FARC is being demonized: scholar

Colombia Reports
MONDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2009 07:13 BRYON WELLS

A controversial new book by a Canadian scholar who spent nearly ten years studying the FARC-EP says the rebel group has been “demonized” by domestic and foreign powers. His book is intended to dispel the myths surrounding their cause.

In an interview with Colombia Reports, James J. Brittain, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, said that the book, released three months ago in North America and Europe, had already had an intensely polarized reception in academic and political circles.

Brittain said his research, which includes interviews carried out in the field with guerrillas and peasants alike, gave him an understanding of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Peoples’ Army (FARC-EP) different from that portrayed in the “mainstream media.”

Scholars, journalists, and governments alike have categorized the FARC-EP as a “movement void of ideological position seeking individualistic economic power through violent means,” he claims.

On the contrary, in his book, titled “Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia: The Origin and Direction of the FARC-EP,” Brittain argues that history has shown the rebel group to be “the most powerful and successful guerrilla army in the world.”

He says that no in-depth scholarship has previously been conducted on the FARC-EP’s ideological or practical relation to contemporary social change.

The book traces the growth of the rebel movement, from its roots in the Colombian Communist Party following the tumultuous era of political upheaval known as “La Violencia,” to its emergence as the FARC in the 1960s and early skirmishes with U.S.-backed government forces, and finally to the present day FARC-EP.

Brittain’s book is highly critical of U.S. involvement in Colombia, and argues that Washington has been the most influential force in the demonization of the FARC.

From his home in Canada, Brittain spoke with Colombia Reports about his fieldwork, and the passions his research has invoked from both sides of the political spectrum.

Colombia Reports: What was your motivation in conducting this study? Was it for political reasons, or scientific research?
Brittain: Definitely scientific research. I was interested; can a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla movement really create change? Can we see a Marxist-Leninist revolution create change that is legitimately of the people? Is the FARC really a people’s army? Over the years, I was amazed at a lot of the responses of everyday people - campesinos and indigenous people. There seems to be a very different presentation of the FARC coming from them than what I was reading in El Tiempo and the international mainstream media. Not that all the people were in open arms, but people were expressing different opinions of the FARC.

CR: Was the Colombian government aware of the theme of your research? Were there any problems from the government with visa issues or restriction of movement?
Brittain: There weren’t too many problems until the last year and a half. There have been issues, but interestingly they were from the Canadian government. The Canadian government seems to be really interested in what I was doing and they were getting info from the Colombian government. I had members of the Canadian version of the DAS (immigration service) contact me, asking what is the research about, etc. There have been threats, though. For example I received messages from the paramilitaries, from the Black Eagles. And most recently there have been accusations that I am not an academic but a sympathizer of the movement.

CR: How did you make contact with the FARC? And how did you move in and out of FARC-held territory?
Brittain: Since 2002 - this was when Plan Patriota was in full effect - it was actually quite easy. I was surprised. I think the FARC did a lot of intelligence to see who I was, what I was doing, but to get into guerrilla territory was easy. Because of the economic disparity, you can ask someone to take you to rebel areas for 50 bucks. And they'll do it. You hop into a boat, and sure enough it doesn’t take time for a guerrilla to stop the boat. Later there was an increased sensibility of what I was doing. You can literally email the FARC through a website. After I sat with them a few times they became comfortable enough to let me sit in a camp and let me document; that I wasn’t a gringo informant but an actual academic.

CR: Was there any moment when you felt threatened? Or that you felt uneasy?
Brittain: Well I think there were several times I was nervous, because I was obviously asking questions that perhaps they didn’t want to be asked. But I never felt threatened. The attitude was, among the peasants, that there was no one coming to talk to them. So on that end there was an attitude among the peasants, "please come and see what the guerrillas are doing here." I think, if something did happen to me, there would be backlash. It would have reflected negatively on them. The only times I felt threatened was running into state forces, or paramilitary groups; that was a whole different ballgame. There was one time I was stopped and they said freely, "let’s just take him out back and shoot him." Being told, "we could disappear you," that really stayed with me.

CR: How do you perceive the rebels, and why do you say people misunderstand the guerrilla?
Brittain: I think geopolitically Colombia is very important, and that there is a need to make Colombia look dangerous. Washington worked very closely, especially with Pastrana, to stabilize the country. From their perspective you have to make sure you eliminate any viable alternative, be it the Bolivarian alternative or what the FARC is doing. I think what is being portrayed in the mainstream media, they tell very clearly one side of the story. It is always from a single lens, be it the military or government officials. It paints a very different picture of the civil war.

CR: Your work is highly critical of U.S. involvement in Colombia. How has that been received?
Brittain: It is quite interesting because there has already been controversy...there seems to be almost a complete divide, people either agree with it or there is a completely polar opposite response, where people are dramatically opposed to the research, where they feel it’s propaganda or not true. And the fact that the government seems to be so interested in the research shows there is some interest in the subject.

CR: You mention the book as dispelling many of the myths surrounding the rebel group. What are the myths?

Brittain: The absolute number one myth is their indirect relationship to coca cultivation and the drug trade. It has not been thoroughly addressed. I hope what one gets out of the book is how the guerrilla is not directly involved in the process, cultivation, production or trafficking of drugs. But there are clearly fronts that are involved in taxing of the trade. It is clear they receive income from taxing but not from the production.

CR: What about reports of the FARC killing those engaged in coca eradication, some of them campesinos themselves? Doesn’t that suggest they have more of a keen interest in protecting the illicit crops and have more involvement than you say?
Brittain: Yes it has been seen that they will protect coca fields that are the only source of income for campesino farmers, to guarantee a return on their income. But unfortunately you get a minimal form of eradication, it is severely down recently. But their involvement is indirect. Another myth is the issue of human rights abuses. I think there is some very good work coming out by international human rights groups. But who is the actual perpetrator of human rights abuses? Since 2003 you see a significant proportion of human rights violations are at the hands of state or state-assisted paramilitary forces. Since ‘98 you see a minority of human rights abuses perpetrated by guerrilla fighters. Obviously the guerrilla is going to be involved in atrocious violent acts, but you have to put it in a proper context so that you don’t say the guerrilla is primarily responsible.

CR: Based on your personal experience, what sort of people is the FARC comprised of at present; are they forced conscripts, or are these really idealistic, radicalized peasants?
Brittain: The issue with force conscription is important to address. Unlike the paramilitary the FARC do not pay a monthly income to their average fighter. I actually argue forced conscription is potentially not as truthful as the state or the main media makes it out to be. From what I have seen if there were forced conscription there would be terrible low morale. If people wanted to leave, they could. People are overly encouraged to leave if they feel they can not devote their entire lives to the movement. In my ten years of research I have not seen one case where there was a child under sixteen, or any forced conscription at all.

