A new challenge to NATO's domination

Chris Williamson speaks

by Theo Russell

The launch of No2NATO – No2War last Saturday at the Bolivar Hall in London marked an historic new page in the British peace movement, with a new organisation challenging the domination of NATO in British and global politics and calling for an end to sending billions in arms to the Ukrainian government.
    N2N-N2W is the initiative of George Galloway's Workers Party and expelled Labour MP Chris Williamson’s Socialist Labour Party.
    In an atmosphere of censorship and demonisation of any criticism of the UK's unconditional support for the Kiev junta, two previous attempts to hold a N2N-N2W meeting were cancelled after the venues were deluged with threats and hate-mail. The venue for Saturday's meeting was withheld until the last minute.
    But the enormous pent-up demand for a new organisation that understands the reality of the Ukraine conflict was proven when the event was fully booked weeks in advance, and even then each of the three separate sessions held on Saturday – with many unable to get a seat – had twice as many people as both the recent Stop the War Coalition meetings on Ukraine in London and many more would have attended had enough tickets been available.
    This reflects the mealy-mouthed liberal position of the Stop the War Coalition, which held only one national meeting in eight years prior to the Russian intervention, and which instead of condemning the shocking repression and violence of the fascist-infested Zelensky regime calls for the Russian and Donbas forces to withdraw, leaving the people of the Donbas and many other parts of Ukraine at the mercy of fascists and Banderites who regard them as sub-human pro-Russian traitors.
    Opening one of the sessions, Galloway said: "The talking tailor's dummy Jens Stoltenberg recently revealed that NATO had been actively involved in Ukraine for at least six years prior to the western-backed coup in 2014."
    He described the current phase of the war as "a volcanic, tectonic shift which has accelerated by two decades the prize of a multipolar world", and said that in the West "the political dwarves we have elected are presiding over the rapid economic, cultural and social decline of their countries”.
    Galloway lambasted Washington’s warnings to countries not supporting NATO in Ukraine, declaring: "The days when China could be ordered around by anybody are over, over, over!
    “When South Africa was attacked for holding naval exercises with Russia and China, it responded by saying that the only countries which gave us weapons and bullets when we were fighting for our freedom were Russia and China."
    "The world is not against Russia and China", he said, "the 'West' is only 13 per cent of the world's population, and even in the West there are millions and millions of us who reject your domination".
    Fiona Edwards from No Cold War told the meeting: "Western governments want to silence and discredit us, but we want to say no to war and yes to peace." She condemned the incredible hypocrisy of governments which have fought wars in Asia and North Africa with huge civilian casualties, economic and social devastation.
    "The greatest threat to humanity is the warmongers in Washington and their NATO allies. Having caused this war, they are now escalating it, and for them the people of Ukraine are nothing more than cannon fodder. We need peace, an end to sending billions in arms which we need for our hospitals, schools and public sector workers."
    Fiona Edwards pointed out that a 50,000 strong demonstration in Denmark had succeeded in stopping savage cuts to finance higher defence spending, showing the potential strength of peace movements backed by working people.
    Andy Hudd, ASLEF Vice President, said: "I'm a socialist, but I'm not a pacifist because unfortunately in this world workers have to defend themselves. I'm a socialist because it's only in a socialist world we will get peace, and an end to the bloodshed of the working class in the interests of the wealthy and privileged."
    Hudd criticised the response of British trade unions and the Labour Party to the war in Ukraine, pointing to the GMB-backed TUC motion last year supporting increased military spending "on the back of food banks and overworked, underpaid nurses, poverty on a scale we've never seen before". He said the TUC had supported Stop the War resolutions and at the same time sending arms to Ukraine.
    "Trade unionists should be calling for solutions which bring security for Russia and Ukraine, and supporting campaigns against NATO and for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine."
    Chris Williamson said that he had believed that being an MP “was a platform to achieve positive change, but I discovered that almost every Labour MP only cared about their careers".
    "We are told that Zelensky is defending democracy, but he's banned any political opposition, and he's even going for the Orthodox church. The Labour Party is calling for more arms to be sent, while a Ukrainian woman received a 10-year sentence for posting communists on social media. This is the regime which burnt to death dozens of trade unionists in Odessa in 2014. We're told to support people like that – I say never, never, never!
    "No2NATO has been attacked by toadying trolls and sycophantic media hacks who have pulled out all the stops to prevent this meeting today. But we can only go from strength to strength, because what we are asking for is pure common sense."
    Chris Williamson's call for the immediate release of Julian Assange was met with a prolonged standing ovation by the entire audience.
    Former British diplomat and now peace campaigner Craig Murray said that in the 1950s Russia's military arsenal was only 40 per cent of NATO estimates, and that: "Today we are being told that Russia is planning to march to Berlin, Brussels and even London. All this is designed to justify massive military spending by NATO members."
    A motion backing the appointment of an interim leadership of No2NATO – No2War comprising George Galloway, Chris Williamson and Andy Hudd was adopted unanimously by the session.
    Members of International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity distributed around 1,000 leaflets and received a warm welcome from all at the meeting, and the 25th March Whitehall protest against the fascist terror in Ukraine was announced from the platform several times.
    We can only look forward to the future of N2N-N2W, and building a new peace movement that is genuinely against the all-powerful domination of NATO and US-led imperialism in the West.

