SCOTTISH SOLIDARITY FOR VENEZUELA

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: march 2010 :: RMTnews 28 F ormer RMT regional organiser Phil McGarry chaired the first meeting of the Scottish Venezuela Solidarity Campaign recently. He said that the role of campaign was to combat the widespread misreporting in the mass media of events in Venezuela. “We need to win a broad understanding of the achievements of the Venezuelan people and the government under president Hugo Chavez,” he said. An example of the media distortions in Britain included a report in one of the tabloids suggested that Venezuela was the only country that had not cancelled Haiti’s debts. “The fact of the matter is that Venezuela had led the way in cancelling the £313 million owed to Venezuela and it is continuing deliveries of oil to assist the country in re-building its infrastructure,” he said. Venezuelan Embassy counsellor Alvaro Sanchez noted that the placing of mis- information in the media was extremely damaging because it gave legitimacy around the world in a way not accorded to the US sources themselves. Alvaro detailed the links between Venezuela and Scotland dating back to the Wars of Independence 200 years ago and the role of General Gregor McGregor a keen lieutenant of Simon Bolivar. He warned that the pro US right was on the offensive and that 2010 was the year in which progressive solidarity with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American Alba countries - The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – would be critical. Labour MP Colin Burgon said a recent study by the University of the West of England showed that of 144 mentioned of Venezuela on the BBC only three had noted achievements and the rest had been hostile or neutral. He stressed the importance of Venezuela and its allies in offering a direct alternative to neo-liberalism, a doctrine based on unfettered market dominance. “Today the big business backed philosophy of neo- liberalism represented the biggest threat to our own democracy and to economic recovery. “Venezuela, on the other hand, represented a future for 21st century socialism,” he said. Unite Assistant General Secretary Jennie Bremner, chair of the London-based Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (VSC,) stressed the need to support democracy in Latin America and explained the reasons for the recent launch of the Venezuela- Under-Threat campaign. “The military coup in Honduras last summer, the exposure of some of the plans in Ecuador and Paraguay, the agreement to establish seven US military bases in Columbia, and the reactivation of the US force fleet all indicated that the region was entering a new phase in which active efforts would be made to reverse the type of progressive change since the election of Hugo Chavez 10 years ago,” she said. Unison convenor Mike Kirby, who joined a delegation to Venezuela last year, said that Venezuela was a society in the midst of democratic transformation in which there was genuine pride and commitment in what had been achieved under the Chavez government. “Over the past year Venezuela had faced the world economic crisis by doing the exact opposite of what was demanded by the IMF, by strengthening public sector activity and spending. “The alliance of Alba countries represented an example to the rest of the world what could be achieved by democratic planning and co- operation, coupled with the political will to make it work,” he said. The meeting also elected Phil McGarry chair and ten members were elected to the executive committee from various trade union affiliates including Unison, Unite, UCU and EIS. Phil said that future plans for the campaign included a potential fringe meeting at the STUC Congress in Dundee and a formal annual general meeting. He had received affiliations from the RMT Scottish regional council and the RMT Glasgow Shipping branch, and interest had been shown by other RMT branches. It was also noted that the CWU had affiliated and this was welcomed. A vote of thanks was given by John Foster of the EIS who thanked the speakers for their contributions and thanked Phil for the sterling work he had put in over the previous year to get the organisation up and running. SCOTTISH SOLIDARITY FOR VENEZUELA Scottish Venezuela Solidarity Campaign holds inaugural meeting in Glasgow SOLIDARITY: from left to right – Colin Burgon MP, Mike Kirby (Unison), Chair Phil McGarry (RMT), Jennie Bremner (Unite) and Alvaro Sanchez from the Venezuela Embassy.