I have previously posted that socialists in the United States have joined with Chavez of Venezuela and his cohorts in bringing about the massive immigration demonstrations we are seeing in the United States and other demonstrations in many parts of the world.
The following text gives another indication of the power of this movement.
-Am
Venezuela takes over some oil fields, as youth of ruling party holds congress (front page)
Vol. 70/No. 16 April 24, 2006
BY NATALIE DOUCET AND OLYMPIA NEWTON TACARIGUA DE LA LAGUNA, Miranda, Venezuela—Nearly 400 delegates assembled here March 31-April 2 for the Third Patriotic Council of the Youth of the Fifth Republic (JVR)—the youth group of the governing party, the Movement for the Fifth Republic (MVR).
The second day of the conference, the government of Venezuela, headed by President Hugo Chávez, took over oil fields operated by two energy giants—Total of France and Eni of Italy—after they challenged government rules giving the state a majority stake in 32 such fields. Days earlier, Venezuela’s energy minister, Rafael Ramírez, had told the press that the U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil was not welcome in the country.
Many delegates at the JVR congress were involved in programs promoted by the government that provide basic literacy, high school education, and university courses for working people. Others were part of the effort to establish neighborhood clinics—staffed by thousands of Cuban volunteer doctors—in working-class and rural areas that previously had little access to medical care.
The JVR has set as a primary goal for this year winning 10 million votes to re-elect Chávez in the December 3 presidential elections. How to mobilize to achieve this was a central theme of discussion in workshops and plenary sessions.
“Right now, it appears the opposition’s strategy will be to boycott the elections and demobilize the electorate,” said MVR leader William Lara, minister of communication and information, at a plenary session. “If only a small percentage of the electorate votes, U.S. imperialism can say Chávez is not legitimately elected and use it as a pretext to attack us. We need to prepare for any strategy they come up with. The JVR should organize voting patrols in the neighborhoods to convince people to vote, as they did during the recall referendum in August.”
At a workshop on international relations, Fadi Al Aisami, a delegate from Mérida, said, “There are 3.5 million immigrant workers in Venezuela who we can reach out to and include in the social programs. My father, who was born in Syria, lived in Venezuela for 26 years and never voted. We can win over people like him.”
International guests came from the Socialist Youth Front of Denmark, Union of Young Communists of Cuba (UJC), Young Communists of Colombia (JUCO), Clement Payne Movement of Barbados, October 8 Revolutionary Youth in Brazil, and Young Socialists in Canada and the United States.
“Denmark has the most fascist government in all of Europe,” said Bjorn Hansen from the Socialist Youth Front of Denmark. “But there is hope, as shown by the strikes in France. Venezuela gives hope to the entire left, because it proves socialism can be built.”
“Millions of immigrant workers and their allies have marched in the United States recently to demand their rights and defend themselves against anti-immigrant attacks,” said Olympia Newton, representing the Young Socialists in the United States. “We are aided in our struggles by the anti-imperialist struggles of our Venezuelan brothers and sisters, as we have been aided by the living example of the Cuban Revolution for the last 47 years. That is why the Young Socialists has joined with dozens of organizations to build marches on May 20 in Washington and Los Angeles to demand ‘Hands off Venezuela! Hands off Cuba!’”
Edwin Frías from Barinas proposed organizing marches across Venezuela to coincide with the May 20 U.S. actions. Delegates at that workshop adopted this proposal unanimously.
“There is an international media campaign against Venezuela saying that we are following the road of the Cuban Revolution,” said Lenin Pérez, a student from Caracas. “We have to counter that and explain that we are building 21st century socialism, not Cuban socialism.”
Dreyser Ojeda, a student from Carabobo, expressed a different view in an interview with the Militant. “We have a lot to learn from the Cubans,” he said. “They have accomplished so much in their revolution because people there are mobilized to advance. They can teach us a lot.” Ojeda is one of several thousand Venezuelan youth who have studied or are studying medicine, social work, or other subjects in Cuba.
Delegates here did not discuss the latest decision to extend state control over the country’s oil resources, since they were announced as the conference was ending.
The takeover of the two oil fields operated by Total and Eni came about after the National Assembly voted at the end of March that PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, will take a 60 percent stake in all joint ventures with foreign investors, which account for a fifth of the country’s oil production. Some 16 foreign companies accepted the new terms, but Total and Eni demanded a larger stake.
ExxonMobil has refused to abide by these rules and sold its stake at one of the disputed fields to Repsol of Spain. But Exxon still holds a 42 percent stake in a much larger heavy-oil project.
Last year, Caracas increased royalties foreign investors had to pay from 1 percent to 16.6 percent. In early April, the government said it plans to increase taxes for investors in oil to 50 percent from 34 percent.
