On Saturday November 24th,
around two hundred people attended the third national Hands Off Venezuela
conference in Britain. A new steering committee was elected and resolutions
were passed in defence of the Bolivarian Revolution in the run-up to the
referendum on constitutional reform, on the environment and on the need for
joint work with other Latin American solidarity campaigns.
Rob Sewell, member of the
national Steering Committee, opened the conference, highlighting how the
campaign has made significant progress in Britain and how even more support has
been established amongst the students and the trade unions. Rob said that it
was clear that the Bolivarian Revolution has great relevance for British
workers too as it can serve as a great inspiration and lead to the awareness
that changing society is possible.
First to speak was Derek
Wall, national spokesperson for the Green Party. As a committed
environmentalist, Derek said he was very impressed with the Bolivarian
revolution’s green credentials. In fact, he said, he was proud that his only
transatlantic flight to date was to the World Social Forum in Venezuela last
year!
Next to speak was Venezuela’s
new ambassador to the UK, Samuel Moncada, who gave a very stirring speech in
defence of the Bolivarian process and thanked HOV for our continued support. He
particularly stressed the dubious nature of the organisation Transparency
International, which has ranked Venezuela the 3rd most corrupt
country on earth. The board of Transparency International Venezuela, as Mr
Moncada pointed out, contains coup-plotters who were signatories to the
notorious Carmona decree in April 2002.
Also speaking in the morning
session was FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack who had the crowd cheering when he
pointed out the hypocrisy of the British government accusing Venezuela of
corruption. "I think that we need to look a bit closer to home," he
said, recounting the details of the recent privatisation of Ministry of Defence
research division QinetiQ, which saw senior managers pocketing 20,000 per cent
profits.
John McDonnell MP spoke about
the needs for cooperation and coordination between the different solidarity
campaigns. He said the situation where HOV organises a meeting at a conference
and then other campaigns organise meetings on the same say at the exact same
time cannot continue. This was the reason behind his joint letter (with NUJ
General Secretary Jeremy Dear) to the leaders of the trade unions who have
backed HOV calling for them to organise a meeting to ensure these kinds of
clashes become a thing of the past. He also demanded that the Brown government
"makes a choice between democracy or oligarchy," slamming new
Labour’s diplomatic policy of hostility toward the Venezuelan government. He
pledged to make solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution an issue that
"no MP would be allowed to dodge."
Alan Woods spoke about
Socialism of the 21st century, and how this demonstrated that "the
end of history" and the seemingly lack of opposition to the capitalism of the
West was incorrect, and being proved so in Venezuela. Alan made the point that
‘Socialism of the 21st century’ was not a clearly defined term and
because of this there was the danger of confusion in the revolution. There is
the case of Baduel, a General who opposed the 2002 coup, but had now joined the
opposition, and academics such as Heinz Dieterich who are wrapping capitalist
ideas in a socialist rhetoric. Alan said that to build socialism you have to
nationalise the principal sectors of the economy, as "you cannot plan for what
you do not control, and you cannot control what you do not own".
Caracas community activist
Guadalupe Rodrigez thanked conference delegates for their support and stressed
that it is "important that we don’t feel like we’re on our own" in
Venezuela, before describing how her community was occupying a police station
that had been notorious for torture and murder. She also stressed the leading
role played by women in the Bolivarian revolution.
In the afternoon session, five
resolutions were passed on topics ranging from cooperation in the solidarity
movement, the HOV magazine to the environment. A lively debate ensued and
amendments were added to several of the resolutions. These resolutions can be
seen at the end of this article.
The afternoon session
featured workshops on Socialism of the 21st century, the media in
Venezuela, workers’ control and constitutional reform. All the workshops
featured some very lively debate and participants were left feeling enthused
and energised about the whole revolutionary process.
The final plenary session
featured contributions from CWU Deputy General Secretary Tony Kearns and Nelson
Rodriguez. Tony Kearns made the point that in Chile and elsewhere in Latin
America solidarity campaigns had only been active once the movement there had
been defeated by imperialism. Venezuela is one of the few places in the world
where there is something positive happening, so it is crucial to build
solidarity with it now. Nelson gave a very inspiring speech about Inveval and
the experience of workers’ control there. He explained how the top decision
making body was the general assembly of workers, and workers elected to deal
with particular aspects of management, finance, technical, services etc. were
accountable to this body and could be recalled at any time. Those elected
continue to receive the same wages as all the other workers. Delegates from
Inveval also participate in the local communal councils as well as battalions
of the PSUV.
