International Conference in Venezuela Agrees to Mobilize Global Movement Against Fascism
Anti-fascist activists hold the Venezuelan flag in London, U.K., Nov. 2024. X/ @RATBCUBA
By: Earl Bousquet
November 29, 2024 Hour: 12:37 pm
Progressive political and social organizations from 190 countries supported the creation of the Palestinian State.
A series of sectoral meetings concluded in Caracas on Thursday (November 28), with a declaration calling for establishment of a global anti-fascist movement to coordinate responses to the acceleration of aggressive imperial actions against the international progressive movement.
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Some 1,200 delegates from 76 countries gathered in Caracas for the final of a series of meetings that saw youth, students, women, parliamentarians and representatives of governments, political forces and social movements discuss how peace-loving and anti-war movements everywhere should respond to the increasing levels of repression by right-wing fascist, Zionist, colonialist and racist forces globally.
From Palestine to Iran, Zimbabwe to Sudan, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Dominica, Jamaica and Saint Lucia, delegates made cases for solidarity, cooperation and assistance to draw attention to and support for their respective struggles in The Americas, Africa, Asia, The Arab World, Europe, The Pacific and The Caribbean.
Sharing information about their respective struggles and creating new friends and allies, delegates discussed for two days (November 27 and 28) how best to consolidate their efforts to continue sharing experiences and unite their struggles in a common front against the international imperial order.
Just days earlier, youth and students from across Latin America and the Caribbean joined counterparts from across the world, including social movements and global political forces, at the same venue in Caracas, where they were addressed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Thursday’s closing conference was addressed by the Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) Jorge Arreaza and President of Venezuela’s National Assembly Jorge Rodriguez. The closing session was also addressed by Dr Aeandro Javier Rusconi, ALBA’s International relations secretary and Saint Luia’s Ambassador to Venezuela and ALBA, Peter Lansiquot.
Arreaza traced the developments leading to the formation of the ALBA, which followed efforts by the USA to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that was loudly and strongly opposed by then Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.
ALBA was created 20 years ago, but Arreaza pointed out that it was the joining by the independent nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) that made the significant difference that allowed ALBA “to transform from an Alternative to an Alliance, unlike any other regional grouping.”
He pointed out that “no other regional integration movement does what the Latin American and Caribbean alliance is doing through ALBA, as it’s founded on the bases of provision of health, education and energy for the peoples of Our Americas and The Caribbean.”
The ALBA official was referring to university scholarships given to tens of thousands of Caribbean and Latin American students to study in Cuba and Venezuela, health care through such movements as the ongoing ‘Miracle’ (‘Milagro’) eye care program by Cuba and Venezuela that’s treated scores of thousands of Latin American and Caribbean citizens, as well as the PetroCaribe project that combined energy assistance to Caribbean and Latin American nations with creation of a Free Trade Area and Zone of Peace.
He traced the formation of ALBA to the early and determined historical efforts of Simon Bolivar, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, who he described as having been “born before their time” and said the formation of the alternative alliance paved the way towards creation of an international anti-fascist alliance through national chapters across the region and the world.
National Assembly President Rodriguez delivered greetings from President Maduro and the leadership of the government and ruling Venezuela Socialist Unity Party (PSUV) and thanked the global progressive movement for its support during the July 28 presidential elections that saw President Maduro returned a third time since Chavez’s death in 2013.
He hit back at those who describe Venezuela’s robust approach to defence of its sovereignty as ‘extremist’, saying: “We are extreme because we will always fight fascism to death… and because being wishy-washy against fascism is like trying to treat cancer with aspirins.”
Rodriguez explained that in response to recent passage of US law to further strengthen the crippling sanctions against Venezuela, the South American nation’s parliament will soon pass a “Simon Bolivar Law for Defence of the Sovereignty of our Homeland and People” that will be “without restrictions against any country or entity that imposes sanctions against Venezuela.”
He said Caracas “cannot remain indifferent to criminal attacks on Palestine by Israel and/or faced with barbarism and murder through invasions of other nations by those that also promote invasion of Venezuela.”
The National Assembly president said, “We have no alternative but to continue struggling” and called on the global anti-fascist movement to “remain united and working for continuing progress, because we shall overcome.”
Saint Lucia’s Ambassador Lansiquot addressed the closing ceremony – in Spanish – reporting on the progress of continuing efforts to establish national and regional chapters of the international anti-fascist movement in Saint Lucia and other CARICOM and OECS nations.
The conference ended with the adoption of a 20-point Final Declaration that outlined the many objectives and intentions associated with the establishment of the international anti-fascist movement with Venezuela as its operational headquarters, from solidarity with ongoing struggles in various parts of the world to establishment of national, regional and international structures to ensure its smooth functioning.
The declaration also reaffirmed the support of social movements and progressive political forces for the creation of a Palestinian State, opposed the use of NATO weapons in Ukraine, promised creation of a Think Tank to monitor the forces promoting fascism worldwide and of an Executive Secretariat of the International Anti-fascist Movement, also in Caracas.
The declaration called for a meeting of international and regional intellectuals to develop a Caracas Anti-fascist Forum and establishment of a body of jurists to provide legal bases for the activities of the global movement.
It called for creation of national chapters in each of the 76 nations represented by delegates attending the international conference in Caracas. The conference ended with a Caribbean and Latin American cultural performance.
Autor: Earl Bousquet
Fuente: teleSUR
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