On Saturday, 15 November, a solidarity event entitled ‘Long Live Venezuela – Stand Against Fascism, Imperialism and War’ was held at Bolivar Hall, the cultural centre of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The event was organised by solidarity groups and politicians from England, including the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (VSC), the Communist Party of Great Britain Marxist Leninist (CPGB-ML), Plataforma 12 de Octubre (P12O), Friends of Socialist China (FofSC), Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG), Black Liberation Alliance (BLA) and Red Wiphalas.
The importance of this act of solidarity was expressed in the fact that organisations with different political orientations and experiences joined their voices to express their solidarity with the Venezuelan people and condemn the aggressions carried out by the government of the United States of America.
The event was organised into three thematic blocks, messages of solidarity with Venezuela were disseminated, and the musical group ‘La fonda de los artistas’ participated, as did the poet Cosmo Matt, who recited his message to Venezuela, and comrade Betty Rhaza, who sang the poem ‘Vamos Pueblo’.
In the first section, ‘The struggle against imperialism in Venezuela and Latin America,’ Sam McGill (RCG), Dr Francisco Dominguez (VSC) and Daniel O’Brien (CPGB-ML) spoke.
In the second block, ‘The construction of Bolivarian socialism, “Commune or Nothing”’, the documentary “Venezuelan communes. Building popular power‘ was screened, followed by speeches by Eleonore Mbra Koffi (CPGB-ML) and Carolina Graterol.
In the third block, ‘The unified war: from Gaza to Venezuela, an attack on the global working class,’ Joti Brar, president of the CPGB-ML, Yonatan Mosquera (P12O) and Russel Harland (FofSC) spoke.
As part of the actions of solidarity with the Bolivarian process, Red Wiphalas read part of the RUNASUR Declaration, and messages of solidarity from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Italy were disseminated and a message from Blanca Eekhout, president of the Simón Bolívar Institute for Peace and Solidarity among Peoples.
At the closing of the event, Dr. Francisco Dominguez (VSC) spoke about how to oppose Trump’s war plan against Venezuela, and the final words were given by the ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Mr. Feliz Plasencia.
