Leeds

Following a weekend that saw Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, kidnapped by US forces; and a week that saw Israeli aggression towards Palestinians continue, despite the supposed October ceasefire being in effect; the need to vent rage and disdain towards this abhorrent behaviour at international level came in the form of a ‘Hands Off Venezuela and Palestine’ rally in Leeds.

Roughly 400 people gathered outside Leeds Art Gallery to show staunch opposition towards US/Israeli imperialist and colonialist aggression. Particular attention was paid to Heba Murasi and Kamran Ahmed, two hunger strikers currently at risk of death, imprisoned waiting for trial for their alleged involvement in Palestine Action protests.

Jeremy Corbyn attracted a slightly larger crowd than usual. He spoke of a weak international community, unable and unwilling to stand up for international law. He described how, unchallenged, US/Israeli aggression sets a dangerous precedent for the world we now live in. Corbyn called on solidarity with the working class in both Venezuela and Palestine, and indeed Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, all of whom have received flagrant threats from the US Trump administration.

As the speeches drew to an end, the march made its way around Leeds City centre, blazoned with flags and chanting slogans of support, a sight that is becoming familiar in Leeds.

Richard Chaves-Sanderson, Leeds Socialist Party

Reading

A demonstration in support of the Venezuelan people, organised by local Your Party campaigners, was held outside Reading Station on Friday 9 January, which Socialist Party members supported and attended.

Around thirty people came along, waving flags and holding signs such as “Hands off Venezuela” and “Venezuela is not the enemy”. The mood was buoyant and we had a good reception for our ideas and opposition to Trump.

In addition to handing out Socialist Party leaflets on Venezuela we also promoted a public meeting on 25 January, at 1pm in Coronation Hall, Woodley, RG5 4JD, at which Zarah Sultana and Dave Nellist will be speaking.

Samuel Fisher, Reading Socialist Party

Model Motion: Oppose Trump’s attack on Venezuela

This [union conference/branch/NEC] condemns US President Trump’s escalation of violence against Venezuela, which has seen the bombing of the capital Caracas and the abduction and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

This is on top of the US military airforce bombing shipping off the coast of Venezuela and in the Caribbean and the seizure of oil tankers by US military forces.

This [union conference/branch/NEC] rejects any notion that these actions and threats are in response to ‘drug cartels’.

Trump has blatantly said that the US will “run” Venezuela, particularly targeting the publicly owned oil industry – which has the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves.

He has a blood-stained record – backing up the genocidal attack by the Israeli Government and military in Gaza. Disgracefully, they have been joined in this by Starmer’s Labour Government.

Trump has also ordered bombing of targets in Iran while totally defending the Saudi Arabian feudal dictatorship which executed at least 356 people last year.

The US has a long history of capitalist imperialist aggression in South and Central America, including assisting the brutal and illegal coup by Pinochet against the democratically elected socialist government of Chile in 1973 and the murder of the president Salvador Allende.

When previous Venezuelan president Chavez was deposed via a coup, the US rushed to recognise his ‘successor’.

However, through mass action, the coup was defeated and Chavez was restored. His government implemented policies such as the nationalisation of the oil and gas industry.

This [union conference/branch/NEC]  believes that Trump’s actions are aimed at ensuring a regime in Venezuela in the interests of US capitalism, as well as trying to intimidate the working-class and poor masses throughout the region, suffering from brutal austerity. Whilst not endorsing the programme and methods of Maduro’s government, it is the task of the Venezuelan masses to settle their own accounts with it. We stand in total opposition to this imperialist intervention by the Trump regime aimed at getting control of Venezuelan oil, and the country itself. Neither Trump nor the right-wing Thatcherite opposition led by Machado are concerned about the interests of Venezuelan workers or poor.

This [union conference/branch/NEC]  welcomes the protests that have taken place in the US against Trump’s attack on Venezuela.

They are a further indication of the emergence of opposition to Trump’s big business government in the US, particularly its anti-worker, anti-union policies and its scapegoating of migrant workers. In June, SEIU trade union California President David Huerta was arrested in ICE Raids. An estimated 7 million people took part in the ‘No Kings’ demonstrations throughout the US in October.

This [union conference/branch/NEC] calls on our union to:-

send support and solidarity to workers and their unions in Venezuela and the US in their fight against Trump’s policies and aggression, and for our union to support protests and demonstrations and to mobilise our members for them

call for international workers’ solidarity against Trump’s imperialist aggression and big business policies. We welcome the incredible mass strikes by Italian workers in solidarity with the Gaza flotilla in October

support the building of a political alternative for workers in the US and here in the UK in opposition to Starmer on a socialist programme, and call on our union to play an active role in this