By Ann Garrison
Mural of Hugo Chavéz and his chosen successor Carlós Maduro in Caracás, Venezuela.
KPFA Evening News Anchor Cameron Jones: This week in Caracas, Venezuela, opposition leader Henrique Capriles said that his coalition of parties will boycott an audit of the Venezuelan presidential election results naming Nicolas Maduro, the chosen successor of the late President Hugo Chávez, the winner. Capriles says he will instead challenge the results in Venezuela’s Supreme Court. Most Latin American and European nations have recognized Maduro’s victory, but the U.S., like Capriles, refuses. This week the Afro-Venezuelan Movement Against Racism and Fascism issued a statement in support of Maduro. KPFA’s Ann Garrison has this report.
KPFA/Ann Garrison: The Afro-Venezuelan Movement Against Racism and Fascism wrote that, “Once again, Black communities gave their total support to our candidate, Nicolas Maduro.” They then listed Afro Venezuelan communities across the country, who had “reaffirmed our revolutionary commitment of the past 14 years.”
Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was often criticized and treated as an outsider in Congress for, among other things, her radically African hairstyles.Former Georgia Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, who is now writing her doctoral dissertation on Hugo Chavez, told KPFA how much he meant to people of African descent, not only in Venezuela, but also on the African continent.
Cynthia McKinney: One of the things that literally brought me to tears was a letter that Hugo Chavéz wrote to Africa. And, it wasn’t so much the letter itself, but it was the circumstances under which the letter was read. Some Africans decided to convene a meeting, right after Chavez’s death, and this was in Burkina Faso, and they invoked the name of Thomas Sankara, and it was just very sad. But also the letter talked about how it’s time now for the countries of the South to come together. And Chavez’s message was that we are one, and he also specifically referred to himself, because, of course, anyone who is familiar with the Chavez legacy understands that he was very proud of his African heritage and he didn’t run away from the fact that he had African, African-ness, inside of him, and he celebrated that. He celebrated it, which was revolutionary, because of course those of us who are African understand that for so many generations people have run away from their African-ness because. . .well, y’know. . . in a world of global white supremacy, the last thing you wanta be is a part of the darker people on the planet.
KPFA: The Afro-Venezuelan Movement call on organized nuclei and all people of Afro-Venezuelan and Afro-descendant communities to defend the gains of the Bolivarian process, and the Black Left UnityCoalition in the U.S. published a statement of solidarity. (See Below)
For Pacifica, KPFA, and AfrobeatRadio, I’m Ann Garrison.
Statement From The Afro-Venezuelan Movement Against Racism and Fascism
We, Afro-descendants of Venezuela, meeting in the city of Caracas, express our condemnation of the rise of fascism and racism led by Henríquez Capriles Randonski and leaders of the Venezuelan far right in not accepting the results of the April 14 elections that led to the victory of the candidate of the homeland, Nicolas Maduro Moros.
Once again, Black communities gave their total support to our candidate, Nicolas Maduro. From Ocoyta (Windward) to Bobures (South Lake), from Veroes (Yaracuy) to Osma (Vargas State), from the Valles del Tuy to San Juan de los Morros, from Paria to Carabobo, we reaffirmed our revolutionary commitment of the past 14 years.
By attacking the symbols of social progress of the Bolivarian process, including the CDI (dental clinics), the health care centers of Barrio Adentro Missions, MERCAL (stores selling subsidized food and basic goods) and the offices of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), they are expressing the vilest and basest intentions of rolling back the gains made by the Venezuelan people during the 14 years of the Bolivarian process led by President Chavez.
The losing candidate’s refusal to accept the results of the April 14 election is proof of the undemocratic spirit which refuses to comply with the decision of the Venezuelan people to elect Nicolas Maduro as president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. A true democrat abides by the popular mandate. His refusal shows contempt for the people, an attitude that corresponds to his fascist, classist and racist character, an enemy of life and love.