CR: Do you think the common peasant, given the conditions in the campo, such as illiteracy and lack of education, can truly have a grasp on Marxist theory? Couldn’t it be argued that they are influenced by anti-Yankee demonization, i.e., they idea that the United States is the cause of all their problems?
Brittain: In the camps, you'll have some peasants that don’t know how to read at all. It’s ridiculous for a comandante to start lecturing on Trotsky because many of them can not read. Their education is very basic. It is only at higher levels that Marxist theory is touched upon. And outside the camps, the guerrillas are working with peasants, teaching them how to read. But, on the other hand, what ended up being said at a lot of these camps, in the aftermath of 9-11, is that they are not against the United States. What they are against is the political-economical system that is often enforced on the world. Instead of breeding this "Yankee imperialism blah blah blah," what they are doing is educating the average peasant that it is not the average American citizen that is against them.

CR: A lot of reports seems to indicate that lately the FARC have degenerated into a corrupt, dirty organization. Has the FARC tarnished itself through forced conscription, use of child soldiers, landmines, extortion, its leaders enjoying lavish lifestyles, and extrajudicial killings both within and outside their ranks?
Brittain: I have found very different reactions. There are many international actors looking to label FARC as a belligerent force, which under the Geneva Conventions would legitimize their fight to confront the state. The landmines they use are really primitive; they use whatever they can improvise to confront the state. So yes they do use this horrible weapon in their war. As for lavish lifestyles, in the camps the comandantes live the exact same life as the average fighter. On one trip I made, the lavish meal I shared with them was rat. That was the big fancy meal the comandante was eating. There is more of an outside distortion of what the FARC is, rather than them tarnishing themselves. I think the FARC are still for what they have been fighting for the last 45 years.

CR: What do you think about the recent account that three American contractors wrote about their observations of the guerrillas while held in captivity for 5 years? They describe inequality in the ranks between FARC commanders and subordinates, rebels who question their cause – even to the point of suicide as a way out.
Brittain: I think it is interesting what arises with the three contractors. They were treated as prisoners of war. If the FARC didn’t want to hold them according to the Geneva Conventions, they would have eliminated these people. They saw them as political commodity; they see all prisoners as a way to enter into peace talks. In my research what I saw was different. I think it is far more important to look at why the guerrilla continues to keep these people prisoners still. What I suspect is that they’re using these people, many of whom the FARC see as involved in the conflict; members of the government, members of the military, large landowners. They see these people as a means to set up a humanitarian exchange or to bring about peace negotiations. I think it is in no way comparable to Middle East image of hostages, where they are torturing or pulling out toenails. They are seen as political commodities as a way to get the state into negotiations to end the conflict.

CR: What would it take to get the FARC to the table? Do you think they could follow the example of FMLN in El Salvador, which fought a civil war, then became part of the political process, and now has seen the election of its first president?
Brittain: I really do, 100%. The parties can very easily start a peace process and negotiations. First of all a demilitarized zone, respected by all sides, where all can sit down in a place without conflict, with no threat from the resurgence in paramilitary activity which we have seen lately. Then I think we can see humanitarian exchange take place and also negotiations to end the conflict. Until there is a demilitarized zone there is no assurance. You have to stop the fighting in order to have negotiations.

CR: A demilitarized zone was ceded to the FARC in the past, and weren’t there accusations that they violated the ceasefire?
Brittain: Well yes, in the first days of that the AUC paramilitaries [United Self-Defence Groups of Colombia] murdered hundreds of people. In the past the state did nothing, so the FARC again took up arms in self defense and the defense of civilians. We can learn from the 1998-2002 peace process to set up a new, lasting peace process. The state has to ensure that there is a demilitarized zone, with enforcement to prevent aggression from gangs or paramilitaries. That was what we saw at that time, it was state forces or state forces with paramilitaries committing massacres. That's what we were seeing with the "false positives" [extra-judicial killings of civilians by the military, which are reported as FARC fighters killed in combat].

CR: What changes do you foresee in Colombian society, should the FARC ever achieve political power?
Brittain: I think it's really hard to foresee what they would do. If the FARC ever took state power, the response from the U.S. would be incredible, and we would see something like what happened in Nicaragua in the 1980s. If the FARC are to achieve any form of political power it would have to be with the backing and support of the people.

The Caracas Commitment - Declaration from World Meeting of Left Parties, November 19-21 Caracas, Venezuela

November 25th 2009, by Declaration from World Meeting of Left Parties, November 19-21 Caracas, Venezuela

CARACAS COMMITMENT

Political parties and organizations from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania commemorate and celebrate the unity and solidarity that brought us together in Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and from this libertarian city we would like to express our revolutionary rebelliousness. We are glad of and committed to the proud presence of the forces of change in a special moment of history. Likewise, we are proud to reaffirm our conviction to definitively sow, grow and win Socialism of the 21st century.

In this regard, we want to sign the Commitment of Caracas as a revolutionary guide for the challenges ahead of us. We have gathered with the aim of unifying criteria and giving concrete answers that allow us to defend our sovereignty, our social victories, and the freedom of our peoples in the face of the generalized crisis of the world capitalist system and the new threats spreading over our region and the whole world with the establishment and strengthening of military bases in the sister republics of Colombia, Panama, Aruba, Curacao, the Dutch Antilles, as well as the aggression against Ecuadorian territory, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

We consider that the world capitalist system is going through one of its most severe crises, which has shaken its very foundations and brought with it consequences that jeopardize the survival of humanity. Likewise, capitalism and the logic of capital, destroys the environment and biodiversity, bringing with it consequences of climate change, global warming and the destruction of life.

One of the epicentres of the capitalist crisis is in the economic domain; this highlights the limitations of unbridled free markets ruled by private monopolies. In this situation, some governments have been asked to intervene to prevent the collapse of vital economic sectors, for instance, through the implementation of bailouts to bank institutions that amount to hundreds of billions of dollars. Said governments have been asked to stimulate their economies by increasing public expenditure in order to mitigate the recession and the private sector decline, which evidences the end of the supposedly irrefutable “truth” of neo-liberalism that of non-intervention of the State in economic affairs.

In this regard, it is very timely to promote an in-depth discussion on the economic crisis, the role of the State and the construction of a new financial architecture.

In summary, the capitalist crisis cannot be reduced simply to a financial crisis; it is a structural crisis of capital which combines the economic crisis, with an ecological crisis, a food crisis, and an energy crisis, which together represents a mortal threat to humanity and mother earth. Faced with this crisis, left-wing movements and parties see the defence of nature and the construction of an ecologically sustainable society as a fundamental axis of our struggle for a better world.

