Venezuela and the NATFHE Conference 2006

On Monday May 29^th 2006 the NATFHE Annual Conference meeting in Blackpool discussed the issue of Venezuela for the third time in three years. In moving the motion, Darrall Cozens from the West Midlands region, made no apology for bringing the issue to the conference yet again. He told the conference that at this moment in time the struggle of the forces for social change in the direction of socialism against the forces of capitalist reaction are far more developed in Venezuela than in any other country, and that if the USA were not bogged down in Iraq the issue of Venezuela would be dominating the international media far more than it is as the US would be making far serious efforts to overthrow the Bolivarian government.

The motion before the conference was mainly of an organisational nature and Darrall reminded the conference that in previous years the political points that had been made were still valid today. NATFHE had previously applauded the social changes initiated by the Bolivarian revolution; had recognised the need to defend the gains against internal and external reaction; and had also stated that to maintain the momentum for social change and thwart reaction, it was necessary to extend the revolution. In the same way that you cannot make half an omelette, you cannot make half a revolution. Internal reaction at this point in time was not open but elements of the oligarchy had been engaged in economic sabotage by withholding goods from the market to try and discredit the government.

The main thrust of the motion was firstly to recognise the role that NATFHE had played over Venezuela. It was NATFHE that had facilitated the first national conference of the Hands off Venezuela campaign in December 2005. It was NATFHE's president John Wilkins who had moved the resolution on Venezuela at the TUC conference in September 2005. And just over two weeks ago it was no accident that Paul Mackney, NATFHE's general secretary, was on the platform when President Chavez spoke at the Camden Town Hall. Chavez mentioned Paul in his speech. Darrall also pointed out, however, the irony that whilst he and Paul were in the hall listening to Chavez, John and his wife Chris Wilkins were outside unable to get in as they did not have a ticket. After the conference had discussed the motion John did tell us that he had been able to meet Chavez personally at the TUC the following day!

The second part of the motion asked conference to broaden and deepen the work on Venezuela by raising the issue at all levels of the union, by inviting speakers from HoV and by working with other unions. Only the forces of the trade union and labour movement would be able to combat the lies and distortions that are pouring out of the pens of writers in the capitalist media. Examples were given of where Chavez is described as an "aggressively populist left-wing leader" (Times May 12 2006) or an "international revolutionary firebrand" (Observer May 7 2006) and the "Crackers from Caracas" (Mirror May 16 2006), as well as being called an "elected dictator" and Venezuela an "authoritarian democracy". A serious and orchestrated campaign was therefore underway to belittle, denigrate and besmirch Chavez and the Bolivarian revolution so that when externally moves are made to invade the country from Columbia or even assassinate Chavez, and internally to overthrow the government as was attempted in April 2002, it would be seen as a logical and necessary move by people all over the world who had been duped by the international media.

The ground was being prepared for such moves against the gains of the Bolivarian revolution, to manipulate public opinion, to lampoon Chavez, to show that he cannot be trusted and was therefore incapable of leading a country. The task of NATFHE, together with other unions, was to take the message of the Bolivarian revolution to all levels of the movement, to counter the lies of the media, to alert trade unionists of developments, to warn and prepare our forces to defend the gains that have been made.

Darrall emphasised that history is not made by individuals, but by classes fighting to control the surplus value, the wealth that is created by the labour of working people. However, it also has to be recognised that at times in history there are individuals who epitomise the aspirations of a people for social change. Chavez is such an individual. There is an interrelationship between Chavez and the Bolivarian masses who react on each other. Their instinctive demands for social change push Chavez to the left and his speeches on socialism push in turn the masses in a socialist direction. As such the cries of the Bolivarian movement in August 2004 during the recall referendum were just as pertinent today - "Uh, ah, Chavez no se va!".

Two amendments to the motion were put to conference and approved. The first was that conference should not only support HoV but also other similar organisations and the second condemned the attacks on the Venezuelan Government by Tony Blair when he demanded that Chavez obey the rules of the "international community"  and also called upon the Labour leadership to recognise the far-reaching social reforms of the Bolivarian Revolution.

The NATFHE conference was celebrating the end of an era in that NATFHE as a union is to disappear on June 1^st as it unites with the Association of University Teachers to form the University and Colleges Union (UCU), the largest trade union for post-16 education in the world with 120,000 members. We hope that the excellent work on Venezuela carried out by NATFHE over the last three years will also be continued in the new union.

Darrall Cozens, West Midland Region Delegate