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By Reagan Gray 28 September 2024
On 29 August, The Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG), through its campaign Rock Around the Blockade (RATB), held a public webinar on ‘What is really happening in Venezuela.’ When the Venezuelan Presidential elections on 28 July resulted in a victory for incumbent Nicholas Maduro of the Party , violent riots and media attacks ensued. This chaos was organised by the US backed opposition, Edmundo Gonzalez and Maria Corina Machado, who serve as imperialist puppets in order to foster instability in Venezuela through violent sanctions, media lies, and government backed coup attempts since the Bolivarian Revolution began in 1999.
RATB and the RCG organised this public meeting to affirm the anti-imperialist perspective on the situation in Venezuela and to amplify the Venezuelan voices on the ground who are being actively suppressed, as they challenge the narrative and interests of the ruling class.
Carolina Graterol, a Venezuelan journalist and filmmaker, joined us to speak about her experience as a participant and electoral observer in the election on 28 July. She shared her extensive knowledge of Venezuela’s electoral process, and explained the rigorous processes that the government follows to ensure democratic integrity of elections. Her first hand accounts of the election process were an invaluable perspective and a testament to the democratic processes that Venezuela has upheld despite unceasing media attacks.
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Earlier this month the World Congress against Fascism, Neofascism and other similar expressions was held in Caracas, Venezuela. Solidarity organisations, social movements and political parties from over 190 countries participated in the two day long conference. Amongst the numerous political outcomes of the congress was the declaration that the weekend of the 28th/29th of September would be an international weekend of solidarity demonstrations, a demand which Rock Around the Blockade supporters answered enthusiastically!
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On 20 September, protesters gathered outside the London offices of the Guardian, to demand an end to its hostile media blitz against Venezuela.
In the build up to, and since the Venezuelan presidential election on 28 July, The Guardian and its sister newspaper The Observer have churned out a steady stream of hostile coverage calling into question the result which saw the re-election of socialist party candidate Nicolas Maduro.
The Guardian's Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips produced over 30 articles on Venezuela’s election in a single month, constantly repeating the lie that the election was rigged, in order to soften up public opinion to accept more sanctions and intervention (see ‘In defence of the Bolivarian revolution’ on our website).
Friends and supporters of the RCG and RATB spoke outside the Guardian exposing its role as a mouthpiece of the British ruling class, all the more dangerous for its supposedly progressive garb. They highlighted the Bolivarian Revolution’s achievements such as free healthcare and education for all Venezuelans, and over four million social housing units constructed since 2011 in spite of deadly US, EU and British sanctions which have devastated the country’s economy. Over $1bn of Venezuela’s sovereign gold reserves have been illegally confiscated by the Bank of England, which refused to release them even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic to allow Venezuela to purchase urgently needed medicines.
We say: hands off Venezuela! Victory to the Venezuelan masses against imperialism! No more British media lies!
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Hands off Venezuela! No right wing coup! No imperialist intervention!
The Revolutionary Communist Group, FRFI and Rock around the Blockade stand against the attempts by the US imperialist-backed opposition in Venezuela to overturn the result of the 28 July election. Imperialist media and right wing opposition forces announced well in advance that they would not accept any outcome except the installation of a pro-imperialist candidate as president. They are provoking violent protests and street blockades in a replay of previous violent coup attempts in 2019, 2017, 2014 and earlier.
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On 4 March, a protest organised by the Revolutionary Communist Group and Rock Around the Blockade took place outside the Bank of England in London. It demanded that the Bank stop withholding Venezuela’s sovereign gold deposits from the democratically elected government of Nicolas Maduro. Thirty-one tonnes of gold, worth £1.2bn (USD1.4bn) has been embargoed by Britain since 2020. Britain’s Supreme Court refused to release the gold to the Maduro government to fund humanitarian relief, and instead put the gold at the disposal of the unelected Venezuelan opposition under the leadership of the US-back stooge Juan Guaido. Despite the end of Guaido’s sham 'interim presidency' in December 2022, Britain still refuses to recognise the elected government of Venezuela and intends to give the gold to the opposition controlled '2015 National Assembly' whose mandate expired in 2021.
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On 12 October activists from RATB, Papua Militant, Mafapo, Indignados, Fight Racism Fight Imperialism and more attended an event in London organised by P12O. The event was an expression of solidarity with all people of Latin America in the struggle against imperialism. The demonstration was named "Resistance Day" in order to combat myths surrounding "Columbus Day" and to celebrate the efforts of liberatory and anti-imperialist struggles in Latin America and all around the world.
Below is a video of our supporter's speech from the event, accompanied by a poem sent to us from Bartolina Sisa Resistance, a Bolivian solidarity organisation based in London:
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On 8-9 January the Revolutionary Communist Group and supporters of its newspaper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! took to the streets demanding that Britain return $1.8bn of gold to Venezuela.
The action was called in response to the criminal ruling on 20 December, where Britain's Supreme Court recognised as the owner of $1.8bn of gold held in the Bank of England's vaults, not the legitimate socialist party government of Venezuela, but rather the discredited opposition ‘interim president’, Juan Guaido – the failed puppet of US imperialism. Whilst Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela demands the gold be used for imports of food, medicine and Covid-19 vaccines, the British government, Supreme Court and Bank of England see fit to decide who is and who is not the legitimate head of state, riding roughshod over the Venezuelan democratic process that re-elected Maduro in 2018.
In London the Revolutionary Communist Group joined forces with Rock Around the Blockade, Julian Assange Defence Campaign, Bolivia Solidarity Campaign, Great Patriotic Pole UK, Papua Militant International, Economic and Philosophical Science Review and Hands Off Venezuela! Holding an open mic rally and marching to the Bank of England.
As comrades pointed out, this is not just about the gold – Venezuela's struggle for socialism represents the threat of a good example. Despite crippling sanctions, sustained destabilisation and coup attempts, Venezuela continues to resist! 3.7 million units of social housing have been built and distributed through the Great Housing Mission – whereas in Britain, with an economy 18 times the size of Venezuela's, 30,000 households are on council housing waiting lists and homelessness is soaring whilst social housing is sold off and demolished to make way for luxury flats.
The Revolutionary Communist Group fully supports Venezuela's sovereignty and the Bolivarian revolution's 20-year resistance to imperialist exploitation. We unequivocally oppose British imperialism’s war against Venezuela and its support for US-sponsored ‘regime change’. We will continue to organise in the streets to defend Venezuela's right to resist. Return the gold – No sanctions, no coup – Hands off Venezuela – Solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution!
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Re-posted from www.frfi.org.uk
Branches of the Revolutionary Communist Group took to the streets across Britain to demand no imperialist intervention in Ecuador. Tomorrow the people of Ecuador go to the polls to vote in the second round of Presidential elections.
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Below we publish an open letter to the BBC in response to their website article "Coronavirus: 'Forced to work' as medics fighting Covid"
At a time when the US and EU sanctions on Venezuela are strangling its economy, undermining its currency, restricting access to vital medical and hygiene supplies, and costing damages of an estimated $194bn (2016-2019), it is a distortion from reality to speak of economic shortages in Venezuela without mentioning these crushing sanctions. Yet you routinely fail to do so, and in your video article they were not raised once. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, former UN special rapporteur Alfred de Zayas, estimated these sanctions have killed up to 100,000 Venezuelans.