In recent years, progressive and left-wing movements of the Latin American region have accumulated forces, and stimulated transformations, throwing up leaders that today hold important government spaces. This has represented an important blow to the empire because the peoples have rebelled against the domination that has been imposed on them, and have left behind their fear to express their values and principles, showing the empire that we will not allow any more interference in our internal affairs, and that we are willing to defend our sovereignty.

This meeting is held at a historic time, characterized by a new imperialistic offensive against the peoples and governments of the region and of the world, a pretension supported by the oligarchies and ultraconservative right-wing, with the objective of recovering spaces lost as a consequence of the advancement of revolutionary process of liberation developing in Latin America. These are expressed through the creation of regional organizations such as ALBA, UNASUR, PETROCARIBE, Banco del Sur, the Sao Paulo Forum, COPPPAL, among others; where the main principles inspiring these processes are those of solidarity, complementarity, social priority over economic advantage, respect for self-determination of the peoples in open opposition to the policies of imperial domination. For these reasons, the right-wing forces in partnership with the empire have launched an offensive to combat the advance and development of the peoples’ struggles, especially those against the overexploitation of human beings, racist discrimination, cultural oppression, in defence of natural resources, of the land and territory from the perspective of the left and progressive movements and of world transformation.

We reflect on the fact that these events have led the U.S administration to set strategies to undermine, torpedo and destabilize the advancement of these processes of change and recuperation of sovereignty. To this end, the US has implemented policies expressed through an ideological and media offensive that aim to discredit the revolutionary and progressive governments of the region, labelling them as totalitarian governments, violators of human rights, with links to drug-trafficking operations, and terrorism; and also questioning the legitimacy of their origin. This is the reason for the relentless fury with which all the empire’s means of propaganda and its agents inside our own countries continuously attack the experiences in Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Paraguay, as with its maintenance of the blockade against revolutionary and independent Cuba.

Part of the strategy activated by the U.S. Empire is evidenced by the coup in Honduras, as well as in other destabilizing initiatives in Central America, attempting to impose the oligarchic interests that have already left hundreds of victims, while a disgusting wave of cynicism tries to cover up the dictatorship imposed by the U.S. administration with a false veil of democracy. Along with this, it is developing a military offensive with the idea of maintaining political and military hegemony in the region, for which it is promoting new geopolitical allies, generating destabilization and disturbing peace in the region and globally through military intimidation, with the help of its allies in the internal oligarchies, who are shown to be complicit in the actions taken by the empire, giving away their sovereignty, and opening spaces for the empire’s actions.

We consider that this new offensive is specifically expressed through two important events that took place this year in the continent: The coup in Honduras, and the installation of military bases in Colombia and Panama, as well as the strengthening of the already existing ones in our region. The coup in Honduras is nothing but a display of hypocrisy by the empire, a way to intimidate the rest of the governments in the region. It is a test-laboratory that aims to set a precedent that can be applied as a new coup model and a way to encourage the right to plot against the transformational and independent processes.

We denounce the military agreement between the Colombian government and the United States administration strengthens the U.S.’s military strategy, whose contents are expressed in the so-called “White Book”. This confirms that the development of the agreement will guarantee a projection of continental and intercontinental military power, the strengthening of transportation capability and air mobility to guarantee the improvement of its action capability, in order to provide the right conditions to have access to energy sources. It also consolidates its political partnership with the regional oligarchy for the control of Colombian territory and its projection in the Andes and in the rest of South America. All this scaffolding and consolidation of military architecture entails a serious threat for peace in the region and the world.

The installation of military bases in the region and their interrelation with the different bases spread throughout the world is not only confined to the military sphere, but rather forms part of the establishment of a general policy of domination and expansion directed by the U.S. These bases constitute strategic points to dominate all the countries in Central and Latin America and the rest of the world.

The treaty for the installation of military bases in Colombia is preceded by Plan Colombia, which was already an example of U.S. interference in the affairs of Colombia and the region using the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism as an excuse. However, it has been shown that drug trafficking levels have increased in Colombia; therefore, the plan is no longer justified given that no favourable results have been obtained since its implementation, that would justify a new treaty with the U.S.

Today, the global strategy headed by the U.S. concerning drug trafficking is a complete failure. Its results are summarised by a rapid processes of accumulation of illegal capital, increased consumption of drugs and exacerbation of criminality, whose victims are the peoples of Latin America, especially the Colombian people. This strategy should be revisited and modified, and should be oriented towards a different logic that focuses on drug consumption as a public health issue. In Colombia, drug trafficking has assumed the form of paramilitarism, and turned into a political project the scope of which and persons responsible should be investigated so that the truth is known, so that justice prevails and the terror of the civilian population ceases.

We, the peoples of the world, declare that we will not give up the spaces we have managed to conquer after years of struggle and resistance; and we commit ourselves to regain those which have been taken from us. Therefore, we need to defend the processes of change and the unfolding revolutions since they are based on sovereign decisions made by the peoples.

AGREEMENTS

1. MOBILIZATION AND CONDEMNATION OF U.S. MILITARY BASES

1.1. To organize global protests against the U.S. military bases from December 12th to 17th, 2009. Various leftwing parties and social movements will promote forums, concerts, protest marches and any other creative activity within the context of this event.

1.2. To establish a global mobilization front for the political denouncement of the U.S. military bases. This group will be made up by social leaders, left-wing parties, lawmakers, artists, among others, who will visit different countries with the aim of raising awareness in forums, press conferences and news and above all in gatherings with each country’s peoples.

1.3. To organize students, young people, workers and women in order to establish a common agenda of vigilance and to denounce against the military bases throughout the world.

1.4. To organize a global legal forum to challenge the installation of the U.S. military bases. This forum is conceived as a space for the condemnation of illegalities committed against the sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples and the imposition of a hegemonic imperialist model.

1.5. To organise a global trial against paramilitarism in Colombia bringing testimonies and evidence to international bodies of justice.

1.6. To promote a global trial against George Bush for crimes against humanity, as the person principally responsible for the genocide against the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan.

1.7. To promote a campaign for the creation of constitutional and legal provisions in all of our countries against the installation of military bases and deployment of nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

1.8. To promote, from the different social organizations and movements of the countries present in this meeting, a political solution for the Colombian conflict.

1.9. To organise solidarity with the Colombian people against the imperial aggression that the military bases entail in Colombian territory.

2. INSTALLATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A PLATFORM OF JOINT ACTION BY LEFT-WING PARTIES OF THE WORLD

2.1. To establish a space of articulation of progressive and left-wing organizations and parties that allows for coordinating policies against the aggression towards the peoples, the condemnation of the aggressions against governments elected democratically, the installation of military bases, the violation of sovereignty and against xenophobia, the defence of immigrants’ rights, peace, and the environment, and peasant, labour, indigenous and afro-descendent movements.

