Recent HOV activities in Germany

HOV supporters in Germany have stepped up their activities in recent weeks. The recent appeal to American trade unionists has been translated and distributed at May Day rallies and other events, with many activists signing.

In April, Venezuelan foreign minister Ali Rodriguez met representatives of solidarity groups in Berlin to discuss their work. Local HOV supporter Alex Dirmeier grasped the opportunity by handing over a petition to Ali Rodriguez calling for the nationalisation of the CNV valve factory. The minister gave a friendly and sympathetic response, explaining that the government was considering nationalisation (as it happened a few days later).

In German HOV meetings we attach a lot of importance to the fact that with the case of CNV another important and significant nationalisation has taken place in Venezuela. Whereas in Germany and elsewhere in the world trade unionists are engaged in bitter struggles against many cases of privatisation and have lost most of these struggles, Venezuela shows that a different direction of events is possible. This serves as source of inspiration and encouragement.

In Cologne, where the local HOV group holds regular public meetings, a Venezuelan student involved in the local solidarity work gave an impressive report of her recent stay in Venezuela which included visits to the nationalised Venepal (now: Invepal) factory, a meeting with president Chávez and other important events and interventions by the comrades there.

In recent weeks, important sections of ['solid], the socialist youth organisation close to the PDS, have affiliated to the HOV campaign. This includes above all the federation in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's biggest state, where the regional assembly voted unanimously on the resolution moved by the Cologne branch which had already become an active part of the campaign earlier on.

The resolution confirms that HOV is the most profound and internationally based solidarity campaign defending the process of the Bolivarian Revolution. ['solid] will try to organize various events to campaign in favour of the Venezuelan comrades. ['solid] truly believes that the Hands Off Venezuela campaign offers a specific socialist perspective and is a viable perspective for defending the revolutionary process, reports Timothi Maywood from Cologne who is a spokesman of ['solid] in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Of course, ['solid] will work closely together with comrades from other Hands Off Venezuela comitees as well as with the official comitees preparing for the "16th World Festival of Youth and Students". ['solid]-North Rhine-Westphalia promised to donate 150 Euro for the international solidarity fund in order to help comrades from Namibia to take part in the Festival. Several comrades of us will also take part this August and prepare discussions on the "possibilities and perspectives of nationalization" and on "youth resistance against the nazis".

['solid] will now focus on creating HoV-comitees in different areas all over North Rhine-Westphalia with the help of its local branches and try to establish relations to the trade union and labour movement. We believe that the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign can be the making for socialist ideas among workers and youth and can serve a strong internationalist class position within the German labour movement.

On May 19, Hans-Gerd Öfinger was invited to the town of Celle (Lower Saxony) to speak on the development in Venezuela and the HOV campaign in Germany. Over 40 persons, local left wing activists from different backgrounds and youth, attended the meeting and - according to the comrade who had initiated the event - were impressed with the revolutionary process as well as the analysis and non-sectarian approach to the Bolivarian movement put forward in the lead-off.
Hans-Gerd emphasised the need for the German trade unions organised in the DGB to break all links with the Venezuelan CTV (which is still a section of the ICFTU) and accept the UNT as the only legitimate workers' union federation in the country. DGB chairman Michael Sommer (who is a leading figure in the ICFTU) had recently made a tour to Latin America and reported on his political talks in the DGB website. However, there is silence about what Michael Sommer did in Caracas and whom he met there. "I have tried to get an answer to my question for a week, but unfortunately nobody in the DGB headquarters has been able to tell me what Michael Sommer did in Caracas", Hans-Gerd criticised.

With the election campaign starting in Germany, HOV will also explain the scandalous role played by German politicians in relation to Venezuela. Whereas the Social Democrats keep fiddling around with the Venezuelan opposition party AD, a liberal MP named Karl Addicks recently denounced President Chávez as a "dangerous agitator" who was about to lead the country into chaos and civil war. The world had to prepare for a big bushfire in Latin America, Addicks warned. This shows the frame of mind of leading bourgeois politicians in Germany who might take over government in the country if the social democrats lose in the forthcoming elections.

So whatever happens there will be a lot to do for HOV in Germany. We are planning interventions in open air events and a continuation of our discussion meetings and film shows.

