Pakistan: Victory Of Chavez - Dawn of Socialism of the 21st century

The Hands off Venezuela Campaign held meetings across Pakistan to celebrate the victory of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in the recent elections and to show appreciation for the steps taken by him to eradicate unemployment, illiteracy and the other evils of this dying capitalist system. Meetings were held in Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Raheem Yar Khan and Attock while and more meetings are to be held in Quetta on December 12 and in Karachi on December 13.

Lahore

A public meeting of youth and workers was held at the Kisan Hall on December 10 to celebrate the landslide victory of Chavez. The main guest at the occasion was the renowned revolutionary, Dr. Lal Khan, while other speakers included Zohaib Butt, President of Berozgar Nojwan Tehreek (BNT - the Unemployed Youth Movement), Naeem Khan, from the Jammu Kashmir National Students' Federation (JKNSF Lahore Branch) and Adam Pal for Youth For International Socialism (YFIS).

All the speakers hailed the workers and youth of Venezuela who have achieved a remarkable victory in taking the revolution another step forward. They expressed their support for the Bolivarian revolution and its achievements. They also emphasized the need for a revolution in Pakistan and said that they see the revolution of Venezuela as the torch bearer of all revolutions of the 21^st century. The speakers explained that the gathering in Lahore showed clearly just how fast revolutions and its messages are spreading throughout the world. If capitalism is overthrown completely in Venezuela then it will inspire the workers and youth all over the world to overcome their miseries and sufferings and overthrow this poisonous system.

In the end Dr. Lal Khan spoke for more than one hour and gave a detailed analysis of the situation in Venezuela and Latin America. He explained the dialectics process taking place in Latin America with the victory of left-wing leaders in many countries. He also explained that now a qualitative change is needed in the Bolivarian revolution itself to overthrow the fetters of capitalism and abolish the old property relations. He said that the role of Chavez as an individual in history is significant, as he signifies not only the aspirations of millions of poor people in Venezuela but around the whole world. Today, in a country as far away as Pakistan people know him and admire him for his left-wing policies. The victory of Chavez, he said, would be a new turn in the history of Latin America and now the Bolivarian revolution has entered a decisive phase. Revolutionary songs were also sung at the end of the meeting, which were received enthusiastically.

Rawalpindi

A meeting was held at the Al Shams Hotel to celebrate Chavez's election victory. Comrade Irshad chaired the meeting while Comrade Manzoor Ahmed was main guest.

The inaugural address was given by Comrade Manzoor Ahmed. Congratulating the victory of Chavez he said that his victory is the victory of the workers of Venezuela and of the whole world and that is was a defeat for the "Devil". The repercussions of this victory will reverberate throughout the whole world and the workers of Pakistan must be prepared. He gave a brief history of the political career of Chavez and how he was transformed when he was made president of Venezuela in 1998. His move towards socialism was inevitable and through his experience of capitalist democracy he reached the conclusion that socialism was the only solution for the miseries of millions of people.

He commended him for giving free education and health care serviced in Venezuela. He also praised the policy of nationalization of industry and told the audience how after nationalization the workers control their companies. He also gave a detailed account of the expansion of the revolution to other Latin American countries and how the candidates supported by Chavez are winning presidential elections.

In the end he said that this victory was a ray of hope for the workers of the whole world and will inspire more revolutionary movements all over the world.

Participants in the meeting included Comrade Kabir Khan from the PTUDC, Comrade Changaiz, BNT organizer in Attock, Tauqeer Abbas from the PSF, Raja Guftar of the PSF, Amjad Rasheed of the JKNSF, Zahid Iqbal from the JKNSF (Pindi branch) and Huma Zain, BNT organizer in Wah. There was a large number of students, youth and workers who also participated.

Rahim Yar Khan

A ceremony was held to celebrate the victory of Chavez and as well as to launch the Urdu translation of The Venezuelan Revolution: a Marxist Perspective by Alan Woods.

The meeting was chaired by Qamar Uz Aman Khan and the main guest was Comrade Hina Zain. The main speakers were Mahmood Ul Hassan from Rahim Yar Khan, Mukhtar Gul Shah from Sadikabad, Molana Maqsood from Rahim Yar Khan, Dr Yasir Irshad from Bahawalpur, Saeed Nasir from Dahrki. There were more than 120 people present at the meeting. The main participants were Mr Zahid Kanju, President of Bazm-e-Farid, Rana Habibullah, Vice President of the PPPP, Rahim Yar Khan, Sher Channa, Opposition leader in the Assembly of Rahim Yar, Molana Rauf Rabbani, Labour member of the district assembly, Rana Nadeem, General Secretary of PPPP, Dr Abulhassan, and Jam Saleem Tanwari.

Multan

A meeting was held at the Multan Law College which was chaired by Comrade Zeeshan and Yusaf Raza Gillani, Vice Chairman of the PPP.

A large number of students from universities and colleges attended the meeting. Speakers included PPP leader from Multan, Comrade Ilyas Khan, Nadeem Pasha, Dr.Ahmed Arsalan and Anam Patafi.

All the participants praised the victory of Chavez and emphasized the need for a revolution in Pakistan.

In the end Yusuf Raza Gillani said that socialist revolution was the only solution for the problems in Pakistan and that the workers of Pakistan should be inspired by the example set by their brothers and sisters in Venezuela.