Venezuela 'a model for the world'

BRISBANE — The radical changes in Venezuela are a "strong example for Latin America, and the entire world", renowned writer Tariq Ali told an audience of 400 people at the University of Queensland on May 30.

Ali is touring Australia on the topic "Globalisation and democracy after Iraq". His Brisbane meeting was co-sponsored by Just Peace, Avid Reader Bookshop, the Brisbane Social Forum and the National Tertiary Education Union.

Holding up Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution as an example, he said that "neoliberalism can be combatted by organised grassroots power".

Ali noted that the US was overstretched with its military occupation of Iraq, which was constraining Washington's ability to attack Venezuela.

"The only serious solution to the situation of savage chaos brought about in Iraq by the US is to get out", he said, arguing that opponents of the war in Iraq must recognise "the paramount right of the Iraqi people to resist occupation, even if some of the methods used don't satisfy everyone in the West".

"Who is going to change the world?" he asked in conclusion. "Ordinary people like you and me. This globalisation from above will be answered by the globalisation from below. We need new forms of organisation, and to develop a political strategy in order to defeat the US politically."

Jim McIlroy & Paul Benedek

From Green Left Weekly, June 8, 2005.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 629