Hands Off Venezuela meeting in Edinburgh
- 09 June 2006
On Thursday 1st June Jose Antonio Hernandez, a
Venezuelan Activist from Caracas, member of the Revolutionary Socialist Youth
and spokesperson of the Revolutionary Front of Workers of companies occupied
and under co-management FRETECO, completed his speaking tour of Scotland and
Northern England. The meeting marked the
culmination of a highly successful visit, and all on the day before his 22nd
birthday!
The meeting was held at the CWU Postal Workers Union Club, Brunswick Place, and was attended by around 60 people. This represents a major victory for the Hands Off Venezuela campaign in Edinburgh, the first meeting of which attracted less than 10 people. It was also a welcome opportunity to receive a first hand account of the events that have taken place in Venezuela since 1992, and cut through the blackouts and distortions conveyed by the media.
After commenting upon the processes occurring within Venezuela,
Jose Antonio also took questions from the floor. What followed was a reasonable
amount of questions, and a couple of contributions. Members of the audience
were keen to find out how they could help the movement within Venezuela, the relationship of Venezuela with
other Latin American countries, and how the mass of the population were trying
to take their destinies into their own hands. We hope that the answers that
were provided will encourage people to become more involved with the campaign
here in Scotland.
We also received a pleasing financial result, with a collection of almost £100, and a good sale with the reading material that we had brought. This will enable us to build for public events in the future, especially during Edinburgh University Freshers Week in September.
The same day but few hours earlier Jose Antonio Hernandez had spoken at the UNISON Local Government branch in Falkirk where about 20 shop stewards and trade union activists heard a lead-off about workers' control and co-management. That branch was one of the first ones in Scotland to affiliate to the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign and sent two delegates to the first National Conference. Motions of solidarity with the victimised workers at RACE were also distributed.
The Edinburgh University Hands Off Venezuela Society would like to thank Jose Antonio Hernandez for his inspirational visit, and to wish him well in his interventions in the movement within Venezuela.