Support Venezuela’s revolution!

By Theo Russell

Venezuelans and supporters of the country’s Bolivarian socialist revolution gathered in London in March for a working meeting of the European Network of Solidarity with Venezuela entitled ‘Venezuela, a country under attack’. The conference, at the Bolivar Hall on 9^th March, was the second European meeting organised by the Gran Polo Patriotico (GPP), which was created by the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Venezuela to “nurture and strengthen international solidarity with the revolutionary process”. It was attended by delegates from Belgium, Spain, Malta, Switzerland, Britain, Ecuador, Guatemala and Bolivia.

Opening the meeting, Venezuelan ambassador Rocio Maneiro said that: “The GPP was created to develop support for the Chavista Tendency. The idea of adding and opening paths is typical of the way of thinking of Hugo Chavez.”

She said the GPP’s aim “is to replace country by country solidarity with unified solidarity” and warned that: “At this moment there is a real threat to the sovereignty of Venezuela and there is a real threat to peace and stability in Latin America.”

David Brady, a writer on socialism in Latin America and a Green Party councillor, said that after the west declared socialism moribund in 1990, the achievement of state power by a socialist government in Venezuela had proved that socialism is a living political force.

He pointed out that: “It was only in 2004 (five years after becoming president) that Chavez began talking about socialism”. Until then he had only referred to “participatory democracy”.

He said that the attempted coup against Chavez in 2002 “was partly about oil, but more importantly it was about the example of independence, dignity and social justice which Venezuela represented”. And he warned that: “Donald Trump’s aim is to end socialism in Venezuela, and then attack Nicaragua and Cuba, and any country that dares to defy them.”

Brady also warned against attacks on Nicolas Maduro by some on the left, such as questioning his intelligence and ability, and pointed out that “he made massive contributions in his previous roles as a minister and foreign minister”.

Delegates heard of the vast gulf between rich and poor that existed before 1999 and the mass uprising across Venezuela in 1989 after IMF-imposed reforms. Even at that time the poor in Caracas and other cities had achieved a high level of organisation in neighbourhood committees, and the elite were hoarding and speculating on basic products.

Other speakers described the difference between the masses and the rich, white upper class as “almost like two different countries”, and said that before 1999 “the majority of the population lived like refugees in their own country”.

For the first time, under Chavez, workers, peasants, indigenous people and the urban poor began to participate in Venezuela’s political and cultural life, and their cultures were valued and respected.

Huge advances have been made since 1999 in health, housing and education: 43 new universities have been created; and since 2015 alone 2.5 million new houses have been built.

This explains the mass base of the support for Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, and why, although Venezuelans have been highly critical of both leaders, a common slogan is: “We made the revolution, we made Chavez, we made Maduro!”

