VENEZUELA
Can Bolivarian Circles stop another coup?
By Rebeca Toledo
Excerpts from a talk at the Sept. 21-22 Workers World
Party Conference.
The April 11 coup orchestrated by U.S. imperialism and
carried out by the ruling-class elite and generals in Venezuela
was the first real test of the three-year-old Bolivarian
revolution.
The golpistas patted themselves on the backs as they took
President Hugo Chávez host age; they lied and claimed he
had resigned; they dissolved the Constitution, took Bolivarian
out of the name of the Republic; they dissolved the National
Assembly and vowed that "not one drop of oil" would go to Cuba.
The media were on their side, as were the Catholic Church and
the United States. They hunted down Chavistas, torturing and
killing several.
Were the masses organized to defend themselves? Their
emails, cell phones, community radio and TV, and word of mouth
got out the truth about the coup--and thousands of people
poured into the streets.
Rank-and-file and middle-ranking military personnel declared
themselves with Chávez. The Bolivarian Circles were
instrumental in organizing this resistance and beating back the
coup.
Forty-eight hours later, Chávez was back in power and
the golpistas went running for cover.
But now, almost six months later, pressure from the right is
relentless. The media, banks, private industries, including the
state petroleum company, remain in the hands of the ruling
class who are puppets of the International Monetary Fund, World
Bank and U.S. imperialism.
The military remains split, as are the police. The
government is strapped for cash and resources. The elite
continue to call for the ouster of Chávez. A
paramilitary group modeled after and organized by the AUC--the
right-wing paramilitaries--in Colombia is operating in
Venezuela.
In a terrorist bombing at the home of a Chavista
congresswoman two weeks ago, the AUC dropped leaflets that
read: "No to the guerrillas! No to the Bolivarian Circles! Yes
to social cleansing."
Hugo Chávez was elected in a landslide in 1998. It
was the result of an alliance of his military ties, his party
and the parties of the working class and the left.
His government immediately called for dismantling the
political power base of the rich oligarchy.
A new Constitution and National Assembly were created based
on mass participation and progressive ideas like equal rights
for lesbians and gays. In foreign policy, Chávez was the
first head of state to meet with Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein.
Chávez encourages an independent Oil Petroleum
Exporting Countries organization. He embraced Cuba and sold oil
to it. Last November, Chávez signed a package of 49 laws
aimed at land reform and restrictions on the ruling elite's
power.
The question remains, however: Will the working-class
organizations be able to defend this revolutionary process? The
Bolivarian Circles are targeted by the oligarchy and
paramilitary. Formed in 2000, they are the organized people in
the neighborhoods, towns and cities. They organize
community-based work like building housing and promoting
political education, food programs, sports, culture, etc. They
are an embryo of an armed organization of the masses.
Since the coup attempt, the Bolivarian Circles have more
than tripled to 150,000. That amounts to over a million people
organized in the circles.
The revolutionary process in Vene zuela is a living,
breathing struggle. The workers and peasants are in motion.
They have gained much confidence since beating back the coup
attempt. And we are confident that they will continue to grow
stronger. We must defend the Bolivarian revolution against
ongoing imperialist threats.
Reprinted from the Oct. 17, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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