2.2. To set up a Temporary Executive Secretariat (TES) that allows for the coordination of a common working agenda, policy making, and follow-up on the agreements reached within the framework of this international encounter. Said Secretariat undertakes to inform about relevant events in the world, and to define specific action plans: statements, declarations, condemnations, mobilizations, observations and other issues that may be decided.

2.3. To set up an agenda of permanent ideological debate on the fundamental aspects of the process of construction of socialism.

2.4. To prepare common working agendas with participation from Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

2.5. To organize solidarity of the people’s of the world with the Bolivarian revolution and President Hugo Chávez, in response to the constant imperial attacks.

2.6. To commemorate the centenary of Clara Zetkin’s proposal to celebrate March 8th as the International Day of Women. The parties undertake to celebrate this day insofar as possible.

2.7. To summon a meeting to be held in Caracas in April 2010 in commemoration of the bicentenary of our Latin American and Caribbean independences.

3. ORGANIZATION OF A WORLD MOVEMENT OF MILITANTS FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE

3.1. To promote the establishment of peace bases, by peace supporters, who will coordinate actions and denouncements against interventionism and war sponsored by imperialism through activities such as: forums, cultural events, and debates to promote the ethical behaviour of anti-violence, full participation in social life, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, acknowledgement of the cultural identities of our peoples and strengthening the framework of integration. This space seeks to raise awareness among all citizens in rejection of all forms of domination, internal or external intervention, and to reinforce the culture of peace. To struggle relentlessly for a world with no nuclear weapons, no weapons of mass destruction, no military bases, no foreign interference, and no economic blockades, as our peoples need peace and are absolutely entitled to attain development. Promote the American continent as a territory of peace, home to the construction of a free and sovereign world.

3.2. To organize a Peace Parliament as a political space to exchange common endeavours among the world’s progressive and left-wing parliamentarians, and to know the historical, economic, legal, political and environmental aspects key for the defence of peace. Hereby we recommend holding the first meeting in February 2010.

4. ARTILLERY OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION TO EMANCIPATE REVOLUTIONARY CONSCIOUSNESS

4.1. To discuss a public communication policy at an inter-regional level that aims to improve the media battle, and to convey the values of socialism among the peoples.

4.2. To promote the creation and consolidation of alternative and community communication media to break the media siege, promote an International Alternative Left-wing Media Coordination Office that creates links to provide for improved information exchange among our countries, in which Telesur and Radiosur can be spearheads for this action.

4.3. To create a website of all of the progressive and left-wing parties and movements in the world as a means to ensure permanent exchange and the development of an emancipating and alternative communication.

4.4. To promote a movement of artists, writers and filmmakers to promote and develop festivals of small, short and full-length films that reflects the advancement and the struggle of peoples in revolution.

4.5. To hold a meeting or international forum of alternative left-wing media.

5. MOBILIZE ALL POPULAR ORGANIZATIONS IN UNRESTRICTED SUPPORT FOR THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS

5.1. To promote an international trial against the coup plotters in Honduras before the International Criminal Court for the abuses and crimes committed.

5.2. Refuse to recognize the illegal electoral process they aim to carry out in Honduras.

5.3. To carry out a world vigil on Election Day in Honduras in order to protest against the intention to legitimize the coup, coordinated by the permanent committee that emerges from this encounter.

5.4. To coordinate the actions of left-wing parties worldwide to curb the imperialist pretensions of using the coup in Honduras as a strategy against the Latin American and Caribbean progressive processes and governments.

5.5. To unite with the people of Honduras through a global solidarity movement for people’s resistance and for the pursuit of democratic and participatory paths that allow for the establishment of progressive governments committed to common welfare and social justice.

5.6. To undertake actions geared towards denouncing before multilateral bodies, and within the framework of international law, the abduction of José Manuel Zelaya, legitimate President of Honduras, that facilitated the rupture of constitutional order in Honduras. It is necessary to determine responsibility among those who participated directly in this crime, and even among those who allowed his aircraft to go in and out Costa Rica without trying to detain the kidnappers of the Honduran president.

6. SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD

6.1. The Left-wing Parties of the International Meeting of Caracas agree to demand the immediate liberation of the five Cuban heroes unfairly imprisoned in American jails. They are authentic anti-terrorist fighters that caused no harm to U.S. national security, whose work was oriented towards preventing the terrorist attacks prepared by the terrorist counterrevolution against Cuba. The Five Heroes were subject to a biased judicial process, condemned by broad sectors of humanity, and stigmatized by a conspiracy of silence by the mainstream media. Given the impossibility of winning justice via judicial means, we call upon all political left-wing parties of the world to increase actions for their immediate liberation. We call on President Obama to utilize his executive power and set these Five Heroes of Humanity free.

6.2. The International Meeting of Left-wing Parties resolutely demands the immediate and unconditional cessation of the criminal U.S. blockade that harmed the Cuban people so badly over the last fifty years. The blockade should come to an end right now in order to fulfil the will of the 187 countries that recently declared themselves against this act of genocide during the UN General Assembly.

6.3. To unite with the people of Haiti in the struggle for the return of President Jean Bertrand Aristide to his country.

6.4. We propose to study the possibility to grant a residence in Venezuela to Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was kidnapped and overthrown as Haiti’s president by U.S. imperialism.

6.5. We express the need to declare a permanent alert aimed at preventing any type of breach of the constitutional order that may hinder the process of democratic change underway in Paraguay.

6.6. We denounce the neoliberal privatizing advance in Mexico expressly in the case of the Electric Energy state-owned company, a heritage of the people, which aims through the massive firing of 45 000 workers to intimidate the union force, “Luz y Fuerza”, which constitutes another offensive of the Empire in Central and North America.

6.7. To declare our solidarity with the peoples of the world that have suffered and are still suffering imperial aggressions, especially, the 50 year-long genocidal blockade against Cuba; the threat against the people of Paraguay; the slaughter of the Palestinian people; the illegal occupation of part of the territory of the Republic of Western Sahara and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan which today is expanding into Pakistan; the illegal sanctions imposed against Zimbabwe and the constant threat against Iran, among others.

Caracas, November 21st, 2009

DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF CUBA

The Left-wing Parties of the International Meeting of Caracas agree to demand the immediate liberation of the five Cuban heroes unfairly imprisoned in U.S. prisons. They are authentic anti-terrorist fighters that caused no harm to US national security, whose work was oriented towards preventing the terrorist attacks prepared by the terrorist counterrevolution against Cuba. The Five Heroes were subject to a biased judicial process, condemned by broad sectors of humanity, and stigmatized by a conspiracy of silence by the mainstream media.

