Above photo: Venezuelan people marched in the rain on July 30 in defense of the electoral results. Zoe Alexandra.
Social and workers’ movements across the world have launched a campaign to stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people.
As they face a wave of attacks following the presidential elections.
On August 9, the ALBA Movimientos, a platform of social and political movements from across the Americas and the Caribbean, the International Peoples’ Assembly, the Simon Bolivar Institute, and the Assembly of Caribbean Peoples, launched a campaign titled: “For Democracy and Sovereignty: Hands Off Venezuela!” The campaign comes in the aftermath of Venezuela’s presidential election and a wave of seemingly coordinated attacks from right-wing political actors, mainstream media, and US and its allies.
The launch document states that, for several months, a media campaign has been created to question the legitimacy of the elections in the Caribbean country. “From the hegemonic media, with political and diplomatic strategies, it has been sought to install an idea of the illegitimacy of the recent Venezuelan electoral process,” states the communiqué.
The joint statement affirms that the campaign mentioned above against the legitimacy of the Venezuelan electoral process has been shaped from several communicational fronts: creating doubts about the technological capacity of the electoral machines, reinforcing the 930 economic sanctions against Venezuela, generating violence in the streets and illegally self-declaring González Urrutia as president of the country, among others.
The geopolitical importance of Venezuela, both for its geographic location and vast natural resources, are at the center of the current dispute, the organizations argue. “It is impossible [to understand the situation of] Venezuela without placing it in the regional and global geopolitical context: its privileged place in world oil production, its common goods placed at the service of the people, the place it occupies in the multipolar world together with the emerging countries, and of course, its leadership of a project of union and regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean that gives continuity to the defeat of the FTAA and keeps alive the horizon of continental sovereignty far from the designs of the United States”.
In this way, the document invites progressive and revolutionary organizations to combat the media campaign imposed by the national and international opposition to Venezuela, which, according to the document, is directly aligned with the imperialist interests of the United States.
On August 9, the launch day of the campaign, the movement platforms have called on organizations across the globe to mobilize on the streets and on social media in support of Venezuela.
🇻🇪 BREAKING! The people of New York City say “HANDS OFF VENEZUELA” and “NO to US Intervention” in front of New York Times Headquarters
While The New York Times has been engaged in a misinformation campaign to encourage and justify US-led coup attempts and economic warfare… pic.twitter.com/TbMXycKvr4
— The People’s Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) August 8, 2024
South African Workers Speak Out In Support Of Venezuela
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), in a press release issued on August 8, 2024, congratulated the Venezuelan people for holding free and fair elections, as well as congratulating the re-election with more than 51% of the votes of Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela.
NUMSA also questions the media campaign against the legitimacy of the electoral process that could lead to a coup d’état in Venezuela. According to the communiqué, “These media houses are not neutral. Their role is to advance the interests of capital and to promote US imperialism and hegemony. It is not in the interest of Western powers to endorse the elections in Venezuela…We are deeply concerned that US propaganda is being reproduced by many media houses that have sadly been trapped into reinforcing attempts at a coup by imperialism against the will of the Venezuelan people.”
In addition, the NUSMA communiqué insists on the close relationship that the Venezuelan opposition has with the geopolitical interests of the United States, including the friendship that María Corina Machado has professed with the Zionist government of Israel; “The United States does not have a commendable history in defending the dignity of most people. Today, we can take one look at the US-backed genocide against the Palestinian people to know this. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the right-wing opposition coup leader in Venezuela is a Zionist”.
Likewise, the NUMSA communiqué recognizes the great economic and geostrategic value of Venezuela in current international relations, which is why there are imperial powers that seek to control the political future of Venezuela at any cost so that the recognition of the elections would be a way for the people to reaffirm their sovereignty and their ability to decide their future without the interference of other countries: “the US has set its sights on the enormous mineral wealth of Venezuela and seems determined to expropriate these through the imposition of a puppet regime under the leadership of Edmundo González. Against this backdrop, all progressive forces must reaffirm their unwavering commitment to the sovereignty of Venezuela. We call on our government, media, governments, and media houses worldwide to uphold the principles of peace, democracy, and national self-determination by acknowledging the outcomes of the Venezuelan election.”
Anti-imperialist and progressive movements from across the world are gearing up for the international campaign to condemn the so-called hybrid war against Venezuela and express their support to its struggle for sovereignty and democracy.