It also explains why huge crowds took to the streets of Caracas in to show their support for Maduro during the recent electric power sabotage and why the peasants are organising spontaneous marches into Caracas in support of the ‘Chavista’ revolution.

In 1999 Venezuela inherited huge problems and a grossly distorted economy. Oil prices were lower than water – a subsidy for the wealthy but raising them would harm the poor. This has seriously harmed the economy.

In the decades before 1999 millions of poor peasants moved to the cities, resulting in a huge fall in agricultural production. This in turn led to most food being imported, whilst 80 per cent of food distribution is still in private hands.

Whilst the government sells limited amounts of staples such as flour, street prices are often 25 times higher. But solutions have been found to produce food products and monthly food parcels are sent to poor families. Medicines in Venezuela are still free, with supplies bought from India and Russia.

Carolina Graterol, director of the soon to be released film A Letter from Venezuela and a member of the GPP, told the meeting: “When I returned to Venezuela after 11 years I expected to see a disaster; but after travelling around the country I saw people full of optimism, people smiling, helping each other and fighting. Even in the most dangerous parts of Caracas, people showed solidarity and calmly dealt with problems.”

Many speakers stressed that Venezuela does not need humanitarian aid. Carolina Graterol said: “There is no problem with humanitarian aid, for example if it is organised by the Red Cross or the UN, but not by unknown NGOs or charities. But why try to force aid on Venezuela that we don’t need?

“What about aid for children in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, where children have lost arms and legs, where there are refugees and hunger, and houses and infrastructure need rebuilding?”

The economic sabotage began from day one of Chavez taking power, and after five years of criminal activity, infiltration of saboteurs and terrorists, and large scale smuggling, Venezuela was forced to close the border with Colombia that had been overrun by paramilitaries, criminal groups and the Colombian army.

The border crossing blocked by containers shown recently in the British media – with footage of a handful of “freedom fighters” throwing rocks – was, in fact, never allowed to open by the Colombian side, as a way of pushing up prices and profits for smugglers, and is miles away from the nearest actual crossing point.

The sabotage has taken extreme terrorist forms, including the violent ‘Guarimbas’ roadblocks and the training of opposition protesters to set Maduro supporters on fire – a tactic also seen used against police during the 2013–14 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine.

Dr Oscar Guardiola-Rivera said that that whereas over two million people have recently left Venezuela, seven million have left Colombia due to poverty. He said that Colombian president Iván Duque Márquez was the most unpopular leader in Latin America and that in less than three months after taking power, 115 left-wing and trade union leaders have been murdered.

He said Márquez, a close US ally, was allying with other extreme right-wing, racist, sexist and homophobic leaders in the region, such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.

In the discussions about practical solidarity work, calls were made for Jeremy Corbyn to make a clear commitment to return to the Venezuelan government and people the $1.2bn in gold reserves seized by the Bank of England.

A call was also made to boycott businesses run by billionaire Richard Branson after he funded a ‘Live Aid-inspired’ concert on the Colombian border that was condemned by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters. Waters said: “It has nothing to do with humanitarian aid at all. It has to do with Richard Branson … having bought the US saying ‘We have decided to take over Venezuela, for whatever our reasons may be’.”

Jeremy Corbyn has said of the recent regime change attempt: “We oppose outside interference in Venezuela, whether from the USA or anywhere else," and John McDonnell has supported a dialogue led by the Mexican and Bolivian presidents.

But shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti says she relies on “trusted sources”, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, to accuse the Venezuelan government of “crushing dissent” – a position echoed by shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry. In fact the recently suspended Chris Williamson is the only British MP to give clear support for president Nicolas Maduro.

After lengthy debate the conference adopted an 11-point declaration that amongst other things called for supporters of the legitimate Venezuelan government to defend peace in Venezuela, defend Venezuela’s democratic institutions, demand that Britain return 14 tons of gold reserves, and supporting the dialogue process proposed by Uruguay, Mexico, the Caricom countries and the Vatican.

