Hands Off Venezuela launched in Waterloo, Ontario

On April 4^th the Kitchener-Waterloo region saw it’s first Hands Off Venezuela event. This is just one of a series of launch meetings occurring across Canada. The movie The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was shown in the University of Waterloo Student Life Center. Despite the upcoming exam-week and problems getting posters up on campus, 40 people came to the event. A variety of people showed up including professors, graduate students, students, and even members of the Venezuelan Opposition!

The event started off with a short introduction to capitalist developments in Latin America by guest speaker Alex Grant (of HOV-Toronto and Fightback). After the movie Alex spoke about the events in Venezuela after the 2002 coup with an emphasis on the 2004 referendum, the nationalization of Venepal under workers' control, the demoralization of the opposition, and Chavez’s recent turn to genuine democratic socialism.

The most successful aspect of the event, however, was the lively discussion afterwards. Everyone in the crowd seemed eager to either ask questions or freely comment. The members of the opposition attempted to provide their critiques of the Bolivarian revolution (anywhere from corruption in the referendum to complaints of violations against private property), which were met with much opposition from the crowd.  At one point an opposition supporter, wearing a bright pink sorority sweater and sitting in the centre of the room, tried to assert that the military coup in 2002 was actually not a coup but some other “thing”.  She also disagreed that the opposition is demoralized and asserted that they will come back – at which point Alex Grant agreed with them saying, “Yes, the opposition will come back if the revolution is unable to continue to improve the standard of living for Venezuelan workers and poor.  If they come back they will have their revenge on the people like Pinochet’s bloodbath in Chile. That is why the Venezuelan workers must expropriate the oligarchy to stop their ability to wage economic terrorism.”

In a surprising twist, and without the guiding hand of its socialist organizers, the discussion naturally veered to a debate on Marxism, socialism, and revolution. This shows that even Canadians are aware of the great tasks ahead for the Bolivarian Revolution and what lessons Venezuela holds for Canadian workers and youth. Overall the event was a great success and plans are being made for future events at Waterloo.

Contact info: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On April 4^th the Kitchener-Waterloo region saw it’s first Hands Off Venezuela event. This is just one of a series of launch meetings occurring across Canada. The movie The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was shown in the University of Waterloo Student Life Center. Despite the upcoming exam-week and problems getting posters up on campus, 40 people came to the event. A variety of people showed up including professors, graduate students, students, and even members of the Venezuelan Opposition!

The event started off with a short introduction to capitalist developments in Latin America by guest speaker Alex Grant (of HOV-Toronto and Fightback). After the movie Alex spoke about the events in Venezuela after the 2002 coup with an emphasis on the 2004 referendum, the nationalization of Venepal under workers' control, the demoralization of the opposition, and Chavez’s recent turn to genuine democratic socialism.

The most successful aspect of the event, however, was the lively discussion afterwards. Everyone in the crowd seemed eager to either ask questions or freely comment. The members of the opposition attempted to provide their critiques of the Bolivarian revolution (anywhere from corruption in the referendum to complaints of violations against private property), which were met with much opposition from the crowd.  At one point an opposition supporter, wearing a bright pink sorority sweater and sitting in the centre of the room, tried to assert that the military coup in 2002 was actually not a coup but some other “thing”.  She also disagreed that the opposition is demoralized and asserted that they will come back – at which point Alex Grant agreed with them saying, “Yes, the opposition will come back if the revolution is unable to continue to improve the standard of living for Venezuelan workers and poor.  If they come back they will have their revenge on the people like Pinochet’s bloodbath in Chile. That is why the Venezuelan workers must expropriate the oligarchy to stop their ability to wage economic terrorism.”

In a surprising twist, and without the guiding hand of its socialist organizers, the discussion naturally veered to a debate on Marxism, socialism, and revolution. This shows that even Canadians are aware of the great tasks ahead for the Bolivarian Revolution and what lessons Venezuela holds for Canadian workers and youth. Overall the event was a great success and plans are being made for future events at Waterloo.

Contact info: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.