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U.S. workers study Venezuela's revolution
(Anncol.org, 02-09-06)
International delegations visiting Venezuela for the Third Gathering in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution on April 13-17 had a chance to see firsthand how the working people are participating in the transformation of this country. . . . The gathering this year had exceptional significance. The revolution is at a crucial juncture. It has tremendously increased its base of support, having been ratified by nine election processes. It has survived innumerable destabilization campaigns directed by the U.S. government, both inside the country and worldwide through a hostile media campaign. . . . The time has come when the advancement of the process has led to a direct confrontation with the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and with the property relations that support its enormous privileges. . . . Contradictions are so sharp that only two roads are possible: go back or go forward. The dynamism of the revolution does not allow for anything to stand still. . . . Since they achieved their goal of freeing Chavez, the masses have learned much in a short time. Their political awareness has developed as they tasted the flavor of empowerment. How can they go back? . . . The road forward has already been defined by Chávez himself: the Bolivarian Revolution will take the glorious road of socialism. He first announced it in January in a press conference during the World Social Forum in Brazil, and has repeated it many times since. . . . The developments mentioned were many. They include activating a 200,000-strong Military Reserve of both women and men, of all ages, to defend the country. This will be increased to 2 million in the coming months. Venezuela is keenly aware of being a Pentagon target and thus is preparing the reserve army in every corner of the country-from the Apure region where reservists patrol on horseback to Indigenous people in the Amazon jungle. As Chavez said, "The revolution is advancing, and as it advances, the threats increase." . . . Chavez spoke at length on the oil question. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, he said, and they are the first interest of the U.S. The oil today is being managed by the revolution for the benefit and advantage of the people and not for the profit of U.S. oil companies, as it used to be during previous governments. Taxes are finally being imposed and enforced on foreign companies. Stealing of oil and its derivatives will no longer be permitted in Venezuela. . . . Companies used to pay a ludicrous amount of rent for the land they occupied—just pennies per year per acre. The royalties on oil ran as low as 1 percent on heavy crude. That has been raised to 16 percent, and under a new law the royalty on regular crude is raised to 30 percent and could be increased further. . . . Thorough investigation by the Bolivarian government discovered that the foreign companies were not paying rent for their land. Now this robbery will stop. . . . Chavez also mentioned trade relations with other countries. Venezuela will supply nearby Argentina with oil for the first time in 100 years. It will exchange 8 million barrels of fuel oil for pregnant cows, nuclear medical equipment for cancer treatment and agricultural machinery. This avoids having to use so-called hard currencies. . . . "Similar treaties have been established with Cuba, Jamaica, Uruguay, Paraguay and many other countries of the Caribbean and Central America," said Chavez. "Now we have a strategic agreement with China, to supply oil, and with India". . . . He explained that Venezuela, together with Brazil, "will form Petroamerica, a grouping of oil and oil-related companies; and soon Petrocaribe will be born in the Caribbean." . . . Needless to say, the U.S. CIA is operating 24 hours a day to break the revolution. However, the political will of the masses is progressing in spite of this. . . . Repeatedly, conference participants stressed that whatever the model used, the struggle for workers' control in Venezuela should not be limited to the public sector or to a takeover of failed industries abandoned by their former capitalist owners. . . . Speakers received resounding applause when they raised that co-management is not about Venezuelan workers becoming "shareholders who own capital," but about overturning capitalist property relations and replacing them with workers' control over all the industry through socialism. . . . Steve Gillis, president of USWA Local 8751, Boston School Bus Drivers Union, presented T-shirts from the Million Worker March and messages of solidarity to the Venezuelan workers. . . . Gillis denounced Condoleezza Rice's criticism of Chavez as the leader of a "failed revolution." "It is capitalism that is the failed system," Gillis noted, "because it has shown itself incapable of providing for the basic needs of working and poor people."

posted by LoZo 9:42 AM