Recent HOV activities in Germany

04 March 2005

HOV supporters in Germany have been quite busy in the last few weeks. Yet this is not the end but only the beginning of our solidarity campaign.

In cooperation with the Venezuelan Consul General in Frankfurt, we organised two public meetings with Dr. Luis Britto Garcia, writer and media expert who spoke on the revolutionary process in Venezuela and the role of the media. Although the two meetings in mid-February - in Wiesbaden and Cologne - were organised at a short notice, they attracted some 20 visitors each who were very keen to listen and ask questions on the current events in Venezuela.

Cologne HOV meetings

On Thursday, 10th and on Monday, 14th February the first 2 of in total 3 meetings on Venezuela and her Bolivarian Revolution were held in Cologne. The Cologne branch of ['solid] - the socialist youth and the Young Socialist University Group Cologne, who both have been supporting the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign for almost a year now, have organised the series which is based on three films about revolutionary Venezuela - "Venezuela - Another Way is Possible", "The Revolution will not be televised" and "Venezuela from below". The last event will take place approximately in early April.

Each of the movies conveys a clear impression of what is really taking place inside the country, how the fronts between the working class, the small peasants and the urban poor on the one side and the oligarchy, national private media, finance capital and world imperialism on the other side are set and how the struggle for Venezuela's future is about to proceed. In addition to the movie "Venezuela - Another Way is Possible", which has been presented on Thursday and which provides a detailed account of the origins of the Bolivarian process, we invited Hans-Gerd Öfinger, a journalist, trade-unionist and editor of the German marxist journal Der Funke, to speak on the perspectives of the revolution.

A socialist revolution or no successful revolution at all

The revolutionary process in Venezuela finds itself in a critical stage. Historical developments cannot come to a standstill. The Venezuelan masses urge for a solution of their enormous social problems, for satisfaction of their needs and therefore pressurize the government of Hugo Chavez to go forward in their interests. But any improvement of the living standards of the masses questions the political, economic and social position of the oligarchy. The Venezuelan bourgeoisie, which is bound to imperialism by thousands of economic and political bonds, will not tolerate any loss of influence or fundamental change in the distribution of the national income and will continue to respond with sabotage, terrorism and military coups d'êtat to the construction of a society in the interest of the people by the Venezuelan working class and the Chavez government. As long as the economic instruments of the oligarchy, the banks, the big media corporations, the industry and the major parts of the national land, remain in the hands of reaction and private capitalists, all achievements of the Bolivarian movement are in immediate danger and any progressive development of Venezuela and the whole of Latin America in the name of the workers, peasants and the youth will not be possible.

Hans-Gerd Öfinger explained that, in this context, our attention has to be focussed on the decisive battles in Venezuela - the struggle of the workers for control of production and political decisions. With the nationalisation of Venepal, a key paper and packages manufacturer in Venezuela, under workers control in January 2005 in response to the demands of the workers, which have been firmly supported internationally by the Hands Off Venezuela campaign, and the decision of the former company owners to close down production, an example is given. Venepal shows how to take the revolution forward is relevant to all those spheres of the national economy which are essential for the Venezuelan people and which are used by the right wing opposition to systematically disrupt the movement. The model of Venepal now has to be extended, and the new left wing trade-union confederation, UNT, which has the potential power to achieve this goal, needs our international solidarity. Hans-Gerd Öfinger remarked that the Venezuelan counter-revolution has her allies, not only within the Bush administration, but also among European capitalists and ruling classes. Even though a direct intervention by US-Imperialism might not be on the order of today and even though the Opposition appears to be in a "crisis" with loss of social backing and public presence, we must not think that now there will be a gradual development and that the ruling class will ever give up peacefully and quietly. This assumption was nurtured by a recent statement made by a liberal MP in Germany who had strongly criticised President Chavez´ left wing speech delivered at the WSF where he referred to socialism. This German Liberal had referred to Venezuela as the coming "source" of a Latin American fire, thus demonstrating und justifying plans for further aggression against the Chavez government. Hans-Gerd hammered home the need to show concrete solidarity with the revolutionaries in Venezuela on all levels - in schools, universities, workplaces and trade-unions.

