Report from the Hands Off Venezuela Jorge Martin West Coast Tour - Part 1

Several activists from Hands Off Venezuela Canada traveled down to the United States to help out with the Jorge Martin speaking tour. Between May 6th and May 10th HOV held events in Portland Oregon, Olympia Washington and Victoria BC, before finishing up with the Western Canada HOV conference in Vancouver. It was a very successful tour which defended the Venezuelan revolution as well as laying the base for the formation of a number of HOV groups around the Pacific Northwest. Here are a selection of reports from the events:

On May 6th, in Portland Oregon at Liberty Hall the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) hosted Jorge Martin, International Secretary of Hands Off Venezuela (HOV). Roughly 25 attendees listened attentively as Jorge described the beginnings of the Bolivarian Process, the leading the role of the masses in pushing it forward, the revolutions accomplishments and challenges, and some promising developments such as the recent nationalization of SIDOR and the growth of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) that can play an important role toward the winning of socialism. Questions ranged from Chavez's alleged "cult of personality", to the role of women in the revolution, the revolutions effect on Cuba, and the lessons we can draw from Venezuela's example for the struggles we face in North America. Many commented on how much they learned from Jorge's informed and articulate lecture and answers and the event has helped to excite local activists about the prospects of Venezuela solidarity work.

After kicking off the Hands Off Venezuela West Coast Tour in Portland, Oregon, the next stop was Olympia, Washington. On Wednesday, May 7th there was two events in Olympia. The afternoon event was located at the South Puget Sound Community College. About 20 students and community members showed up and were receptive to supporting and organizing for HOV. The main organizers of the event were a student activist group called B.R.I.C.K. (Building Revolution through Increasing Community Knowledge). BRICK has experience with fighting for social justice through their participation in student walk-outs against the war in Iraq.

The evening event was hosted at the Olympia Free School and approximately 30 people attended. A few professors from the Evergreen University had helped to organize this event and it was mostly their students who attended. There was great discussion and most people stayed over a half an hour asking Jorge questions. In fact a few people were leaving for Venezuela and were wanting to get more involved with the Bolivarian Revolution. The HOV campaign looks forward to future work with Olympia activists.

On Thursday, May 8th the HOV Tour headed north again to Victoria B.C. There was a small gathering of people at the Camas Collective Bookshop. There was excellent discussion about the factory occupations under workers control. Jorge's talk on the Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution  inspired the small audience to become active with HOV and they are now organizing to host a screening of No Volveran to continue this vital work of spreading the word!

More reports on the Vancouver HOV conference to come.