HOV supporters in Germany have stepped up their activities in recent weeks. The recent appeal to American trade unionists has been translated and distributed at May Day rallies and other events, with many activists signing.

In April, Venezuelan foreign minister Ali Rodriguez met representatives of solidarity groups in Berlin to discuss their work. Local HOV supporter Alex Dirmeier grasped the opportunity by handing over a petition to Ali Rodriguez calling for the nationalisation of the CNV valve factory. The minister gave a friendly and sympathetic response, explaining that the government was considering nationalisation (as it happened a few days later).

In German HOV meetings we attach a lot of importance to the fact that with the case of CNV another important and significant nationalisation has taken place in Venezuela. Whereas in Germany and elsewhere in the world trade unionists are engaged in bitter struggles against many cases of privatisation and have lost most of these struggles, Venezuela shows that a different direction of events is possible. This serves as source of inspiration and encouragement.

In Cologne, where the local HOV group holds regular public meetings, a Venezuelan student involved in the local solidarity work gave an impressive report of her recent stay in Venezuela which included visits to the nationalised Venepal (now: Invepal) factory, a meeting with president Chávez and other important events and interventions by the comrades there.

In recent weeks, important sections of ['solid], the socialist youth organisation close to the PDS, have affiliated to the HOV campaign. This includes above all the federation in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's biggest state, where the regional assembly voted unanimously on the resolution moved by the Cologne branch which had already become an active part of the campaign earlier on.

The resolution confirms that HOV is the most profound and internationally based solidarity campaign defending the process of the Bolivarian Revolution. ['solid] will try to organize various events to campaign in favour of the Venezuelan comrades. ['solid] truly believes that the Hands Off Venezuela campaign offers a specific socialist perspective and is a viable perspective for defending the revolutionary process, reports Timothi Maywood from Cologne who is a spokesman of ['solid] in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Of course, ['solid] will work closely together with comrades from other Hands Off Venezuela comitees as well as with the official comitees preparing for the "16th World Festival of Youth and Students". ['solid]-North Rhine-Westphalia promised to donate 150 Euro for the international solidarity fund in order to help comrades from Namibia to take part in the Festival. Several comrades of us will also take part this August and prepare discussions on the "possibilities and perspectives of nationalization" and on "youth resistance against the nazis".

['solid] will now focus on creating HoV-comitees in different areas all over North Rhine-Westphalia with the help of its local branches and try to establish relations to the trade union and labour movement. We believe that the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign can be the making for socialist ideas among workers and youth and can serve a strong internationalist class position within the German labour movement.

On May 19, Hans-Gerd Öfinger was invited to the town of Celle (Lower Saxony) to speak on the development in Venezuela and the HOV campaign in Germany. Over 40 persons, local left wing activists from different backgrounds and youth, attended the meeting and - according to the comrade who had initiated the event - were impressed with the revolutionary process as well as the analysis and non-sectarian approach to the Bolivarian movement put forward in the lead-off.
Hans-Gerd emphasised the need for the German trade unions organised in the DGB to break all links with the Venezuelan CTV (which is still a section of the ICFTU) and accept the UNT as the only legitimate workers' union federation in the country. DGB chairman Michael Sommer (who is a leading figure in the ICFTU) had recently made a tour to Latin America and reported on his political talks in the DGB website. However, there is silence about what Michael Sommer did in Caracas and whom he met there. "I have tried to get an answer to my question for a week, but unfortunately nobody in the DGB headquarters has been able to tell me what Michael Sommer did in Caracas", Hans-Gerd criticised.

With the election campaign starting in Germany, HOV will also explain the scandalous role played by German politicians in relation to Venezuela. Whereas the Social Democrats keep fiddling around with the Venezuelan opposition party AD, a liberal MP named Karl Addicks recently denounced President Chávez as a "dangerous agitator" who was about to lead the country into chaos and civil war. The world had to prepare for a big bushfire in Latin America, Addicks warned. This shows the frame of mind of leading bourgeois politicians in Germany who might take over government in the country if the social democrats lose in the forthcoming elections.

So whatever happens there will be a lot to do for HOV in Germany. We are planning interventions in open air events and a continuation of our discussion meetings and film shows.