The first event was attented by about 25 people and the discussion following the speech lasted for more than an hour until well after 11 p.m. One of the guests present compared the situation in Venezuela with the events during the "Kapp-Putsch" in Germany. In 1920, after the biggest revolutionary tides of 1918/1919, parts of the German ruling class together with loyal right-wing elements among the German military high command tried to cleanse the country from the last still existing soviets and forms of workers' power, which had been installed by workers and soldiers during the 1918 revolution, and replace them with a brutal military dictatorship. To fight back against this military coup, probably the biggest general strike in German labour history was proclaimed, which eventually turned into a revolutionary uprising and put power in the hands of the workers in some areas such as the Ruhr. In fact, this strike was even lead by ADGB (union federation) leader Carl Legien, a former supporter of the reformist right wing of the SPD and of revisionist Eduard Bernstein. In the cause of the events, he was pushed to go further than he actually intended to. The German revolution of 1920 finally suffered a terrible defeat as the Social Democracy tried to "mediate" and "reconcile" between the classes and seeked a compromise with the right wing and the leaders of the coup. When they succeeded in convincing the workers to give back their arms, the bloodbath started as reactionary soldiers and fascist elements killed hundreds of worker activists in the Ruhr. .

"The Process has to be radicalised."

On Monday, 14th February, the second meeting in Cologne took place with again with more than 20 people attending, including Cesar Méndez, Venezuelan Consul General in Frankfurt (Germany). The classic film "The Revolution will not be televised" gave a direct insight into the counter-revolutionary actions of April, 11th 2002 and magnificently conveyed the spirit of a people that spontaineously rises up against a criminal coup.

Dr. Luis Britto Gárcia, scientist and writer whose latest publication focusses on the Venezuelan media, spoke on the disgraceful role of the big private media corporations within the revolutionary process. The Venezuelan oligarchy uses her monopoly of information and culture, as is the fact with the control of the industry, to spread lies and misinformation about the Chavez government and to inhibit any form of cultural development of the people. Especially the private media show the parasitic character of the Venezuelan bourgeoisie which is completely incapable of playing any sort of "progressive" role, but instead only serves her own interest in profits and the greed of imperialism.

Dr. Luis Britto Gárcia remarked that Venezuela shows the way how to break the chains of neoliberalism and monopolies. During the Bolivarian Revolution, many forms of alternative media have been created by the people itself. But he also stressed that the problems of Venezuela have not yet been solved, the decisive battles have not yet been won, but just begun. The example of Venepal shows how a solution has to look like. To answer the question of perspectives for the Bolivarian movement in the words of Dr. Luis Britto Gárcia: "The process has to be radicalised."

Hands off Venezuela, Mr. Bush!

HOV supporters in Wiesbaden, Mainz and Frankfurt used the demos against the recent visit by US President Bush in the area to get the HOV campaign known locally and nationally. On February 22, an after-work demo with some 1000 participants took place in the city of Wiesbaden where GW Bush was to visit US Army soldiers on the following day. On this occasion, Hans-Gerd Öfinger, an organiser of the demo and a local union activist, linked the opposition to Bush with the question of Venezuela, pointing out that the Bush administration had supported and organised the coup in 2002 and would continue to do their utmost to bring down Chávez and stop the revolutionary process.

This reference to Venezuela also found an echo in the local press which quoted from the speech. Hundreds of leaflets were distributed and many signatures collected on the spot. Another public meeting on Venezuela in Wiesbaden is scheduled for March 9 and will take in a left wing Turkish workers club.
On February 23, we had a stall at the big national anti Bush demo in Mainz where Bush met chancellor Schröder on the same day. Again, many leaflets were distributed and signatures collected. One of the signers was Tobias Pflüger, a Euro MP and prominent anti-militarist who had been elected on the PDS slate.

Earlier last month, an HOV representative had also been invited to speak at the regional conference of in Bavaria. In Frankfurt, HOV activists continue to meet on a monthly basis.
2005 will be a busy year for HOV activists in Germany as we are planning interventions in big rallies and festivals as well as a series of discussion meetings. Of course, we never forget our tasks in Germany itself but always link the issue of the Venezuelan revolution to the burning problems facing us at home.

Step up solidarity with the Venezuelan Revolution now and join the Hands Off Venezuela campaign! Long live the Venezuelan and world Revolution! Forward to Socialism!