The conference was closed by
NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear, who although unwell, said that the only
thing that would inspire him to get up and out was the Bolivarian Revolution! Jeremy
announced the launch of a new "mediawatch" group that would span the
English-speaking world and declared his determination to "mobilise the
international labour movement in support of the Bolivarian revolution."
The whole day was a great
success and left everyone inspired to carry on the struggle to defend the
Venezuelan people and their Bolivarian revolution.
Resolutions (unamended):
RESOLUTIONS FOR HANDS OFF
VENEZUELA NATIONAL CONFERENCE
NOVEMBER 24th 2007
1. Solidarity Co-ordination
Conference supports the
broadest possible solidarity work in defence of Venezuela’s Bolivarian
revolution;
and, in furtherance of this
aim, supports the initiative of John McDonnell and Jeremy Dear to convene a
meeting between the solidarity groups and trade union affiliates to explore how
solidarity work can be co-ordinated more effectively.
proposed by the National
Steering Committee
2. Trade Union Solidarity
Conference recognises the
successful record of Hands Off Venezuela in bringing the news of the Bolivarian
revolution to the trade union movement, having intervened in all the main trade
unions over the last four years and, as a result, helped to get motions on
Venezuela passed at the TUC;
recognises, given the crucial
stage that the Bolivarian revolution is currently at, the need to step up
solidarity work in the trade unions;
and, in order to plan an
effective intervention in next year’s conferences, supports the organisation of
a trade union seminar in the House of Commons in early 2008 to which all trade
union supporters will be invited.
proposed by the National
Steering Committee
3. Constitutional
Reform
Conference notes that, on
December 2nd, Venezuelans will vote in a referendum on the reform of the
Bolivarian constitution;
also notes that the stated
aim of the 69 amendments is to "build Venezuelan socialism as the only
road towards the redemption of our people, the salvation of our country and the
building of a new world";
further notes that, as a
response to this process of reform, there has been a renewed campaign against
the Bolivarian revolution on the part of the oligarchy and imperialism,
including economic sabotage, violence in the streets and university campuses
and a campaign in the national and international media of lies and distortions
regarding the actual content of the proposed constitutional reform;
and reaffirms its support for
the Bolivarian revolution, which has been democratically ratified by the
overwhelming majority of Venezuelans on numerous occasions, and urges all
members of Hands Off Venezuela to commit themselves to stepping up the
solidarity work, to respond to the media lies and to lobby their MPs to sign
Early Day Motion 286, which was tabled by campaign joint-president John
McDonnell and which deals specifically with these issues.
proposed by Jorge Martin
4. Magazine
Conference welcomes the
publication of the latest Hands Off Venezuela magazine;
regards the magazine as a
vital tool for reaching potential supporters who either don’t have access to
the internet or who haven’t yet heard about the revolutionary process in
Venezuela;
believes that members of
Hands Off Venezuela should each be mailed a copy of the magazine for
free;
and resolves to increase the
number of magazines published each year.
proposed by Charley Allan
5. Venezuela and the
Environment
Conference notes that the
previous model of economic development in Venezuela has resulted in severe
ecological degradation in many parts of the country;
also notes that it is the
country’s working class and poor who have been most adversely affected by this
disregard for environmental considerations which the race for profits has
created;
further notes: (1) the plan
by the Environment and Natural Resource Ministry to reduce the air pollution
levels in Caracas by 80 percent in 2007, with the goal of being pollution free
by 2010, (2) the improved protection of waterways and fishing areas, especially
those affected by oil exploration and drilling, (3) the protection of unique
ecological areas and indigenous lands, such as the 3.6 million-hectare Imataca
Forest Reserve, (4) the assistance given to thousands of coffee-growing
families in the Andes region to establish environmentally sustainable organic
coffee and vegetable co-operatives, (5) the banning of the cultivation of
genetically engineered crops on Venezuelan soil and the establishment of a
large seed bank to maintain indigenous seeds for peasant movements around the
world;
agrees to show our
full support for such important developments by trying to disseminate
information about the revolution’s commitment to Venezuela’s environment in our
publications;
expresses its concern that a
few large mining and energy projects – such as the opening of further coal
concessions in the Sierra Perija and the plan for a gas pipeline through the
Amazon basin to Argentina – appear to repeat the old pattern of disregard for
the environment and have brought opposition from indigenous groups and
environmentalists in Venezuela and other countries of Latin America;
therefore urges the
Bolivarian government to submit all such development plans to the
strictest environmental and socio-ecological standards and to direct
democratic control by the communities concerned.
proposed by Liam McQuade