Given the impossibility of winning justice via judicial means, we call upon all political left-wing parties of the world to increase actions for their immediate liberation. We call on President Obama to utilize his executive power and set these Five Heroes of Humanity free.

The International Meeting of Left-wing Parties resolutely demands the immediate and unconditional cessation of the criminal U.S. blockade that harmed the Cuban people so badly over the last fifty years. The blockade should come to an end right now in order to fulfil the will of the 187 countries that recently declared themselves against this act of genocide during the UN General Assembly.

Caracas, November 21st, 2009

SPECIAL DECLARATION ON THE COUP D’ÉTAT IN HONDURAS

We, left-wing parties of Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania, present in the international encounter of left-wing parties, reject the coup d’état against the constitutional government of citizen’s power of the President of Honduas Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

Cognizant of the situation of repression, persecution and murder against the Honduran people and the permanent military harassment against president Manuel Zelaya Rosales, which represents a breach of the rule of law in the sister nation of Honduras:

We support the actions of the national resistance front in its struggle to restore democracy.

We demand and support the sovereign right of the Honduran people to call for a national constituent assembly to establish direct democracy and to ensure the broadest political participation of the people in public affairs.

We denounce the United States intervention and its national and international reactionary right-wing allies and their connection with the coup, which hinders the construction of democracy in Honduras and in the world.

We condemn and repudiate the permanent violation of political and social human rights as well as the violation freedom of speech, promoted and perpetrated by the de facto powers, the Supreme Court of Justice, the National Congress of the Republic, the Ministry of Defence and Security since June 28, 2009.

We reiterate our demand to international governments and bodies, not to recognize the results of the general elections to be held on November 29, 2009 in Honduras, due to the lack of constitutional guarantees and the legal conditions necessary for a fair, transparent and reliable electoral process, the lack of reliable observers that can vouch for the results of this electoral process, which has already been rejected by most international governments, bodies and international public opinion.

To propose and promote an international trial against coup plotters and their accomplices in Honduras before the International Criminal Court, for the illegal actions, abuses and crimes they committed, while developing actions aimed at denouncing to the relevant bodies and in the framework of the international law, the violation of the rights and the kidnapping of the legitimate president of Honduras Manuel Zelaya Rosales, because it is necessary to establish the responsibility of those who participated directly and internally in the perpetration of this crime.

We urge national and international human rights organizations to support these measures, to carry on the campaign of denunciation and vigilance with permanent observers in face of the renewed human rights violations, particularly the persecution and sanction through the loss of jobs for political reasons against the members and supporters of the resistance and president Manuel Zelaya.

We repudiate and condemn the attacks against the diplomatic corps of the embassies of the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Republic of Argentina, and the embassies of the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA); and express our solidarity with the heroic work of the staff of these diplomatic missions, who have been victims of harassment and hostility by the coup plotters.

We agree to establish coordination among left-wing parties of the world to exert pressure to oust the de facto government and for the restoration of the constitutional president and the right of the Honduran people to install a national constituent assembly that allows for deepening direct democracy.

We urge governments, international bodies and companies to maintain and intensify economic and commercial sanctions to business accomplices and supporters of the coup in Honduras, and to maintain an attitude of vigilance, to break all relations that recognize the coup plotters and the de facto government officers, as well as to take migration control measures that hinder the movement of people who have the purpose of voting in another country where elections are held with the aim of changing the results through the transfer of votes from one country to the other.

We agree not to recognize the international and national observers of the
electoral process who are aligned and conspire to attempt to give legitimacy to an
electoral process devoid of legality and legitimacy. We demand that rather than
observing an illegal and illegitimate process, the return of the state of democratic law and the constitutional government of citizen power Honduras President Manuel Zelaya Rosales is guaranteed.

Caracas, November 21st, 2009

SPECIAL DECISION

The international encounter of Left-wing Political parties held in Caracas on November 19, 20 and 21, 2009, recieved the proposal made by Commander Hugo Chavez Frias to convoke the V Socialist International as a space for socialist-oriented parties, movements and currents in which we can harmonize a common strategy for the struggle against imperialism, the overthrow of capitalism by socialism and solidarity based economic integration of a new type. We assessed that proposition in terms of its historical dimension which calls for a new spirit of internationalism and agreed, for the purpose of achieving it in the short term, to create a WORKING GROUP comprised of those socialist parties, currents and social movements who endorse the initiative, to prepare an agenda which defines the objectives, contents and mechanisms of this global revolutionary body. We call for an initial constitutive event for April 2010 in the City of Caracas. Furthermore, those parties, socialist currents and social movements who have not expressed themselves on this matter can subject this proposal to the examination of their legitimate directive bodies.

Caracas, November 21st, 2009

Note:

This translation of the Commitment of Caracas has been edited for Venezuelanalysis.com.

See also:

• 23/11/2009: Venezuela’s Chavez Calls for International Organisation of Left Parties
• 24/11/2009: Chavez Sets Out Strategic Lines of Debate to PSUV Congress
• 20/11/2009: The Bolivarian Revolution and Peace

Source:

Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela

'Foro Social Latinamericano', Green Left Weekly's Spanish-language supplement launched

Green Left Weekly editorial

November 25, 2009 -- For environmentalists, Indigenous rights activists, feminists, socialists and all progressive people, Latin America is a source of hope and inspiration today. The people of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and El Salvador, among others, are showing that radical social change is possible and a better, more just society can be imagined and built.

The tide of rebellion and revolution now sweeping Latin America is posing a serious challenge to imperialism’s brutal global rule. For anyone who wants an end to war, exploitation and oppression, Latin America’s struggles to create alternatives are crucially important.

Australia's leading socialist newspaper Green Left Weekly is strongly committed to supporting the growing “people’s power” movement in Latin America. We are proud of the fact that GLW is the only Australian newspaper to have a permanent bureau in Latin America, based in Caracas, Venezuela. Through our weekly articles on developments in the region, GLW strives to counter the corporate media’s many lies about Latin America’s revolutions, and to give a voice in English to the people’s movements for change.

The continent-wide rebellion is weakening imperialism’s power. As a result, it is taking increasingly threatening steps to push back the power of the people. Our solidarity, to help the people of Latin America defend and extend their tremendous achievements, is vital.

Through providing facts and analysis, and publicising and organising Latin America solidarity activities in Australia, GLW has sought to promote greater understanding and solidarity between the people of Australia and Latin America.

We are therefore delighted to publish the first edition of Latin America Social Forum (Foro Social Latinamericano), a Spanish-language supplement to be produced regularly by the Latin America Social Forum in Sydney.

We hope the supplement will help build stronger links and solidarity between the Spanish-speaking communities in Australia and all those involved in the urgent struggles for the people and the planet. In the words of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez: “Time is short. If we don’t change the world now, there may be no 22nd century.”

