We Must Defend the Bolivarian Revolution Now More Than Ever

Statement from Resumen Latinoamericano on the eve of the demonstrations in Venezuela

By Carlos Aznárez on August 31, 2016

Photo: Bill Hackwell

Photo: Bill Hackwell

There are times when doubts and hesitations become complicities. There are circumstances where reservations and discussions about internal contradictions of a particular political process pushed to the background by a greater evil. We may have varying degrees of agreement with some decisions, but there’s something that’s beyond any sort of doubt: the Venezuelan people have conquered, with Chavism, a way out of the hole that capitalism had buried them in. And that’s worth defending.

There are times for criticism and self-criticism, but when the enemy is closing in and seeks to take advantage of our weaknesses to give us a mortal blow, we can’t doubt and much less recede.

That’s what’s happening today in Bolivarian Venezuela, where the worst threats have materialized in a date and a slogan: ‘On September 1, We Must Take Over Caracas’. The internal and external opposition is playing out, as in 2002, it is a dangerous card. They are announcing a dangerous day, and it may go by without a fuss or —as has happened before when the opposition revolted— it may end in a bloodbath. They have a history of causing bloodshed; the massacre of Puente Llaguno, the kidnapping of Hugo Chavez that almost ends with his murder in La Orchila, the oil strike, the guarimbas (barricades on the streets) with snipers that shot pedestrians and drivers. They know better than anyone that they have no peaceful means to achieve their ends and so they must seek to disturb and instill fear with threats of violence and terror.

Therefore, it’s time to close ranks and commit to solidarity, to support the Venezuelan people who will defend their country against the uprising. In every country, we must demonstrate outside Venezuelan embassies to express solidarity with this courageous country, its people and its democratically-elected President Nicolás Maduro, and warn the opposition that they better not attempt to promote violence, because they shall not pass.

Now that we’ve established this, as internationalist militants in every aspect and not just as writers or endorsers of manifestos, we also believe that it’s necessary for the revolutionary discourse to undergo a change towards radicalization, to deepen the process as far as it takes, no matter what, to avoid the enemy to keep their blackmailing us day after day. To deepen the process means going against the particular interests of whichever person, including those who cause the shortage of basic goods and the economic war, those who make tours around the world financed by Washington and the European right, those who practice media terrorism and those who promote the violence of para militarism to murder the leaders of the people or Chavist loyalists. But this is also true for the “red-coated bureaucrats” that are encrusted in the government and use their seats and power for their own personal benefit and betray the Revolution. President Nicolás Maduro himself has denounced this.

The Revolution mustn’t hesitate to nationalize foreign commerce and banks, expropriate all companies that boycott the process and deepen the agrarian reform, take power from those who want a European social democratic model in a society that is quintessentially Latin American and Third-Worldly. All of this is what Chavist Venezuelans are demanding throughout the country. Capitalism can only be overcome with more socialism, and not with half-heartedness, as some defeatist ideologists propose.

Due to all of these reasons, Resumen Latinoamericano and The Dawn News call on Thursday, September 1st, to take to the streets to defend Venezuelan Embassies in every country. Latin America and the world have owe a great debt to Venezuela and this is why they need to act to defend our sister nation in this difficult time.

Respect Democracy in Venezuela!

For Independence and Socialism!

http://www.thedawn-news.org/2016/08/31/on-september-1st-we-must-defend-the-bolivarian-revolution-more-than-ever-by-carlos-aznarez/

Source: The Dawn