The conference ended with Venezuelan ambassador Rocio Maneiro saying that: “The most important thing now is unity amongst the groups in Europe that support the Maduro government.”

Thanking all those present for their support, she reminded them: “We are aware of the enormous tasks we face. The struggles, injustices and corruption of the last 200 years cannot be overcome in 20 years.”

• Declaration of the European Network in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution

Letter from Venezuela

By Theo Russell

A Letter from Venezuela was screened at the Bolívar Hall in London last week. It is an inspiring film which shows that, despite systematic sabotage and violence, the support for Maduro and the Bolivarian revolution is a mass phenomenon, and full of energy and determination.

The soon-to-released film was directed by Carolina Graterol, who lives in London and who visited Venezuela after several years away when her sister died of malaria.

She travelled all over the country, filming the ordinary people of the cities and countryside. One of the most interesting aspects is hearing many Venezuelans describing not only the problems they face but how they are overcoming them.

An example of the mass support is a spontaneous 150 mile peasant march to Caracas, simply to show their support for Nicolás Maduro, with chants of “Let’s Go, Nico!”.

It won’t surprise our readers to hear that everything reported in the British media about Venezuela is false. Shortages of certain foods and products have been deliberately created but there was absolutely no sign in the film of “starvation”.

People, especially the young, are going abroad, but this is for economic reasons, lack of jobs and the pressures of life in Venezuela.

In the 20 years since Hugo Chavez came to power, the USA has used in Venezuela many of the tactics against Allende’s Chile.

The extreme opposition violence includes horrific scenes of setting Maduro supporters on fire, the bombing of police, kidnappings, and the ‘Guarimbas’ – opposition roadblocks using tyre spikes, burning tyres and tripwires.

Activists point out the similarities of these tactics with those recently seen in Nicaragua and the 2014 Ukraine coup, where in both cases puppet groups were trained by the USA in sophisticated street-fighting methods.

Historically Venezuela has been one of Latin America’s most racially and economically divided countries. Whilst the population is far more racially mixed then other Latin America countries, over 99 per cent of the rich elite are white Europeans.

One activist describes “a regrowth of fascism” and says that pro-opposition doctors have waged a campaign to deliberately sterilise poor women.

The US-led economic war on Venezuela is on a massive scale. Ships from Britain, the USA, Germany and Italy have joined the trade blockade. After the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013 western countries began a campaign of disinvestment and risk agencies have pushed interest rates on loans to Venezuela to 50 per cent.

There is constant sabotage of food, electricity, gas, water and medical supplies, either physical or cyber, and massive hoarding by private businesses to inflate prices.

Leaked reports on ‘Operation Venezuela Freedom 2’, drawn up in 2017 by US Southern Command in Panama, describe plans to “siege and suffocate”, portray Venezuela as “close to collapse/imploding”, and to link Maduro’s government to corruption and money laundering.

The plan shows preparations for rapid military intervention from US bases in Panama, Honduras, the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curaçao, and six bases in neighbouring Colombia.

But the film also shows how Venezuelans are resisting the sabotage, and the huge advances for the poor, the indigenous peoples and the disabled since 1999. A disabled citizen describes how rights for disabled people in the new constitution are a model for the rest of Latin America.

There has been huge investment in education; and 2.5 million new houses have been built since 2015. Staple foods are sold at government prices and monthly food boxes sent to poor families.

We see the determination of Venezuelans to overcome the sabotage and shortages with new, self-reliant forms of production, abandoned factories expropriated, and equipment and parts being repairing or reverse engineered.

The energy and enthusiasm of the Venezuelan masses for Chavismo, and their music and songs, are contrasted with the weakness of the openly divided opposition.

As one activist says: “The dictatorship we have is that of the media. We have no dictatorship here!”

And another puts the struggle in context, saying: “Fighting imperialism is long-winded but they cannot defeat us.”

The message of this film is a positive one: whatever the USA tries, it cannot defeat the Bolivarian revolution.