GLW congratulates the Latin America Social Forum for launching this important publication, and looks forward to continuing to help build solidarity in Australia, and around the world, with Latin America’s movements for freedom, democracy, sustainability and justice.

* * *

Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal is proud to make Foro Social Latinamericano available to readers around the world. You can read the first edition (November 25, 2009) on screen below, or directly download it in PDF version by clicking HERE.

forosociallatinamericanoNovember09

Latest on Honduras

Readers have hopefully been keeping up to date with the developments in Honduras. Here are some links to the best there is on what's going down in the latest uprising in Latin America:

LeftClick has a commendable series of video and audio accounts of the struggle, as the tables turn against the coup leaders and their violent crack-down on the population.

Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal has a good collection of video and written accounts, including interviews with leaders of the people's resistance

Green Left Weekly has been maintaining a constant stream of quality coverage of Honduras.

Of course, there is also Honduras Coup 2009, Honduras Resists, the excellent coverage from Narconews, and the impressive Honduras Oye.

In Australia, the Socialist Alliance has initiated a sign-on letter, demanding that the Australian government condemn the coup leaders, and support the return of democracy in Honduras.

There's plenty more, but these are a start.

Honduras: `There is a people’s insurrection'

Via Links...

Residents of Hato de Enmedio, Tegucigalpa, take control of their barrio. September 22, 2009.

By Federico Fuentes, Caracas

Green Left Weekly -- September 23, 2009 — Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya, overthrown in a military coup on June 28 and currently in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, has told Telesur TV that the coup regime is planning to take over the embassy. He says they plan to assassinate him.

Ricardo Arturo Salgado, an activist in the Honduran anti-coup resistance, told Green Left Weekly over the phone from Tegucigalpa that “the decision we have all taken is to fight with everything we have”. Aturo Salgado said there was an “intense reaction on the part of the resistance in many zones across Tegucigalpa, in what we call barrios and colonias [poor neighbourhoods]. I would say that there are some 15-20 highly populated barrios that frankly find themselves in a situation of total insurrection, fighting against the police, against the army and even against paramilitaries."

The mass resistance to the coup has continued for three months, with daily protests, strikes and road blockades. With Zelaya’s return the Honduras, a desperate coup regime has significantly increased repression. The people are increasingly in open rebellion.

“We have evidence that paramilitaries are participating in the street battles in some of the colonias. The police are trying to retake positions but the people’s insurrection is occurring in places that geographically are very far apart from one another'', Aturo Salgado told Green Left Weekly.

“In general, there is a situation of insurrection, with the advantage that the police helicopter that was being used [during daylight] to fire against the people cannot be used during the night.”

On the situation in Tegucigalpa, he said: “All the shops are closed and there is a shortage of food, of medicine. “At any moment we could see the looting of shops, because the people are entering into desperation mode. Moreover, it seems that, although there is not as much news regarding this, that in the interior of the country there are strong insurrectional mobilisations in very small zones. This has to do with the tactic of protesting close to home.

“The people are spontaneously taking the decision to resist and the line coming from the [National Reistance Front Against the Coup] was, for today, to resist close to one’s home. But tomorrow we are calling on everyone to march [in Tegucigalpa].''

Aturo Salgado confirmed to GLW that the national front has called a march for September 23 that will start at 8am outside the Pedagogical University Francisco Morazon.

He called on all alternative media outlets to join the campaign of informing the world about the truth of what is occurring in Honduras — and in denouncing the murderous plans of the coup regime.

* * *

Al Giordano from Narconews reports:

September 22, 8:03 pm: An interesting development today in the popular barrios and colonias of greater Tegucigalpa: The coup's military curfew -- now extended for a total of 36 hours until 6 am tomorrow morning -- is causing major hardship for the great mass of Honduran citizens who live day to day. Small shop owners, street sellers, mercado workers and so many others generally don't have savings. If they don't work on a given day, they and their families don't have food to eat that night. A great many don't have refrigerators and they shop the same day for the food they will eat. The curfew is causing shortages of food and other basic products of daily life, and preventing many from being able to afford what little they need. And while the general view in the popular (read: poor) barrios have been anti-coup, the curfew has brought forward a rage and a higher level of organisation overnight.

Add to that the fact that the National Police have spent last night and today busting into those neighbourhoods to enforce the curfew -- because many citizens aren't paying it any mind as it interferes with their daily subsistence level survival -- and has overreacted with great violence, shooting tear-gas canisters into homes, invading people's houses, and such. This has caused a generalised phenomenon throughout the metropolitan area: People have come en masse out of their homes, chased the police out of many of those neighbourhoods, and erected barricades to keep them out. They are now organising to maintain those barricades. The coup regime thus, overnight, has lost any semblance of control of considerable tracts of urban Honduras. Tegucigalpa is beginning to look a lot like the city of Oaxaca, Mexico in 2006.

September 22, 8:46 pm: After a bizarre press conference held in English and translated into Spanish, in which a staffer, Carlos Lopez Contreras, represented coup "president" Micheletti (without Micheletti being present -- his handlers have hidden him away for good reason), and in "cadena nacional" (broadcast on all stations by law), the regime has extended the curfew now for 50 hours, until 6 pm September 23.

September 22, 8:54 pm: From Quotha.net, more detailed info on the neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood uprising underway in greater Tegucigalpa:

The de facto government, through its violence and denial of constitutional and human rights, has managed what Zelaya alone had not fully succeeded in doing: uniting the entire country in the struggle for freedom. Today, they resistance underwent an important shift: it went local. The following Tegucigalpa neighborhoods are defying the curfew and protesting against the coup d'etat:

1. Arturo Quesada
2. Barrio Morazán
3. Centroamérica Oeste
4. Cerro Grande
5. Ciudad Lempira
6. Colonia 21 de Febrero
7. Colonia 21 de Octubre
8. El Bosque
9. El Chile
10. Flor del Campo
11. Hato de Enmedio
12. Kennedy
13. La Fraternidad
14. Pantanal
15. Pedregal
16. Picachito
17. Reparto
18. Residencial Girasoles
19. Residencial Honduras
20. San José de la Vega
21. Sinaí
22. Víctor F. Ardón
23. Villa Olímpica
24. Villanueva

In some places people have repelled the police, while in others the terrain is in dispute. The police are using live ammunition. Barricades are everywhere. This list was current at 7pm (September 22) local time in Tegucigalpa.

The latest extension of the curfew just announced -- preventing Hondurans from working or shopping all day tomorrow, too -- will only exacerbate this situation.

