overthrown so that US imperialism dominates in South America. I know nothing of FARC but I will find out about them from reputable sources before I use a label like Narco terrorists to describe them. Stop using Bushese and make your own mind up, and remember, most of us in Ireland grew up being told about the nasty terrorists in NI. The very people who are now in Government in NI.
The United States government has asked the government of Venezuela to scrap
its constitution and hold elections ahead of schedule, because a minority of
persons oppose the Chavez government. The U.S. president was elected by a
minority, not a majority as in the case of Chavez. Does this mean that the
United States government will agree to hold presidential elections before
2004?
The United States government has warned of the danger of 'violence' if the
'strike' continues. But doesn't their support for the 'strike' encourage it
to continue? Isn't the 'strike' continuing now mainly in the hope that it
will get support from outside Venezuela? Wouldn't it work better to lessen
the 'danger of violence' if the U.S. government were to issue a statement
saying "We will not interfere in the affairs of Venezuela to support any
internal opposition. They had better wait until August and use the recall
provision."?
Has the money sent to the organizations which oppose Chavez by the U.S.
government through the Endowment for Democracy caused the crisis, and the
'danger of violence', to diminish or to increase?
The United States government apparently takes the position that it is a
violation of human rights for the government of Venezuela to use troops to
keep the oil industry functioning. Why is this consistent with the
readiness of the U.S. government to use troops to keep the Pacific coast
ports open during the recent dispute with the ILWU?
The United States government apparently believes that the 'public interest'
is no justification for using governmental force against the 'strike' in
Venezuela. How does this square with the use of governmental force to
prevent a transit strike in New York City?
The "International Confederation of Free Trade Unions" issued a joint
statement with the "International Employers' Organization" supporting the
"strike" and the efforts of the OAS "mediator". Can we expect a similar
joint statement, condemning the outlawing of the New York transit strike,
and encouraging the OAS to mediate between the transit workers and the city
of New York?
If the transit workers actually do go on strike, does this mean that Bush
will call for early elections for mayor of New York City in order to resolve
the crisis?
The U.S. government apparently believes that the government of Venezuela has
no right to fire executives of the government-owned petroleum enterprise,
even if they sabotage its operations in order to force the resignation of
the president. Would they have applied the same principle if appointees of
the Clinton administration had shut down the U.S. Postal Service, the
Federal Aviation Administration, or other similar operations, in an effort
to force Bush's early resignation?
Does the Bush administration's respect for the labor union rights of
managers of the Venezuelan petroleum industry mean that they are going to
rethink the portions of the Homeland Security Act which abrogate the labor
union rights of U.S. federal employees?
The Chavez government has allowed the opposition to occupy a square in
Caracas without a permit on a 24-hour-a-day basis for some weeks now. The
U.S. government apparently thinks that the Chavez government has not yet
done enough to guarantee the rights of free expression of these forces, even
though they participated in the overthrow of the government earlier this
year and kidnapped and imprisoned the president. I assume this means that
if anti-war forces in the U.S. wish to take over a portion of the Mall in
Washington for 24 hours a day, without a permit, the Bush administration
will let us do it, and not come up with some phony 'national security'
concerns? After all, we have no record of having overthrown him.
Sorry I ahven't posted much news about Colombia lately, but things have
been moving too quickly, and in a bad direction.
First, the latest wave of bombs in Bogota is bound to get media
attention in the rest of the world. Three bombs have gone off - a letter
bomb which injured an Uribista Senator (and close relative of a former
President of Colombia), a big car bomb in a shopping center parking lot
(apparently aimed at a small enighborhood police station) which injured
about 60 people, and a big bomb on the 30th floor of the swankest hotel
in town - apparently aimed at a group of important politicos dining there.
These bombs have been attributed to the FARC by the government, which
has formed a new elite task force to hunt down FARC militias in Bogota.
The result is the biggest yet wave of raids on the homes and offices of
people suspected of being related to the FARC - most of those places are
in some way related to the Commmunist Party - which as everyone on this
list should know has no organizational connection with the FARC.
As far as I know the FARC has not taken - nor denied - responsibillity
for the bombs.
But the bombings take place in an atmosphere of a major government
offensive aimed - at least in appearance - at the FARC. This offensive
includes the arrest of the memebers of one town government - Calamar -
for allegedly being secret members of the FARC and of something called
the 'Clandestine Communist Party'. Whether such an organization really
exists, or is a figment of the government's witchhunting imagination, is
anone's guess at this point. One thing that is clear, is that those
arrested in Calamar were loved, respected, and supported by the people
of the town.
Another thing that is clear, is that the town is a strategic riverport
in the Eastern llanos.
Other arrests of elected and appointed government officials for having
alleged linnks to the FARC are taking place in many parts of the country.
Related to this is the recent hijacking of the teacher's union (FECODE)
and the national labor federation (CUT) by the Liberal Party. Until
earlier this year both were led by a left wing alliance centered on the
Communist Party. In recent elections the left was ousted by an alliance
of Uribistas and Serpistas. Those elections were characterised by
demoralization among sectors of the rank and file, voter fraud -
especially in areas controlled by the paramilitaries, and armed
intimidation fo union members, and intervention by the international arm
of the AFL-CIO in support of the Liberal/paramilitray alliance.
The loss by the left of the leadership of the unions here is a major
blow which will - at least in the short run -debiliate any mass
opposition to Uribe's dictatorial agenda.
This is very important in many ways. Union organizational resources can
not be used to moblize mass demonstrations against the serious
violations of legal rights taking place. Nor can they be used to
mobilize against the reactionary referendum slowly winding its way
towards the ballot box. Nor can union legal defense funds be used to
defend left wing union leaders against arrest and prosecution int he
raids now taking place. Not to mention denying union resources from the
physical protection of left wing leaders from assassination.
How closely these events are connected with events in Venezuela is an
interesting question. But the links are close in any case.
The left in the unions here is very Chavista and Bolivariano. People see
Chavez's stand against the mass movement of the bourgoiesie in
Venezuela as a heroic ray of hope.
What is going to happen next in Venezuela is anybody's guess, but my
guess is that Chavez will win - at least in the short run.
One problem the Venezuelan bourgeoisie (and witht hem the Colombian
bourgeoisie and behind both of them the State DEpartment) has is that
there is no body to replace Chavez. El Tiempo just ran the latest polls
from Venezuela which show Chavez beating any candidate the opposition
runs against him by at least a two to one margin if elections were held
today.
This is bad news for a coup that pretends to be 'democratic.'
The Socialist Party shits on another lot of oppressed people. I suppose there are progressive elements among AUC?
Actually the AUC does have the support of fundamentalist protestant sects! That and the supposed FARC links with the IRA probably explains the SPs attack on FARC.
The attack on Chavez and the description of ordinary working class people as lumpen shows just how irrelevant the CWI are.
as always is the problem, it's imperialism and the imperialism. The empire of lies.
Viva FARC and the continental Bolivarian Revolution.