Nick Hamilton, Melbourne
More than 200 people attended the Third Australian Conference in Solidarity with Latin America at Trades Hall on October 1. The event opened with presentations by Nelson Davila, Venezuelan charge d'affaires to Australia, and Roberto Jorquera, who recently spent six months in Venezuela as a Green Left Weekly correspondent.
The progress of the Bolivarian revolution since President Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998 has brought Venezuela into conflict with US and multinational corporate interests. It was within this context that Davila gave an overview of the international political situation as seen through Venezuelan eyes, and his country's plans for creating "socialism of the 21st century".
According to Davila, while the world is dominated by one superpower (militarily at least), this does not necessarily mean that effective resistance cannot be formed. Merely relying on the use of force has its limits, he argued, citing Iraq as an example. The battle of ideas is another frontier where Venezuela has armed itself well, with social missions in the areas of health (Barrio Adentro) and education (Mission Robinson) to uplift and involve the community.
Liliany Patricia Obanda Villota of the Colombian National Agricultural Workers Federation of Unions (FENSUARGO) was another keynote speaker. She described her country of 44 million people, of whom 24 million live in poverty, including nine million homeless. She spoke of the state terror inflicted upon her people and her union, whose general secretary was murdered. "We are called 'terrorists', but the real terrorists are those of the state. We ask for ourselves and the other indigenous people of the world the right to self-determination", she told the conference.
Obanda Villota outlined how the US has merged the "war on terror" with the "war on drugs" in Latin America. Left-wing resistance groups have been conveniently re-labelled "narco-terrorists", so that their members can suffer "extraordinary rendition" to places like the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Obanda Villota invigorated the audience by concluding her speech with Colombian protest slogans.
Various participants in the recent Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Brigade presented workshops throughout the conference.
The conference discussed the organisation of three further solidarity brigades to Venezuela, next January to coincide with the World Social Forum, a trade union brigade around May Day and a brigade to coincide with the presidential elections in December 2006. Conference participants also planned how to step up solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution among Australian workers.
From Green Left Weekly, October 12, 2005.
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