* * *

Al Giordano from Narconews reports on September 23, 2009:

In recent days, the Honduran coup of "president" Roberto Micheletti has demonstrated, again, that it is incapable democratic governance. Peaceful Hondurans came to the Brazilian embassy to greet their only elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and they were violently driven away with water cannon, tear gas, billy clubs and rubber bullets. National Police then followed the dispersed crowd into the popular barrios to wound and maim them, and invaded homes that provided them refuge. That led to scenes like in the neighbourhood of Hato de Enmedio [see video above], and in more than 20 heavily populated slums in and around Tegucigalpa yesterday.

Clueless desk editors like those at the New York Times titled these conflicts "Riots in Honduras". But you don't need to be able to understand Spanish to see and hear, in the video above, that, distinct from rioters, the young people of the neighbourhood who came out and violated the military curfew to defend their neighbourhood from this police invasion know and have memorised complicated political slogans and rhymes which they chanted in unison. "Riots" are disorganised explosions. This neighbourhood, and others like it, however, have been forced by the realities of the coup to organise themselves to a greater extent than ever before.

In neighbourhoods like Hato de Enmedio, where a majority of Honduras' citizens live, you can also see in the video see that not even the main street in the barrio is paved. Many of the homes have dirt floors as well. And if a citizen is harmed by a robber or predator, you can call the police, but they won't come. People who live in neighbourhoods like this only see the police when they invade, like they did yesterday, to enforce an unenforceable curfew on people who, if they obeyed the curfew, would starve of hunger. A curfew is unsustainable on a people that live hand to mouth, day to day.

We can also see in that video the revelation that the tear-gas canisters shot by the National Police yesterday were stamped as property of the government of Perú, suggesting strongly that Peruvian President Alan García is a participant in smuggling arms to the Honduran coup regime.

Honduras repression: urgent solidarity needed!

Following the recent return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya to Honduras, the coup-leaders have apparently sent squadrons of loyal police and army to besiege the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya has been staying.

The coup forces have dispersed the pro-Zelaya crowd in front of the embassy by force (using firearms, teargas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, occupied adjacent buildings, snipers have been installed on the roofs of neighbouring building, and sonic weapons have been deployed in the streets.

Electricity, water and phones were been cut to the embassy, as well as surrounding building - the only anti-coup TV station, Channel 36, is now effectively off-air after its electricity was cut - and it appears that tear gas has been fired into the Brazilian embassy. The tear gas also killed an eight-year-old boy in a nearby building - dying of asphixiation from the gas.

The electricity cut was clearly meant to intimidate Zelaya or the Brazilians - or both - into submission. It failed, and electricity was restored some time later. Zelaya remains inside the embassy, with around 70 supporters.

The curfew has also been extended - effectively turning the whole country into a giant concentration camp, and at least one protester, Oscar Adán Palacios, was shot to death on by the army while peacefully protesting against the illegitimate government.

In a move eerily reminiscent of the fascist 1973 Pinochet coup in Chile, the National Police are holding unspecified numbers protesters in the Chochy Sosa baseball stadium and football stadiums in Tegucigalpa. Adrés Pavon, president of the Human Rights Defence Committee says "there are people being tortured, disappeared, and we are confirming the death of two people." Bertha Oliva, director of the Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) called the stadium a "concentration camp".

COFADEH itself was subject to a police attack yesterday (Tuesday) morning, with tear gas launched through the windows.

The National Front Against the Coup in Honduras (FNRG) has claimed that members of the Israeli Army are training a group of the National Police in protest disruption tactics.

According to NarcoNews, at least two popular barrios in and around Tegucigalpa have defied, en masse, the curfew order and chased National Police out of their communities: El Pedregal and Colonia Kennedy. They've erected barricades and declared the coup regime and its security forces non grata. [update: see comments for a longer list of barrios that have defied the curfew and are protesting the coup]

The website of the FNRG posted a declaration at 11am calling on “all of the resistance” to participate in “a peaceful march tomorrow, September 23 at 8am in front of the Pedagogical University Francisco Morazan”.

More regular updates from: NarcoNews, HondurasCoup2009, HondurasResists, Green Left Weekly, Emergency Committee Against The Coup In Honduras, Socialist Unity blog, BoRev,

There will be an emergency protest in solidarity with the Honduran people in Sydney on Thursday September 24 at 5pm, in the Latin American Plaza (outside Central Station).

"The Real News" on the repression after Zelaya's return:

Honduras: Zelaya returns — the people celebrate

Federico Fuentes, Caracas

21 September 2009

September 21 — “Telgucigalpa is one big party”, said Dirian Pereira, member of the international commission of the National Front Against the Coup in Honduras, speaking to Green Left Weekly over the phone from the Honduran capital..

President Manuel Zelaya, who was overthrown by a military coup on June 28, returned to Honduras and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Telgucigalpa. Thousands of people have gathered in the capital to welcome him back almost three months after the military kidnapped him at gunpoint in the early hours of the morning and flew him into exile in Costa Rica.

Mass resistance on the streets from the poor majority, demanding “their” president return, has continued unabated since.

From the Brazilian embassy, Zelaya called for the Honduran people to celebrate on the streets. The coup regime responded by announcing a curfew.

“The people are totally ignoring the curfew”, Pereira said.

“The curfew started at 4 in the afternoon, right about the time that most people are leaving work. All of this is a demonstration of the desperation of the coup regime that wants everyone to simply go home.

“But the people are coming out of work and are not going to their home.

“Many have gone to the Brazilian embassy to greet their president. It is a big party.”

Pereira said people were flooding in from all parts of the country to hold for a massive mobilisation on September 22.

“The buses that are arriving from San Pedro Sula, that are arriving from many other parts of the country, are being stopped on the outskirts of Tegulcigalpa.

“But the people are simply stepping off the bus and marching together into the centre.”

For the Honduran elite behind the coup, Zelaya’s crimes included increasing the minimum wage by 60% and blocking privatisations.

His biggest crime, however, was to open a democratic process to change the constitution. Similar process have occurred in recent years in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador — with the poor and indigenous peoples winning many important rights for the first time.

On June 28, a non-binding referendum had been organised that asked whether the Honduran people supported the calling of a constituent assembly to discuss, debate and vote on a new constitution.

Zelaya had also developed closer relations with countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, joining the anti-imperialist Bolivarian Alternative of Our Americas (ALBA) bloc.

After almost 90 days of mass resistance and daily protests on the streets, combined with a diplomatic offensive to restore democracy headed by Zelaya and the ALBA nations, “Mel”, as he is warmly referred to by the poor sectors of Honduran society, has finally returned to Honduras.

He is calling on the people to mobilise and ensure that legitimate government is restored.

Asked what could be expected to occur in the next few hours, Pereira told GLW: “This is still to be seen, because the de facto government says that nothing is happening, that Honduras is calm and that all of this is the result of the curfew.