US SOCIAL Forum to bring 20,000 people to Atlanta in 2007
The U.S. Social Forum is related to the World Social Forum
The WSF is the main or one of the main groups behind the massive demonstrations we have been seeing here and in other parts of the world. They are affiliated with Castro and Chavez among others. This is a huge movement.
-Am
US SOCIAL Forum to bring 20,000 people to Atlanta in 2007 National leaders convene to plan historic gathering
What: Press briefing on United States Social Forum Who: National Coordinating Committee for the US Social Forum; social justice leaders from across the US who work on issues including environmental justice, poverty, racial justice, immigration, and workers’ rights. Where: Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, 477 Peachtree Street When: April 4, 2006 -10:30am
Members of the Local Host Committee will be joined by the National Coordinating Committee and local supporters. The National Coordinating Committee is charged with making the United States Social Forum areality. Among the speakers presenting are Colin Rajah, Tom Goldtooth, and Ruben Solis, members of the National Planning and Coordinating Committees. The briefing will include a diversity of groups representing the multi-ethnic populations of the U.S., and the wide range of social and economic issues facing grassroots communities today.
Under the banner of ‘Another World is Possible,’ tens of thousands of community organizers, trade unionists, students/youth, NGO representatives, elected officials and social movements gather every year for the World Social Forum held in locations around the globe including Brazil, India, and Venezuela. The WSF was created to provide an open platform to discuss alternatives to globalization defined by multi-national corporations and the governments of the wealthiest nations in the world.
The World Social Forum (WSF) model is spreading around the world and a wide range of grassroots organizations and networks have announced the location of the first U.S. Social Forum (USSF) - Atlanta, GA. 20,000 participants are expected to convene June 27-July 1, 2007 in Atlanta to build a broader national movement for social justice around the world. “The U.S. South and especially Atlanta welcomes the opportunity to host the first U.S. Social Forum at this critical juncture in the development of our movement for social and economic justice,” said Jerome Scott of Project South, one of the lead organizations on the Atlanta host committees.
“For us immigrants, the growth of our new communities here have been met not only with repressive policies, racist backlash, abuse and exploitation in the workplace, and scapegoating for socio-economic problems suffered by working class communities, we now also have to face state policies that ask to further extract from our already burdened communities. For instance, Georgia SB 529 seeks to suck up immigrant’s hard-earned income by taxing our remittance wire transfers to our families back home. We are displaced by US economic policies, harassed and kept in a state of constant fear to ensure a cheap and disposable labor supply for US corporations. Immigrant communities in GA and around the country challenge all these, and we say “No Taxation Without Representation.” -Colin Rajah (National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Chair Program Working Group)
In an endorsement letter for Atlanta’s proposal, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin writes, “As the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Atlanta has a very proud history of promoting and celebrating human rights. It is a history we continue to appreciate and build upon for the future. Serving [as] the host city for the US Social Forum is a continuation of our legacy.”
Currently, the region is home to new immigrant-groups from Latin America, Africa and Asia. Many of these new immigrants are political or economic refugees whose situation is the result of corporate globalization. National planners hope that holding the USSF in Atlanta will encourage the region's newly emerged bottom-up movement building, and that it will significantly impact the rest of the country.
Alameda County, although relatively progressive in health care, still provides only "a safety net designed to catch people so they don't die on the street," Iton said. Yet covering everyone under a single-payer health plan would cost less than the county now pays on last-minute, emergency-room care for the indigent.
“American Indians in this country continue to face environmental and economic injustices. The energy policy of America is built upon treaty violations and at the expense of the rights of tribal people. The nuclear power industry has mined and processed the uranium ore that feeds the nuclear power plants causing the contamination of our lands and the deaths of Indian miners and processors. Now the industry wants to dump its nuclear waste on Indian lands. Our network of American Indian and Alaska Native community-based organizations are participating in the proposed US Social Forum in 2007, to mobilize Americans to get educated and take action.” -Tom Goldtooth (Executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, Midwest Regional Representative)
“The political moment in the United States brings four important intersections: the war in Iraq, Indigenous Artic drilling, Katrina survivors and US-Mexico border & immigration issues. In fact, all four issues are under the Department of Defense and Homeland Security.” - Ruben Solis (Southwest Workers Union, Southwest Regional Representative) The US Social Forum is an important symposium for the people most affected by neo-liberalism policies in the U.S. to share and learn from each other’s struggles. “Another world is possible and we must begin to envision it now,” said Scott.
For Immediate Release
Contact Alice Lovelace, USSF National Lead Staff Organizer Ph. 404.819.7863 Fx. 404.622.6618 Email: alovelace@mindspring.com www.ussocialforum.org
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