We call on organized nuclei and to the people in general of Afro-Venezuelan and Afro-descendant communities across the country to defend the gains of the Bolivarian process and reject the fascist and racist aggression led by Primero Justicia, Alianza Bravo Pueblo, Democratic Action, COPEI (a Christian democratic party) and other members of the MUD (Democratic Unity Roundtable).
At the same time, we urge all the leaders of the Bolivarian process to involve themselves in community work, abandon bureaucratic positions, and to restructure the Venezuelan state in order to deepen and develop participatory democracy with three specific mandates: government efficiency, anti-corruption measures and implementation of micro-missions (projects to give more power to the people and make government more efficient), as called for by President Chavez in October 2012.
Long live democracy! Long live the Bolivarian Revolution!
For a country free from racism and fascist terrorism!
With Chavez always, Maduro is the president!
To reach the Afro-Venezuelan Movement Against Racism and Fascism, email Jesus Chucho Garcia at jesuschuchogarcia@hotmail.com.
Victory to the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution: US imperialism hands-off Venezuela!
By the Black Left Unity Network, in response to the statement by the Afro-Venezuelan Movement Against Racism and Fascism
The Black Left Unity Network (BLUN) salutes the victory of Nicolas Maduro Moros as the new and democratically elected president of Venezuela.
We stand in revolutionary solidarity with the statement issued by the Afro-Venezuela movement that pledges its continued support to the objectives of the revolutionary process in Venezuela and the election of President Maduro.
The struggles and voices of Afro-Venezuelans represent the deepest sentiments for democracy and social transformation and were critical to this victory and the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela that was led by Comrade President Hugo Chavez.
We will never forget the immediate response by the Venezuelan people led by President Chavez to the tragedy triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast and the offer of major aid to assist the survivors remaining in the disaster area and those dispersed to all corners of the U.S. The U.S. government’s refusal of this aid and the aid offered by revolutionary Cuba, pointed out clearly how the U.S. government will sacrifice the lives of African descendants and poor people, before it will recognize the good deeds of governments that are anti-imperialist, truly democratic and building a society that benefits the needs of the majority, not the capitalist elites.
Even with the major changes and improvements made by the Venezuelan revolutionary process, the forces of counter-revolution are still part of the economic and racist elite in Venezuelan society. Their ties to U.S. imperialism make them a major threat to the revolutionary process. Combating and defeating their maneuvers remains part of the ongoing revolutionary process until this class is defeated.
African descendants in the U.S. know firsthand how elections are manipulated by the capitalist elites. They use their control of major media to try and place doubt in the minds of the people, trying to suggest voter fraud as has been the case so many times for candidates supported by Black people in the U.S. But in Venezuela, where the elections are structured in ways that safeguard and protect the democratic will of the majority, the capitalist elites have been combated in this arena.
The revolutionary struggle in Venezuela is critical to the revolutionary direction of building and expanding socialism throughout the Americas in the 21st Century. The organization and struggles of the Afro-Venezuelans as an identifiable and integral part of the Venezuela revolutionary process represents the further advance for socialism.
Through our efforts to rebuild a revolutionary Black movement in the U.S. we will ensure that African descendants in this country understand the common historical and political ties that bound our peoples together. For us there is no question that African descendant’s in the U.S. must be part of the defense of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, as U.S. imperialism assumes its historical role as a central force supporting and or initiating counter-revolution in Venezuela.
The BLUN commits to educate the Black working-class and to call on the activists and organizations in our network, to mobilize in defense of the Venezuelan Revolution as it is connected to the struggles of All African descendants against the impacts of the colonial, neo-colonial and imperialist past and present, and to further shaping the direction for a revolutionary social transformation throughout the Americas.
Victory to the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution!
To reach the Black Left Unity Network Continuations Committee, contact Ajamu Baraka at ajamubaraka2@gmail.com.
Related:
Hugo Chavez Proud of African Heritage
Afro Venezuelans and Chávez Frías
Chávez’s Legacy, African Solidarity and the African American People
Revolutionary Voices Against Imperialism