Jorge Jorquera
Over the next year, the people of Venezuela will once again go to the polls on at least two occasions — in December 2005 for parliamentary elections and December 2006 for presidential elections. If Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian movement is victorious again, as is expected, it will signal a new phase of open US aggression. US President George Bush's administration has already made it abundantly clear that whatever it takes — assassinations, paramilitary terror, or even direct intervention — it will not stand by and allow the Bolivarian revolution to consolidate and threaten US dominance in the region.
Now is the time for the union, anti-war, solidarity, environment and other social movements to take a stand against US aggression and build a shield of support around Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution.
The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN) has brought together a range of existing organisations and supportive individuals campaigning to demand "US hands off Venezuela" and to break down the mass media's combination of silence and lies about what is really taking place in Venezuela.
December 2 call to action
The AVSN is calling on supportive organisations to endorse and help build a national Venezuela solidarity day on December 2, to coincide with the same initiative in the United States.
Venezuela solidarity committees have already started to plan a range of activities for this day, including protests outside US consulates in each city, as well as public meetings and fiestas.
To endorse this solidarity day, email Jorge at <jorge@venezuelasolidarity.org>.
Solidarity brigades
After a very successful solidarity brigade in August, involving more than people, the AVSN will be organising three brigades in 2006.
The first is a mini-brigade coinciding with the World Social Forum in Caracas. Participants will attend the WSF on January 24-29. Brigade activities will follow, including an orientation day with the Frente de Francisco de Miranda, an organisation of overwhelmingly young revolutionaries; a visit to the offices of the Green Left Weekly bureau, the daily English news service Venezuelanalysis.com and new Latin America-wide television station Telesur; a visit to the Bolivarian University; a tour through various barrio (neighbourhood) organisations and social missions; and a visit to some of the occupied factories under workers' management. Numbers for this brigade are strictly limited.
The second brigade will be a trade union brigade for May Day 2006. This will be an opportunity for trade unionists in Australia to get a firsthand view of the development and challenges of workers' management in various industries — including the oil, aluminium, paper and electricity sectors — as well as visiting workers' communities and their barrio organisations.
The third brigade for 2006 will coincide with the December presidential elections and will facilitate participation as official foreign election observers.
National Latin American Solidarity Conference
In October 2006, the Fourth National Conference in Solidarity with Latin America will be convened. This will be your opportunity to share in discussions with a range of activists from Venezuela and elsewhere on the continent, as well as participating in the formulation of solidarity plans on an Australia-wide scale.
Get active
There are many ways you can support the people of Venezuela. If you are in a trade union, make sure you contact us to get copies of the solidarity motions that have already been adopted by unions like the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Victorian branch of the Electrical Trades Union and others. The AVSN also has a trade union Venezuela solidarity kit that we can send you.
There are already a number of Venezuela solidarity committees throughout the country. To contact the one nearest you, visit <http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org>. You can also download information packs from the website to help you set up your own solidarity committee in your town or locality. For more information, email <network@venezuelasolidarity.org>. For information on the brigades, email <brigadistas@venezuelasolidarity.org>.
From Green Left Weekly, November 9, 2005.
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