“The curfew was enacted in order to intimidate the people so that they would not go and join those from the resistance front at the embassy. They did it to create fear in the population.

“They say that they will not negotiate … but Mel has come with the intention of negotiating.

“We don’t know what will happen ... but we are continuing to demand a constituent assembly.”

A delegation from the Organisation of American States is set to arrive in Honduras on September 22 Honduras. The OAS has been promoting Plan Arias, drawn up by mediators, which would see Zelaya restored to power, but with his hands tied and forced to accept power-sharing arrangements with those who overthrew him.

Pereira said the problem for the popular organisations and the National Resistance Front is that “the Plan Arias does not contemplate a constituent assembly. As far as we know, there is also a UN commission coming.

“We will see what happens, but regardless the organizations are here demanding a constituent assembly.”

[Green Left Weekly hopes to have ongoing coverage on the dramatic developments in the struggle for democracy and justice in Honduras in the coming days.]

Latin America: Will the era of military dictators & US military intervention return?

“The U.S. Empire ... has launched a retrograde and anti-historic counteroffensive, with the aim of rolling back the union, sovereignty, and democracy of our continent.”
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, August 17, 2009

The recent military coup in Honduras, which deposed democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, and the planned establishment of new US military bases in Colombia (just next to Venezuela), has set off alarm bells around Latin America. Is this the beginning of a return to military dictators and US military intervention that blighted the subcontinent for decades?

Guest speakers on this important topic will address the next meeting of the Sydney Central Socialist Alliance branch:

• Jose Pena, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) committee in Sydney.
• Victor Hugo, Committee for Human Rights in Guatemala.
• Stuart Munckton, Green Left Weekly co-editor.

Saturday August 22, 2pm
Sydney Resistance Centre
23 Abercrombie St
Chippendale (near UTS Broadway)
More info: Peter 9690 1977/0401 760 577

Latin America Solidarity Conference 2009

People´s Power is Changing the World
Latin America Solidarity Conference 2009

August 28-29, 2009 - Victorian Trades Hall

info@solidarityconference2009.org www.solidarityconference2009.org

Major cracks are appearing in the global capitalist system – cracks that are being forced open by the tide of rebellions and revolutions across Latin America.

From Cuba to Venezuela and Bolivia to El Salvador, people’s power is toppling neo-liberal governments, challenging multinational corporations, and constructing social and economic alternatives to the plunder, war and injustices of the old system. For 50 years, the Cuban revolution has inspired millions of people around the world struggling for independence, human rights and genuine democracy. Now, the Venezuelan revolution, with its vision of “socialism of the 21st century”, is continuing to provide examples of what a socialist government can achieve.

Imperialism is confronting an unprecedented challenge to its brutal rule. The Latin America Solidarity Conference will provide an open forum for all people wanting to learn about, learn from and build solidarity in Australia with the people’s power movements in Latin America.

This conference is being organised and sponsored by: Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (Australia), Centre for Latin America Solidarity & Studies, Peace and Justice & Colombia, Communist Party of Chile (Australia), Guatemalan Human Rights Committee, Australian Solidarity with Latin America, Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URGN), Communist Party of Australia, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Socialist Alliance, Australia-Cuba Friendship Society (Adelaide, Sydney)

Contact: info@solidarityconference2009.org

REGISTRATION AND CONTACT:
Friday*: Conc $5/ regular $10/ Solidarity $15 (* When registering for Saturday, Friday is free)
Saturday: Conc $15/ regular $40/ Solidarity $50

To register please fill in the online form on the website or send a registration forms to c/ PO Box 5421 CC Melbourne VIC 3001
For more information, please email info@solidarityconference2009.org or phone
Roberto 0425 182 994, Sean 0415 122 135, Oscar 0415 232 057, Paul 0413 072 137 or Lisa 0413 031 108
Payments can be made by Money order or Cheque payable to Solidarity Conference.
If you wish to endorse or help to promote this conference, please contact us to distribute leaflets or posters.

AGENDA: FRIDAY 7 pm • People’s power is changing the world: revolution and reconstruction in Latin America 50 years since the victory of the Cuban revolution and 10 years since the coming to power of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has shown that the continent is unwilling to bow to international capital. Over the last few years further victories have been added including Evo Morales in Bolivia and the FMLN in El Salvador. What does all this mean for a new socialism of the 21st century?

SATURDAY 9:30 am • Obama´s foreign policy for Latin America: militarisation, blockade& trade agreements The Bush administration supported death squads and mass killings in Colombia, an attempted coup in Venezuela, continued the blockade against Cuba, organised assassination attempts against Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales and reinforced trade agreements in favour of its multinationals. Will the empire be any different under the Democrat regime of Obama?

Simultaneous Workshops on various topics
2 pm • Latin America as alternative: new models of economic, social and political power After more than two decades of orthodox neoliberal doctrine and anti-democratic regimes, the tide has decisively turned across Latin America. Spearheaded by the Venezuelan revolution’s practical experiments in participatory economic and democratic models, the movement is impacting struggle from Bolivia to El Salvador and Ecuador. The “end of history” has itself ended; a new discussion and practice for human survival and justice is being pursued apace.

Simultaneous major Workshops: 1) The Venezuelan Revolution 2) Central America 3)Workers´ struggle in Latin America

5:30 pm • Their struggle is our struggle: Strengthening solidarity Campaigns, brigades and projects have been part of the process of globalising resistance to exploitation and inequality and building solidarity between Australia and Latin America.
Followed by a Latin Fiesta, featuring The Conch plus many Latin American Cultural performances. Food and drinks available.

GUEST SPEAKERS:
VENEZUELA

• Heryck Rangel Hernandez: National coordinator of the Venezuelan Eco-Citizens movement, student leader, radio broadcaster and activist with the PSUV Youth.
• Daniel Sanchez: Leader in Venezuela´s “people´s power” movement through the Rebirth of the South Commune, local councillor for South Valencia and activist in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)
• Nélson Dávila: Founding member of Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement and currently head of Venezuela’s diplomatic mission in Australia.

CHILE

• Jaime Gajardo: General Secretary of the United Workers Federation of Chile CUT, member of the Communist Party and a long time activist with the Teachers movement, also the head of this union. One of the most outstanding leaders of the teachers´ struggle in the last decade in Chile.

GUATEMALA

• Walter Rolando Félix: long time activist for human rights and better living conditions in Guatemala. Current parliamentarian for the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) and representative for the Commission for Peace and against field mines.

COLOMBIA

• Jesús González: Founding member of the United Workers Federation of Colombia, forced to leave his country as a result of his work as political leader, organiser and for his work documenting the assassination of trade union leaders in Colombia.

http://www.solidarityconference2009.org