South America

From July 1 to November 30 there were 26 demonstrations repressed, impeded or otherwise hampered by the state’s security organs; a greater number than the 18 cases accounted for in the report by the NGO PROVEA for the whole of 2005 (www.derechos.org.ve) .

Venezuela has landed on the dark side of the moon. The recently opened 21st century seems to be escaping us for good. We will not have a chance to face it with any prospect of success.

From the publishers of El Libertario goes our reply to the habitual expressions that the coarse right or the easy-going left used to attribute us; the same left that, inside and outside of Venezuela allows that the mirage of the Chávez pseudo-revolution impressed them.

Once again we must consider the dilemma of whether to participate or not in the electoral contest (referendum), this time with the difference that it is not a case of choosing a candidate but rather constitutional norms for the government of collective life. This situation requires careful reflection.

Various organizations and individuals within Venezuela, each with a history of social struggle and each bringing with them diverse proposals from the anti-authoritarian and critical left, have assembled in the space of INSURGENTES (INSURGENTS) to forge a position against the proposed constitutional “reform” offered by the republic’s President, Hugo Chavez Frias.

Demonised on the one side by Western governments and corporate media, uncritically acclaimed on the other by certain left-wing organizations, an adequate account of Chavez and Venezuela’s current political situation is difficult to find. Accusations alleging a "Communist dictatorship" should simply be dismissed as misinformed, sensationalist and ideological devices.

Venezuela: Against (B)oligarchy[1], demagogy and corruption. Autonomous struggle from the ground up!

Positive transformations in society are produced by the actions of popular movements and not by governments. As has been clearly illustrated in the case of Venezuela, as well in other parts of Latin America, the will for change of the majority has been channelled and co-opted by a new bureaucracy which tries, by all available means, to tighten its grip on power.

Since two decades ago, by means of our publications, the Venezuelan anarchists have denounced and been against the vices and slants of the private media corporations as RCTV.

There are ideas and actions on the world that claim to transform it, that transformation being the theme of all political work, in which ideas of what “has to be" become social imperatives when it comes to the public good.

Talking about the Venezuelan situation

For almost a month, from mid-November until mid-December, 2004, we traveled in Venezuela, meeting an array of politically engaged activists from a variety of perspectives. Without a doubt, the foremost lesson we learned during our brief time there concerned the complexity of the social and political situation in the country, which has been consistently over-simplified in the United States.

When Venezuela is mentioned in North America these days, it is almost always in reference to President Hugo Chavez, who is vilified by the mainstream press and adored by much of what passes for the left.

1) One of the successes of the inter-bourgeois confrontation that has been happening in Venezuela for almost a decade is the moving of the media polarization into an international space. This biased and infantilized point of view could well confuse some less awakened libertarian spirits.

With a lot of rhetoric and propaganda the Chavez administration has advanced different examples of co-management which, they claim, demonstrate their desire to transform Venezuela’s relations of production. A compañero from Europe visited us recently and got to know two of the most celebrated cases: Alcasa and Invepal.

The following is a translation from Internacionalismo.

The Chávez government - with the support of the opposition and unions - has unleashed repression against the workers of the Steel Zone of Venezuela who are struggling for their most basic necessities. Here we see the real Senor Chávez and his "socialism of the 21st century".

"The strike is for 72 hours and it started last night," said union leader Jose Rodriguez.

Workers have repeatedly shut Sidor, 60 percent owned by Argentina's Ternium, as part of demands for higher pay in what has been a 14-month dispute for a collective contract. The union on Monday called a 24-hour strike as part of the same dispute.

Members of the Sintracerromatoso union at the nickel mine operated by Cerro Matoso, a subsidiary of the multinational company, BHP Billiton, have begun a strike after negotiations failed to produce an agreement with the company.

Xinhuanet reported that travellers tossed computers in the air, shoved security guards and attacked ticketing counters at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza international airport Saturday after Aerolineas Argentinas suspended most of its flight there.

We are publishing our response to a letter sent by a reader from Brazil (T), who asks our opinion about an article he received, from which we are publishing some extracts, and which covers the struggles and mobilizations of the workers against the state oil company "Petroleos de Venezuela" (PDVSA) last September, demanding better wages and contractual benefits.