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href="https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/why-venezuela-needs-our-solidarity">https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/why-venezuela-needs-our-solidarity</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Why Venezuela needs our solidarity</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">Federico Fuentes -
August 5, 2017<br>
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<p>Opposition groups in Venezuela are currently
engaged in a campaign to overthrow the
democratically-elected government of President
Nicolas Maduro.</p>
<p>Portrayed by the media as a peaceful, democratic
movement, it is clear that what Venezuela is
experiencing is a right-wing destabilisation
campaign that not only seeks to remove Maduro but to
roll back the important gains of the country’s
Bolivarian Revolution.</p>
<p>Through campaigns of terror, assassinations, the
burning alive of government supporters and attacks
on government services and food distribution
networks, the opposition hopes to topple the
government as a first step to destroying Chavismo.</p>
<p>Over the past two decades, Venezuela’s political
landscape has been dramatically reshaped by the rise
of Chavismo, a political movement of the country’s
poor and working classes.</p>
<p>Chavismo’s origins lie in a convergence between the
multitude of street protests that rocked neoliberal
regimes during the late ’80s and ’90s and a large
group of soldiers who no longer tolerated the army
being used to repress the poor in order to protect
the power of a corrupted elite.</p>
<p>Out of this convergence arose the figure of Hugo
Chavez, who won the 1998 presidential elections
riding this wave of discontent against neoliberalism
and political exclusion.</p>
<p>Despite coup attempts, attacks on the oil industry,
various waves of violent street protests and more
than 20 elections, Chavismo went on to consolidate
itself as the new centre of politics in Venezuela.</p>
<p>It also inspired millions around the world by
demonstrating that an alternative to neoliberalism
is possible; one that redistributed the nations’
wealth towards social programs, while dramatically
expanding people’s participation in daily decision
making in their communities and workplaces.</p>
<p>Chavismo also led the charge in terms of the
leftward shift that occurred in South America at the
turn of the century, and its call for a “21<sup>st</sup>
Century Socialism” resonated around a world where
only a few years before socialism was a dirty word.</p>
<p>Today, Chavismo remains the single largest
political force in Venezuela. But it is facing its
biggest challenge to date.</p>
<p>The challenge goes beyond the current rightist
offensive.</p>
<p>It encompasses the serious economic crisis the
country is engulfed in — the result of a combination
of factors: a collapse in oil prices, economic
mismanagement and a concerted campaign by the
private sector to strangle the economy — together
with the severe social consequences this has brought
about for ordinary people.</p>
<p>The gains of Chavismo are at risk and the right
within Venezuela and internationally are seizing
this moment to try to wipe them out completely.</p>
<p>The inability of Venezuela’s right-wing opposition
to remove Maduro — essentially because it has been
unable to fracture Chavismo’s base of support in the
popular classes and armed forces — has seen
governments internationally, particularly the US,
play a more active role in the destabilisation
campaign.</p>
<p>Together, they hope to discredit the idea that any
alternative to neoliberalism exists and to resolve
the current crisis by making the poor pay for it.
Doing this will require the destruction of Chavismo
as a political movement.</p>
<p>Just as the right-wing has revealed that the
international battle will be critical to their
success within Venezuela, it is incumbent on the
left to step up our solidarity with the people of
Venezuela.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that criticism can be made of the
Maduro government, but it is equally true that the
overwhelming majority of popular, working class and
social organisations — those most on the left would
claim to be in solidarity with — continue to defend
the Maduro government as a necessary shield against
what is likely to come next.</p>
<p>In this regard, solidarity activists have held a
number of public forums and protests in recent weeks
as part of stepping up the campaign here.</p>
<p>Importantly, a number of trade unions, including
the Maritime Union of Australia Sydney branch, the
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
(CFMEU) Victorian branch and the construction
division of the CFMEU WA, have come out in defence
of the people of Venezuela and its government.</p>
<p>It is incumbent on the left to help continue
building this solidarity to ensure that the current
rightist offensive is defeated. What’s at stake is
not simply the Maduro government, but the very
existence of one of the most important left
political forces in the world today.</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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